Short Term UBI

[dd564]

Looks like short term Universal Basic Income might be happening as early as the next couple weeks.

This would do so much to calm the fears of low and middle income families.
With so many people possibly out of work shortly, this is necessary.

 

[COcheesehead]

Which other recent action of the government has worked to calm the people?

 

[ERD50]

I hope not. This is discussed in one of the other threads (hard to keep track of them all!), but unemployment benefits seem to be much more suited, perhaps with some tweaks for this particular case. Unemplyment is a system that is already in place, why create a new bureaucracy?

A little harder to know how to help small businesses, but it's pretty clear they will need help.
-ERD50

 

[dd564]

I hope not. This is discussed in one of the other threads (hard to keep track of them all!), but unemployment benefits seem to be much more suited, perhaps with some tweaks for this particular case. Unemplyment is a system that is already in place, why create a new bureaucracy?

A little harder to know how to help small businesses, but it's pretty clear they will need help.
-ERD50

Sorry.
Didn't read all the other threads (some but not all).

This is far better than unemployment because you wouldn't be penalized for finding a low paying job. You get it whether working or not.
Allows people who don't have the money to survive.

Allows those who can make it some ability to support local restaurants and businesses more if they have a little extra cash.

It's a win-win.

 

[mpeirce]

I'd really like to see emergency measures, like this one if it's done, contain a sunset provision.

If we're not careful, there well could be many programs that get instituted that stick around well after the crisis is over. (e.g. Patriot act after 9/11).

 

[dd564]

I'd really like to see emergency measures, like this one if it's done, contain a sunset provision.

If we're not careful, there well could be many programs that get instituted that stick around well after the crisis is over. (e.g. Patriot act after 9/11).

I would rather adopt this one and sunset a few others.

I'm not big on most government programs, that's why sending cash directly to people is the cleanest form in my opinion.

All of these other programs can be put away with if you give people the cash they need to find their own private assistance, whether it's help with paying for groceries, their rent, a need for therapy, job / education.

 

[HarveyS]

I saw in the paper that Amazon is hiring 100,000 folks. Maybe that will help some of the folks out of work in the service industry.

 

[Another Reader]

Well. I'm not going to go out and "blow that dough." It will go to property taxes and the money in the checking account earmarked for those property taxes will go into savings.

I fully expect vacancy and unfortunately collection loss to rise as people lose jobs and can't make rent. Already some jurisdictions are saying evictions for non-payment will be stopped if the reason is corona virus. I have no problem negotiating with individual tenants facing temporary hardship but you know this will be abused. It may be many months before you can evict people that are simply no longer able to afford the rent and need a push to make other living arrangements.

 

[Scrapr]

Andrew Wang & the Wang gang.....missed it by that much

 

[MRG]

I thought it was a one time payment being discussed. Is there a source for a UBI discussion? I'd be interested it.

 

[harley]

I'd really like to see emergency measures, like this one if it's done, contain a sunset provision.

If we're not careful, there well could be many programs that get instituted that stick around well after the crisis is over. (e.g. Patriot act after 9/11).

You mean like the sunset provisions of 12/31/2005 for the Patriot Act? Glad that one's not hanging around anymore.

 

[dd564]

I thought it was a one time payment being discussed. Is there a source for a UBI discussion? I'd be interested it.

A couple of the options being discussed are one time payments. Others being discussed are monthly payments.

They are discussing. Not sure what they'll come up with.

 

[Aerides]

I don't hear UBI or anything other than 1 time, possibly 3 months, of payments, in the rhetoric of the proposals, but I do credit Andrew Yang with putting this into the public conversation, and starting the ball rolling.

Had he not been part of the debates, perhaps it would have taken longer for the idea to get into the mainstream? Who knows. It's all very fluid and only time will tell.

 

[dd564]

I don't hear UBI or anything other than 1 time, possibly 3 months, of payments, in the rhetoric of the proposals, but I do credit Andrew Yang with putting this into the public conversation, and starting the ball rolling.

Had he not been part of the debates, perhaps it would have taken longer for the idea to get into the mainstream? Who knows. It's all very fluid and only time will tell.

What's interesting is the White House has been in contact with Yang about the effects of it.

Some of the dems aren't liking that the Republicans are pushing this idea.

 

[MichaelB]

Partisan politics thread infection is worse than Coronavirus ...

