White House expresses support for making immediate cash payments to Americans

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

The Trump administration expressed support on Tuesday for sending direct cash payments to Americans as part of a massive economic stimulus package of around $850 billion, which the White House hopes could stanch the economic free fall caused by the coronavirus. “We’re looking at sending checks to Americans immediately,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Tuesday at a briefing. “And I mean, now in the next two weeks.”

The White House’s support of this idea, which has won backing from Democrats and some Republicans in Congress, shows how fast talks are evolving. President Trump had initially supported a payroll tax holiday, but said Tuesday that would take too long to deliver relief to Americans. “Payroll tax is one way, but it does come over a period of months, many months,” Trump said. "And we want to do something much faster than that. So I think we have ways of getting money out pretty quickly and very accurately.”

Some lawmakers, including Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) have discussed direct cash payments of $1,000, which Romney and Mnuchin discussed Monday night. “That’s one of the ideas we like,” Mnuchin said Tuesday, without endorsing a specific number. Mnuchin will discuss details with Senate Republicans later Tuesday. The package would be mostly devoted to flooding the economy with cash, officials said, with some $50 billion directed specifically to helping the airline industry.

White House officials also want to include more assistance for small businesses and their employees in the legislation, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The talks have taken on more urgency as the economy has shown signs of careening into recession. The Dow Jones industrial average fell almost 3,000 points on Monday and showed signs of a slight rebound on Tuesday.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/03/17/trump-coronavirus-stimulus-package/

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Full headline: White House expresses support for making immediate cash payments to Americans as part of coronavirus stimulus package

[gldstwmn]

1. How's that for some socialism?

You like our ideas now Donnie?

[Zorro]

2. Free government money!

It will be interesting to hear diehard Republicans praise this initiative.

[Traildogbob]

7. Free money?

Not so free. It is our taxes. The vast majority of that 850 will bail out CEO's that have stashed billions annually and paid no taxes. So give THEM the majority of OUR money, God forbid they dip into their hidden accounts. This is "capitalism", right? "Never let socialism happen in "MurKKKa". Trumps words not mine. Doesn't capitalism let failures fail?

[forgotmylogin]

36. And wouldn't we have to list that again as "income"?

Like those checks Dubya sent out - Wasn't that an "early tax refund" that had to be deducted from the refund?

[BumRushDaShow]

9. As long as it's not

an "Obama phone"!!1111!!!!11

[gldstwmn]

19. Lol. Good one.

[gldstwmn]

11. They won't have much choice.

[DENVERPOPS]

18. I'm thinking that

it will be interesting to see how much goes to the taxpayers and how much goes to CORPORATE WELFARE as a guise to "stimulating the economy" as they put it......The corporations already got massive tax cuts thx to Republicans, as did the wealthy..
I'm sure they will find more ways to help them any which way they can..........
Tax revenues are gonna be way way way off without all the middle class working, allowing the Republicans to cut back social programs even more and rationalizing there is no money in the treasury..........The Republicans work everything, from all angles to continue their goal of steam rolling everyone below the !% even in times of the greatest disaster to hit the U.S. since it began......

This is gonna be a ride like no one can even imagine in their wildest dreams............

[Under The Radar]

3. That would be vote buying

[dewsgirl]

4. I will happily take the money, because I certainly will need it.

But even if it was higher, he would never buy my vote.

[gldstwmn]

14. Yup. Three days ago

Donnie wouldn't have gotten elected dog catcher. Someone has obviously had a come to Jesus with him.

[totodeinhere]

37. OK, then what do you think the government should do to react to this economic crisis?

Something needs to be done. If this is vote buying then what should be done instead?

[Under The Radar]

39. Follow the Obama response to the financial collapse

Expand unemployment
Extend benefits beyond the expected unemployment time
Freeze all evictions, utility cut offs and foreclosures.

[totodeinhere]

42. Yes those are some good measures to take.

And some of that is already being done in some places. I think that California has banned evictions and foreclosures. And I think under their system you could not be evicted but you would eventually have to pay the back rent.

