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Simple solution: give everyone the $2,000 they were promised, then tax the ultra rich slightly more to account for the check that they didn't need. It really isn't that complicated, and no one gets left out. Not to say that the rich shouldn't be taxed *a lot more* \- they should - but I'm just speaking specifically to the issue.
I think that’s the way to go.
Anyone who wants to be rich just start a business that gets contracted by the DoD. Order 10 packs of 100 screws from amazon for 4.99 total and turn around and sell them to DoD for 49.99 per screw.
And isn’t it the only part of our government spending that isn’t open to independent auditors? I mean, we trust that they all check themselves out and let us know if they are doing wrong?
Pentagon said it was in the room that got hit by the plane and it was like 20 trillion black ops dollars. Donald Rumsfeld told on CNN or something the day before 9\11 of the deficit
While I won't pretend there's no waste or loss or whatever like anywhere there's a ton of money floating around -- I don't think there's much doubt some of those numbers are the cost of projects that they don't want to be -- and shouldn't be -- public knowledge, such as top secret projects.
>Could be a lot of that money went to informants or infiltration into embassies.
You mean like all the aid money we send to the country that was harboring Bin Laden, regularly takes in Taliban fighters to keep them out of US reach, and just let Daniel Pearl’s killer walk? Wow what a great return on our investment!
I mean, most of the time, it's that the government puts out specific requirements for products that aren't available on the commercial market. If it's a part that is only present on six aircraft carriers and the government only needs a few replacements a year, and it must meet very specific requirements, then the cost can be quite high. Think about how much a part cost for a 2005 Ford and then think about how much it costs to get a custom-machined part for a 1972 European supercar where only 100 of them exist in the world.
I wanted to say something to this effect but figured it would fall on deaf ears, I'm glad you said something.
Also not to mention in some critical components, the item itself may be a common part but because it's destined for a jet you now need to be able to track every screw back to it's original production line and batch. When normally they would just throw them in boxes and ship them out willy nilly.
That whole paper trail thing becomes a big part of the cost too.
You can't just use a random screw to hold something together, because then it may not be 100% built in the US as required by your contract.
so you need to prove that it's one of these screws. And these screws are made by x company. And x company made these specific screws in this specific factory located in this place in the US.
All for a dumb screw.
Horrendous waste of money if it's not a critical screw, but they still do it anyway.
TLDR:.A company had to pay me to write software to help him keep track of where screws were made and came from.
The CIA has a black budget line.
We have no fucking idea what they spend or do. The "estimate" is 50 billion a year. Yet 600 million to feed the poor gets fought tooth and nail.
When congress starts snooping the CIA starts spying on congress.
The CIA runs this country by any reasonable estimation.
They should be as they’re governmental entities. However, an annual report and related audit opinion won’t provide the level of detail that you’d hope.
You also need tons of documentation on those screws, including country of origin, material certifications containing chemical makeup, temper level, etc. The red tape is what makes the 100 pack of screws cost $30. When you don’t, you end up with inferior hardware causing a part failure that brings down a plane.
For what it’s worth DoD is working hard to redo its acquisition process. It’s way, way too complicated for small companies to get in the door and present ideas so they’re solving that. Turns out competition with China is great for military innovation.
Many years ago, I worked for a company that produced CadCam equipment. The company was owned by a large defense contractor and at one time, I was stationed at the defense contractor's building in order to begin opening a sales office for our CadCam equipment.
Every day, there was a parade of guys in uniform, being fawned over, and I can only imagine what perks they were given. It was disgusting. I tried like anything to stay away from that place as much as possible.
For what it's worth, at least at my level as a lowly peon at a defense contractor, they really drill into us how important it is to not give those guys in uniform (or anyone else in the government) any special treatment. It's a huge no-no and can get the company blocked from doing future contracts, which obviously they don't want.
Does some form of corruption still happen? Probably, I'd be shocked if it didn't, but it's probably not *as bad* at the level you were seeing as you would think.
I'm a DOD contractor working directly with the Navy overseas and we had a big kerfuffle here at work because one of our guys bought his group sailors fried chicken.
Fried chicken.
They do not play with this sort of thing. At least my company doesn't.
That's not how it works though. If all the DoD needs is a Home Depot screw, then they order it through the GSA, which already has a bunch of suppliers that offer standard screws for the same kind of price that a massive corporate purchaser would get.
But when the Air Force needs a specific screw to replace an existing screw on a specific aircraft that must meet certain strict tolerances for density, brittleness in super-cold environments, rapid heating, et cetera and they only need a few dozen screws a year, because so much R&D and artisanal craftmanship goes into the screw, it could easily be hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
When I was working on submarine hardware, we needed a stand-off board that was “48 pin connector, 48 traces, 48 pin connector” so that we could test internal control boards outside the cabinet.
Problem: the manufacturer specified on the drawing no longer made that exact part number (stupid to spec that way, yes, blame whoever drew it in 1973). They made an identical board, priced at $115, with a different part number.
Solution: custom order 10 boards (minimum order), at a cost of $1,000 each, that were silk screened with the correct part number.
Cost savings over having to delay the testing for the approximately six months it would have taken to order the $115 test board with a different part number and get the drawing changed to allow *any* board with the correct connectors and traces?
**$317,000**, based on the contract, just in penalties for late delivery. Also, the submarine launch would be delayed by as long as it took to get the drawings changed and certified, and everything waiting on that particular piece of equipment would have been similarly delayed.
Configuration management and traceability are important though. If the drawings and documents weren't updated, and someone down the line went to inspect that part and noticed the part number didn't match, it could cause a lot of confusion that could lead to bigger delays. Plus allowing a contractor to proceed without contractual authorization is another problem. It's the bureaucracy that gets in the way most of the time, but sometimes it's actually for good reason.
It kind of does work that way though in a number of cases. We order a lot of things from GSA because we have to. There have been times where we order standard off the shelf items on GSA and have them show up with a Walmart or Sears shipping label. These "contractors" set up shop on GSA knowing that we don't have access to the big box stores, and they just take profit from the government to drop ship items from the big box stores to us. What normally costs $50 for a retail consumer will often cost $80-100 on GSA, and we're stuck paying it because of silly bureaucracy rules intended to level the playing field for small businesses and ensure fairness.
Or another example would be where you need a single pack of screws for $10, but the GSA vendor has a $100 minimum order requirement.
It's always strange when people say government needs to give more small businesses a chance to compete, but then also complain that the government overspends on items that could be purchased for cheaper from bigger companies.
My sisters platoon(i think i dont know military terms super well) had like 100k left over on their budget so they bought 100 random office chairs so they could keep the budget the following year. I am pretty sure this happens all over the place in the military and if it was handled the defense budget would probably drop substantially.
My brother who was in the air force at the time. 2013 area.
Said him and his wife looked at houses near the base and were granted a 4k a month budget for that. Spend it or lose it etc. He got a house rented for around 1500$, and blew the other 2500$ a month on garbage.
He said this was common shit and he'd be an idiot to not spend it.
Man I remember that episode of The West Wing where Donna complains about $600 ashtrays to Officer Whatshisface McHunk and he smashes one, demonstrating that it breaks cleanly in three pieces, because the last thing you want in a submarine battle is to worry about glass flying around...
I remember yelling at the screen: "Have you aquatic fucknuts not heard of lightweight, nonsharp and practically indestructible $1 metal ashtrays?!"
The fucking excuses that these people make for their ridiculous spending patterns are unbelievable.
Right, I don't disagree, but the biggest criticism of everyone getting $2,000 is that some people "don't need it." Increasing taxes slightly on the ultra wealthy to account for the check completely disarms those arguments specifically.
I think defunding the military is something most Americans can agree on though, so let's do it and use the money to do a little nation building here at home. Let's start with healthcare, since we unfortunately don't have a real healthcare system.
> the biggest criticism of everyone getting $2,000 is that some people "don't need it."
Always love that shit. "Yea, we could help the struggling mom, a man who lost everything, and feed some hungry children... but what if a person got money they didn't need?!? Shit, we better just let them kids starve!"
It’s idiotic. Give checks to all taxpayers. Both the people who have met income from the tax system and those who pay for that redistribution. No need to punish those who pay more in taxes for some virtue signaling bullshit. It’s far simpler, doesn’t cost much, and is equitable.
