Written by: Jonny Carerros
People love spending money on the things they love, however people enjoy getting free money even more. Right now in the US taxpayers are receiving money because of what is happening with the coronavirus. The money they are receiving is called a stimulus check. This stimulus check is letting taxpayers have a little more spending money for whatever they want. However, are stimulus checks good for the economy or are they bad? (Not all short term or long term benefits are included)
To determine if stimulus checks are good or not we have to first look at what exactly a stimulus check is. A stimulus check is the government giving taxpayers money to spend on whatever they want. The amount of money they give you depends on how much money you make a year. The more money you have a year the less money you will get from the stimulus check and the less money you make the more money you will get from the stimulus check as shown to the right. People making $75,000 or less get a check for $1,200, people making $80,000-$85,000 a year get $950 and so forth. The reason the government does this is because this is supposed to encourage people to spend some money and stimulate the economy by having some money go around.
Do the stimulus checks help stimulate the economy and help us right now and for the future? For right now, it does help tremendously. It has many effects on the economy that can help many people especially with employment. According to investpodia.com, “The Congressional Budget Office found that the stimulus checks, along with other measures to jumpstart the economy, had by 2011 created between 1.6 million and 4.6 million jobs, increased real GDP by between 1.1 and 3.1 percent, and reduced unemployment by between 0.6 and 1.8 percentage points.” This data shows that there is a great impact from stimulus checks. It has a great chance of letting people get jobs and truly does help the economy. During the quarantine time many people are going to be losing jobs because companies don’t have money. Though if they can get money, like from the stimulus checks people spend, they will have more money to hire people. This is a great effect for US citizens because more people will be able to have jobs and earn money during this hard time. There is a great short term benefit right now, however is the long term as good?
The long term benefits are kind of the same as the short term with the economy slowly getting better. Though what about for the people after they stop receiving stimulus checks. Taxpayers are going to have to eventually pay back all that money they received next time they pay taxes. This is going to affect some people greatly, mainly people who earn under $75,000. There are some flexible areas with how much money you make and if you get bumped above certain thresholds but for the most part it will have people paying back some money to the government. When people pay that money back they will have to be using even less money otherwise they won’t have enough money to pay that back. So they are kind of in a gray shady area of having money but not being able to use much because they have to pay back what they got eventually. Though it probably won’t be all the money right away and will slowly get paid back.
Does the short term benefits outweigh the long term downfalls for the people. They do quite a bit. It is important to have a stable economy that can last and the stimulus checks help greatly with keeping the economy on its feet. Also, the people won’t have to pay back everything right away and will come slowly so it isn’t too much damage done to them. However, the economy at that time is also growing so they will have greater opportunities to raise the amount of money they make. So, the stimulus checks are great for the economy and should be used during hard times to keep the economy stable and up.
For the picture: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stimulus-checks-debt-collectors-cares-act/
(At 2:15 in the video on the top)
Works Cited
“A Guide to COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Relief.” Consumerfinance, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 15 Apr. 2020, www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/guide-covid-19-economic-stimulus-checks/.
Halton, Clay. “Stimulus Check.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 16 Apr. 2020, www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stimulus-check.asp.
Ivanova, Irina. “Debt Collectors Are Going after Americans' Stimulus Checks-and the CARES Act Allows It.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 16 Apr. 2020, 6:52 PM, www.cbsnews.com/news/stimulus-checks-debt-collectors-cares-act/.
Piccchi, Aimee. “Here's How Your Coronavirus Stimulus Check Affects Your Taxes.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 18 Apr. 2020, www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2020/04/18/coronavirus-stimulus-check-how-economic-impact-payments-affect-taxes/5148805002/.
This is a really interesting topic that I didn't think too much about during this time. Do you think this is going to help the recovering process after all of this? Or hurt us?
ReplyDeleteStimulus checks for the meantime are for sure going to be beneficial to people who are in need of some quick money for spending on essentials like food. You do mention that people will have to pay back the government the money that they received from the stimulus checks and honestly I don’t think that’ll make a huge difference because these checks are not rather large to begin with. The economy will be able to be boosted a little bit with these stimulus checks but not a whole ton as people aren’t going to be spending this couple hundred dollars on non essential things and most people won’t be using all of it so I think for right now this is just a small buffer to normal society and won’t impact long term.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the circumstances of the time, this is an important topic. Stimulus checks are very helpful for the families who are put out of work and aren't getting the paycheck they need for them and their family. Even if people happen to spend this money on things that aren't "essential", there's still a positive side to that. You also pointed out that people spending their money is good for the economy, which is true, but that can't happen if people aren't spending in order to conserve, so that's another place where stimulus checks are important.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with your points. This stimulus check is going to greatly impact our economy and some of the lower class people who are being affected by these hard times. But these checks are also helping out land owners and people who own rental property because some people are losing their jobs so these checks are getting put towards a month of rent until the renter can land another job
ReplyDeleteWow this is very interesting. I thought the checks were just meant to support Americans but they are really meant to stimulate the economy. I guess the word "stimulus" is dead giveaway. I also was unaware that the people who receive the checks are supposed to pay back the money by next year. I agree that those people are in turn going to spend less when they have to pay it back which seems counter-productive in the long run. I also agree that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks and it will be interesting to see the people complaining next year about paying the money back.
