View Full Version : To Those Living In The US (re: Stimulus $)
gimmethesimplelife
3-10-21, 10:41am
Quick question. What have you'all done with your stimulus money to date?
I'd love to give an eccentric and colorful answer to this - but the truth is boring and practical. All stimulus money to date saved at Navy Federal Credit Union. This money we hope to keep untouched and always there. Right now strikes me as a good time - even more so than usual - to be saving money. Rob
Saving it and hoping to get more the end of this month and install a half bath. Due to my son's OCD sharing a bathroom is a major source of conflict.
Getting my tax refund would also help, but I made the mistake of filing on paper as I always have. What a disaster that is. I submitted a form to the Taxpayer Assistance office to see if they will give me permission to file electronically even though I already filed by paper since they can't see to get paper returns processed.
SteveinMN
3-10-21, 11:30am
Gave away the first check. Saved the second and life was busy enough at that moment that we didn't spend it. Second and third checks will go to people we know who are still in precarious financial position and/or will be spent hiring people to do some house updates.
Ironically, each time we have had to use a portion for car repairs. The rest in savings and getting my gardens going.
A retired couple who are friends gave away the first stimulus last year as they did not need it. I received $500 from them. It went into savings and is still there. They gave it away to people who were unemployed. It was fabulous of them. I was blown away.
That is so nice, Tradd, and nice of you, Steve! I spent mine on moving to take care of parents. Second one will be saved for either taxes or health expenses.
iris lilies
3-10-21, 11:51am
$2400 to bulldog rescue because all fundraisers cancelled in 2020.
Have not yet sent $600 to neighborhood association but this thread prompts me to do it this week.
Am pressuring DH to give HIS $600 to an organization of his choice. But his money, his choice.
The next $1200...don’t know, will likely split it among a couple of orgs.
I've selfishly added it to my stash while simultaneously wondering why it was gifted to me.
A few bottles of decent scotch. The rest I wasted.
Donated some, saved some. Made extra payments on DH's car.
Like bae, recycling it back to the government.
Teacher Terry
3-10-21, 2:05pm
I put it in savings.
happystuff
3-10-21, 2:16pm
Into savings - future use tbd.
iris lilies
3-10-21, 2:38pm
Thank you to everyone who is sending your Stim money back to the government because that enables them to send me more again. Honestly they don’t seem to really care whether they have money in the coffers to distribute to everyone, they just distribute money with nothing behind it.
Quick question. What have you'all done with your stimulus money to date?
I'd love to give an eccentric and colorful answer to this - but the truth is boring and practical. All stimulus money to date saved at Navy Federal Credit Union. This money we hope to keep untouched and always there. Right now strikes me as a good time - even more so than usual - to be saving money. Rob
I donated 100% to the local Bikes for Kids project!
A few bottles of decent scotch. The rest I wasted.
:) So what time should I be over for a dram or two?
GeorgeParker
3-10-21, 6:09pm
Since I didn't have an immediate need for the stimulus money, I put both checks in my brokerage account. Now I'm having some work done on my house and I'll use both of those stimulus payments and the newest one to pay for part of it. Or you could say that stimulus money paid my homeowner's insurance and property tax. But all it really did was give me a little extra security. It didn't stimulate the economy because everything I might have spent it on was stuff I was already going to spend money on anyway.
I donated 100% to the local Bikes for Kids project!
So cool, Gardnr, that much would make a big difference!
ToomuchStuff
3-11-21, 9:31am
They all went into savings and then from that into property taxes.
My COVID relief stipend has come in and was distributed mostly to the property tax fund. Talk about warp speed.
saved so far...…….this time we may go on a little trip for a few days after both vaccinations are complete.
We saved ours. And plan to take a short trip after our vaccinations, DH gets his first shot tomorrow via the county health department.
Simplemind
3-15-21, 4:37pm
Taxes
GeorgeParker
3-15-21, 5:24pm
Dumbest thing I've heard about the stimulus checks: Someone responded to a man-in-the-street poll by saying the stimulus checks didn't do them any good because they had to pay more than that in income taxes.
How much income tax you have to pay is going to remain the same whether you get a stimulus check or not, so logically getting any stimulus money is better than getting none. But some people just don't get that.
And other people complain that they should get a bigger stimulus check because they pay more income tax, which means they totally don't get the idea that the stimulus checks are supposed to go to people who have low incomes and will be more likely to spend the money as soon as they get it.
