New Coronavirus - COVID-19

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Xist

From the CNN article:
So, a family [with kids] can make over $200,000 a year and still receive help.

Apparently, but as I mentioned, living paycheck to paycheck has less to do with income and more to do with personality. I always mention the coworker that made twice my income, lived in a single room apartment, and came to me on several occasions to make rent. Spenders (vs savers) are at risk across the income spectrum.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Apparently, but as I mentioned, living paycheck to paycheck has less to do with income and more to do with personality. I always mention the coworker that made twice my income, lived in a single room apartment, and came to me on several occasions to make rent. Spenders (vs savers) are at risk across the income spectrum.

It is a combination of personality and cost of living. $200K doesn’t go as far in locations where the median home is $1 million

In my zip code out in the burbs the median home price is $406K or $224 per sq ft. 5 years ago when we bought our house $200k got you a 3 bedroom / 1 bath with a leaking roof and black mold growing visibly up the walls.

[Xist]

She hasn't had an income, just social security, for several years, and has not filed a tax return.

[redpoint5]

My guess is only the people who file a tax return are getting money.

That makes sense, because people that subsist from government paychecks aren't seeing a decline in income in the first place since they didn't have a job that furloughed them.

Hopefully you have your brother on your tax return as a dependent so you can get the $500 for that. At any rate, he should be on your tax return if your mom doesn't file one. It would lower your taxable income.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

She hasn't had an income, just social security, for several years, and has not filed a tax return.

Then she might not get a check. The IRS knows you exist from your tax return.
Also most of the talk about this bill is about sending checks to every taxpayer not person. A senior citizen living on Social Security has lost zero income from this crisis


Also it is possible she has been going without money she is owed by not filing. I don’t know for sure as I have never done taxes for someone with only Social Security.

Turbo Tax (federal and state) is free for people making less than about $36K per year. Go to freefile.intuit.com to get started.

I would run the numbers to find out. It should take less than an hour.


Is your brother filing taxes?

[oil pan 4]

Old people will spend the money wisely.
The unwashed masses will go out and buy the biggest made in China flat screen Walmart sells.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Old people will spend the money wisely.
The unwashed masses will go out and buy the biggest made in China flat screen Walmart sells.

I guess you don’t know the same old people I do. Boomers lived through a once in centuries period of economic prosperity and plenty have nothing to show for it. I’m working with plenty that are holding onto really good jobs into their late 60’s and even 70’s because they are broke.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

A friend posted an article about how alt-right media consumption ... makes people more skeptical and objective. I thought I'd collect some data

Else the more skeptical and objective find that more palatable?

Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is how media affects social stability. I took the red pill pretty much the moment I hit the internet when I was a kid (yea I'm young :P) and have a habit of looking into sources and have not trusted any media long before "fake news" was thrown around in 2016.

Unfortunately I feel like the media in this country has gotten worse and worse, and it makes me fear a civil war or revolution. Seeing people taking really bad conspiracy theories seriously or eating up blatantly biased news makes me nervous.

Since the spooks went open source, 'the truth is out there'.

Originally Posted by JSH

My understanding is that these were the two biggest sticking points. Republicans did not want to expand unemployment...

Also Republicans didn't want to require large corporations to keep their staff on payroll to get help like is required for small businesses.

I thought the sticking point was the Demorats trying to shoe-horn a Green New Deal into the legislation.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Old people will spend the money wisely.
The unwashed masses will go out and buy the biggest made in China flat screen Walmart sells.

I'd say that's probably categorically false. Old people pay less attention to everything, including where their money is going. Their routines become further solidified, so any advantages by moving to something else are lost on them.

My grandmother will pay $6,000 for a dog without thinking about it. If the price were $10,000 instead, it wouldn't matter. Her Direct TV bill is probably $130/mo. She's got no interest to figure out what she doesn't need even though she only watches Gunsmoke and Bonanza all day.

My dad would still be paying for a landline to this day if I hadn't switched them to a VoIP service that was free (and they kept their number).

Those are anecdotes, but old people are terrible with money.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by freebeard

I thought the sticking point was the Demorats trying to shoe-horn a Green New Deal into the legislation.

Nope. Stock buybacks, CEO pay, unemployment insurance, and requiring large corporations to keep people on the payroll to get a bailout. That is the Senate bill

The House bill does have emission restrictions for airlines that take a bailout.