Wall Street Breakfast: The American Rescue Plan

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The American Rescue Plan

Congress is set to give the final green light to President Biden's $1.9T economic stimulus plan today, clearing the way for one of the largest relief packages in U.S. history. It's being hailed as a centerpiece of Biden's first 100 days, and includes $1,400 payments for most Americans, expanded unemployment insurance, funding for schools and public health, and state and local government aid. The legislation also includes a per-child cash payment of at least $3,000 for one year, an expansion of "Obamacare" subsidies for two years, as well as aid for restaurants, agriculture and small businesses.

Thought bubble: The consensus among economists is that the stimulus will boost the economy and supercharge the recovery. A forecast from Moody's says the plan can add up to 7M American jobs - which is important given the levels of unemployment - while the OECD said Tuesday that the program highly enhances the economic outlook even outside the U.S. But there are also those that have raised concerns that the sheer scale of the spending could lead to a spike in inflation, as well as deficit hawks who have expressed worries about additional borrowing and what that might mean for the national debt.

That conversation is also playing out in the political sphere, where Democrats have dubbed it the "largest anti-poverty measure in a generation" or what White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called the "most progressive piece of legislation in history." On the other side of the fence, GOP members have said the package goes too far in its expansion of public assistance, pointing to the only $75B (7% of the $1.9T price tag) which is directed at COVID testing, contact tracing and vaccine distribution.

Statistics: A Pew Research Center poll released yesterday found that 70% of U.S. adults favor the $1.9T coronavirus relief bill, including 41% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and 94% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. In assessing the proposed spending in the aid package, 41% of Americans view it as about right, while another 25% say it spends too little, and only a third of Americans say the legislation spends too much money.

Where are the stimulus checks going?

Back in January, we reported on the usages of stimulus checks, which have provided a financial lifeline to millions of Americans, though for others, they represented an opportunity to boost their savings. That was thanks to the $2.3T CARES Act enacted in March 2020 and the $908B stimulus bill passed in December, which provided $1200 and $600 to all Americans making under $75,000 - regardless of their employment and financial situation.

Backdrop: Securities trading was among the most common uses - across nearly every income bracket - for the checks issued in April, according to software and data aggregation company Envestnet Yodlee. For many consumers, trading was the second or third most common use for the funds, behind only increasing savings and cash withdrawals. In fact, Americans that earned between $35,000 and $75,000 annually traded stocks about 90% more than the week prior to receiving their stimulus check.

Things aren't likely to change this time around. "I do think that you will find a lot of that stimulus money will end up in the market, and I think if anything it's a bullish catalyst," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab. A Deutsche Bank survey of 430 retail investors last month also found that on average they plan to put 37% of any stimulus checks directly into equities.

Go deeper: Goldman Sachs even recently raised its 2021 net equity demand estimate from households from $100B to $350B, reflecting "faster economic growth and higher interest rates than we had assumed previously, additional stimulus payments to individuals, and increased retail activity in early 2021." "We expect households will be the largest source of equity demand this year," wrote strategists from the firm. JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, has a similar forecast. "You have really started to see an interest from the individual investor in a way that we have never seen before," he added.

Direction after relief rally?

Tech made a huge comeback on Tuesday, reversing a recent downtrend over the past few weeks as U.S. 10-year Treasury yields appeared to stabilize. The Nasdaq ended the day up 3.7%, notching its best day since November, with big gains seen for Tesla (+20%), Nvidia (+8%) and Twitter (+6.4%), as well as popular names Riot Blockchain (+34%), GameStop (+27%) and FuelCell Energy (+21%). A day earlier, the index slid into correction territory, leading investors to bargain-hunt for some beaten-down shares.

The Dow also ended in the green, while the index's futures climbed 0.3% overnight, though contracts tied to the S&P 500 flatlined and the Nasdaq slipped 0.3%. That could suggest the broader "reflation" trend - favoring higher rates and cyclical industries - likely remains intact, though volatility could remain. Concerns center around whether additional stimulus from Congress will lead to greater inflation or if high-growth stocks remain expensive. Investors will be watching today's 10-year auction for clues as to where yields may be headed, as well as the latest Consumer Price Index data.

Value bulls: "I think the outperformers are going to be basically non-tech over the next six to 12 months," Wharton School finance professor Jeremy Siegel declared. "The so-called value stocks are going to be sought out for their yield because I think interest rates are still going to be headed much higher here on the long bond. I don't think we're done with this rise in these long-term interest rates."

