Happy Holidays

[Merge]

The Dems did not want a stimulus bill that would pass in the pre-election run up. Why would they want checks to go out to citizens signed by Trump? Their bills were unpassable.

So McConnell could send it to committee for markup, and they could have passed an updated version which would then need to be again approved by the house.

Yes, there were a lot of “wish list” items, but that is part of negotiation. I get why you would say the Dems didn’t want a bill that would pass, at the same time it is a shame that is not a theory we could actually have tested. I’m not sure how you can say it was the Dems who didn’t want another check from Trump when republicans didn't really support that idea at all over the summer. The thing they seemed most interest in was liability protections.

Again, I am not saying that Republicans are all bad and democrats are all good. I do believe though that the republican answer from April through December was pretty much to not do anything other than what we already passed and see how things play out. Maybe that is something you agree with which is fine, but, the answer to the question about why there wasn’t a plan earlier is that the democrats were throwing money at the problem but McConnell was taking a wait and see approach.

 

[Section112]

So McConnell could send it to committee for markup, and they could have passed an updated version which would then need to be again approved by the house.

Yes, there were a lot of “wish list” items, but that is part of negotiation. I get why you would say the Dems didn’t want a bill that would pass, at the same time it is a shame that is not a theory we could actually have tested. I’m not sure how you can say it was the Dems who didn’t want another check from Trump when republicans didn't really support that idea at all over the summer. The thing they seemed most interest in was liability protections.

Again, I am not saying that Republicans are all bad and democrats are all good. I do believe though that the republican answer from April through December was pretty much to not do anything other than what we already passed and see how things play out. Maybe that is something you agree with which is fine, but, the answer to the question about why there wasn’t a plan earlier is that the democrats were throwing money at the problem but McConnell was taking a wait and see approach.

Well your premise is wrong that all they did was "not do anything." Stimulus is not only in the form of direct checks to citizens and a big new bill. The Stimulus that our Government provided (repubs and dems) was incredible and was in the form of the wildly successful PPP program which kept millions of people on payroll, limiting banks ability to foreclose on late loans and mortgages, providing aid for states and municipalities, pumping up the Treasury and flooding the economy and financial markets with money and supporting vaccine distribution and on and on. McConnel could have sent the bill for vote but it was a non-starter so why should he waste the Senates time and Pelosi knew it as it was a nonstarter by design.

I read a thorough review of the 2020 economy and pandemic response that was just published by JPMorgan Chase Private Bank written by their economists which leans heavy Dem and they provided a grade for different regions of the world and their government virus containment and policy response to the pandemic and they were spot on. Its a private report so I can't share it but here are the grades:
- US - Poor virus containment, and strong policy response.
- Latin America -Poor virus containment and uneven policy response
- Europe - Poor virus containment and modest policy response
- Asia - Relatively successful virus containment and adequate policy response

The US was the only region with a strong policy response grade and it listed all the programs the US government provided and it was extensive and no other region in the world did more.

Hate Trump and his government or not (I don't like him) but the policy response was very strong as seen by OWS, vaccine development, PPP and lots of stimulus programs and slowing of evictions and foreclosures among other measures. The economy as a result is on soooo much better footing moving forward. Could they have done more. Yes absolutely. I thought they could have targeted more Americans in need with more stimulus instead of just sending everyone a check and I knock them on that. There are lots of folks in specific industries or jobs that are really hurting and it is no fault of their own. And the Govt's messaging on the pandemic was simply awful mostly because of Trump and Faucci and Birx and contributed to poor virus containment and politicized the pandemic which is one of the reasons I could not and did not vote for him.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

Mitch McConnell blocks unanimous vote on $2,000 COVID-19 stimulus checks

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked unanimous passage of the $2,000 COVID-19 stimulus checks requested by President Trump. McConnell (R-Ky.) objected after Senate Minority Lea…

nypost.com

 

[Section112]

Mitch McConnell blocks unanimous vote on $2,000 COVID-19 stimulus checks

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked unanimous passage of the $2,000 COVID-19 stimulus checks requested by President Trump. McConnell (R-Ky.) objected after Senate Minority Lea…

nypost.com

Again misleading headline. I think Shoreguy wrote that headline for the Post. There was never a unanimous vote. Just one idiot Schumer trying to grab the headline and the Post and others jumped on it unfortunately.

The stimulus should have been higher for needy Americans and payments to foreign countries should have been eliminated for the most part except for possibly the poorest nations but we don't benefit from those countries of course. In a pandemic you take care of Americans first.

 

[Merge]

Well your premise is wrong that all they did was "not do anything." Stimulus is not only in the form of direct checks to citizens and a big new bill. The Stimulus that our Government provided (repubs and dems) was incredible and was in the form of the wildly successful PPP program which kept millions of people on payroll, limiting banks ability to foreclose on late loans and mortgages, providing aid for states and municipalities, pumping up the Treasury and flooding the economy and financial markets with money and supporting vaccine distribution and on and on.