[Under The Radar]

43. it should be paid back just as any Corp Aid should be too

I don’t see a away that we can prevent pain for everyone but we can be fair and spread the relief equally where we all survive this without ruin.
I am sickened by the airline industry that doesn’t pay any income taxes due to Trumps tax cuts, is asking for $58 billion when they are greatly reducing expenses during this period, their loses will not be in the billions over the next quarter, but regardless they must be made to repay with interest!

[Newest Reality]

5. So,

A bailout for the half of the economy that has been failing more and more for decades?

Gee, who would have thunk you could get so many people so impoverished that you might lose a HUGE segment of consumers who will be scrounging for food on the streets? That secret circle is now revealed where the consumer is a major part of it as it goes around and around. Without them, you could bail out every industry and give all kinds of welfare to good ol' Corporate America, but who will consume their goods? Doh!

I wonder how we would be getting our bailout. Like those of us who are homeless, have little to no work for a long time, receive SNAP, are elderly, etc. Something like $1,000 would seem massive by comparison. Gosh, maybe a meal out instead of a can of cold ravioli for dinner each night? Some better clothes? A new tent to replace the leaking one? WOW!

[gldstwmn]

17. It would suck if Trump is made out

to be the FDR of our times when that idea really belonged to one of our own wonderful candidates, Andrew Yang. Look for them to take all of our good ideas for building a great society because they sure as shit don't have any of their own.

[oldsoftie]

21. Obviously not a "glass half full" person, i guess.

[Newest Reality]

24. No,

Mine is completely empty and that might color my view, I guess.

[CrispyQ]

6. I'll believe it when I see it.

Repubs are fine with socialism for the corporations but not for We the People.

Corporations are the only non-human entity to have Constitutional rights just like We the People. All other non-living entities, such as labor unions, non-incorporated businesses, churches, civics groups, and governments, only have the privileges that WE grant them. Problem is, corporations don't need things like clean air, fresh water, healthy food, health care, child/elder care, education, or even an environment that supports them. Corporations can "live" forever, and their longevity, wealth, and power amplify their rights. The founders never meant for corporations to have Constitutional rights just like people.

Reclaim Democracy's Corporate Personhood page There's some good reading on these pages.

[NotHardly]

10. thank Mr. Roberts for that crap... him and the beer bong boys in the club

[CrispyQ]

16. The concept of corporate personhood goes back to the 19th century.

Here's a one page primer from the Sierra Club: Meet the Corporation

THE RISE OF THE CORPORATE STATE

snip...

THE BATTLE OVER CORPORATE POWER long predates McDonald's, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart. To understand how such entities became so mighty, you have to go back to the Revolutionary War. Resentful at how their enterprises had been dominated by the king's corporations—like the East India Company, whose monopolistic activities sparked the Boston Tea Party—the newly independent colonists kept businesses on a short leash.

"Any firm that sought a corporate charter had to go specifically to the [state] legislature," says Richard Abrams, a history professor at the University of California at Berkeley. To be chartered, corporations had to serve the public good—most often by constructing a road, bridge, canal, or other public-works project. Their tenure was limited, and deviation from their original design was prohibited. They could not own shares in other corporations, lobby elected officials, or give campaign contributions. Those that strayed had their charters revoked.

snip...

Corporations saw another opportunity a few years later with the 1868 passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, which ensured due process and equal protection under the law. If corporations could gain constitutional rights, they could use this amendment—passed to protect emancipated slaves—to claim that states and localities taxing and regulating them in differing ways amounted to discrimination.

Starting in the 1870s, attorneys for the railroads—the largest corporations of the day—aggressively pursued this goal, bringing four cases all the way to the Supreme Court in just one year. With the 1886 case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, they finally succeeded. Before oral arguments, Chief Justice Morrison Remick Waite declared that the judges were in agreement: Corporations were covered by the Fourteenth Amendment. Ever since, the courts have continually expanded protections for corporations as "persons" under the law—or, as Ambrose Bierce defined them in his Devil's Dictionary, "ingenious device[s] for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility." —C.W.

Revoke corporate personhood.

[JudyM]

25. Great post, I hadn't seen that history before.

[gldstwmn]

28. Mnuchin said it on the teevee.

No room for backtracking now.

[CrispyQ]

31. They have zero credibility. They backtrack all the time.

For the sake of my fellow citizens, I hope they follow through, but personally, I don't believe they will give cash bailouts to We the People.

