Details of the Wuhan virus Congressional pork bill
With the Democrats in Congress retreating from their effort to stuff the fake COVID-19 stimulus bill with many provisions irrelevant to the virus, including many that would have helped them steal elections, the basic features of the new $2 trillion bill are now becoming clear.
Not surprisingly, it is filled with wonderful payoffs to big and small business, as well as the voters, all of which our federal government cannot afford, and all of which are sadly desperately needed by the citizenry because of the very bad policies the government imposed on the nation because of the virus.
- Big Businesses: About $500 billion can be used to back loans and assistance to companies, including $50 billion for loans to U.S. airlines, as well as state and local governments.
- Small Businesses: More than $350 billion to aid small businesses, including $10 billion in SBA grants of up to $10,000 for small business costs, and $17 billion for SBA to cover six months of payments for businesses with current SBA loans.
- Hospitals: A $150 billion boost for hospitals and other health-care providers for equipment and supplies.
- Individuals: Direct payments to lower- and middle-income Americans of $1,200 for each adult, as well as $500 for each child.
The bill has a number of restrictions on these payments, which on their face make sense. The problem however is that so far the numbers of people sick from COVID-19 simply do not justify this spending.
No matter. Chicken Little has won again. Common sense no longer exists.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
With the Democrats in Congress retreating from their effort to stuff the fake COVID-19 stimulus bill with many provisions irrelevant to the virus, including many that would have helped them steal elections, the basic features of the new $2 trillion bill are now becoming clear.
Not surprisingly, it is filled with wonderful payoffs to big and small business, as well as the voters, all of which our federal government cannot afford, and all of which are sadly desperately needed by the citizenry because of the very bad policies the government imposed on the nation because of the virus.
- Big Businesses: About $500 billion can be used to back loans and assistance to companies, including $50 billion for loans to U.S. airlines, as well as state and local governments.
- Small Businesses: More than $350 billion to aid small businesses, including $10 billion in SBA grants of up to $10,000 for small business costs, and $17 billion for SBA to cover six months of payments for businesses with current SBA loans.
- Hospitals: A $150 billion boost for hospitals and other health-care providers for equipment and supplies.
- Individuals: Direct payments to lower- and middle-income Americans of $1,200 for each adult, as well as $500 for each child.
The bill has a number of restrictions on these payments, which on their face make sense. The problem however is that so far the numbers of people sick from COVID-19 simply do not justify this spending.
No matter. Chicken Little has won again. Common sense no longer exists.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Yes….it IS ludicrous.
I’m just hoping that all that relief money blows through the economy so fast that it doesn’t become an inflation instigator.
And keep your fingers crossed for Easter.
Hmmm… Two trillion dollars is a bunch, about ten percent of GNP. But maybe it isn’t all that terrifying. Those direct payments to individuals, for instance, will cost at most under 400 billion bucks — that’s a run of the mill Republican tax cut these days. The 500 billion for big business loans is more imposing, but based on past experience this century, I expect the federal government will break even or even turn a middling profit in the end.
350 billion for small business is more iffy … but one can make an argument that as a society being crushed under the weight of giants like Amazon and Walmart that maybe we ought to be extending some aid to small businesses. We could debate that one for hours, Mr. Zimmerman, and maybe after we got past the right-vs-left cants of our initial arguments, we might find substantial agreement.
The 150 billion for hospital aid also makes some sense if we ignore ideology. It now seems abundantly clear that we’ve been cheese paring some parts of the medical system for years in our never ending battle to contain medical costs, and maybe we ought to allow for a little expansion. Certainly, if we’d been thinking about we were doing in the first place, we would NEVER have so blithely shipped away our drug and antibiotic production to foreign lands as we did!
Dealing with the corona-19 virus is like a war — the beginnings of a war. We’re taking some hard shots and suddenly realizing past mistakes, but we’ve still time and the capacity to deal with those difficulties. And the heart.
You’d think the loss of tax revenue alone would give government pause on shutting down business. I suppose it doesn’t matter so much when you can print money, The state’s don’t have that option, and I’m waiting for the several Legislatures to pass tax bills to ‘recover’ costs incurred.
The Leftist Democrat Socialists are incentivizing NOT working when this blows over, and it will blow over, probably in increments or by location. They are creating one giant government teat for the masses to suckle.
Then what !?
Bernie Sanders Socialist dream?
Trump MUST force the Democrats to his agenda and will and a rational escapable bill.
If they will not, then pass NOTHING.
And then point the finger where it belongs, right in Nancy, Chuck, and Bernie’s face until they garner the necessary pressure from the public that they will certainly get.
This is Trump’s wheel house, now lets play the game.
“…all of which are sadly desperately needed by the citizenry because of the very bad policies the government imposed on the nation because of the virus.”
RZ is exactly correct. Most of the extreme government response, unrelated specifically to hospitalization assistance, was unnecessary and extremely detrimental. Politicians and bureaucrats are famous for “breaking your leg, then giving you a crutch”.
We accept 30,000 to 60,000 (or more) influenza deaths per year (mostly in the elderly population, as now) without shutting down the economy and much needed job income and national productivity (eg food, energy, clothing, housing.) We (the government) are ruining ourselves for no proportional reason; just as food hoarding in the stores is completely meritless, driven by irrational fear and the selfishness of our despicable fellow citizens. It is amazing to see what has happened in only a month. Do not expect the best out of your fellow man, expect selfishness and inanity.
FEMA stockpiles some supplies in tornado areas.
I wonder if they stockpile supplies close to urban centers. Stuff like canned goods and MASH or portable medical units.
A few conex containers of inflatable tents and other non perishable medical supplies.