In My Own Humble Opinion, the upper limit for receiving a stimulus check should have been $50,000 annual taxable income with an adjustment up or down depending on the cost of living index of the place you live. That would have put the money in the hands of the people who need it the most, and reduced the overall cost of the stimulus program. https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-household-income-percentiles/ has a good chart of average and median incomes for 2019 and 2020.
In the aggregate, those of us who do pay taxes will be paying off the debt incurred for these cash giveaways. So yes, in the long term taxpayers will ultimately need to pay more back in then they got up front.
I haven't gotten mine yet, though finally my regular tax return shows as received.
frugal-one
3-16-21, 4:22pm
I got a letter this week saying stimulus check number 2 for $1,200 is in the mail and we should receive it this week. We already received that check. Makes me wonder if legit in that it says to save this letter as well as the one received with the first check..... retrospect? Says if don't receive check to call a number. Don't plan on doing anything.
ApatheticNoMore
3-16-21, 5:58pm
In My Own Humble Opinion, the upper limit for receiving a stimulus check should have been $50,000 annual taxable income with an adjustment up or down depending on the cost of living index of the place you live. That would have put the money in the hands of the people who need it the most, and reduced the overall cost of the stimulus program.
then it would probably just be adjusted up to about the 75k here anyway but with a lot more grumbling from non-coastals, for what is a small percentage of the overall spending in the bill anyway.
..... a lot more grumbling from non-coastals, for what is a small percentage of the overall spending in the bill anyway.Yes, the vast majority of spending in the bill has nothing to do with covid related income relief. But even then, being a news junkie, I understand that anyone objecting to the size of the bill doesn't care about those suffering individuals. Weird!
Well, the boatyard just called up, and I need 6 replacement deep discharge house batteries, and 4 replacement starter batteries, at ~$250/each. Fun times.
I got a letter this week saying stimulus check number 2 for $1,200 is in the mail and we should receive it this week. We already received that check.
Same here and I wasn't sure what they were on about. I saved the letter with our tax records; in a few years I'll shred it.
Yes, the vast majority of spending in the bill has nothing to do with covid related income relief. But even then, being a news junkie, I understand that anyone objecting to the size of the bill doesn't care about those suffering individuals. Weird!
Well, money going to the National Endowment for the Arts, Amtrak, bridges and union pension bailouts will serve to reduce the suffering of various Democratic Party constituents and camp followers. To a true partisan, whether that suffering is Covid related is mere quibbling.
BikingLady
3-18-21, 12:43pm
I've selfishly added it to my stash while simultaneously wondering why it was gifted to me.
Same here, well we are helping a son with his business dreams and this helped.
***BUT why did we get all these stimulus checks is the question. When the full amount was deposited in the bank Monday I was shocked, texted hubby. 2019 husband took 1/2 year off then worked for himself for the same company of which he delayed pay till 2020 for tax reasons which lead to double pay for first 6 months of 2020. SO it appeared we had lower income 2019 for the other stimulus checks ok I understood. The time why? We actually have a {{{whopping}}} 2020 tax bill to pay and going to accountant today. It appears the stimulus is based on 2019 income still?
*** My dad in nursing home on Medicaid in 2020 got a stimulus check. Questioning the lawyer what and why and what to do with it. I gasped at how much was sent to families of those in nursing homes on Medicaid. She said hold it for a year and see if needed, he passed away so the funds went to me really. He needed nothing at least not of that level money.
*** I have another son on disability his bills are fixed as is his disability pay. He has of course gotten the stimulus payments, he has had his food card bumped to max for months and months. I am thankful as is he, but nothing changed during the past year that would have affected his bills since he had no job to begin with.
It is all hard for me to understand to be honest.
If you haven’t filed 2020 tax return yet, the stimulus will be based off 2019 return.
It is all hard for me to understand to be honest.
Me too. To be honest I think it's about buying votes since people tend to forget that the small amounts the government hands out to individuals is money that eventually needs to be paid back, and that amount is rapidly growing out of control. I really wish people would stop considering our government's deficit spending as National Debt and think of it as Public Debt which makes it more personal. The government has placed us somewhere around $30,000,000,000,000.00 in debt which equals something in excess of $80,000 per US citizen, over and above whatever personal debt each citizen holds. Our Public Debt now amazingly exceeds the country's annual GDP and we seem to accept it without complaint, and if we think about it at all we're assured that if we just take away more wealth from citizens all will be well. It's crazy!
The only pushback we've seen in recent years has been to the various Covid Relief bills where there has been some effort to limit that deficit spending to those actually in need, but that has been framed by the Democrats and media as efforts to deny help to the needy and a seeming majority of us lock onto that as truth.
We can only kick this trend of unlimited deficit spending so far down the road.