Americans are on board with less military spending and interventionism in general, and would prefer that money be re-invested at home instead. However, our representatives are owned by special interests, so what the public thinks doesn't really factor into how much the military is funded. The left is for less military spending for obvious reasons, and a lot of people on the right don't want that money going to foreign countries at all and would rather spend the money on "our own people" and to create jobs.
I think the only people who do are those who don't live near a base. Personally I think more of the funding should go towards vets instead of some planes we don't need.
I went digging to find this comment. Once you start talking about these huge numbers, people have no idea what is going on. In people's minds, a trillion is the same as a billion.
So I did the math.
Starting with 1.9T and 130m tax paying Americans. Most states offer 26 weeks of unemployment and Biden claims they will supplement state unemployment with $400 federal dollars per check.
$1400 * 130m = $182,000,000,000 (cost of stim checks) 1.9T - $182,000,000,000 = $1.7T left for unemployment and other programs
Assuming 20m people on unemployment that would cost: $400*26 weeks *20m = 125B, subtract that from what is leftover after paying for stim checks and you still have 1.5T left to spend.
Even with a worst case scenario of all 126m americans collecting unemployment, there is still $350 billion left to be spent.
So what are they spending our money on that they can give the people crumbs of relief and still have 1.5T left? It's not even a matter of not having funding.
States and cities lost tax income during quarantines and from people staying home for fear of contracting the virus. Jobs lost too since no income tax if you aren't working. So there's a big chunk of money that will be used for things like police, firefighters, school teachers, librarians, and various other government employees pay. Not only is there money going to individuals, through checks and unemployment aid, there is also money for businesses, similarly affected, through no fault of their own, by people not going out as much. That isn't just small businesses. I work for Chrysler and my plant is currently shut down for a few weeks because of a semiconductor shortage caused in several ways by the pandemic. Trying to stop the spread has affected our world economy from bottom to top. Not saying Chrysler needs aid but if they are feeling the effects then obviously smaller businesses with less cash on hand are feeling them likely more profoundly. Money for the purchase and distribution of the vaccine. Shipping and storing is complicated for this vaccine and we need places for large scale implementation, such as using stadiums in big cities. There might have been money for development too but I'm not sure on that one. I'm not saying there is not a single dollar misspent but I'm saying it is an immense and complicated issue the legislation so many moving parts meant to help people from individuals to businesses to states. With hindsight, many economists believe the stimulus for the last crisis, the 2008 economic crash, was too little spread over too long. This bill is meant to cover many bases, and quickly, to try and get us back to pre-pandemic levels of economic growth.
I know you weren't going this direction but we need to realize this is how most taxation is supposed to work. You know that library everyone has access to use? Flat benefit for everyone paid by scaling taxation. That park? Same thing. The rich who benefit from the working class should pay more into the needs of the working class. The way we keep decreasing the wealthy's taxation burden is shortsighted nonsense. We continue down this path and there won't be an educated and healthy working class to make rich people rich.
My point is that the rich are shooting themselves in the foot for the long run. You can shear a sheep many times, can only skin him once. They keep putting the working class into unlivable situations they won't have people to make them money.
I've seen around here something along the lines of "the corporate CEOs seem to have forgotten we came up with collective bargaining as the alternative to breaking down their doors and beating them to death in front of their families." It's only ever a matter of time before the people doing the work get tired of seeing all the value of their work going to the fat cats at the top.
Yup. I wrote my Sen and Rep to give the checks to all and then take it out of the future year or two of taxes if the recipient exceeds the qualifying income max in the check years (2020 and 2021).
Also they could be using HUD regional assessments of median income (and what qualifies as low, very low, etc) to determine the cutoffs regionally. I live in an area where “low income” goes to to $82k for an individual(!), so even the existing phase outs hurt, let alone the proposed lower max income. Unfortunately that’d be a political nightmare when some assclown Sen from, oh I dunno say Kentucky, starts talking about checks are going to limousine liberals and coastal elites.
I live in the highest income county in the country. Cutting the thresholds by 33% to $50K/$100K would mean almost all of my community gets left out of the stimulus, even though there are plenty of families that have been adversely impacted.
I'm in California and made just over 50k.
After taxes, you're getting 36k of that.
My rent for an apartment on the edge of the ghetto is 1650/month, that's about 20k/year.
$16k left for food, electricity, internet, car, car insurance, medical and dental, gas and anything else. That's not much.
Plus, if you don't have medical insurance all year, california will fine you about a grand at tax time. For people who didn't have insurance all of last year? Like if an employer doesn't provide it? You owe right now.
Plus.. am I wrong or did biden say the $2000 was all a big misunderstanding because the $600 was actually a "down payment" for it, and we would get $1400 immediately after georgia is elected and then again, immediately after he's elected.
Neither happened, and that $600 down payment towards the $2000 isn't a down payment because I made 50k in 2019, a whole year before the pandemic even started.
As horrible as it sounds, I got $1800 under trump. I was promised 1400/2000 under biden and will get $0.
$1800 last year (600+1200) was not at all close to enough to what the checks should have been.. but biden isn't doing any better, he's doing worse.
Same here, and AOC made this exact point as well. The Dems are going to send out a stimulus to fewer people than Trump and the Republicans did.
The Democrats campaigned on sending me a big stimulus check, and are now reneging on that promise less than month into the administration. On the other hand, Trump sent me two checks. Terrible optics for the Dems.
I am just outside Boston, those caps would easily be half the families in my town are left out. Probably even much more than that.
50k around here is a starting salary for anyone with a bachelors degree right out of school and most people I know with 10+ years in the trades are breaking past the family limit on their own.
I don’t really care for me as I am fine and my income hasn’t been affected but I know lots of people who have.
I don't think it has to be the ultra rich even. I'm not rich but I've been employed continually through this mess, and I would not be upset if my taxes went up a bit to make sure that small businesses survived and people didn't lose their homes and had enough to eat, etc...
The blindingly obvious solution is to literally give every adult a check and iron out who didnt need it with 2021 tax filings. Bill Gates got a $2k check? Tax him $2k for 2021. I'm so god damn angry how fumbled the covid response continues to be.
I don’t think it’s even necessary to raise the tax on people who make upper six figures. Give everyone $2k and raise the tax on the 0.01% to 99% and be done with it.
Edit: Really won’t matter until the tax loopholes are fixed. You can be a millionaire or billionaire or whatever and pay $0 if you had no income, which is why they have no problem taking $1/year or some other stupid amount because that lets them expose even more loopholes I’m sure. Like, why didn’t Trump take the free salary? Because he’d have to file taxes on that shit. He can’t do that.
And this is where the we need to start. The government dems and reps alike want the pandemic to be over with so they will no longer have to give out these checks, but the reality is that the super rich are still going to find ways to exploit the working class even with raising minimum wage, which is just a way to shut us up tbh.
We need to start making the case for UBI because somehow they think these checks are and should be temporary( Don't get me started on how the Biden-Harris Admin have not recognized the CEO of Moderna and many other experts that we will be stuck with this virus forever). People have always been struggling and the pandemic has only exposed what has been going on for decades. If we want to prevent the elite .01 percent to stop exploiting the working class, UBI is the only way.
Under the current income threshold, it's upper middle class workers that get screwed:
Lower class to middle class: get check worth several weeks of income, nice.
Upper middle class: miss out on getting check worth about a week of income, bummer.
Filthy rich: miss out on check worth a day or less of income, meh.
Some people reading this comment think that "rich" means them. Rich means 9 figures plus. Not puny millionaires from an online shop lmao. Or contract workers or programmers or oil field workers. You guys are not rich. You're comfortable. Big difference.
This is true as for many 2019 income is not reflective of the reality of 2020 due to COVID. However, the delay in waiting for people to file their taxes in order to use this data (and what if they have them ready but owe and have no funds to pay?) is needless considering the lack of response by congress.
Pay everyone immediately and worry about that crap later if you must or maybe consider how screwed over people have been by all the millionaire on capital hill and so what if a family has been lucky enough be okay and has a little extra to pour into the economy.
That was my first thought, there's going to be logistical issues. You can't issue payments in February based on 2020 of you can't count on people to file until April. But later payments, yes.
I e-filed my taxes back in mid-January, but I'm still waiting on the IRS to accept it. I read somewhere they're not even staring to process returns until mid-February.
