Althouse: "Congress gave final approval on Friday to the largest economic stimulus package in modern American history, a $2 trillion measure...

March 27, 2020

"Congress gave final approval on Friday to the largest economic stimulus package in modern American history, a $2 trillion measure...

"... designed to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and deliver direct payments and jobless benefits for individuals, money for states and a huge bailout fund for businesses battered by the crisis. The House approved the measure by voice vote... It now heads to President Trump’s desk, where he is expected to sign it. The legislation would send direct payments of $1,200 to millions of Americans, including those earning up to $75,000, and an additional $500 per child. It would substantially expand jobless aid, providing an additional 13 weeks and a four-month enhancement of benefits, and for the first time would extend the payments to freelancers and gig workers. The measure would also offer $377 billion in federally guaranteed loans to small businesses and establish a $500 billion government lending program for distressed companies reeling from the crisis, including allowing the administration the ability to take equity stakes in airlines that received aid to help compensate taxpayers. It would also send $100 billion to hospitals on the front lines of the pandemic."

The NYT reports.

37 comments:

Nonapod said...: I just hope we've done the right thing with this lockdown, because it's sure costing us an insane amount. But the full ramifications of taking such extreme measures are difficult to know when you're in the heart of a crisis.; 3/27/20, 1:11 PM
ColoComment said...: I guess NYT forgot to mention these bits?

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/03/big-government-contagion.php; 3/27/20, 1:27 PM
Buckwheathikes said...: "The House approved the measure by voice vote... It now heads to President Trump’s desk, where he is expected to sign it."

Spending bills can only originate in the House, according to the US Constitution. This bill would have to go to the Senate and be voted on before it could be legal for Trump to sign it.

Of course, if they're not going to arrest you, anything is legal.

Incidentally, the House did this by voice vote so that if things go tits up, Democrats can all claim they voted against the largest corporate and Wall Street bailout in history (something they'll lie to you and say they're against.); 3/27/20, 1:37 PM
Ralph L said...: How much of that $2T is loans or deferred taxation, most of which should be recouped?; 3/27/20, 1:37 PM
narciso said...: what evert happened to do no harm, I know it's a quaint notion, oh the rep who had a tantrum on the house floor, wearing gloves, was a real confidence builder,; 3/27/20, 1:40 PM
Michael The Magnificent said...: We need to bill China.

If it wasn't for self-absorbed assholes who just can't resist dining on roast pangolin and bat soup, we wouldn't be in this mess.

They need to be billed, and billed hard, so hard they close down all of their wet markets and seriously crack down in the smuggling of rare and endangered animals into the country.; 3/27/20, 1:44 PM
Dude1394 said...: The bill originated in the house, the senate gutted that bill, rewrite it, passed it and sent it back to the house. There is nothing nefarious here.; 3/27/20, 1:55 PM
Browndog said...: Incidentally, the House did this by voice vote so that if things go tits up, Democrats can all claim they voted against the largest corporate and Wall Street bailout in history (something they'll lie to you and say they're against.)

Not to mention she had many members that were going to vote no, and couldn't have that on their record right now.

Like you said, today they say they are all for it, I give it two weeks and they will say they were all against it.; 3/27/20, 1:56 PM
JAORE said...: Lots of focus on money. And we should with numbers that large. But:

How many Easter eggs in there that don't show in the dollar column?

Like changes in the make-it-easier-to-cheat voting process.

OR

Help unions gain control.

OR....; 3/27/20, 1:56 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Big-Government Contagion; 3/27/20, 1:57 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: more Kim:

" Democrats used the bill to tighten every fiber of the social safety net. Put aside the $260 billion for unemployment benefits, potentially necessary in light of record jobless claims. The bill throws $25 billion more at food stamps and child nutrition; $12 billion at housing; $3.5 billion to states for child care; $32 billion at education; $900 million at low-income heating assistance; $50 million at legal services for the poor and so on. This is a massive expansion of the welfare state, seemingly with no regard to the actual length of this crisis.

There’s also the money appropriators threw at government for no purpose other than the throwing. Every outpost gets dollars, most for nothing more than the general command “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.” NASA gets $60 million. Has the virus infected the sun’s corona? The National Archives gets $8 million. Will it put the virus on display? Many departments get cash for research, regardless of their relevance to today’s medical crisis. Perhaps the Energy Department will use its additional $99 million in “science” to gauge how the virus responds in a nuclear reactor.

