from Pelosi to dole out 3 trillion dollars
$500 billion trickle up plan instead of 3 Trillion trickle down plan.
Cuban would institute an interim stimulus program that would work like this:
All 128 million households could get a $1,000 stimulus check every two weeks
The stimulus check would be given for the next two months.
Here’s the kicker: the stimulus checks are “use it or lose it.”
You must spend your entire stimulus check within 10 days of receipt, or it expires and you lose your stimulus check.
Link: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2020/05/18/stimulus-check-mark-cuban/amp/
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groceries in the morning and the card ran out last night at midnight and now my kids are starving" would be endless...and lead to exceptions and the whole thing would become a nightmare.
I've been pushing for a similar stimulus plan but instead of sending people checks give them a credit or debit card with a set amount on it and an expiry date. It's basically a universally accepted gift card. Use the card within the prescribed time limit or lose the stimulus fund. Once the cards are issued there is no additional administration or monitoring.
Just imagine the rampant fraud and endless stories of “the mailman didn’t bring my card til the day before it expired”, “my card didn’t work”, “my card went to my old address and someone else used it”, “criminals are raiding mailboxes”. Yada yada yada.
Seriously, there is no way this could be ramped up and administered in any short timeframe.
If it's perfection you seek, you'll live a life of perpetual unhappiness. All of us and all of our systems are imperfect.
In general I'm not a fan of governments handing out free money. But if consumer spending is 70% of the economy and the economy is cratering, you need to do something that will jump start spending. Addressing concerns about fraud isn't that hard. Each card can come with a 4 digit pin that's the last 4 numbers in your Social Insurance Number (or whatever you call it in the US). Makes it tough for anyone to use your card. You can have the two week spending period start at the time of the first purchase, with an overall expiry date for the card of 1 or 2 months.
The economic goal is hardly dubious. It's very simple. Get people spending money. It puts people to work. It increases the velocity of money.
So back to Gladwell. There are no perfect solutions. This proposal isn't perfect, but it's better than anything else I've heard and it's better than doing nothing or waiting for the perfect solution (which isn't coming).
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A good portion of the problem is that people can't spend the money. They can't get a haircut, they can't get the dog groomed, etc.
Just think of the lead times: 1) Govt needs to source 100,000,000+ cards...every two weeks 2) Govt needs to source the correct envelopes 3) Govt needs to load the cards with cash and program a semi-unique pin on every card 4) Govt needs to make sure the right cards get in the right envelopes.
I think the experience with things like the healthcare marketplace online app, the rollout of PPP, and the mere sending of a single check to 2019 taxpayers should provide a cautionary tale about how difficult it really is to implement seemingly easy or good ideas.
K.I.S.S.
not trying to be a negative nellie...I just don't think something like this is feasible without extensive lead time.
I suppose it's possible you've never heard of SNAP or Social Security or other plans.
This is the back of an envelope scheme that uses different data and methodology with a lead time of a few weeks.
Do you honestly think the government can successfully mail out 100mm credit cards every two weeks? NFW.
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They need to get money in the hands of common folk until the pandemic is over. It's a vicious circle until they can get consumer confidence up.