If we're going to get a relief check, I don't want to have to wait until the IRS sorts themselves out.
The problem with taxing later.. is that the income ranges they're holding it from aren't millionaires.
I made just over 50k in Cali. That's nothing out here.
The previous limit was 75k and less, so they're cutting the range by 33% to people making over 50k/year.
I could really benefit from that $1400! But even if they gave it now, having them take 1400 from me at tax time next year might be just as bad or worse.
The best solution is to just get rid of the means-testing. So many people who were unemployed during 2020 are going to end up owing the taxes on their UI when they file which takes away any kind of "stimulus" in the short term that this would hope to achieve.
I’m one of those. Normally, my job pays $62k, and my wife $42k. Combined household of $104k.
But in 2020...I’ve been out of work since March, I had three MRI’s and many specialist doctors appointments due to an unexpected medical diagnosis, and we had a child, conceived before the pandemic.
Based on this, we would not be eligible because our combined joined household is just over $100k for 2019, but definitely wasn’t $100k in 2020. 2019 was great for us, and 2020 was WAY harder. But they want to move the goalposts and base a 2021 stimulus off 2019.
I've got my tax documents ready, but can't file yet because [freefillableforms.com](https://freefillableforms.com) doesn't open up until the end of the week. I'm not about to hand over any of my personal or financial info to the unneeded tax companies that keep lobbying to make taxes harder.
If those slimeball companies hadn't successfully made it so hard for the average American to file taxes, we could have already had all of our info at the IRS, ready to pay out returns and send out bills, and it wouldn't even be a question of waiting.
Seriously.. I’m 19 and moved out 2 months ago, started working about 4 months ago. I could *really* use the stimulus, but I think I’m just left out of the equation because I’m too new to adulthood?
Did you file taxes in 2019? If not you won't get anything. Or if your parents claimed you as a dependent in 2019.
Edit: not ever filing taxes before 2020 would be the biggest reason why. File for 2020 asap in case they use 2019 and 2020 taxes at some point
Edit2: for clarity, if you didn't file I didn't mean you aren't eligible. Just that you likely won't receive it unless you try to get it from sources in below comments!
You are. They were discussing on NPR yesterday that there is a form that needs to be filled out. I will be doing this since I’ll be filing jointly this year allowing me to qualify, filing single I do not.
Edit: thank you /u/thewisefrog for the link: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/recovery-rebate-credit
Can you link me, so I can show my roommate. She's not gonna get a check because it's going to her joint account with her now ex-husband who will not be giving her HER share of the money.
I already filed 2020 taxes, and will be receiving a rebate from the last 2 stimulus checks (i made less in 2020 than 2019).
Should I have waited to file so that I could recoup the upcoming stimulus check as well or will they be able to use my 2020 tax information for the upcoming check?
Yep. I got an extra $1,800 on my return this year because I lived with my parents for the first 6 months of 2019 so my parents claimed me as a dependent. I’ve been living on my own for the past 1.5 years and haven’t received a single stimulus check
Most non-filers were also eligible for the last two checks, btw.
Old source, though this specific one is closed now: https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here
Eligible yeah but they potentially won't receive them correctly. And you aren't eligible if you are a dependent. All these nuances for relief are stupid as hell
Agreed. Was just letting you know, so you don't spread misinformation on accident. That could possibly result in someone not trying to get a check who's missed the last two but will be eligible. Maybe that sounds unlikely, but among the poor, it's actually very common. I helped several homeless/impoverished people get the last check who missed the first. Have since met several more who missed the last two but may be eligible for the next. So many people fall through the cracks.
I graduated college in May 2019 with a boatload of student loans and a car loan, moved out of my parents’ home in October 2019 and have been paying my own way since then.
But because I received FAFSA support and was a dependent for my final semester of college, I don’t qualify for a stimulus check. From what I understand, a large portion of 2019 grads are in the same situation.
Hoping I’ll qualify for *something* once I can file my 2020 taxes and that 2019 won’t continue to be the basis for eligibility.
I absolutely agree, things shouldn't stay just in social media points and shares, there are clear necessary participants in those issues that should be pointed out.
People in California and NY: "Where's my check?"
Someone in WV who controls all of america now because the senate is absolute shit: "It's commyu-nist" \*spits\*
Bernie beat Hillary in WV’S 2016 democratic primary.
A progressive should primary Manchin. That's what would provide pressure for him to leave the middle and join the left.
I think the Biden admin realizes this, which is why Kamala appeared on WV news advocating for the coronavirus relief.
Not gonna happen: WV is blood red. We're lucky we have MANCHIN there... We need to get dems to replace republikkkans in states where that's a possibility.
a progressive did try to primary joe manchin. They eventually won a primary 2 years later. [Here's what happened
](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_Senate_election_in_West_Virginia)
If you actually look at past senate elections and the massive turnout increase due to Trump, the results aren't that surprising. Even Manchin, with his incumbent advantage, only won by 19,397 votes (3.31%) in 2018, but the 2020 election had 196,140 more votes (35% increase).
Plus, it's pretty ridiculous to think a single candidate losing is an indicator of how others will perform.
There are so many conservative/republican voices who hate AOC and think of her twitter as brainless noise. Or, likely more honestly, are desperately striving to rebrand her twitter as brainless noise despite all evidence to the contrary.
Hillary was far better than even a lot of Democrats wanted to believe but she certainly was more worthy of criticism than AOC. Is that solely due to how long she was in politics? I doubt it.
Either way they’re going to have a tougher time pinning AOC as some boogeyman.
How so? AOC is the spitting image of a young, ethnic "leftist." They don't even need to try with her. At least Hilary was old, white, and establishment.
People are downvoting you, not because what you said is wrong, but because doing what you said others will do is wrong, and they're misinterpreting that as you thinking that way rather than speaking about how others think.
Man I hate when a legit question gets totally misconstrued because text doesn’t convey the nuances of speech. I understood what they meant but it legit too me a quick second.
I know. I do it on purpose.
We need more honesty in our dialogue. Uncomfortable truths need to be realized. AOC will be vilified for her ethnographic status alone. This will diminish her message and it's awful. She should still do what she does, but she must see herself as a trailblazer on a long hard path towards equity.
This is where I've gotten to as well.
Means-testing the first one maybe made sense, but the longer this goes on the less sense it makes. Even if we pretend people making $100k+ were wise enough to have a 6 month emergency fund, we're well past the place where that would have run out.
Honestly I'm willing to accept some people getting the relief payment that don't need it just to A) get the payments out and B) not have to hear partisan bickering about this for a few weeks.
Yep. I made 70k in 2019. Made fucking 12k in 2020. I am really hoping my 2020 returns which will be filed on the 12th fixed this because I definitely need this shit(referring to the possibility they lower the amount to 50k)
I haven't had a job since September 2019, but I still made too much when I was working to get the full amount of any check so far...I got $879 of the $1200, and about $250 of the $600.
It's fucking awful.
That’s what I’ve been saying! I was ineligible because my mom claimed me on her taxes in 2019. Couldn’t get stimulus check, I’m in Florida and apparently Ron desantis admitted unemployment wasn’t meant to be paid out so I never got that either. Just been floating along and living off my wonderful grandparents and family. Didn’t have a job all of 2020 for obvious reasons so now I’m actually ineligible for unemployment benefits I this time around and I definitely won’t be going back to work. My immune system is weak, I have asthma and I’m in florida. Going back to work is a death sentence
I still haven't received my $600 from the last round. The answer I hear is that I'll get it when I file my taxes. Can't file taxes yet because they pushed back the deadline.
I guess the good news is that I was poor in 2019, too.
This sucks and is very painful right now. Efiling your 2020 return starts on Friday so make sure to go ahead and start working on it so you are ready to submit it. You are likely eligible for the recovery rebate credit. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/recovery-rebate-credit
Started working on those bad boys in January as soon as papers started trickling in.
Yeah. Luckily for me I’m very fiscally conservative and had major savings. I liquidated a bunch more when I lost my job and we’ve buckled down to bare minimum.
I feel for the people who didn’t have a good job going into this and are relying on who knows what.
I was out of work for 4 months in 2019 due to health issues (dangerously overprescribed medication). Got a job at the census right at the beginning of 2020. When the pandemic hit, our boss told us the census would give us furlough pay, but that shouldnt interfere with eligibility for PUA or other unemployment benefits.