Right. I don’t disagree with any of that. I wasn’t saying they didn’t do anything. 85 asked why they didn’t do anything else and I responded accordingly. There are public statements from McConnell about a wait and see approach or a pause.

McConnel could have sent the bill for vote but it was a non-starter so why should he waste the Senates time and Pelosi knew it as it was a nonstarter by design.

Right, McConnell didn't negotiate back. He did not offer a bill that could pass the senate.
If he did, this discussion would be different.

Hate Trump and his government or not (I don't like him) but the policy response was very strong as seen by OWS, vaccine development, PPP and lots of stimulus programs and slowing of evictions and foreclosures among other measures. The economy as a result is on soooo much better footing moving forward. Could they have done more. Yes absolutely. I thought they could have targeted more Americans in need with more stimulus instead of just sending everyone a check and I knock them on that. There are lots of folks in specific industries or jobs that are really hurting and it is no fault of their own.

Agree. A lot of what we did was good. I am not taking a position against any of it other than my opinion that we needed to do more.

 

[Merge]

Again misleading headline. I think Shoreguy wrote that headline for the Post. There was never a unanimous vote. Just one idiot Schumer trying to grab the headline and the Post and others jumped on it unfortunately.

The stimulus should have been higher for needy Americans and payments to foreign countries should have been eliminated for the most part except for possibly the poorest nations but we don't benefit from those countries of course. In a pandemic you take care of Americans first.

Aid to foreign countries was a part of the funding bill which was separate from the Covid package. White house apparently had requested they be combined.

 

[Section112]

Agree that McConnell is a total dolt! The ongoing problem is how badly the House and Senate are run by current leadership.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

Agree that McConnell is a total dolt! The ongoing problem is how badly the House and Senate are run by current leadership.

This should directly influence Georgia

 

[Section112]

This should directly influence Georgia

Both Georgia Repubs support the $2,000 and have said so already.

What is hard to decipher is what McConnell is doing. It sounds like he may be trying to get the vote on the other bill before he considers introducing the additional Stimulus. Not sure. You can argue that it is more important to get the other bill passed before increasing the stimulus amount to $2,000 as stimulus is being provided already and passed. Not sticking up for old crazy Mitch just trying to read the tea leaves. And the bill in the Congress was not unanimous among Dems (2) or Repubs so that click bait and Schumers statement are both ridiculous. Pressure is building on McConnell and he will end up taking a vote on this IMO.

 

[shu09]

How about we just end restrictions, get people back to work and stop worrying about throwing money to citizens for no reason? The best stimulus is a job.

 

[Pirata]

"H.R.9051 - To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase recovery rebate amounts to $2,000 for individuals, and for other purposes"

The issue is the "other purposes"

When the full text becomes available you will see all the pork and vote buying items thrown in.

 

[Merge]

How about we just end restrictions, get people back to work and stop worrying about throwing money to citizens for no reason? The best stimulus is a job.

A bit of a chicken or the egg debate there.
Even if all restrictions are entirely lifted today, there are still 8 million less jobs than what we had in February and that doesn’t include any consideration for underemployment. Businesses need some certainty that there will be demand before they start hiring again.

 

[Merge]

"H.R.9051 - To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase recovery rebate amounts to $2,000 for individuals, and for other purposes"

The issue is the "other purposes"

When the full text becomes available you will see all the pork and vote buying items thrown in.

Doesn’t seem to be correct.

Text of H.R. 9051 (116th): CASH Act of 2020 (Placed on Calendar in the Senate version) - GovTrack.us

Text of H.R. 9051 (116th): CASH Act of 2020 as of Dec 30, 2020 (Placed on Calendar in the Senate version). H.R. 9051 (116th): CASH Act of 2020

www.govtrack.us

 

[NYShoreGuy]

How about we just end restrictions, get people back to work and stop worrying about throwing money to citizens for no reason? The best stimulus is a job.

Shu09 thinks many places just paused for 9 months...gonna be a very bad period for many people that are now forced into new careers or taking a survival job that is far less than their prior wage...maybe we can get China to give reparations?

Regardless of what side of the politcal pendulum one is on, this country has not been very fair to a grand many the last 6 months

 

[Section112]

Shu09 thinks many places just paused for 9 months...gonna be a very bad period for many people that are now forced into new careers or taking a survival job that is far less than their prior wage...maybe we can get China to give reparations?

Regardless of what side of the politcal pendulum one is on, this country has not been very fair to a grand many the last 6 months

The pandemic has also not been very fair to many in the economy. Restaurant workers especially in areas where large numbers of people commute, custodians for large companies, commercial real estate, retail workers in stores not named Amazon, hotels, beauticians and barbers, formal clothes manufacturers and stores, the wedding industry, dentists etc. You can blame everything on the country but if you understand the economy the pandemic has created enormous issues with certain professions and industries and sometimes it is hard to retool in such a short timeframe. The new normal is going to pick winners and losers. Hard for any country to react to that quickly especially with politicians running the ship who are always reactive.