ICYMI| We have already spent 6,4 trillion dollars in COVID-19 relief. But, did we spend the money wisely? I am not sure. Here is what we spent the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, passed in March 2020; the $2.3 trillion HR 133, passed in December 2020; and the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, passed in March 2021. But, what if we gave every taxpayer a share of that money? Every taxpayer would get $41,000. If we gave every citizen a share they would get about $18,000 each.
A family with three kids would have received $90,000 at $18,000 each. Not only would it help families survive, but it would have stemmed the flow of people living off their credit cards, and people spending the money would have stimulated the economy. It would seem like that could have been the better way to go. I think it should have been tax-free and in one lump sum.
As Brad Polumbo of the Foundation for Economic Education notes:
The COVID spending bills have all lost huge sums of money to unrelated carve-outs, politician pet projects, corporate bailouts, fraud, waste, and worse.
In the latest $1.9 trillion package, more than 90 percent of the spending is not directly related to containing COVID-19. Only 1 percent of the money, about $15 to $20 billion, is spent on vaccines. Meanwhile, hundreds of billions go to bailing out poorly managed state governments’ budget holes that predate the pandemic and $86 billion rescues failing pension plans. Meanwhile, billions more go to Obamacare expansion and subsidizing public schools long after the pandemic.