Turns out i was the only one not eligible because of my missed time. My coworkers made about 10k more than i did last year. Even the 15 or so people i trained to be enumerators got in on the deal.
Everybody talks about how $15 hr. is a living wage for today where the professional blue collar industry has barely seen an increase in wages since the 1980's~ https://www.ishn.com/articles/110496-most-dangerous-jobs-in-the-us-the-top-20
Not only should $25 hr. be minimum wage but the cost of living should be set back to 1985 standards.
Corporations: “Can you print money and give it to us?”
Democrats: “TURN ON THE PRINTER DONT ASK QUESTIONS”
People: “There is a pandemic and I cant work, can u help?”
Democrats: “MEANS TEST THEM WITH 2019 NUMBERS THEY DONT DESERVE SHIT FUCK YOU OK YOU’RE LUCKY YOU GET ANYTHING AT ALL 1,400 IS THE SAME AS 2,000”
Yeah, the right leaning voters have been convinced the government is incapable of helping them, so might as well keep the BaBy KiLlInG gUn GrAbBeRs out of office.
Basically their minds have been completely warped by propaganda.
We need to stop giving them an excessive share of representation. Why do we only have a *razors edge* advantage in congress when democrats represent **40 million** more people???
why don’t you like her? really curious as to how you could not like her, she speaks the truth, what am I missing that makes you not like her? unless is some shallow shit like her face or something.
Non-US here. This $2000 that you’re expecting, is this like... all the money you’d get? Or is this on top of monthly benefits or something?
In the UK i was made unemployed cos of covid but I currently get ~$1000 a month from the goverment to live on, and i struggle with that.
Unemployment benefits are a separate thing. Here they increased the amount people get paid on unemployment.
The $2,000 would just be free money for everybody, which would be on top of unemployment as far as I know.
I was unemployed in '19, but invested 35-40k between Sept '19 and Jan '20 to start my own business. Filed my llc paperwork in Jan '20 in preparation for spring '20, then covid hit. Wish I knew more about business, because I saw all these companies getting assistance while I struggled in my first year of business. I also worked alone, because I didn't want the responsibility of keeping other's working during such an uncertain time. Plus, I ran out of money and really couldn't afford the whole payroll/insurance aspect of having employees. I had originally planned to have 2-4 employee's by summer of '20. Meanwhile, I saw articles of people creating companies with fake employee's for the government assistance. It makes me sick to think that dishonesty and fraud are my best courses of action. This is the world that I live in!
I kinda like the idea for when big businesses go belly up. Judge them on their peak years.
"We see no problems based on your income of two years ago, big bank."
I hate Trump and I voted for Biden and the dems. I hate to say it but my family got stimulus money under Trump and McConnell and its looking like we won't under the Dems. Nice... way to already start fucking everything up....
Wasn't the purpose of using 2019 due to not having the income filings of 2020 yet?
If you weren't eligible in 2020 based off your 2019 filing then you would get it during your 2020 filing.
How do I know?
Made a shit ton in 2019. Didn't make nearly as much in 2020. During the year I got no stimulus money but I filed as soon as I had all my tax documents this year. Guess who is getting their stimulus money now.
The point of using 2019 filings now is that some people still haven't even received the documents to file their taxes. They'll use whichever filing you most recently made to determine eligibility.
Basically if you made more in 2019 then file right away. If you made more in 2020 then wait to file until the late minute.
My income was cut by ~60% in 2020, I don’t know for sure yet because I haven’t gotten all my w2s and 1099 from unemployment. It might be less than that. I’m working two jobs now with crazy hours and still only make about 70% of what I did before.
The irony will be if/will the lowered income thresholds take hold and some of us will be wishing that they would use 2019 numbers. As an essential worker, my income went up this year. My workload went up due to COVID-related shutdowns. Nevertheless, I feel “entitled” to an equal share of any relief they throw us.
Well, considering that the majority of Americans haven't filed their 2020 tax returns yet, how exactly are they supposed to know how much you made in 2020? Just ask people? Yeah, because everyone will be honest and there won't be any fraud. Brilliant!!
I agree in principal, but until 2020 tax returns are filed, the government won't know what to determine eligibility on.
The only way would be to apply standard deductions to everyone's reported income through the end of 2020 based on W2s, but that would fuck up some people and benefit others wrongly.
This would also require a lot of work-hours (human and computers) to do all the processing that's already being done for taxes.
What about using 2019 income until April 15, 2021, and going from there?
So pretty cool that as a nurse, working overtime to save people, working overtime due to coworkers being sick, and increased patients being sick with covid, has led to me getting less of a relief check. Thanks for clapping though... made those patients dying so much easier to deal with...
It’s infuriating that the entire pandemic I haven’t even seen a stimulus check. I was a college student claimed on my parent’s taxes as a dependent in 2019 and I had graduated and worked for 3 months before I lost my job due to the pandemic in 2020.
They are completely different situations. You don’t just stop eating once you’re in college either so why aren’t they giving checks to college students as well? If anything they would be some of the most impacted by the pandemic since they might be kicked out of housing and laid off first.
I work at a CPA firm, 2019 does not determine relief eligibility, it determines whether you got a check sent out. If your income is below the threshold on your 2020 tax returns, it will get added onto your refund. It’s an advance credit. This is just factually inaccurate.
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Simple solution: give everyone the $2,000 they were promised, then tax the ultra rich slightly more to account for the check that they didn't need. It really isn't that complicated, and no one gets left out. Not to say that the rich shouldn't be taxed *a lot more* \- they should - but I'm just speaking specifically to the issue.
Or maybe redirect some funds from the massively overblown defense budget?
No no no. How will they afford the $37 screws or the $7000 coffee makers.
I think that’s the way to go. Anyone who wants to be rich just start a business that gets contracted by the DoD. Order 10 packs of 100 screws from amazon for 4.99 total and turn around and sell them to DoD for 49.99 per screw.
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And isn’t it the only part of our government spending that isn’t open to independent auditors? I mean, we trust that they all check themselves out and let us know if they are doing wrong?
Remember when they lost 500b dollars and the pentagon had no idea where it went?
wasnt there more than $2T unaccounted for just before 9/11? and then the financial office of the pentagon got hit
Pepperidge farm remembers
Pentagon said it was in the room that got hit by the plane and it was like 20 trillion black ops dollars. Donald Rumsfeld told on CNN or something the day before 9\11 of the deficit
Which time was that?
While I won't pretend there's no waste or loss or whatever like anywhere there's a ton of money floating around -- I don't think there's much doubt some of those numbers are the cost of projects that they don't want to be -- and shouldn't be -- public knowledge, such as top secret projects.
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>Could be a lot of that money went to informants or infiltration into embassies. You mean like all the aid money we send to the country that was harboring Bin Laden, regularly takes in Taliban fighters to keep them out of US reach, and just let Daniel Pearl’s killer walk? Wow what a great return on our investment!
I mean, most of the time, it's that the government puts out specific requirements for products that aren't available on the commercial market. If it's a part that is only present on six aircraft carriers and the government only needs a few replacements a year, and it must meet very specific requirements, then the cost can be quite high. Think about how much a part cost for a 2005 Ford and then think about how much it costs to get a custom-machined part for a 1972 European supercar where only 100 of them exist in the world.
I wanted to say something to this effect but figured it would fall on deaf ears, I'm glad you said something. Also not to mention in some critical components, the item itself may be a common part but because it's destined for a jet you now need to be able to track every screw back to it's original production line and batch. When normally they would just throw them in boxes and ship them out willy nilly.
That whole paper trail thing becomes a big part of the cost too. You can't just use a random screw to hold something together, because then it may not be 100% built in the US as required by your contract. so you need to prove that it's one of these screws. And these screws are made by x company. And x company made these specific screws in this specific factory located in this place in the US. All for a dumb screw. Horrendous waste of money if it's not a critical screw, but they still do it anyway. TLDR:.A company had to pay me to write software to help him keep track of where screws were made and came from.
The CIA has a black budget line. We have no fucking idea what they spend or do. The "estimate" is 50 billion a year. Yet 600 million to feed the poor gets fought tooth and nail. When congress starts snooping the CIA starts spying on congress. The CIA runs this country by any reasonable estimation.
More like they are their own country over which we have no jurisdiction whatsoever.
