Public Is Disappointed With The $600 Stimulus Checks

 

The chart above reflects the results of a YouGov Poll done on December 19th and 20th of a national sample of 2,504 adults, with a 2.9 point margin of error.

Democrats wanted to make the second round of stimulus checks to be about $2000, but Mitch McConnell and his Republican cohorts didn't like that. They stopped it. They don't mind giving trillions in tax cuts to their rich friends, but get very stingy when it comes to helping hurting Americans.

But they are playing with fire. About 70% of the American people think those $600 checks (that the Republicans finally approved) were too small, while only 17% said they were about right (and 5% said they were too much). Americans are starting to get tired of the Republicans only wanting to give to the rich!

Thieves Stole Billions Of The Stimulus Bail-Out Money

The stimulus money was supposed to help small businesses in this country survive the recession due to the Coronavirus. Sadly, it didn't work out that way.

Thanks to the incompetence of the Trump administration's overseeing of the distribution of those funds, billions of dollars went to thieves who made fraudulent requests -- and because of that, many small businesses were unable to get any money.

Here's how Bloomberg.com describes what happened:

For a few months this year, a U.S. government aid program meant for struggling small-business owners was handing out $10,000 to just about anyone who asked. All it took was a five-minute online application. You just had to say you owned a business with at least 10 employees, and the grant usually arrived within a few days. 

People caught on fast. In some neighborhoods in Chicago and Miami, it seemed like everyone made a bogus application to the Small Business Administration’s Covid-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. Professional thieves from Russia to Nigeria cashed in. Low-level employees at the agency watched helplessly as misspent money flew out the door.

Even after the $20 billion in funding for grants dried up in July, the fraud continued, as scammers looted a separate $192 billion pot of money set aside for loans. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said an SBA customer-service representative who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her job. “I don’t think they had any processes in place. They just sent the money out.”

This account of the disaster-aid program is based on interviews with frontline SBA workers and outside fraud investigators, and on a review of thousands of social-media postings. The unprecedented scale and urgency of the pandemic response made some missteps inevitable, and lawmakers explicitly ordered the agency to prioritize speed over thrift. But decisions by agency leaders contributed to the chaos.

The SBA’s much-vaunted new computer system, built by an outside contractor for $750 million, proved blind to certain types of fraud and sometimes awarded grants even when it spotted disqualifying features. The agency pressured loan officers with little training to churn through applications quickly, while making it difficult for them to detect or report suspicious ones. When officials eventually tightened fraud controls, the result was often delays and rejections for legitimate applicants.

The amount stolen from the program, if it’s ever tallied, will almost certainly be measured in the billions of dollars. But that’s only part of the cost. Many legitimate applicants were denied grants because scammers got the money first. And identity thieves pocketing loan proceeds left an unknown number of Americans saddled with bogus debts.

Tx Republicans Try To Steal Education Funds (Again)

Back in 2009, schools all over America were in trouble and it looked like many teachers and other employees would have to be laid off. But the U.S. Congress came to the rescue. They passed a stimulus bill specifically for education that was designed to save education jobs. Forty-nine states took the money and used it to shore up the funding for their schools as the bill was intended. Texas didn't.

Texas took the money -- about $3.25 billion. But not a single school anywhere in the state got a penny of that money. The Republican governor and state legislature knew what the federal government gave them the money for -- they just didn't care. Instead of using the money for education, as was intended, they took the money and put it in the state's "rainy day" fund. And yes, that is the same "rainy day" fund that they now refuse to touch even though the state has a huge budget shortfall and Republicans now say they must make massive cuts to state education funds -- cuts that could cost the jobs of up to 100,000 school employees.

The federal government did not appreciate Texas' misuse of funds earmarked for education. So when they passed another education stimulus bill in 2010, this time with about $830 million for Texas schools, they put a stipulation in the bill. Texas could not get the funds unless they signed an agreement that they would use the funds as Congress intended -- as a supplemental stimulus for education.

Governor Perry has refused to sign the agreement -- a sure sign that Texas had no intention of using the money for education. And because the governor refused to agree to follow the law, the Department of Education has refused to release the money to the state of Texas. This has resulted in an inordinate amount of whining and complaining by Republican politicians in the state. How dare the federal government require federal funds be used for their intended purpose!

Now the Texas Republicans in the U.S. Congress are trying to do an end run around the law. They have introduced a bill in the House, backed by all 23 Texas Republican House members, that would force the Department of Education to release the education funds to Texas -- without requiring Texas to spend the money on education. To be blunt, the Republicans want the governor to be able to once again steal those education funds to use as he wants (probably to reward some company with more corporate welfare -- something the state Republicans are good at).

The bill might actually have a chance to be approved by the House of Representatives, since the federal-hating Republicans are in control there. But if there's any justice in the world, it will be killed before it becomes law.

There is no logical reason for Texas to think it's a special case -- that it doesn't have to follow the same rules that all of the other states follow. Personally, I think the money should not only be required to be spent to supplement education, but it should not be released until Texas either gives the first $3.25 billion to the schools (or return it to the federal government).

The governor and his Republican cohorts are playing politics with the future of Texas school children. They should be ashamed of themselves, but Texas Republicans have no shame (or conscience).

Texans Sacrificed To Perry's Ambition

I have to wonder if Rick Perry is living in the real world. Yesterday, he was bragging about the Texas economy and said, "I would tell my friends in Washington that if they want a blueprint for how to get the economy back on track, look at Texas." I don't know what rock he's been hiding under, but he obviously either doesn't know or is trying to hide the truth about the economy here in Texas.

According to the Texas Workforce Commission, the unemployment rate is 6.8% in Texas and rising. Many economists expect it to be over 8% before the end of the year. There are 26,000 new unemployment claims being filed each week, and the state could lose 300,000 jobs this year.

Maybe Perry's corporate buddies are doing well this year, but the same can't be said of the Texas economy in general or the situation ordinary Texans are facing. Texas is not yet in as bad shape as a few other states, but it is sliding fast into serious trouble.

That's why it is troubling that Perry yesterday refused to accept over $550 million in stimulus funds to help the unemployed. Especially in light of the fact that the state does not have enough in it's unemployment fund to last the whole year.

Add to this the fact that this is money that would have to be spent since the unemployed can't afford to save the few dollars they manage to get. That means there's $550 million that will NOT be spent boosting the Texas economy (with each one of those dollars passing through multiple hands). That money could have been a real boost to the state's economic well-being.

But Perry doesn't care about Texas or it's citizens. The only thing he cares about is his own re-election in the 2010 governor's race. He faces a serious opponent (Sen. Hutchison) who is currently leading him in the polls. He's counting on his ultra-right-wing base of Republican voters to carry him through the primary (like Rush Limbaugh's ditto-heads).

He knows the ultra-right wants badly to see the economy worsen and President Obama to fail, and he's willing to help by throwing Texas into the economic garbage bin. He's putting his own ambitions above the well-being of Texans, which should be no surprise since this is not the first time he's done it.

We must remember his vile actions when we go to the polls in November of 2010.