[gldstwmn]

33. Oh I agree. But he ain't getting

out of this one.

[NotHardly]

8. Yeah, sure, American citizens will get pitance & corporations will get the mega-bucks... watch

what they do and tell me I'm wrong... they'll try to pack it with all sorts of anti-women, voting, lying crap and try to cover their tracks as well.

[DENVERPOPS]

23. Right on, NH

it will be interesting to see how much goes to the taxpayers and how much goes to CORPORATE WELFARE as a guise to "stimulating the economy" as they put it......The corporations already got massive tax cuts thx to Republicans, as did the wealthy..

The many huge corporations, with massive net profits, paying zero in taxes....And the rich get away with off shoring their wealth and not paying any taxes either.....

I'm sure they will find more ways to help them any which way they can..........
Tax revenues are gonna be way way way off without all the middle class working, allowing the Republicans to cut back social programs even more and rationalizing there is no money in the treasury..........The Republicans work everything, from all angles to continue their goal of steam rolling everyone below the !% even in times of the greatest disaster to hit the U.S. since it began......

Republicans will soon face their biggest nightmare......Tax Revenues......Massive amounts of people not working don't pay taxes.
The Great Recession will look like nothing compared to this......That is, I'm sure, why Trump's Republicans are suddenly trying to tell the states that they are on their own and don't expect a whole lot of assistance from them. For example: you want ventilators, go get them yourselves....you want tests? go find them yourselves, etc etc etc etc

[thesquanderer]

12. Payroll tax cut would not help all the people who are not being paid because stuff has closed.

That idea was dumb from the start. It helps only the people who are still getting their paychecks, when we most need to help all the people who are not.

[gldstwmn]

26. Exactly. Our state Unemployment

Is a massive clusterf* k even with our low unemployment rate. I can see them being massively backlogged with claims right now. This would help tremendously. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they did it more than once.

[totodeinhere]

38. This would not use the underemployment insurance infrastructure.

You would get a check from the government much in the way that you would get a tax refund. It would be either a paper check or preferably a direct deposit to your bank account.

[PoliticAverse]

35. Indeed the irony. n/t

[yaesu]

13. who would actually get this money, what address book do they use? Social Security? Census? nt

[Zorro]

15. They'll probably make you pay taxes on it

[AtheistCrusader]

20. Of course. If they run up the credit card now, they'll cut SS later with crocodile tears

to 'balance the budget'.

It's a strategy.

[shotten99]

22. Seems like a sure fire way of creating inflation.

Although, I'm far from an expert economist

[JudyM]

27. Hopefully there will be a cutoff at a certain income level.

[gldstwmn]

29. They did mention that.

[duforsure]

30. He'll do one of two things

He'll get the majority of the money to his wealthy friends mostly, get kickbacks from them, then give very little to the people while claiming he's saved them and did such great things , or he'll realize he's losing badly and has little chance at winning so he'll use our money to bribe us with, so he can buy their votes either way claiming he's a wonderful president. Until I see the check the first option usually would be my choice of what he would do , but right now he's in a really bad situation, so he might try to bribe us, while driving us into a recession or depression.

[earthside]

32. Supreme irony!

The Trump whiny, wail about 'socialism' has now turned into 'free money for everybody' because he is in desperate political trouble.

We need to be very vigilant and skeptical of any economic package that comes from Trump, Inc. What they might give you with one hand they will give ten times as much to their cronies.

[turbinetree]

34. Hey Mittens, that $1000 dollars you want to help people with amounts to only

$2.73 per day................and since your a fucking vulture capitalists, here let me show you $1,000 / 365 days or depending on the leap year 366 .......................it doesn't fucking help........................I and millions of others want relief from our mortgage, renter, student debt, credit cards and car payments for 6 + months...........................that is fucking relief.........................

[SpankMe]

40. Damn commies! n/t

[rockfordfile]

41. This is stupid. It's corruption.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

44. Why don't we spend that money to make more tests available

And maybe by some respirators for those who need them.

[RealityChik]

45. What about childcare...

For workers with kids who can't work from home? $1000 might cover temporary childcare for a month or so. What happens after that?

[truthisfreedom]

46. Every magat, every trumper that cashes that check is a SOCIALIST.

Rub their noses in that forever.