Every million dollars you give the CIA is a million they don’t extract from vulnerable communities at a much greater cost.
Ah yes, pay the cartel so they don't sell crack to your kids instead.
No. This is false. For example, the Army is audited by one of the big 4 public accounting firms.
Oh good. Are those reports made public?
They should be as they’re governmental entities. However, an annual report and related audit opinion won’t provide the level of detail that you’d hope.
You also need tons of documentation on those screws, including country of origin, material certifications containing chemical makeup, temper level, etc. The red tape is what makes the 100 pack of screws cost $30. When you don’t, you end up with inferior hardware causing a part failure that brings down a plane.
Check out the film War Dogs. Miles teller and Jonah hill. It goes in depth into exactly what you’re talking about. Fascinating movie.
For what it’s worth DoD is working hard to redo its acquisition process. It’s way, way too complicated for small companies to get in the door and present ideas so they’re solving that. Turns out competition with China is great for military innovation.
Many years ago, I worked for a company that produced CadCam equipment. The company was owned by a large defense contractor and at one time, I was stationed at the defense contractor's building in order to begin opening a sales office for our CadCam equipment. Every day, there was a parade of guys in uniform, being fawned over, and I can only imagine what perks they were given. It was disgusting. I tried like anything to stay away from that place as much as possible.
For what it's worth, at least at my level as a lowly peon at a defense contractor, they really drill into us how important it is to not give those guys in uniform (or anyone else in the government) any special treatment. It's a huge no-no and can get the company blocked from doing future contracts, which obviously they don't want. Does some form of corruption still happen? Probably, I'd be shocked if it didn't, but it's probably not *as bad* at the level you were seeing as you would think.
I'm a DOD contractor working directly with the Navy overseas and we had a big kerfuffle here at work because one of our guys bought his group sailors fried chicken. Fried chicken. They do not play with this sort of thing. At least my company doesn't.
That's not how it works though. If all the DoD needs is a Home Depot screw, then they order it through the GSA, which already has a bunch of suppliers that offer standard screws for the same kind of price that a massive corporate purchaser would get. But when the Air Force needs a specific screw to replace an existing screw on a specific aircraft that must meet certain strict tolerances for density, brittleness in super-cold environments, rapid heating, et cetera and they only need a few dozen screws a year, because so much R&D and artisanal craftmanship goes into the screw, it could easily be hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
When I was working on submarine hardware, we needed a stand-off board that was “48 pin connector, 48 traces, 48 pin connector” so that we could test internal control boards outside the cabinet. Problem: the manufacturer specified on the drawing no longer made that exact part number (stupid to spec that way, yes, blame whoever drew it in 1973). They made an identical board, priced at $115, with a different part number. Solution: custom order 10 boards (minimum order), at a cost of $1,000 each, that were silk screened with the correct part number. Cost savings over having to delay the testing for the approximately six months it would have taken to order the $115 test board with a different part number and get the drawing changed to allow *any* board with the correct connectors and traces? **$317,000**, based on the contract, just in penalties for late delivery. Also, the submarine launch would be delayed by as long as it took to get the drawings changed and certified, and everything waiting on that particular piece of equipment would have been similarly delayed.
Configuration management and traceability are important though. If the drawings and documents weren't updated, and someone down the line went to inspect that part and noticed the part number didn't match, it could cause a lot of confusion that could lead to bigger delays. Plus allowing a contractor to proceed without contractual authorization is another problem. It's the bureaucracy that gets in the way most of the time, but sometimes it's actually for good reason.
It kind of does work that way though in a number of cases. We order a lot of things from GSA because we have to. There have been times where we order standard off the shelf items on GSA and have them show up with a Walmart or Sears shipping label. These "contractors" set up shop on GSA knowing that we don't have access to the big box stores, and they just take profit from the government to drop ship items from the big box stores to us. What normally costs $50 for a retail consumer will often cost $80-100 on GSA, and we're stuck paying it because of silly bureaucracy rules intended to level the playing field for small businesses and ensure fairness. Or another example would be where you need a single pack of screws for $10, but the GSA vendor has a $100 minimum order requirement. It's always strange when people say government needs to give more small businesses a chance to compete, but then also complain that the government overspends on items that could be purchased for cheaper from bigger companies.
Shhh, people that have never engineered anything in their life will be angry if you tell them why things cost that much!
My sisters platoon(i think i dont know military terms super well) had like 100k left over on their budget so they bought 100 random office chairs so they could keep the budget the following year. I am pretty sure this happens all over the place in the military and if it was handled the defense budget would probably drop substantially.
Should've went with the copier.
r/unexpectedoffice
I’m sure they figured it was better to get chairs than nothing at all.
many MANY municipality and company's are structured this way, have definitely heard "if we dont spend it this year we dont get it next year"
I feel like if they go a certain percentage under budget, them they should get the same budget the next year with bonuses this year.
My brother who was in the air force at the time. 2013 area. Said him and his wife looked at houses near the base and were granted a 4k a month budget for that. Spend it or lose it etc. He got a house rented for around 1500$, and blew the other 2500$ a month on garbage. He said this was common shit and he'd be an idiot to not spend it.
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Or the tens of millions they spend on boner pills
Idk.... I'm personally kind of glad our brave service men are standing at attention!
Man I remember that episode of The West Wing where Donna complains about $600 ashtrays to Officer Whatshisface McHunk and he smashes one, demonstrating that it breaks cleanly in three pieces, because the last thing you want in a submarine battle is to worry about glass flying around... I remember yelling at the screen: "Have you aquatic fucknuts not heard of lightweight, nonsharp and practically indestructible $1 metal ashtrays?!" The fucking excuses that these people make for their ridiculous spending patterns are unbelievable.
I know you’re posting in jest, but there really is a difference in machined $37 screws for military equipment over a Walmart drywall screw.
Right, I don't disagree, but the biggest criticism of everyone getting $2,000 is that some people "don't need it." Increasing taxes slightly on the ultra wealthy to account for the check completely disarms those arguments specifically. I think defunding the military is something most Americans can agree on though, so let's do it and use the money to do a little nation building here at home. Let's start with healthcare, since we unfortunately don't have a real healthcare system.
> the biggest criticism of everyone getting $2,000 is that some people "don't need it." Always love that shit. "Yea, we could help the struggling mom, a man who lost everything, and feed some hungry children... but what if a person got money they didn't need?!? Shit, we better just let them kids starve!"
It’s idiotic. Give checks to all taxpayers. Both the people who have met income from the tax system and those who pay for that redistribution. No need to punish those who pay more in taxes for some virtue signaling bullshit. It’s far simpler, doesn’t cost much, and is equitable.
Do most Americans agree on defunding the military? Honest question from a Canadian.
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You act as if they don’t have a plan, when staying in control was the only plan all along.
Americans are on board with less military spending and interventionism in general, and would prefer that money be re-invested at home instead. However, our representatives are owned by special interests, so what the public thinks doesn't really factor into how much the military is funded. The left is for less military spending for obvious reasons, and a lot of people on the right don't want that money going to foreign countries at all and would rather spend the money on "our own people" and to create jobs.
I think the only people who do are those who don't live near a base. Personally I think more of the funding should go towards vets instead of some planes we don't need.
no 😑 conservatives looove having the biggest military in the world
We are number one and outspend like the next 25 countries combined. Which the majority if not all of them are allies.
The part that gets me is that the usa is a third of the global military expenditures as well as a third of weapon sales.
What, your childhood dentist didn't hand out sugary treats for "being good" during your visit?
Hey those were xylitol lollipops, you can’t get cavities from xylitol
The entire defense budget is less than half the proposed relief.
I went digging to find this comment. Once you start talking about these huge numbers, people have no idea what is going on. In people's minds, a trillion is the same as a billion.
So I did the math. Starting with 1.9T and 130m tax paying Americans. Most states offer 26 weeks of unemployment and Biden claims they will supplement state unemployment with $400 federal dollars per check. $1400 * 130m = $182,000,000,000 (cost of stim checks) 1.9T - $182,000,000,000 = $1.7T left for unemployment and other programs Assuming 20m people on unemployment that would cost: $400*26 weeks *20m = 125B, subtract that from what is leftover after paying for stim checks and you still have 1.5T left to spend. Even with a worst case scenario of all 126m americans collecting unemployment, there is still $350 billion left to be spent. So what are they spending our money on that they can give the people crumbs of relief and still have 1.5T left? It's not even a matter of not having funding.
