5 hours ago, pedro01 said:

 

It's been discussed at length how much non-COVID spend is in this bill.

 

The majority of the money distributed in the bill is unrelated to COVID.

 

Really? Can you point to where? Maybe you shouldn't bother since I'm about to share some actual facts with you.

"On February 1, a group of 10 Republican lawmakers unveiled an alternative stimulus plan that would scale back the checks to $1,000 per adult and lower the income cap for receiving payment. That plan would cut the cost of a third stimulus check to $220 billion, compared with $600 billion under Mr. Biden's more generous package."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stimulus-check-1400-dollars-2021-02-03/

So that's $600 billion

The rest of the figures comes from this article

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/business/economy/biden-stimulus-plan.html

$170 billion for education funding to states due to decrease of tax revenue

$90 billion for small businesses

$350 billion for state, local, and territorial governments because of decreases in tax revenue

$160 billion for a national vaccination program, expanded testing, hiring of more health care workers, increased purchases of PPE

Also a temporary expended tax credit for childcare. I couldn't find the cost for that but I expect it would be substantial.

Also, increased funding for food stamps. Couldn't find figures for that either.

Still, even without those last 2 items the total amount comes to $1.370 trillion. Out of a total of $1.9 trillion

 

 

 

 

6 hours ago, placeholder said:

Really? Can you point to where? Maybe you shouldn't bother since I'm about to share some actual facts with you.

"On February 1, a group of 10 Republican lawmakers unveiled an alternative stimulus plan that would scale back the checks to $1,000 per adult and lower the income cap for receiving payment. That plan would cut the cost of a third stimulus check to $220 billion, compared with $600 billion under Mr. Biden's more generous package."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stimulus-check-1400-dollars-2021-02-03/

So that's $600 billion

The rest of the figures comes from this article

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/business/economy/biden-stimulus-plan.html

$170 billion for education funding to states due to decrease of tax revenue

$90 billion for small businesses

$350 billion for state, local, and territorial governments because of decreases in tax revenue

$160 billion for a national vaccination program, expanded testing, hiring of more health care workers, increased purchases of PPE

Also a temporary expended tax credit for childcare. I couldn't find the cost for that but I expect it would be substantial.

Also, increased funding for food stamps. Couldn't find figures for that either.

Still, even without those last 2 items the total amount comes to $1.370 trillion. Out of a total of $1.9 trillion

 

 

Much of that pork is non-directed.

 

It is money given out with a "cause" - in other words, we are giving money out because taxes are down (as businesses were closed) - that does not indicate the effect of the money (where it will be spent).

 

It's an interesting way to hide it - but bottom line is - lot's of people lost money and won't get it back. No reason the government OR the closed down education system needs that money to be made up. None at all. 

 

The other 600 billion in spending... well... you don't wonder why the NY Times isn't reporting it?

5 hours ago, pedro01 said:

 

Much of that pork is non-directed.

 

It is money given out with a "cause" - in other words, we are giving money out because taxes are down (as businesses were closed) - that does not indicate the effect of the money (where it will be spent).

 

It's an interesting way to hide it - but bottom line is - lot's of people lost money and won't get it back. No reason the government OR the closed down education system needs that money to be made up. None at all. 

 

The other 600 billion in spending... well... you don't wonder why the NY Times isn't reporting it?

Oh dear.

So lack education funding is ok, (related to Covid), as education is still occuring, teachers do not slaries, equipment is that what you are saying?

Businesses employ people post cvid and rperhaps require assistance?

Your rhetoric seems somewhat confused to me IMHO

 

6 hours ago, pedro01 said:

 

Much of that pork is non-directed.

 

It is money given out with a "cause" - in other words, we are giving money out because taxes are down (as businesses were closed) - that does not indicate the effect of the money (where it will be spent).

 

It's an interesting way to hide it - but bottom line is - lot's of people lost money and won't get it back. No reason the government OR the closed down education system needs that money to be made up. None at all. 

 

The other 600 billion in spending... well... you don't wonder why the NY Times isn't reporting it?

Really. So what are those state governments going to pay their teachers, firefighters, etc. with given that Covid has drastically cut their tax revenue?

As I pointed out, I couldn't get figures for a few of those programs. So it's dubious that the number is anything close to 600 billion. But you're the one who claimed those numbers were discussed elsewhere. So why the criticism of the New York Times? Please share those numbers with us.

It's a Covid 'Relief' bill and the virus has pretty much permeated every aspect of life.  We are all aware of the impact on hospitals and medical providers, but many don't realize that all those elective procedures that were canceled for long periods of time left a lot of people in the unemployment line.   

 

Early on, driving all but ceased for a time, that left those necessary gas taxes that go to road building and repair depleted.  Stores closing, of course, hit businesses hard, but the taxes collected also diminished.   

People were going hungry, kids weren't in school full-time, some families didn't have or couldn't afford internet.   

 

Alcohol consumption (and opioid use) increased.   Domestic violence increased significantly.   

It's going to take a lot of time and money to get out of this and we don't have any real assurances that it's anywhere near over.  We don't know if the variants are going to defeated by vaccine and we don't know how long immunity will last for the shot.  For all we know, we will need to be vaccinated two or three times a year.