Random Thread ~Usagi-Chan ☮ Tūsurī~

[Celedam]

^ That will never pass. With conditions like "until unemployment falls to pre-coronavirus levels" it could go on for years, possibly forever, and when that happens no one will have the political will to end it. In other words, it's an attempt to sneak UBI in through the back door during a time of crisis, at twice the amount that Andrew Yang promised.

The $1200 payments that are going out to everyone right now are enough to cover the initial shock of the lockdown, and unemployment insurance also got a big boost in order to help those who lost their jobs and genuinely need long-term help. Unfortunately, given the nature of this crisis and the uncertainty about our future, no one is buying anyone else's debt anymore, so we're already printing money as fast as the presses can run in order to pay for this. Trying to implement UBI now, during this mess, could trigger hyperinflation and ruin us completely.

We can debate the merits of UBI later, after the world returns to something closer to "normal". I work in automation, so I understand the argument that automation will eventually make UBI necessary. But now is not the time.

[boinsie]

If you've heard that other people already received their "Economic Impact Payments" and you're wondering where yours is, check your 2018 and 2019 tax returns. If you ended with an amount owed rather than a refund, you probably did not provide your Direct Deposit information to the IRS. And the IRS cannot determine your eligibility without that information, regardless of whether you meet the other requirements (e.g., residency, income limits).

The IRS has a portal that lets you check your current status…

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economi ... t-payments

…but it is still working on a portal that will let you update your information.

Thank you for the heads up! We owed on our taxes last year, but because I had given them my bank info to make the payment, I figured that was enough. Evidently not.
Good news is that link does allow you to add bank info now, so if you need to and haven't done it yet, click through!

[resop2]

I have my own opinion on hyper-inflation. I think that minting money out the wazoo doesn't not cause hyper-inflation, but could be a symptom of what does cause it. I think what causes it is a breakdown in the population's confidence in the government. When the population considers the government worthless and corrupt, they could loose confidence in the worth of the country's money. I don't think that we have that problem in the US due to the public relations job that the government has been able to do. They have a large majority of the people believing that only half of the politicians are worthless and corrupt and that things would be okay of only the other half was in charge.

[Zunu]

Hyperinflation generally requires, among other things, a scarcity of goods and services. As the supply runs out, demand spikes, and prices go up tremendously. The government attempts to resolve the situation by printing more money so that wages can go up but that just means more pieces of paper chasing fewer goods, each paper is worth less, and eventually worthless. So the problem we face currently is that the more people stay out of work, the fewer things are made, and the more that people will have to pay to acquire those things. That can't be cured by simply printing more money. At some point people need to go back to making goods and services widely available or our economy will fail.

[rikkikow]

"Stimulus Package"
I got this explanation recently via email.

Spoiler: show

It is a slow day in the small Saskatchewan town of Pumphandle, and streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit.
A tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the desk, saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night.

As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Co-op.

The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit.

The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.

The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves.
No one produced anything. No one earned anything... However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a Stimulus package works.

I have never gotten one yet ever and will believe it when I see it.

[Zunu]

Change the words "tourist/traveler" into "loan officer" and you've also basically described how the fractional reserve banking system works.

[Celedam]

That's the plot of an episode of Dad's Army…



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Finance

I'm sure other sitcoms have done variations of the same story. This one just happens to be fresh in my memory, and it also seems the most relevant given the premise of the series: a British Home Guard platoon during the early years of World War II (i.e., after the Battle of Dunkirk), made up of local volunteers including the manager and staff of the town's bank.

---

It's snowing again today. The weather forecast says we could get up to 2 inches.

[esm]

School is officially closed and we’ll keep doing distance learning for the rest of the school year. It’s not surprising at this point, but when we suddenly closed the school last month I didn’t realize I was just not gonna to see my students in person anymore. I teach 8th graders, so they’re going on to high school next school year.

[TotallyUncool]

That is a pretty major dislocation (I'm not sure what to call it, but it seems like a kind of social and emotional dislocation for everyone involved). And it's going to be difficult for them, too, if the shutdown is extend to (or starts again in) Fall, and they have to start high school via distance learning.

[yuripop]

as someone in high school right now, the remote learning is really disorienting. i feel bad for the kids going into middle/high school, it's gonna be even worse for them x_x