Growth bulls: "We see the rollover in the Nasdaq to be actually an opportunity to add to positions," said John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer Asset Management. "We think going forward the ubiquitous nature of technology, and the fact that it is deeply embedded in lives of consumers and business with the reopening of the economy, stands in the path of opportunity."

Roblox goes public

Roblox (RBLX) is set to begin trading today on the NYSE via a direct listing process, rather than a traditional route to an initial public offering. Yesterday evening, the exchange set a reference price of $45/share, which is in line with a recent Series H funding round that resulted in a valuation of $29.5B (up 7x its last round in February 2020). The company previously delayed a traditional IPO planned for December and also postponed a direct listing it sought in February.

Backdrop: Roblox is a social gaming platform that allows users to play, create games and hang out with their friends - all in one place. More than half of the kids in America currently play on the platform, which has been a huge beneficiary of the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily active users jumped 85% in 2020 to 32.6M, while the number of hours that players spent on the app more than doubled to 30.6B. CEO Dave Baszucki's ultimate vision for the company is an online world where users can work, play and entertain themselves (a.k.a. the "Metaverse").

In its latest update to its prospectus, Roblux said it paid developers $328.7M in 2020, up almost 200% from 2019. That heavily surpassed the company's sales growth of 82% last year, when it booked $923.9M in total revenue. In addition, more than 1,250 developers earned at least $10K in the digital currency Robux, which can be exchanged for real money. Over 300 earned $100K or more, while the company plans to spend additional cash on incentivizing higher-quality content and funding bigger teams of engineers and designers.

Outlook: Atlantic Equities expects great things, rating it Overweight with a price target of $60. The firm points to plans for international expansion and attempts to "age up" the demographics, along with diversified platform use cases and solid monetization. Seeking Alpha contributor Donovan Jones also notes that the company has seen sales and marketing expenses decline as a percentage of total revenue, even as sales have risen.

Disney + 100

Disney Plus (DIS) has crested the 100M subscriber mark just 16 months after its launch, becoming the most successful emerging streamer trying to chip away at Netflix's (NFLX) dominance. The service is still on track to meet the company’s projection of 260M subscribers by 2024, powered by fan favorites like The Mandalorian and WandaVision. Contrast that with the 203.7M subscribers of Netflix, which topped 100M subs in 2017, a decade after it introduced streaming and upended the industry.

Quote: "The enormous success has inspired us to be even more ambitious, and to significantly increase our investment in the development of high-quality content," CEO Bob Chapek said at the company's virtual annual meeting. "In fact, we set a target of 100+ new titles per year, and this includes Disney Animation, Disney Live Action, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. Our direct-to-consumer business is the company's top priority, and our robust pipeline of content will continue to fuel its growth."

Comments from the competition: "It's super impressive what Disney has done," Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings said during an earnings call in January. "It's incredible execution for an incumbent to pivot to take on the insurgent. It shows members are willing and interested to pay for more content because they're hungry for great stories. And Disney does have great stories."

Disney even temporarily halted its dividend last year following calls from Dan Loeb to permanently end the $3B annual shareholder payment. While the activist investor urged Disney to plunge that cash into original content, as it centers its operations around streaming, it also hasn't forgotten about theme parks. The company is opening Disneyland in late April, while its Florida parks are operating at 35% capacity.

What else is happening...

Cathie Wood's ARK Innovation (ARKK) surges on record performance.

Biden expected to name Big Tech critic Lina Khan to FTC.

Hackers breach Verkada surveillance cameras at Tesla (TSLA).

Russia throttles Twitter (TWTR) over failure to remove banned content.

Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD) shareholders clear Lockheed (LMT) takeover deal.

U.S. crude supply rose 12.8M barrels last week - API.

Curaleaf (OTCPK:CURLF) announces EMMAC acquisition as revenue growth slows.

Conagra (CAG) in talks to sell Hebrew National brand to JBS.

Pfizer (PFE) could have capacity for 3B COVID-19 vaccines in 2022.

