Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

We still have time to mess this up!

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

T R E 4 5 O N

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Republicans in disarray!

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / A Man of Means By No Means

A Man of Means By No Means

by | 44 Comments

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I have two observations that really aren’t very complicated or sophisticated.

First, we’re not going to run out of (most) of the stuff of our daily lives. Even this toilet paper nonsense will soon resolve itself when everyone has enough TP to wipe a hundred asses a hundred times. What many people who used to work in the service industry or other $12/hour shit jobs are going to run out of is: money. And when they run out, and need to feed their kids or themselves, things could get quite ugly. So, send money, now.

Second, we’re all means tested, once per year, usually on April 15, but on July 15 this year. We can send everyone (from Jeff Bezos to Jeff-who-used-to-wait-tables) $1,000 per month (or more!) and get it back via taxes. Any means test that precedes getting a check is too fucking complicated, and too hard to implement. So, send money, now.

But what about increasing unemployment insurance, instead of giving away money? Sure — sometimes I, too, feel 1972, and listen to a Carole King tune. But in our felicitous 2020 gig economy, we have a situation where our freedom-loving country is populated by free agents who interact directly with the invisible hand, and the law says this:

However, since independent contractors are not employees and no one pays unemployment insurance for them, it is not likely that an independent contractor will be eligible for unemployment benefits.

What about any other social program? Beef ’em all up, but give people cash, too. Cash without restriction is better than long lines applying for SNAP or any other means-tested social program.

The only concern I have about the simple plan of sending a check is that many of the people who need the money are unbanked and will crowd around check cashing stations and other similar places.

In closing, send money, now.

Reader Interactions

44Comments

  1. 1.

    paradox

    Ah, send it to me, all of it, yes. Do me!

    My god it’s only the 20th, I foresee some crazy shit in California five days from now.

  3. 3.

    charluckles

    Agreed.  In my little slice of the world, the emails going around are close to panicked.  They aren’t panicked about the virus.  They are panicked about their families getting evicted.

     

    Didn’t help that the employer’s response was the flowery prose equivalent of ‘sucks to be you.’

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    There are some details that need to be considered, like how a sudden influx of cash affects people getting means-tested benefits (SSI/SSDI, etc., etc.), but blanket statements that this emergency cash would not affect those benefits should take care of it (I think). Otherwise, right on. Get the money out now, to everyone.

    In other news, Cheryl bait: RollCall:

    The Trump administration wants $3.1 billion more this year than last for the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons budget, but internal government documents show the raise is devoted substantially to covering previously undisclosed cost overruns and avoiding years of new delays in the majority of U.S. atomic weapons programs.

    The administration has sold the 25 percent budget boost for the National Nuclear Security Administration only in broad terms as necessary to maintain America’s nuclear deterrent. However, the additional funds are needed not so much to advance capabilities as merely to keep troubled programs from falling further behind, according to the “official use only” correspondence obtained by CQ Roll Call.

    [Defense contractors are unlikely to pivot to coronavirus response]

    Specifically, four of the NNSA’s six highest-profile atomic arms programs would be delayed unless the NNSA gets a record budget of nearly $20 billion in fiscal 2021 and maintains that higher level in the years that follow. The subset of the fiscal 2021 request that would go to weapons programs would total $15.6 billion, compared to $12.5 billion in the current fiscal year.

    The new NNSA budget request is the latest example of the agency’s long-running inability to foresee the cost and complexity of its projects, critics say. The fiscal 2021 budget request was the fourth consecutive one that came in higher than had been planned the previous year.

    If the pattern continues going forward, it could create additional multi-billion-dollar budget hikes and, more importantly, could jeopardize the schedule for recapitalizing not just atomic warheads and bombs but also the new subs, aircraft and missiles that would carry them — a $1.2 trillion endeavor spanning three decades.