 

[target2019]

It's nice when some of the FB friends come by for a chat.

 

[MRG]

- mods have entered the chat:-

 

[pb4uski]

I hope not. This is discussed in one of the other threads (hard to keep track of them all!), but unemployment benefits seem to be much more suited, perhaps with some tweaks for this particular case. Unemplyment is a system that is already in place, why create a new bureaucracy?

A little harder to know how to help small businesses, but it's pretty clear they will need help.
-ERD50

+1 I think $1,000 in everyone's pocket is a horrible idea (and it's not UBI BTW). Target the people who will most need it... low and middle income earners, many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck or have some savings that they will go through quickly once they lose their job.

I'm not keen on supporting high income people who live paycheck-to-paycheck and don't have an emergency fund to rely on because they don't live within their means either... let them live with the consequences of their decisions for a while... maybe they'll smarten up some after we get through this.

Most of people I know.... well off retirees... don't need the $1,000... they'll just bank it.... meanwhile, for the people that I described above $1,000 will be gone in a flash on necessities.

Use that money to enhance unemployment benefits.

 

[Fermion]

+1 I think $1,000 in everyone's pocket is a horrible idea (and it's not UBI BTW). Target the people who will most need it... low and middle income workers, many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck or have some savings that they will go through quickly once they lose their job.

Most of people I know.... well off retirees... don't need the $1,000... they'll just bank it.... meanwhile, for the people that I described above $1,000 will be gone in a flash.

Use that money to enhance unemployment benefits.

The reason they want to do the $1000 to everyone is it doesn't require a lot of partisan fighting and it is relatively quick and easy to implement.

They don't want to spend 2 months crafting a more precision plan that targets certain groups or income levels because there will be arguing and delay in that.

Think of it like this. You have a forest fire, but you don't know exactly where the hottest spot is, so you dump a bunch of water on everything. You don't wait 2 months so you can sift through the wreckage to see "yeah, that was where we should have dumped it"

(I gotta quit doing analogies because that was a poor one, you actually *do* want to dump on the hottest spot because you have a limited number of helicopters in a fire...but the FED has no real limit. It is more that you want to get the water on *some* part of the fire at least, not spend all your time in the fire house arguing over which spot should get water and which shouldn't.)

 

[Another Reader]

+1 I think $1,000 in everyone's pocket is a horrible idea (and it's not UBI BTW). Target the people who will most need it... low and middle income workers, many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck or have some savings that they will go through quickly once they lose their job.

Most of people I know.... well off retirees... don't need the $1,000... they'll just bank it.... meanwhile, for the people that I described above $1,000 will be gone in a flash.

Use that money to enhance unemployment benefits.

For once I agree with you, but I'm not sending the check back.

I wonder how the feds know who to send it to. I suspect there are a lot of people that could use this money but for some reason or another aren't required to file tax returns. And then there are the fraudulent returns...

 

[pb4uski]

The reason they want to do the $1000 to everyone is it doesn't require a lot of partisan fighting and it is relatively quick and easy to implement.

They don't want to spend 2 months crafting a more precision plan that targets certain groups or income levels because there will be arguing and delay in that.

Think of it like this. You have a forest fire, but you don't know exactly where the hottest spot is, so you dump a bunch of water on everything. You don't wait 2 months so you can sift through the wreckage to see "yeah, that was where we should have dumped it"

It's still a stupid idea. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who the people who will be most in need are... and I'm guessing that it is less than half of the population so more than half the money is wasted due to political expediency? Stupid.

 

[Fermion]

It's still a stupid idea. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who the people who will be most in need are... and I'm guessing that it is less than half of the population so more than half the money is wasted due to political expediency? Stupid.

Yep, you got it, it is stupid and yet they should still do it.

You are not seeing the big picture politically. If they just target one segment of the population, it worries the politicians who were elected by another segment (because their segment is getting shafted). In order to have a chance at getting this thing passed, they probably have to give it to everyone even if some don't need it.

 

[pb4uski]

Oh, I see it clearly... they just need to grow a pair and get over it and do the right thing for a change.

 

[MRG]

For the folks suffering it's a lifeline, hopefully it's enough to help them.

Those of us who are able to have an obligation. Blow that dough to prop up the economy.

 

[target2019]

We'll take $1k each per month, thank you. If we don't need it we'll distribute it to needier folks.