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan flat. Hong Kong +0.5%. China -0.1%. India +0.5%.
In Europe, at midday, London -0.3%. Paris +0.4%. Frankfurt +0.2%.
Futures at 6:20, Dow +0.3%. S&P flat. Nasdaq -0.3%. Crude +0.2% to $64.11. Gold -0.6% at $1706.70. Bitcoin +1.2% to $54972.
Ten-year Treasury Yield +2 bps to 1.6%

Today's Economic Calendar

MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Consumer Price Index
10:00 Atlanta Fed's Business Inflation Expectations
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
1:00 PM Results of $38B, 10-Year Note Auction
2:00 PM Treasury Budget

Companies reporting earnings today »

Comments

[MichaelW_R]

Hey guys Barron's, March 15 edition, interview with Henry Kaufman probably one of the most respected economists of the past 50 years and I quote, "With the federal government and the Fed firmly joined at the hip, the transformation of capitalism into statism is gaining momentum, perhaps irreversibly". So if what you want i a guaranteed income for everyone; where everyone gets a ribbon just for showing up; where the rewards for creativity and hard work are marginalized - if this is the kind of society that you want - then Joe Biden's victory and what we will experience over the next 4 years will be tragic. Ads Henry Kaufman relates our founding fathers would find none of this acceptable - and I feel neither should we.

[Bag Man]

@MichaelW_R "everyone gets a ribbon just for showing up"
And with the Forever Lockdowns you won't even need to show up.
(Biden's teleprompter just announced they're thinking of more lockdowns soon.)

[Bag Man]

The stimulus package must be the first openly racist legislation for a very long time. It contains a provision to relieve 120% of the debts of struggling farmers. But only if they're the right color. If you're a struggling white farmer in exactly the same position as your black neighbor, you get nothing.
Utterly disgraceful.

[ALLDAY1]

@Bacon Slicer Something that was not mentioned, but we probably should have guessed it
The framework for this part of the bill drew from the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act, introduced by Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) and joined by Democratic Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.). The legislation aims to pay off federal loans and expand land access and opportunities for historically underserved farmers of color. This bill in turn drew from the Justice for Black Farmers Act introduced by Booker.
Did not take long for Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) the NEW SENATOR FROM GEORGIA to have an impact!

I saw a statement from some one but could not find it again, but it specified that it was a way to sneak reparations because of slavery for a particular group such as farmers with little or no fanfare since reparations for all minorities who can prove slave backgrounds are being rejected by the population as a whole since all slave are currently deceased.

My view if that the bill should have included all " historically under served farmers " regardless of race. Now once established, What are the guidelines for qualification or is it skin color alone and isn't white a skin color?
Allday

[Bag Man]

@ALLDAY1 If only the Left would listen to the words of Martin Luther King: "I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

[ALLDAY1]

@Bacon Slicer
It is unfortunate that the left uses racism as a lever for control. I believe that anyone who tries to succeed can do so. I have many minority friends who also believe that and have become moderately successful. They will tell you that failures during their life have been overcome when one is accountable for their own actions.

Allday

[Strike]

People are living in such dire poverty that I don't see how inflation fears can possibly figure into the equation. I am shocked that all GOP senators, who received full backing from Democrats on the last stimulus package, rejected the current one. Every single GOP senator rejected the stimulus package.

[Bag Man]

@Strike But almost all of the "stimulus package" isn't going to people in poverty. A couple can be earning $150K and still get the money. There's money for badly run Democratic cities and states so they can continue paying themselves and their union friends sky high incomes while people suffer on the streets. Money for wealthy universities and for the Arts. And lots and lots of pork.
If they really wanted to help people in dire need they could have spent a tenth of this amount and actually targeted those who need it.
Remember that ultimately someone has to pay for this money give-away, somehow. It won't be the super-wealthy. It won't be the poor. It will be the ever-shrinking pool of hard-working, decent people.

[Jamjack]

@Strike,
Strange how I go to the grocery store all the basics are going up in price. There is inflation. Wait until the "go green" gets going that "dire" poverty-stricken group is really going to fell pain. That group can barely keep gas in the car and they are going to be told a carbon tax needs to be paid. Can't afford to pay the carbon tax buy an EV. ? Sad.

[brf69]

@Strike

Climate change and monetary policy have similar feedback loops and inflation is similar to CO2 and other greenhouse gases in that loop.

[Flex68]

I'll tell you what scares and shocks me:

the fact that a $1400 check is really expected to make a lasting difference in anyone's life.

Or the overall economy.

Especially when it is a 'second effort' at same.