It is all hard for me to understand to be honest.
That’s because you are honest.
As an old Chicago kid, I have the benefit of being able to spot a bribe when I see one.
iris lilies
3-18-21, 1:37pm
That’s because you are honest.
As an old Chicago kid, I have the benefit of being able to spot a bribe when I see one.
I thought it was cute the Biden stimmy stim was more than the Trump pay out.
My Daddy Joe loves me more than that orange guy.
I thought it was cute the Biden stimmy stim was more than the Trump pay out.
My Daddy Joe loves me more than that orange guy.
No. Trump wanted $2000 to go out near the end of 2000. This simply makes up the difference. Trump payout was $1200 then $600 (because he couldn't get support for $2k)
We can only kick this trend of unlimited deficit spending so far down the road.
Can't they just print more money? Heck, they don't even have costs for paper and ink for doing that anymore, just press a button and make a couple of ledger entries, right?
iris lilies
3-18-21, 2:07pm
No. Trump wanted $2000 to go out near the end of 2000. This simply makes up the difference. Trump payout was $1200 then $600 (because he couldn't get support for $2k)
ah!
See, I knew it that Donald loved me most.
iris lilies
3-18-21, 2:08pm
Can't they just print more money? Heck, they don't even have costs for paper and ink for doing that anymore, just press a button and make a couple of ledger entries, right?
Yes. That is correct.
bae for Sectry of the Treasury!
frugal-one
3-18-21, 2:11pm
I thought it was cute the Biden stimmy stim was more than the Trump pay out.
My Daddy Joe loves me more than that orange guy.
Yes, trump would rather spend the money on a worthless wall.
Yes. That is correct.
bae for Sectry of the Treasury!
I don't see why we couldn't just send everyone $1 million for the next stimulus payment.
Then we'd all be millionaires, and life would be good!
Can't they just print more money? Heck, they don't even have costs for paper and ink for doing that anymore, just press a button and make a couple of ledger entries, right?
Yeah. They could use that new thing. What was it? Blockhead technology?
Can't they just print more money? Heck, they don't even have costs for paper and ink for doing that anymore, just press a button and make a couple of ledger entries, right?I think they had one of those buttons in Zimbabwe a few years ago, didn't they? I believe they then gifted it to Venezuela if I'm not mistaken.
ApatheticNoMore
3-18-21, 2:52pm
It makes no sense to provide cash as such like a UBI. Just provide things people need, like housing.
But that really has nothing to do with the covid stimulus which was just designed as an economic stimulus, that's really all it is, it's not a UBI, it won't fix long term poverty (it might well prevent some people, whose problems were cause by short term covid economics, from falling into homelessness in the first place)
I think they had one of those buttons in Zimbabwe a few years ago, didn't they? I believe they then gifted it to Venezuela if I'm not mistaken.
I have a whole range of Zimbabwean currency from that year. All printed the same year, everything from the $1 note to the $1 trillion note. They didn't even pick up the $1 trillion, $500 billion, $100 billion notes from the UK note printers, as they couldn't even pay for the delivery, so those are mint uncirculated.
I used them for the Econ 101 class at my daughter's school :-)
iris lilies
3-18-21, 3:58pm
I don't see why we couldn't just send everyone $1 million for the next stimulus payment.
Then we'd all be millionaires, and life would be good!
OK, scratch my previous idea. Instead it should be bae for President of the United States.
I used them for the Econ 101 class at my daughter's school :-)We should add that to our voting requirements, US Citizen, 18 years of age, successful completion of bae's Econ 101 class.
ah!
See, I knew it that Donald loved me most. Be sure to write Hawley and Blunt and tell them they suck for voting against it. And write a Dem to thank them.
We should add that to our voting requirements, US Citizen, 18 years of age, successful completion of bae's Econ 101 class.
I don't think so.
GeorgeParker
3-18-21, 11:40pm
It makes no sense to provide cash as such like a UBI. Just provide things people need, like housing.Have you ever taken a close look at the "housing projects" the government builds? Let alone spent any time living in one? Many of the big, highly touted housing projects built by the government in the 50s-70s have been demolished because they were such disasters. And in most cases it wasn't bad design or bad construction that doomed them, it was bad policies regarding who could live there and under what circumstances.
But that's way too big and complex a subject to get into. This is one potential starting point, among many, if anyone wants to explore to sordid history of Public Housing https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-08/by-2011-atlanta-had-demolished-all-of-its-public-housing-projects-where-did-all-those-people-go
(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-08/by-2011-atlanta-had-demolished-all-of-its-public-housing-projects-where-did-all-those-people-go)
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