With the end of the year and so much to be thinking about with the season and the gifts and communicating with family and worrying about your health and the stack of unpaid bills, what are you going to do?
Most of us turn to family to help out, but they are in the same situation. Non-profit organizations normally step in to assist, but they are not getting the donations needed to exist. The good folk in religious congregations are overwhelmed with request. The city is stretched thin with the lack of tax revenue from business shut down. The state is looking for assistance being burdened by the pandemic and no additional funding to pay for distribution.
So everyone looks to Uncle Sam to bail us out.
This year everyone was taken by surprise. The unemployment looked good. The stock market looked good. It’s getting better all the time.
Watering holes, music venues, gyms, schools offices and assembly lines closed due health restrictions. People were told to work from home. The kids were told to learn from home. Shelter in place and wear a doctor’s mask. Many were out work and there were no alternative jobs. Many applied for unemployment until it ran out.
The cities looked to the state and the states looked to the federal government.
The solution was to present Paycheck Protection Program loans with the caveat that they may be forgiven. This was for businesses to keep paying employees, even when there is no work. A fund of $1,200 was decided to give to every person as a stimulus check.
Still the government was in the same boat as the states and cities of lost revenue due to lack of income taxes. The answer was to borrow more because the interest rate was so low and raise the deficit.
Well that $1,200 didn’t last long, but the congress couldn’t decide what to do next. Make another relief package? How much should be in this one? There are additional costs like medical supplies, laptop computers for the kids to learn at home, the cost of a vaccine all the while paying for a gigantic army and building a wall.
If the PPP loans are to be forgiven, how about educational loans? If a student borrowed money to get a good education and then can’t get a job, was it worth the cost? What about the credit card interest people are buying food and paying utilities with? If the government is going to handing out money, give me a cut too.
Raise the minimum wage for a worker who can’t get a job. Give a loan to a person who can’t pay it back. Is this assistance or charity? The divide between the haves and the have not’s widens.
Perhaps everyone can work for the government. The Newer Deal, but how much do you know about picking crops or picking up trash?
This year is drawing to a close. For the past forever there has been nothing on the airwaves except politics and pandemic. There isn’t even any sport for diversion. In a few weeks Santa will have come and gone and the ball will drop as we turn the page on the calendar.
Uncle Sam won’t you spare me a dime?
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