Then there’s the outright pork. The Forest Service gets $3 million for “forest and rangeland research,” $27 million for “capital improvement and maintenance,” and $7 million for wildfire management. The bill shovels $75 million to the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, $25 million to the Kennedy Center, an odd $78,000 “payment” to the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development. A water project in central Utah gets $500,000. Appropriators can sneak a lot into 880 pages. "; 3/27/20, 1:59 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: ColoComment beat me to it.; 3/27/20, 2:00 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Hmmm. One $1200 hooker or 60 $20 hookers?; 3/27/20, 2:01 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: dining on roast pangolin and bat soup, we wouldn't be in this mess.

I believe the bars are eaten alive.; 3/27/20, 2:06 PM
Gusty Winds said...: Tyrone: Four (4) $300 hookers. Always take the middle bid.; 3/27/20, 2:07 PM
ColoComment said...: Unknown said...
The bill originated in the house, the senate gutted that bill, rewrite it, passed it and sent it back to the house. There is nothing nefarious here.
3/27/20, 1:55 PM

Yes, that's what I had read. Same method that they did for pretending that Obamacare originated in the House, and I didn't like it then, either. : (; 3/27/20, 2:43 PM
Krumhorn said...: The long term economic costs of this can be barely imagined. It's not out of the question that we will soon see top marginal tax rates exceed 90% and, very possibly, a wealth tax.

The national debt in 2005 was under $10 trillion. Today it is zooming over $23 trillion. In 1978, it was under $1 trillion. In 1969, it was $500 billion.

- Krumhorn; 3/27/20, 3:06 PM
Linc said...: I agree that turning on the (virtual) money-printing presses to the tune of $2.2 trillion puts a huge burden on my grandchildren.

There is another problem, though, and that is if the economy is not producing goods and services, where is the money going to be spent to restart the economy if the world is still in a lockdown?

Linc Wolverton
La Center WA; 3/27/20, 3:36 PM
Buckwheathikes said...: "The bill originated in the house."

No. It didn't. The very first vote on ANYTHING was in the Senate, and that was procedural (creating a piece of shell legislation to contain the words of whatever the House passed). The House never passed anything until today. The Senate hasn't actually voted on what the House passed.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/economic-stimulus-package-fails-senate-democrats-bill-coronavirus/

This was the first vote on ANY legislation regarding this $2 trillion bailout and it was in the Senate. Senate Democrats blocked it. The Senate eventually passed it and sent it to the House, which voted today.

Unconstitutional.; 3/27/20, 3:38 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: allowing the administration the ability to take equity stakes in airlines that received aid to help compensate taxpayers

I don't like this one at all. Strikes me as the beginnings of Government take over of private industry.; 3/27/20, 3:44 PM
Achilles said...: This does not replace productivity. This does not replace wealth.

Trillions of dollars were destroyed.

The people who lied to us are just trying to dodge the pitchforks and lamp posts.; 3/27/20, 3:44 PM
rhhardin said...: Scott Adams doesn't know much about money, for an economics degree.

It doesn't matter whether the money is printed or borrowed. As long as the Fed has an interest rate target, it's always borrowed.

In this case, they will soak up the dollar payments by selling debt.; 3/27/20, 4:07 PM
Ken B said...: Tyrone
Why not 20 at $60?; 3/27/20, 4:07 PM
rhhardin said...: Trillions of dollars were destroyed.

The GDP isn't a measure of anything real. You could have a 25 trillion GDP with two guys trading a dollar and a donut back and forth 25 trillion times. All there would be that's real is one donut.

What you want to measure, but can't, is how much ahead each side is on each trade. That might he tiny or it might be huge, for any dollar value of the trade. The vital thing is that the two sides don't see the values the same way, and that difference is where the reason for trade lies.; 3/27/20, 4:12 PM
Achilles said...: rhhardin said...
Trillions of dollars were destroyed.

The GDP isn't a measure of anything real

I know. I was lazy and didn't type out Trillions of Dollars of Wealth were destroyed.

No goods and services were produced.

This is lost for ever.; 3/27/20, 4:29 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Ken B said...
Tyrone
Why not 20 at $60?

Whoa. Big spender.; 3/27/20, 4:36 PM
Francisco D said...: I don't like this one at all. Strikes me as the beginnings of Government take over of private industry.

Isn't that the point, DBQ?

Bernie Sanders has opined: "The people need to seize the means of toilet paper production".

Once you have the toilet paper ...

/sarc; 3/27/20, 4:46 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Ralph L asked: "How much of that $2T is loans or deferred taxation, most of which should be recouped?"

It will all be recouped through the mechanism of "taxation by inflation".

