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from the a-billion-here-a-billion-there-pretty-soon-you're-talking-about-real-money dept.
Biden signs $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, making $1,400 checks and child tax credit official:
President Joe Biden on Thursday signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which includes a third stimulus check, for up to $1,400, and an expanded child tax credit. The IRS and Treasury will begin to send the new stimulus checks as soon as this weekend, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday at a press briefing.
The bill signing comes just one day after the amended bill passed in the House by a vote of 220-211. The House initially passed the bill on Feb. 26, and the Senate approved it last week, albeit with some changes.
[...] Democrats had been pushing to get the stimulus package signed into law before current unemployment benefits expire March 14. Biden was originally scheduled to sign the bill on Friday, but it got moved forward after Congress sent the final bill to the president more quickly than anticipated, Psaki said on Thursday.
The stimulus package, called the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, includes changes made by the Senate last week, such as reducing income limits for the third stimulus payment and lowering proposed weekly unemployment benefits from $400 a week to $300 a week (though they'd extend through Sept. 6 rather than the end of August). The Senate also dropped a federal minimum wage increase from the legislation, but proponents say they'll reintroduce that at a later date.
How to watch President Biden's national address tonight.
House passes $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, sends it to Biden to sign:
[...] Here are the proposal's major pieces:
- It extends a $300 per week jobless aid supplement and programs making millions more people eligible for unemployment insurance until Sept. 6. The plan also makes an individual's first $10,200 in jobless benefits tax-free.
- The bill sends $1,400 direct payments to most Americans and their dependents. The checks start to phase out at $75,000 in income for individuals and are capped at people who make $80,000. The thresholds for joint filers are double those limits. The government will base eligibility on Americans' most recent filed tax return.
- It expands the child tax credit for one year. It will increase to $3,600 for children under 6 and to $3,000 for kids between 6 and 17.
- The plan puts about $20 billion into Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing and distribution, along with roughly $50 billion into testing and contact tracing.
- It adds $25 billion in rental and utility assistance and about $10 billion for mortgage aid.
- The plan offers $350 billion in relief to state, local and tribal governments.
- The proposal directs more than $120 billion to K-12 schools.
- It increases the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit by 15% through September.
- The bill includes an expansion of subsidies and other provisions to help Americans afford health insurance.
- It offers nearly $30 billion in aid to restaurants.
- The legislation expands an employee retention tax credit designed to allow companies to keep workers on payroll.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by khallow on Saturday March 13 2021, @12:13AM (2 children)
then we get to:
Sounds like you're the idiot here. I get inflation. I get trillion dollar coins [soylentnews.org]. The problem here is that you're trying to pay back debt with money of greatly diluted value. Borrowers aren't going to fall for that more than once - it's a one-time default.
Don't borrow money that you won't pay back in good faith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 14 2021, @12:53PM (1 child)
Are you nuts? Borrowers love paying back debt like that. The whole economy for the last 75 years has been based on the idea that inflation makes the dollar you pay back with less than the dollar you borrowed, so less painful to the wallet or purse.
Deflation, on the other hand …
And lenders don’t really have a choice except to go along with it. Or be stuck repossessing assets that will quickly drop in value to less than the note is worth. We saw that with the financial crisis - homes with 6-figure mortgages being sold at auction for $500 in Chicago, for example. So their only option is to keep the merry-go-round of low interest rates going.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 15 2021, @04:04AM
Except the other choice, don't go with it. Duh. You can talk all about the lack of choice, but they'll find those alternate choices.
What assets would those be again? Anything physical isn't going to do that.