I surely don't blame the government for trying, and feel that something is worth more than nothing, but........... damn

[Ben Gee]

@Flex68 Creating jobs is a lot of work. Give people a little money is a lot easier.

[ThisIsMyName]

@Flex68 Of course the politicians realize that receiving a one time check makes no long term difference. So then ask yourself why they are doing it and how it will affect future policies.

[Mawyai]

@Flex68 testing the waters for guaranteed monthly income for all...aka Socialism and buying votes.

[Duncan20903]

I wonder how long its going to take for the lame inflation mongers to realize their wrong...again? We're in a multi-decade deflationary spiral. The money printed is simply doing a very good job at hiding it.

Both of my parents were born in 1921 so went through adolescence during the depression. They could never shake that fear. From my observations I think that people that lived through the 1970s are doing exactly the same as my parents, only the boogeyman is inflation where it was deflation that my parents feared. At least my parents were worried about something that can't be mitigated except by perhaps the top 10% of wage earners. Frankly the Fed is doing an excellent job of keeping our chestnuts out of the fire.

Believe anything you like, I'll stick with the truth.

[Ben Gee]

@Duncan20903 All our parents/ grandparents lived through the depression whether they were in America, Europe, Asia or Africa, not all of us learn from their misery.

[john boy]

@Ben Gee
has anybody given any thought , that if the government wsa as generous to the people back then as it is today then maybe the depression wouldn't have been so hardto live through of course we would all be schitts creek today

[VoiceofSanitySometimes]

@john boy

Ben Bernanke gave that a lot of thought. His famous Jackson Hole speech in 2009 really set the stage for what we now call MMT

"As severe as the economic impact has been, however, the outcome could have been decidedly worse. Unlike in the 1930s, when policy was largely passive and political divisions made international economic and financial cooperation difficult, during the past year monetary, fiscal, and financial policies around the world have been aggressive and complementary. Without these speedy and forceful actions, last October's panic would likely have continued to intensify, more major financial firms would have failed, and the entire global financial system would have been at serious risk. We cannot know for sure what the economic effects of these events would have been, but what we know about the effects of financial crises suggests that the resulting global downturn could have been extraordinarily deep and protracted."

People can agree or disagree. There really is no way to know....

[Andres Rueda]

These "stimulus" spending bills are just command economics, communism by any other name. They will never end. Next comes the "green infrastructure" bill, for about $3 trillion. Basically, if you want the resources to engage in any economic activity, you may just need to tap into a government program, because the government through its deficit spending will be commanding such an outsized portion of the country's economic resources. The Maduro economic model.

[Ben Gee]

@Andres Rueda You are wrong, give poor people money is NOT Communism, not Chinese Communism anyway. In Communist China, poor do not get any money, they get jobs.

[Bag Man]

@Ben Gee Yeah, those 'poor' people earning $150K really need those stimulus checks. And New York state, whose tax revenues were down by just $2.5B last year, really needs that $15B check (similar thing for other states).

[john boy]

@Andres Rueda
the green infrastructure deal is not just 3 trillion , no its 3 trillion per year

[Dr Phos]

Wow at 250 million people we cold have gotten $8000 each.. Know better on what to do with it. Only 10% is for COVID!!! lot of pork.

[techy46]

@Dr Phos

Oh $500 billion is to bailout states that were already in trouble.

[Ben Gee]

@techy46 $500B will last them how long? 6 months? Then what? More the same?

[Phil Dumfee]

Tax and spend like a drunken sailor.

Surprise!

A $60 billion surprise in the Covid relief bill blue state bailout.

Tax hikes!!!

Don't let a crisis go to waste without raising taxes.

[Horn Hi Aces]

@Phil Dumfee ...did you miss the Republican Governors welcoming that same relief provided by the bill?

[Jamjack]

@Phil Dumfee,
Yep, this is the candy part of the government hand out....next is the caster oil. High energy costs, increased taxes, more regulation, smaller take home pay, fewer raises as employers deal with it all.

[yoipitydafool]

The voters of Georgia saved the market by voting in the two democrat senators. The Rescue America stimulus is already baked into this market rally. I think there will be another rally once Biden actually signs it in. Can't imagine what the market would have looked like if this stimulus did not pass it would have been very bad. We are not going to forget that it was the republicans who tried to block this much needed stimulus.