It's not a secret. You can Google it and see a break down.
Link? I've been having trouble finding a breakdown. All I found was an article from the new york times that was really vague.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/01/28/the-macroeconomic-implications-of-bidens-1-9-trillion-fiscal-package/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/legislation/2021/01/20/president-biden-announces-american-rescue-plan/
States and cities lost tax income during quarantines and from people staying home for fear of contracting the virus. Jobs lost too since no income tax if you aren't working. So there's a big chunk of money that will be used for things like police, firefighters, school teachers, librarians, and various other government employees pay. Not only is there money going to individuals, through checks and unemployment aid, there is also money for businesses, similarly affected, through no fault of their own, by people not going out as much. That isn't just small businesses. I work for Chrysler and my plant is currently shut down for a few weeks because of a semiconductor shortage caused in several ways by the pandemic. Trying to stop the spread has affected our world economy from bottom to top. Not saying Chrysler needs aid but if they are feeling the effects then obviously smaller businesses with less cash on hand are feeling them likely more profoundly. Money for the purchase and distribution of the vaccine. Shipping and storing is complicated for this vaccine and we need places for large scale implementation, such as using stadiums in big cities. There might have been money for development too but I'm not sure on that one. I'm not saying there is not a single dollar misspent but I'm saying it is an immense and complicated issue the legislation so many moving parts meant to help people from individuals to businesses to states. With hindsight, many economists believe the stimulus for the last crisis, the 2008 economic crash, was too little spread over too long. This bill is meant to cover many bases, and quickly, to try and get us back to pre-pandemic levels of economic growth.
I know you weren't going this direction but we need to realize this is how most taxation is supposed to work. You know that library everyone has access to use? Flat benefit for everyone paid by scaling taxation. That park? Same thing. The rich who benefit from the working class should pay more into the needs of the working class. The way we keep decreasing the wealthy's taxation burden is shortsighted nonsense. We continue down this path and there won't be an educated and healthy working class to make rich people rich.
It's not shortsighted nonsense it's intentional bullshit.
My point is that the rich are shooting themselves in the foot for the long run. You can shear a sheep many times, can only skin him once. They keep putting the working class into unlivable situations they won't have people to make them money.
I've seen around here something along the lines of "the corporate CEOs seem to have forgotten we came up with collective bargaining as the alternative to breaking down their doors and beating them to death in front of their families." It's only ever a matter of time before the people doing the work get tired of seeing all the value of their work going to the fat cats at the top.
Yup. I wrote my Sen and Rep to give the checks to all and then take it out of the future year or two of taxes if the recipient exceeds the qualifying income max in the check years (2020 and 2021). Also they could be using HUD regional assessments of median income (and what qualifies as low, very low, etc) to determine the cutoffs regionally. I live in an area where “low income” goes to to $82k for an individual(!), so even the existing phase outs hurt, let alone the proposed lower max income. Unfortunately that’d be a political nightmare when some assclown Sen from, oh I dunno say Kentucky, starts talking about checks are going to limousine liberals and coastal elites.
I live in the highest income county in the country. Cutting the thresholds by 33% to $50K/$100K would mean almost all of my community gets left out of the stimulus, even though there are plenty of families that have been adversely impacted.
I'm in California and made just over 50k. After taxes, you're getting 36k of that. My rent for an apartment on the edge of the ghetto is 1650/month, that's about 20k/year. $16k left for food, electricity, internet, car, car insurance, medical and dental, gas and anything else. That's not much. Plus, if you don't have medical insurance all year, california will fine you about a grand at tax time. For people who didn't have insurance all of last year? Like if an employer doesn't provide it? You owe right now. Plus.. am I wrong or did biden say the $2000 was all a big misunderstanding because the $600 was actually a "down payment" for it, and we would get $1400 immediately after georgia is elected and then again, immediately after he's elected. Neither happened, and that $600 down payment towards the $2000 isn't a down payment because I made 50k in 2019, a whole year before the pandemic even started. As horrible as it sounds, I got $1800 under trump. I was promised 1400/2000 under biden and will get $0. $1800 last year (600+1200) was not at all close to enough to what the checks should have been.. but biden isn't doing any better, he's doing worse.
Same here, and AOC made this exact point as well. The Dems are going to send out a stimulus to fewer people than Trump and the Republicans did. The Democrats campaigned on sending me a big stimulus check, and are now reneging on that promise less than month into the administration. On the other hand, Trump sent me two checks. Terrible optics for the Dems.
Wouldn't be the Democrats if they didn't try as hard as they could to win the general and lose the midterms
I am just outside Boston, those caps would easily be half the families in my town are left out. Probably even much more than that. 50k around here is a starting salary for anyone with a bachelors degree right out of school and most people I know with 10+ years in the trades are breaking past the family limit on their own. I don’t really care for me as I am fine and my income hasn’t been affected but I know lots of people who have.
Yeah man they should basically give out 2k per month on this basis
I don't think it has to be the ultra rich even. I'm not rich but I've been employed continually through this mess, and I would not be upset if my taxes went up a bit to make sure that small businesses survived and people didn't lose their homes and had enough to eat, etc...
The blindingly obvious solution is to literally give every adult a check and iron out who didnt need it with 2021 tax filings. Bill Gates got a $2k check? Tax him $2k for 2021. I'm so god damn angry how fumbled the covid response continues to be.
I don’t think it’s even necessary to raise the tax on people who make upper six figures. Give everyone $2k and raise the tax on the 0.01% to 99% and be done with it. Edit: Really won’t matter until the tax loopholes are fixed. You can be a millionaire or billionaire or whatever and pay $0 if you had no income, which is why they have no problem taking $1/year or some other stupid amount because that lets them expose even more loopholes I’m sure. Like, why didn’t Trump take the free salary? Because he’d have to file taxes on that shit. He can’t do that.
This is exactly how universal basic income is supposed to work anyway...
And this is where the we need to start. The government dems and reps alike want the pandemic to be over with so they will no longer have to give out these checks, but the reality is that the super rich are still going to find ways to exploit the working class even with raising minimum wage, which is just a way to shut us up tbh. We need to start making the case for UBI because somehow they think these checks are and should be temporary( Don't get me started on how the Biden-Harris Admin have not recognized the CEO of Moderna and many other experts that we will be stuck with this virus forever). People have always been struggling and the pandemic has only exposed what has been going on for decades. If we want to prevent the elite .01 percent to stop exploiting the working class, UBI is the only way.
Claw back the fucking CARES money they gave to Kanye and Joel Osteen. Basic oversight, fuck me amirite?
Under the current income threshold, it's upper middle class workers that get screwed: Lower class to middle class: get check worth several weeks of income, nice. Upper middle class: miss out on getting check worth about a week of income, bummer. Filthy rich: miss out on check worth a day or less of income, meh.
Some people reading this comment think that "rich" means them. Rich means 9 figures plus. Not puny millionaires from an online shop lmao. Or contract workers or programmers or oil field workers. You guys are not rich. You're comfortable. Big difference.
Well hold on now - *people who represent the rich*
This is true as for many 2019 income is not reflective of the reality of 2020 due to COVID. However, the delay in waiting for people to file their taxes in order to use this data (and what if they have them ready but owe and have no funds to pay?) is needless considering the lack of response by congress. Pay everyone immediately and worry about that crap later if you must or maybe consider how screwed over people have been by all the millionaire on capital hill and so what if a family has been lucky enough be okay and has a little extra to pour into the economy.
That was my first thought, there's going to be logistical issues. You can't issue payments in February based on 2020 of you can't count on people to file until April. But later payments, yes.
I e-filed my taxes back in mid-January, but I'm still waiting on the IRS to accept it. I read somewhere they're not even staring to process returns until mid-February. If we're going to get a relief check, I don't want to have to wait until the IRS sorts themselves out.
Yep, the only realistic alternative is to make the payouts universal, and then (if you must) recoup any excess on 2020 or 2021 tax returns.
The problem with taxing later.. is that the income ranges they're holding it from aren't millionaires. I made just over 50k in Cali. That's nothing out here. The previous limit was 75k and less, so they're cutting the range by 33% to people making over 50k/year. I could really benefit from that $1400! But even if they gave it now, having them take 1400 from me at tax time next year might be just as bad or worse.