    […]

    My view is that we need to make sure the weapons we have continue to work as they should (explosives do degrade over time), but we need to reduce their numbers a lot, not build new ones. Shoveling money at the problem for the next 30 years isn’t going to do that.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  6. 6.

    taumaturgo

    Workers need substantial financial help, free access to healthcare, a freeze on debt payments, an increase in unemployment insurance and SNAP benefits. What we don’t need is our politicians talking about means testing, slush funds to bail out businesses, and the unending use of the “small business” buzzwords. These measures should be a permanent reinforcement of the torn safety net.

  7. 7.

    A Ghost To Most

    Those of us who will not need the help need to pay it forward into our communities.

    Takeout is the new war bonds.

  12. 12.

    Matt McIrvin

    Aside from cash flow problems, there’s the problem that there’s no even half-safe way to buy basic supplies. All the grocery delivery services are slammed so hard that they’re unusable, so people have to go to the store in person, and that’s a human zoo rife with opportunities for contamination. At some point the main vector for transmission of the plague will be grocery runs, if it isn’t already.

  13. 13.

    James E Powell

    Cash without restriction is better than long lines applying for SNAP or any other means-tested social program.

    But the majority white people will not support any aid program that does not prohibit the young black males from buying steak & lobster. They may insist on drug tests.

  14. 14.

    different-church-lady

    @Matt McIrvin:

    At some point the main vector for transmission of the plague will be grocery runs,

    When you eliminate every other vector of human life, then yeah.

  15. 15.

    different-church-lady

    It occurs to me that the problem with coming up with enough cash to dole out to everyone is that a whole lot of the “money” in our economy was fake to begin with.

  16. 16.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @James E Powell:

    “Young bucks, buying T-Bone steaks…”

    Why T-Bones, I haven’t a clue.  They’re not the best by a long shot.

  18. 18.

    Shalimar

    @different-church-lady: I live in a moderate rent area, so no, $1000 won’t even cover the bare minimum of rent, food, car payment and insurance.  But I would still rather  get that first $1000 and start talking about the second than have the uncertainty of possibly not getting any.

    I am not worried about getting evicted during the employment downtime.  No one else has money either.  There are no new potential tenants to replace me.

  20. 20.

    danielx

    @different-church-lady:

    It will for some, but you’re right – for people who live in high rent areas that’s groceries and utilities for maybe a month.

    On the other hand I suspect that processing eviction notices are going to be a low priority for any civil courts that remain open, not to mention law enforcement authorities that would have to serve and enforce them. Cops aren’t that busy right now, but even the biggest asshole cops are not going to be enthused about helping to throw lots of families into the street.

    • ETA: people WILL spend that money one way or another, which will help the economy at least to a slight degree.
    • Cops aren’t all that busy, but I imagine domestic disturbance calls are going to go into the stratosphere starting next week.
  22. 22.

    danielx

    Note: conversing with my sister-in-law, a doc, who told me she bought 10 N95 masks for Amazon last night for $23 apiece – she doesn’t know when they will be getting any new ones at the 2-3 hospitals at which she works.

  24. 24.

    Dadadadadadada

    @danielx: Housing court employee here: you are 100% correct. My jurisdiction has put a freeze on all eviction proceedings for some defined term that is sure to be extended indefinitely.

  25. 25.

    Jay

    the stock dumping confirms beyond a doubt that every day of the last six weeks have been a collective cascade of willful lies to sweet talk americans into complacency as a lethal virus swept towards them and disemboweled the entire american economy https://t.co/JPjCrpVGJw— kilgore trout, stonks autographer (@KT_So_It_Goes) March 20, 2020

  26. 26.

    James E Powell

    @Shalimar:

    Based on a trip to Whole Foods earlier, steak and lobster might be their only choices.  All the cheaper foods were already gone.

    At my local Von’s Pavilion on Wednesday all they had was T-bones and they had a lot of them. Butcher guy says they will be on sale today for very low price because they have to get rid of them.

  27. 27.