[richjoy403]

@yoipitydafool -- Regarding your statements:
a) the stimulus "is already baked into this the market rally", then
b) "I think there will be another rally once Biden actually signs it".

FYI, it's very rare that Mr. Market discounts the same news twice...which is we have the market adage: "Buy on the rumor, sell on the news".

[yoipitydafool]

@richjoy403
There is some people out there that will actually have to see Biden signing the document before they believe it so I do believe there will be a surge once Biden actually signs the document.

[Bag Man]

@yoipitydafool "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury." - Alexis de Tocqueville
Georgia Democrats were openly promising $2000 payouts to people IF they voted for them in the senate runoff. Now it's payoff time.

[Diesel]

The Roaring 20s is back.

[Bag Man]

@Diesel And then what happened?

[Diesel]

We can worry about that in 8-10 years if we are still alive.

[Ben Gee]

@Bacon Slicer Then, the 30s will follow.

[omttepescott]

OK lets force everyone into unemployment to stop the dreaded virus and now lets call it the largest anti poverty plan. Brilliant!

[Ben Gee]

@omttepescott Give the poor money does not solve poverty. Give them jobs will solve poverty.

[techy46]

So The American Rescue Plan is TARP 2.0 isn't?

Bailing out the US from the 3rd US Congress disaster in 20 years.

Not to mention to 20 years of losing wars costing US $6-10 trillion.

[maddaj19]

@techy46 how do you know something isn't going to work until you try it three times?

[techy46]

@maddaj19

Well, I'd say 20 years, $36 trillion and 500,000 lives lost says something?

[Flex68]

@techy46 ,

Nearly 76k comments in about 10 years......
Were the prior 75,699 as sage as these most-recent 2 ?

LOL !!

Drive on!

[mobyss]

So "the American people NEED this stimulus money to pay their rent and put food in the table" but in reality 80%+ of the money ends up getting gambled in the stock market. The kids need milk but mommy needs to bet big on a share of Tesla. Got it.

[VoiceofSanitySometimes]

@mobyss

If you chase back all the links to the original chart posted on CNBC, you will discover one of the most misleading charts I've ever seen

www.cnbc.com/...

They are measuring the increase in usage v the week before, but they don't baseline the numbers.

If savings account activity increased 250%, did it go from $1 to $2.50 or did it go from $200 to $500. If people with incomes between $35K and $75K increased their securities trades by 90%, did it go from $5 to $9.50, or did it go from $1000 to $1900?

Of course the bank activity increased by a lot in the week the money went out -- that is where the money spends a few weeks until it gets spent (most got direct deposited to bank accounts).

I can assure you that the largest use of these $1400 checks by far will be buying "stuff", whether that "stuff" is groceries or clothes or a new TV. The second most common use will be paying enough on credit cards to get back on schedule (not fully paid off, but not behind on payments).

Will some of it go to buy stocks? A small % will I'm sure, but the way the chart is presented that leads you to conclude that "80%+ of the money ends up getting gambled in the stock market" is just plain misleading and wrong.

[john boy]

@mobyss
Lets not forgett the casinos are open again

[VoiceofSanitySometimes]

@john boy

Actually, I bet one of the big winners from these $1,400 checks will be state lotteries....

would be curious to track those numbers...

[jamesbell01]

This is probably the last stimulus package.

[MichaelW_R]

@jamesbell01 At the rate they are spending - let's hope so. I would not want Moody's to consider a possible downgrade of the current US credit rating..but of course no one is talking about the debt build up!! Until its too late..

[GreenEggs&Ham]

@MichaelW_R We've been talking of the debt buildup since Reagan.
Under who's watch we went from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation.
It's been building ever since.

[rungrandpa]

@jamesbell01 Pelosi announced they are working on another one.

[MichaelW_R]

Almost any economic indicator that you look at will tell you the $1.9T spend is not necessary. This does nothing to end poverty - good jobs end poverty.

[Ben Gee]

@MichaelW_R Giving people money do not end poverty, give them jobs will end poverty.

[Crayfishkaliari]

@Ben Gee our society has gotten to the point where many jobs just do not make sense to do anymore, so they arent being done. We have a real problem and covid has papered over it for now as people are distracted

[Ben Gee]

@Crayfishkaliari Improving the infrastructure and start making some of the products we buy from other countries make lot of sense. They create jobs and pay taxes.