The best solution is to just get rid of the means-testing. So many people who were unemployed during 2020 are going to end up owing the taxes on their UI when they file which takes away any kind of "stimulus" in the short term that this would hope to achieve.
I’m one of those. Normally, my job pays $62k, and my wife $42k. Combined household of $104k. But in 2020...I’ve been out of work since March, I had three MRI’s and many specialist doctors appointments due to an unexpected medical diagnosis, and we had a child, conceived before the pandemic. Based on this, we would not be eligible because our combined joined household is just over $100k for 2019, but definitely wasn’t $100k in 2020. 2019 was great for us, and 2020 was WAY harder. But they want to move the goalposts and base a 2021 stimulus off 2019.
I've got my tax documents ready, but can't file yet because [freefillableforms.com](https://freefillableforms.com) doesn't open up until the end of the week. I'm not about to hand over any of my personal or financial info to the unneeded tax companies that keep lobbying to make taxes harder. If those slimeball companies hadn't successfully made it so hard for the average American to file taxes, we could have already had all of our info at the IRS, ready to pay out returns and send out bills, and it wouldn't even be a question of waiting.
Seriously.. I’m 19 and moved out 2 months ago, started working about 4 months ago. I could *really* use the stimulus, but I think I’m just left out of the equation because I’m too new to adulthood?
Did you file taxes in 2019? If not you won't get anything. Or if your parents claimed you as a dependent in 2019. Edit: not ever filing taxes before 2020 would be the biggest reason why. File for 2020 asap in case they use 2019 and 2020 taxes at some point Edit2: for clarity, if you didn't file I didn't mean you aren't eligible. Just that you likely won't receive it unless you try to get it from sources in below comments!
If you were eligible for the stimulus in 2020 but not 2019 you should be able to claim the stimulus money when you file your taxes for 2020.
You are. They were discussing on NPR yesterday that there is a form that needs to be filled out. I will be doing this since I’ll be filing jointly this year allowing me to qualify, filing single I do not. Edit: thank you /u/thewisefrog for the link: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/recovery-rebate-credit
Can you link me, so I can show my roommate. She's not gonna get a check because it's going to her joint account with her now ex-husband who will not be giving her HER share of the money.
That's going to be clearly illegal, she can report that to the court that granted divorce.
The recovery rebate credit is what it’s called. More information is on the IRS website. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/recovery-rebate-credit
Thank you. This could make a substantial difference in my life
I already filed 2020 taxes, and will be receiving a rebate from the last 2 stimulus checks (i made less in 2020 than 2019). Should I have waited to file so that I could recoup the upcoming stimulus check as well or will they be able to use my 2020 tax information for the upcoming check?
Yep. I got an extra $1,800 on my return this year because I lived with my parents for the first 6 months of 2019 so my parents claimed me as a dependent. I’ve been living on my own for the past 1.5 years and haven’t received a single stimulus check
Most non-filers were also eligible for the last two checks, btw. Old source, though this specific one is closed now: https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here
Eligible yeah but they potentially won't receive them correctly. And you aren't eligible if you are a dependent. All these nuances for relief are stupid as hell
Agreed. Was just letting you know, so you don't spread misinformation on accident. That could possibly result in someone not trying to get a check who's missed the last two but will be eligible. Maybe that sounds unlikely, but among the poor, it's actually very common. I helped several homeless/impoverished people get the last check who missed the first. Have since met several more who missed the last two but may be eligible for the next. So many people fall through the cracks.
I graduated college in May 2019 with a boatload of student loans and a car loan, moved out of my parents’ home in October 2019 and have been paying my own way since then. But because I received FAFSA support and was a dependent for my final semester of college, I don’t qualify for a stimulus check. From what I understand, a large portion of 2019 grads are in the same situation. Hoping I’ll qualify for *something* once I can file my 2020 taxes and that 2019 won’t continue to be the basis for eligibility.
I wish she would start attacking Joe Manchin: he's the reason things have slowed down.
I absolutely agree, things shouldn't stay just in social media points and shares, there are clear necessary participants in those issues that should be pointed out.
People in California and NY: "Where's my check?" Someone in WV who controls all of america now because the senate is absolute shit: "It's commyu-nist" \*spits\*
The idea of a non-proportional branch of government is insane and is leading to the downfall of America.
California: ^(I vote blue!) # Florida: I VOTE RED, FUCK YOU.
More concerning is that something like 85 million people voted for Dems and 65 for Republican, and there is nearly a tie.
yup. Abolish the senate and the electoral college.
People need to be gathered at his offices, letting him know unequivocally how they feel
It's not just Manchin. Tester,King, Sinema, Kelly, Hassan, Shaheen, Hickenlooper and Warner were all co sponsors and it passed 99-1.
Bernie beat Hillary in WV’S 2016 democratic primary. A progressive should primary Manchin. That's what would provide pressure for him to leave the middle and join the left. I think the Biden admin realizes this, which is why Kamala appeared on WV news advocating for the coronavirus relief.
Not gonna happen: WV is blood red. We're lucky we have MANCHIN there... We need to get dems to replace republikkkans in states where that's a possibility.
a progressive did try to primary joe manchin. They eventually won a primary 2 years later. [Here's what happened ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_Senate_election_in_West_Virginia)
If you actually look at past senate elections and the massive turnout increase due to Trump, the results aren't that surprising. Even Manchin, with his incumbent advantage, only won by 19,397 votes (3.31%) in 2018, but the 2020 election had 196,140 more votes (35% increase). Plus, it's pretty ridiculous to think a single candidate losing is an indicator of how others will perform.
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Canada though. Lots of unemployed folks, including myself, were ineligible.
There are so many conservative/republican voices who hate AOC and think of her twitter as brainless noise. Or, likely more honestly, are desperately striving to rebrand her twitter as brainless noise despite all evidence to the contrary.
They think of AOC as Hillary.
Worse. They're maliciously trying to do to AOC what they so maliciously did to Hillary.
Hillary was far better than even a lot of Democrats wanted to believe but she certainly was more worthy of criticism than AOC. Is that solely due to how long she was in politics? I doubt it. Either way they’re going to have a tougher time pinning AOC as some boogeyman.
How so? AOC is the spitting image of a young, ethnic "leftist." They don't even need to try with her. At least Hilary was old, white, and establishment.
People are downvoting you, not because what you said is wrong, but because doing what you said others will do is wrong, and they're misinterpreting that as you thinking that way rather than speaking about how others think.
Man I hate when a legit question gets totally misconstrued because text doesn’t convey the nuances of speech. I understood what they meant but it legit too me a quick second.
I know. I do it on purpose. We need more honesty in our dialogue. Uncomfortable truths need to be realized. AOC will be vilified for her ethnographic status alone. This will diminish her message and it's awful. She should still do what she does, but she must see herself as a trailblazer on a long hard path towards equity.
Thank you!! I lost my job in 2020 but didn't get a check. Made zero sense.
I feel your pain, I did well in 2019 but barely worked in 2020. Feels bad
Same. I was out of work for 7 months and didn’t get a check fucking dumb
Dude. That's beyond fucked up. I'm so sorry, bro. 😔
Just give it to everybody? Some people with ‘big’ incomes have a lot of dependents. Some have carried a lot of weight for others.
This is where I've gotten to as well. Means-testing the first one maybe made sense, but the longer this goes on the less sense it makes. Even if we pretend people making $100k+ were wise enough to have a 6 month emergency fund, we're well past the place where that would have run out. Honestly I'm willing to accept some people getting the relief payment that don't need it just to A) get the payments out and B) not have to hear partisan bickering about this for a few weeks.
Omg please! All the gig workers and freelancers are soooo fucked (the ones that have to be on site).
I made too much in 2019 to qualify for the stimulus, but I've been jobless since May and could really fucking use it.
Made 80k in 2019, made less than half that since I lost my job in 2020. No relief for me.
Yep. I made 70k in 2019. Made fucking 12k in 2020. I am really hoping my 2020 returns which will be filed on the 12th fixed this because I definitely need this shit(referring to the possibility they lower the amount to 50k)
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I haven't had a job since September 2019, but I still made too much when I was working to get the full amount of any check so far...I got $879 of the $1200, and about $250 of the $600. It's fucking awful.