    MaryL

    I wish they would means test via geographic cost of living.  $1000 won’t even cover one month’s rent in DC, NY, SF, etc.  I’m not remotely worried for myself as I have 100% job security and the ability to telework, but I live in a tiny house in a suburb of DC with the lowest home values in probably a 50 mile radius.  I bought for a song at the bottom of the market after 2008 , but my mortgage is still substantially more than $1000.  I’m worried about my neighbors, almost all of whom are working class.

  28. 28.

    Jay

    URGENT: Yudith's husband was detained in a particularly heinous raid by ICE agents: they pretended to be doctors to get into their home ? While we all fight to stop ICE actions during #COVID19, please DONATE & RT to help support this family if you can. https://t.co/zDxDK2IuN0— Sanctuary DMV (@SanctuaryDMV) March 18, 2020

  29. 29.

    different-church-lady

    OK, there are some signs of things returning to normal: about half the articles on Boston.com right now are about Tom Brady again.

  31. 31.

    Jay

    Thread:

    My next door neighbor is elderly. He just flagged us down because he is sicker than he has ever been. He has no toilet paper or food. He looked like death and was crying. He can’t go to the doctor because his fever isn’t high enough. Although it is high.— Gregory McKelvey (@GregoryMcKelvey) March 19, 2020

  32. 32.

    Duane

    Decades of slashing the safety net makes it really hard to fix. All the standard rules should be abandoned. Anyone without a job, health insurance, or with low income should get help. No questions asked. If politicians don’t understand this they may learn at the pointed end of a pitchfork.

  33. 33.

    Jay

    Reuters: As US authorities scrambled to ramp up the nation's capacity to test for coronavirus last week, at least 100 executives and other New Yorkers of means had easy access to testing, according to 2 sources familiar with a little-known medical service catering to the affluent— Vincent Lee (@Rover829) March 20, 2020

  35. 35.

    Anonymous At Work

    Re: Check cashing:  Simple idea that’s been floated before is POST OFFICE BANKING.  Won’t help in urban areas but would alleviate more than a few issues.  Also, how much you wanna bet that the Post Office would be cheaper than banks?

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @Matt McIrvin:

    At some point the main vector for transmission of the plague will be grocery runs, if it isn’t already.

    We don’t have to completely eliminate all forms of transmission; we just need to reduce it to the point that transmission is below the level where the disease grows out of control.

  37. 37.

    Brachiator

    Second, we’re all means tested, once per year, usually on April 15, but on July 15 this year. We can send everyone (from Jeff Bezos to Jeff-who-used-to-wait-tables) $1,000 per month (or more!) and get it back via taxes. Any means test that precedes getting a check is too fucking complicated, and too hard to implement. So, send money, now.

    Means testing ain’t difficult. Magically sending “everyone” a check right now ain’t easy.  What address are you going to use and where are you going to get it from? Even using last year’s IRS info, some people have moved.

    Some of the decisions the Senate is making are problematic.  One report said that the poorest people, those who had no taxable income in the prior year, might not get anything.

    We shall see. I hope the government does not fuck this up.

  38. 38.

    Brachiator

    @danielx:

    Cops aren’t all that busy, but I imagine domestic disturbance calls are going to go into the stratosphere starting next week.

    There are news reports that crime is down 25 percent in Los Angeles. Residential burglaries, in particular.

    Closing the bars also has seemed to decrease some mischief.

    However, some 911 calls from people in apartments calling to complain about neighbors coughing.

  39. 39.

    different-church-lady

    @Roger Moore: No, no, no, we need to ELIMINATE ALL GERMS FROM THE FACE OF THE PLANET OR WE AND EVERYONE WE LOVE AND ALL OUR PETS WILL DIE HORRIBLY AND SLOWLY.

    Christ almighty.

  42. 42.

    Annie

    @danielx:

    San Francisco where I live has declared a moratorium on eviction.  The superior court (trial court) has continued all unlawful detainer (eviction) trials for 90 days.  And the clerk’s office is closed. Alameda Superior Court. (Oakland) is closed.  Contra Costa County Superior Court closed a week ago for everything except  criminal arraignments which have IIRC a 72 hour deadline.   All,of this should help.

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