[VoiceofSanitySometimes]

We all have our opinions on this $1.9T behemoth, but as an investor all I can do is ride the wave and try to use it to my advantage. I continue to buy the dips and be heavily weighted in "Expanded Tech" (see the IGM portfolio as an example). The $1,400 per person the gubmint is going to give us will go to a much better cause than they would have spent it otherwise.

If they are going to flood the economy with money, then a bunch of it is going to end up making Amazon and Apple and Microsoft and Disney etc more profitable, and that is a win for my portfolio.

In my small community, lots of people ask my opinion on local issues. Neither Trump nor Biden have called me, so I guess my opinion doesn't count at that level... Until it does, all I can do is take what they give me...

[superartus]

@VoiceofSanitySometimes exactly! You can win in any environment but you need to play the game first.

[Ben Gee]

@VoiceofSanitySometimes $1.9T can create 19 million jobs at $100K each.
China will use $500B to create 11 million jobs in 2021 instead of give people checks.

[VoiceofSanitySometimes]

@Ben Gee

Thx for proving my point. Lots of different ways to look at this legislation, and certainly lots of legitimate complaints against it.

BUT..... it is done. Like it or not, it is done. The milk is spilled. The water is under the bridge...

And as an investor, it is my job to figure out how to use it to my advantage. In 2 years or 4 years you can lead the charge to throw this group of bums out of office, and then it will be my task as an investor to figure out how to use whatever the next group of bums does to my advantage as well.

[Bigjeff0065]

It is a hack, partisan economist who says it will create 7m jobs. Government does not really create jobs, but sure can kill them. Funding schools doesn't create jobs as that is state job to fund teacher payrolls. It is all just bs to make any such claims and they are never followed up on as there is no way to prove one single job came from the porkulus package. The media really needs to quit parroting the administration and start questioning things as a bit of sense would really help with shoddy journalism. It is just so lazy...

[Phil Dumfee]

Only 28 economies around the globe grew in 2020.

[grharmon]

@Bigjeff0065 poor guy "Funding schools doesn't create jobs as that is state job to fund teacher payrolls"

the second biggest category of job loses during the Great Recession was laid off State and Local workers since they have to balance there budgets.

[john boy]

@Bigjeff0065
The 7 million jobs are just the jobs in the cruise and hotel/ travel industry and restaurant industry and theme parks and hollywierd and the theater starting back up

[blueline]

"U.S. crude supply rose 12.8M barrels last week - API."

They have been trying to reduce supply through both oil production and refining while demand increases but it looks like it's not going to be successful.

If gasoline prices continue to rise at the current rate we will be in a depression even with the massive dumping of free money.

[Ben Gee]

@blueline Most of the free money will be going to pay for junks coming from other countries.

[john boy]

@blueline
not me man i barely fill my tank up 1 time per month and the wife working from home going in 1 day a week maybe 1.5 times per week

[fully awake]

Absolute nonsense. Bread and circuses. This will accelerate our march toward bankruptcy and hyper inflation. Bailing out irresponsible liberal municipalities who will only learn responsibility through going bust. Now the fiscally responsible places have to pay for the irresponsible places- typical liberal "fairness". Also increases citizen's dependence on government. Just the opposite of the individual responsibility we need. Get me outta here!

[AdmiralSheep]

@fully awake liberals choose to spend money on lower and middle class support systems. GOP chooses to spend money on corporate tax breaks, walls and wars. Pick your cure. The sooner we stop name calling and blaming the other side, the sooner we can truly have unity and solve real problems. The only way to validate a solution is to look at past data...which in the age of a pandemic we don't have...let's revisit this conversation 10 years from now and we will know how the new stimulus package (and the Trump + GOP CARES act) fared for our economy.

[PanicFirst]

@AdmiralSheep The Fed is in charge.

[logictrain]

@AdmiralSheep Do you really think 1400 is going to help the poor? It will be gone within 60 days, then what? The people it will help are the upper classes, people like me who can beat hyper-inflation due to our inflated investment portfolios. Conversely the poor get stuck with hyper-inflation with the same job and the same pay.

[DanielGannon1]

"Securities trading was among the most common uses - across nearly every income bracket - for the checks issued in April, according to software and data aggregation company Envestnet Yodlee."

So this company has all the information to track what's coming into your bank account (by deposit since they can specifically identify the stimulus) and also follow it through to your brokerage account? Surely that wouldn't present a problem for the consumer.