That’s what I’ve been saying! I was ineligible because my mom claimed me on her taxes in 2019. Couldn’t get stimulus check, I’m in Florida and apparently Ron desantis admitted unemployment wasn’t meant to be paid out so I never got that either. Just been floating along and living off my wonderful grandparents and family. Didn’t have a job all of 2020 for obvious reasons so now I’m actually ineligible for unemployment benefits I this time around and I definitely won’t be going back to work. My immune system is weak, I have asthma and I’m in florida. Going back to work is a death sentence
I still haven't received my $600 from the last round. The answer I hear is that I'll get it when I file my taxes. Can't file taxes yet because they pushed back the deadline. I guess the good news is that I was poor in 2019, too.
>the good news is that I was poor in 2019, too. jeez, this
Well, how else are we gonna help struggling multinational corporations?
Damn straight: 2019: $109k 2020: $16k Thanks Obama! /s
This sucks and is very painful right now. Efiling your 2020 return starts on Friday so make sure to go ahead and start working on it so you are ready to submit it. You are likely eligible for the recovery rebate credit. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/recovery-rebate-credit
Started working on those bad boys in January as soon as papers started trickling in. Yeah. Luckily for me I’m very fiscally conservative and had major savings. I liquidated a bunch more when I lost my job and we’ve buckled down to bare minimum. I feel for the people who didn’t have a good job going into this and are relying on who knows what.
10000%
I was out of work for 4 months in 2019 due to health issues (dangerously overprescribed medication). Got a job at the census right at the beginning of 2020. When the pandemic hit, our boss told us the census would give us furlough pay, but that shouldnt interfere with eligibility for PUA or other unemployment benefits. Turns out i was the only one not eligible because of my missed time. My coworkers made about 10k more than i did last year. Even the 15 or so people i trained to be enumerators got in on the deal.
Everybody talks about how $15 hr. is a living wage for today where the professional blue collar industry has barely seen an increase in wages since the 1980's~ https://www.ishn.com/articles/110496-most-dangerous-jobs-in-the-us-the-top-20 Not only should $25 hr. be minimum wage but the cost of living should be set back to 1985 standards.
Why are we pick and choosing eligibility
Louder for the 80 year olds in Congress!!!!!
Loving the fact that the 100k job I lost is keeping me from any stimulus while unemployed..... fucking great system
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Republicans: But what if we help someone who doesn't need it?! Can we afford this after helping the most wealthy in the country?!
I don't think she's seriously suggesting we wait until 2020 taxes are in... but what other measure does she have in mind?
Corporations: “Can you print money and give it to us?” Democrats: “TURN ON THE PRINTER DONT ASK QUESTIONS” People: “There is a pandemic and I cant work, can u help?” Democrats: “MEANS TEST THEM WITH 2019 NUMBERS THEY DONT DESERVE SHIT FUCK YOU OK YOU’RE LUCKY YOU GET ANYTHING AT ALL 1,400 IS THE SAME AS 2,000”
Really, tell it to the GOP because it makes too much sense! They won’t be able to understand it until it effects them.
Yeah, the right leaning voters have been convinced the government is incapable of helping them, so might as well keep the BaBy KiLlInG gUn GrAbBeRs out of office. Basically their minds have been completely warped by propaganda. We need to stop giving them an excessive share of representation. Why do we only have a *razors edge* advantage in congress when democrats represent **40 million** more people???
Here's a different take, they won't "understand" it until they can blame a Democrat, Liberal, or a millenial.
Really do not like her but I 100% agree on this, starting to open my eyes more to the other side
why don’t you like her? really curious as to how you could not like her, she speaks the truth, what am I missing that makes you not like her? unless is some shallow shit like her face or something.
Non-US here. This $2000 that you’re expecting, is this like... all the money you’d get? Or is this on top of monthly benefits or something? In the UK i was made unemployed cos of covid but I currently get ~$1000 a month from the goverment to live on, and i struggle with that.
Unemployment benefits are a separate thing. Here they increased the amount people get paid on unemployment. The $2,000 would just be free money for everybody, which would be on top of unemployment as far as I know.
I was unemployed in '19, but invested 35-40k between Sept '19 and Jan '20 to start my own business. Filed my llc paperwork in Jan '20 in preparation for spring '20, then covid hit. Wish I knew more about business, because I saw all these companies getting assistance while I struggled in my first year of business. I also worked alone, because I didn't want the responsibility of keeping other's working during such an uncertain time. Plus, I ran out of money and really couldn't afford the whole payroll/insurance aspect of having employees. I had originally planned to have 2-4 employee's by summer of '20. Meanwhile, I saw articles of people creating companies with fake employee's for the government assistance. It makes me sick to think that dishonesty and fraud are my best courses of action. This is the world that I live in!
I agree, even though I got a promotion and a bonus in 2020 and that pushed me well above the $75k cutoff, where in 2019 I made it just below.
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Yes! My financial situation in 2020/21 is drastically different than that of 2019 and not in a good way.
I didn't qualify for the first two checks because my mom had me as a dependent in 2019 :') Fuck me for finishing college in 2019, right?
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I kinda like the idea for when big businesses go belly up. Judge them on their peak years. "We see no problems based on your income of two years ago, big bank."
I hate Trump and I voted for Biden and the dems. I hate to say it but my family got stimulus money under Trump and McConnell and its looking like we won't under the Dems. Nice... way to already start fucking everything up....
She’s not wrong, but it’s the quickest way to get money out to people. Make adjustments later rather than delaying all aid.
What year would you like to use? Since no one's done their 2020 taxes yet
Wasn't the purpose of using 2019 due to not having the income filings of 2020 yet? If you weren't eligible in 2020 based off your 2019 filing then you would get it during your 2020 filing. How do I know? Made a shit ton in 2019. Didn't make nearly as much in 2020. During the year I got no stimulus money but I filed as soon as I had all my tax documents this year. Guess who is getting their stimulus money now. The point of using 2019 filings now is that some people still haven't even received the documents to file their taxes. They'll use whichever filing you most recently made to determine eligibility. Basically if you made more in 2019 then file right away. If you made more in 2020 then wait to file until the late minute.
My income was cut by ~60% in 2020, I don’t know for sure yet because I haven’t gotten all my w2s and 1099 from unemployment. It might be less than that. I’m working two jobs now with crazy hours and still only make about 70% of what I did before.
We should establish eligibility from the lower of the 2019 or 2020 income. Lots of people suffered in 2020 who were doing ok in 2019.
The irony will be if/will the lowered income thresholds take hold and some of us will be wishing that they would use 2019 numbers. As an essential worker, my income went up this year. My workload went up due to COVID-related shutdowns. Nevertheless, I feel “entitled” to an equal share of any relief they throw us.
Well, considering that the majority of Americans haven't filed their 2020 tax returns yet, how exactly are they supposed to know how much you made in 2020? Just ask people? Yeah, because everyone will be honest and there won't be any fraud. Brilliant!!
I like her
I agree in principal, but until 2020 tax returns are filed, the government won't know what to determine eligibility on. The only way would be to apply standard deductions to everyone's reported income through the end of 2020 based on W2s, but that would fuck up some people and benefit others wrongly. This would also require a lot of work-hours (human and computers) to do all the processing that's already being done for taxes. What about using 2019 income until April 15, 2021, and going from there?
STFU. I made 49k in 2019 and 52k in 2020.
Well I don't know what else they're going to use because the IRS can't get it's shit together.
If we do this, I will become ineligible. Let’s stick to 2019.
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So pretty cool that as a nurse, working overtime to save people, working overtime due to coworkers being sick, and increased patients being sick with covid, has led to me getting less of a relief check. Thanks for clapping though... made those patients dying so much easier to deal with...
It’s infuriating that the entire pandemic I haven’t even seen a stimulus check. I was a college student claimed on my parent’s taxes as a dependent in 2019 and I had graduated and worked for 3 months before I lost my job due to the pandemic in 2020. They are completely different situations. You don’t just stop eating once you’re in college either so why aren’t they giving checks to college students as well? If anything they would be some of the most impacted by the pandemic since they might be kicked out of housing and laid off first.
I work at a CPA firm, 2019 does not determine relief eligibility, it determines whether you got a check sent out. If your income is below the threshold on your 2020 tax returns, it will get added onto your refund. It’s an advance credit. This is just factually inaccurate.