ReplyDeleteI think this blog post is a very interesting one and is a very good topic for discussion. Getting to learn more about something that will eventually help me later in life is very good to know. I also had no idea that people had to pay back the money by next year. I think the economy will get nice boost but nothing too crazy. Overall I think you make great points, and due to the time we are in this makes for an amazing topic to discuss. Good post!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really on-brand post for this current time, and I think that your visual was effective in communicating the nuances in amount of the checks. I also thought that the checks were more of a financial cushion for some Americans, but it seems like they're more of an aid to the economy. Nonetheless, I think that there are a lot of benefits to this manner of support, and I am curious to see how these checks affect the economy over a longer period of time.
ReplyDeleteI really loved the timing of this piece. Personally, I know the general idea of the stimulus checks, but I have yet to research or learn about how they'll effect our economy besides the broad term of a "stimulus". Upon mentioning that individuals have to pay back that money in the future, wouldn't you think that is a step in the wrong direction? I definitely don't think that we will have completely economically recovered from this by next year, and a large bank demand of loan returns won't help us progress towards recovery at all.
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting ti read and it gave me a better depth of understanding on what's going on. These will likely benefit owners of small businesses and the people that need the money the most to stabilize themselves and their families. In addition during this crisis this is the amount of help that is granted by the government. Even if it is a little it's at least something and far better than nothing.
ReplyDeleteI believe these checks will greatly impact our economy espicaily when the stay at home order is lifted and we start to get back into our normal lives.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! I never thought that they would actually help since it just seems like money being handed off. If it helps stabilize other businesses that's good. We need more ma and pa places since most of them have been destroyed by the pandemic. Good topic!
ReplyDeleteThis is a super interesting and informative article given our current situation. I think there will definitely be a balance between how good these checks are as they are super helpful for the economy right not it will be interesting to see the long term effects and how those will impact the economy in the next few years. In all, I think that only time will tell how good the checks are given we have never experienced a pandemic quite like this before and we don't exactly know when it is going to end.
ReplyDeleteI found this really interesting. I hadn't looked too much into stimulus checks, but I see how they can affect the economy. I think that they are helpful now, but it's interesting to think about how this will affect the economy in the future.
ReplyDeleteBecause unemployment is up, I wonder if some people will struggle when they have to pay back their stimulus check. If they're unable to find employment when the pandemic is "over", they would be unable to pay. And low income Americans have to pay back more, since their checks are for more money.
ReplyDeleteStimulus checks are a very strange factor of, economic disasters and other incidents such as these where the economy stagnates. I definetly believe that they are good for the economy, however it still does not change the fact that many people off work currently would have made more money than $1,200 in the time we've been quarantined. It feels like low-income citizens of America will still struggle when the quarantine is lifted to me, but we'll have to wait and see until then.
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ReplyDeleteThis post was very informative and easy to understand how the stimulus checks work. I didn't look into the stimulus checks very much but after reading this post I understand it better. I thought that the government was just giving money and didn't realize that people are going to have to pay that back. I believe that the stimulus checks are helping out the economy a great deal after all the nonessential businesses are shut down. Do you think that more stimulus checks will be given out especially in Wisconsin because the majority of our population will not be able to work for another month?
ReplyDeleteYes, I think the stimulus check is a good thing, Because it does to things it encourages people to go out and spend money and it also could get the economy to go up.
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ReplyDeleteI really liked reading this. I do think that stimulus checks are good for the people struggling the most through this time. I do wonder how hard the lower-income population is going to struggle after quarantine? However, with stimulus checks, people are still in a way able to go out(or online) and spend money to support businesses.
ReplyDeleteI think the stimulus checks are good ideas but I think that people during the college age group and the just turned 18 really got affected the most. I myself being one of them, are very worried. College students and Seniors in high school are dependents on tax forms but a majority of this age group still works to pay off college loans.
ReplyDelete-Han
Based on the information you provided, I also think the stimulus checks are a good way to help the economy recover during these hard times. Han does have a point in his comment above mine, lots of people that could need the stimulus checks are considered dependents and are therefore ineligible for the aid they need. The system does help but could use a bit of work to be better for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed taking the time to read this post because it helped me understand better the importance of the stimulus checks, and even better I think it’s great that you made a blog post that is relevant to our current time and situation. You truly went in depth with your post talking about how it can potentially benefit a lot of people and the economy. You talked a lot about the short term and long term benefits which I thought were both important, and overall thought it was great that you incorporated everything you needed to when writing this blog post.
ReplyDeleteGreat essay and I completely agree with the topic. It is a great essay that had no flaws and it is just very well executed. I like how you did not delve into Macro econ and kept it understandable to everybody. One thing that would have made your amazing blog even better would be the inclusion of some Macro econ concepts but could be explained without the terms. The concepts I'm talking about is the fact that there way 4 trillion dollars sent to businesses and only 1 trillion to consumers. Sending more money to consumers through checks is better than giving that money straight to companies because the money multiplier would be higher and products are being made with that money instead of just reducing losses which is necessary for crisis.
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