Perhaps, if the money is in people's hands within 30-60 days, some people may benefit by not defaulting on contracts (e.g., rent or a car note). If it takes longer, even that is doubtful. (Of course, the government may get the bright idea of mandating a moratorium on evictions, car repossessions, mortgage foreclosures, etc., but that just screws the people on the other side of the transaction.)

It is important to keep in mind the difference between money and wealth. Because of the loss of trade and other productive activities, our country has less wealth now than it did three months ago. Making more money available will not change that. Only time will, assuming a light touch by the government (faint hope there, I fear). No politician wants to say that, and few voters are ready to hear it, but it is the truth.

Per rhhardin above, this action does not increase the supply of donuts or their value in the donut market. It does reduce everyone's wealth by inflating the currency, which hurts debt holders (like us retired folks) disproportionately.; 3/27/20, 5:02 PM
Ambrose said...: I wonder why they say "modern" American history? Am I forgetting something? Even after the cIvil War, there was nothing like this.; 3/27/20, 5:29 PM
Howard said...: It's all just bits and bites anyway that's what happens when you have fiat currency. It's really quite touching that you people think all of this is real and that wealth is real. This is exactly how you let the global power elite control your mind body and soul; 3/27/20, 5:41 PM
ColoComment said...: Buckwheathikes said...
Unconstitutional.
3/27/20, 3:38 PM

The House passed H.R.748 on 7/17/2019 with the title “Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2019”.

The Senate stripped that bill of its content and replaced it with an "amendment" and re-titled it as [here's the whole introduction):

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 748) entitled “An Act to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the excise tax on high cost employer-sponsored health coverage.”, do pass with the following
AMENDMENT:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:...............
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” or the “CARES Act”.

If it was good enough for Obamacare, then apparently it's good enough for this.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/748/actions?KWICView=false; 3/27/20, 5:49 PM
ColoComment said...: Sorry, got distracted & forgot to finish it: The Senate approved that amendment on 3/25 and sent that back to the House for its final approval of the amended bill, which in deed and in fact had been entirely rewritten from what had originally been introduced in the House in 2019.; 3/27/20, 6:19 PM
Paul said...: Folks... this 2.2 Trillion dollar "stimulus" has got me bothered. I think a full Trillion is funny money printed up. Now when you print money you 'inflate' it. Do this to much and you get hyperinflation, I.E. Venezuela where every week prices double.

I hope not but I wonder about this stuff. Cranking out dollar bills (with nothing to back them up) is asking for Germany, 1936.... where it took a wheelbarrow full of money to buy bread (and they voted in Hitler.. a socialist.)

Still, I'm gonna use it to buy an AR-15 and ammo... just to piss off the liberals.; 3/27/20, 7:51 PM
Birkel said...: The government has no choice but to inflate the currency. Future promises are estimated at $150 trillion and those promises must be paid. They'll just be paid in dollars that are worth 15 cents, give it take. This has been well known for decades.; 3/27/20, 11:08 PM
Nichevo said...: Howard said...
It's all just bits and bites anyway that's what happens when you have fiat currency. It's really quite touching that you people think all of this is real and that wealth is real. This is exactly how you let the global power elite control your mind body and soul

You people, you people, you, your. It's overworked at this point, you're like a boy who has discovered swearing. Try having the courage to say what YOU think and avoid putting words in others' mouths. Don't be insecure, you can make quality comments if you apply yourself.; 3/28/20, 1:23 AM
Kirk Parker said...: Buckwheat, Colo:

Congress needs the same thing our state legislatures need: some kind of stipulation that if a bill gets to X% changed/new/deleted content, it must be abandoned. The original sponsors would of course be free to reintroduce it as originally submitted, as it was as the point it got too-changed-to-remain, or anything else in between; the idea is that the debate and amendment process is supposed to fine-tune a piece of legislation, not to transmogrify it into something wholly different, and that it's an abuse of the process (including but not limited to deadlines for introducing, getting voted out of committee, etc) to allow a bill to continue once it's substantially different from what the sponsoring legislators claimed it was about.; 3/28/20, 12:39 PM
Kai Akker said...: They need to be billed, and billed hard, so hard they close down all of their wet markets and seriously crack down in the smuggling of rare and endangered animals into the country. [MichaeltheMagnificent]

That would be good. And also stop them from bioengineering viruses that escape the lab and kill innocents around the world, while disrupting everything and wrecking countries' economies.

Deliver the hard bill with a very precise bomb to whatever spot the CP leaders are occupying.; 3/28/20, 1:58 PM