Two thousand dollar checks or fourteen hundred dollar checks? That is the question. Except it’s not really a question. It’s a semantic shell game that the Democrats are playing on their voters--once again depending on the spectre of Republican villainy to inspire a bunch of shills in the audience.
That Democrats had promised voters $2,000 checks is not up for debate. No matter the sacred math they held in their hearts, they gave a very clear impression that they intended to fight for $2,000 checks.
So it’s not unreasonable that people would be upset by Joe Biden pushing a plan for $1,400 checks instead. People should be upset that $1,400 is the starting point for Democrats. It’s not enough.
Remember when Rudy Giuliani gave a press conference in front of a landscaping company because it was called Four Seasons and Trump clearly thought it was the hotel chain? Everyone compared that moment to the show Veep. And it was an apt comparison. If you haven’t seen Veep, it’s a great show about how inept, callous, and depraved our politicians are. Mostly it shows how much contempt they have for the intellect of the average American. Trump and his team really thought they could get away with claiming that they had always intended to give a press conference about challenging the election in front of a small town strip mall storefront. That’s pretty funny. You know what else is funny? Democrats pretending that they always intended to fight for $1,400 because $1,400 plus $600 equals $2,000.
Y’all think we stupid.
Whether or not you believe it’s feasible to pass a larger amount of direct aid through this congress and this senate, it’s hard to argue that a one-time payment of $1,400 is sufficient for keeping people financially secure--and more to the point, keeping people home--during the pandemic. And that last part is key here. As vaccines are slowly being doled out to the public, scientists are warning that our inability to stop or sufficiently slow the spread of COVID risks allowing the virus to mutate and potentially become resistant to vaccination. We need to be closing shit down to give us time to build a vaccinated herd immunity. That means that people shouldn’t be going to work in restaurants and stores. We need to pay them to stay home. That’s going to take money.
There should be a monthly payment of $2,000 until we can confirm that we have passed the vaccination threshold. A one-time payment of $2,000 on top of the recently passed $600 is the compromise. And even then, it’s still not enough to keep people from financial ruin as this drags out.
Okay so let’s just put aside the fact that Democrats' goal for direct payments is insufficient. Could they even pass it if they tried? Thanks for asking! With a tied senate and control of the house, the Democratic party possesses enough votes to pass a standalone bill giving $2,000 to everybody through budget reconciliation. Of course all Democrats aren’t created equal and conservative members of the party like Joe Manchin have expressed a desire to keep the amount of direct aid as low as possible as well as demanding that it be administered through some bureaucratic means-testing apparatus.
Yeah, that’s tough. Joe Manchin represents a conservative state and he is compelled to do what his voters want. It’s just that, well it seems like Joe already softened his stance on the amount being $2,000 after ads were run in his state calling him out. Maybe some more organizing on the ground in West Virginia (one of the poorest states in the country) could get him to drop the silly means-testing requirement. Maybe we could give the West Virginia Teachers Union a call. They have some experience mobilizing people to get the government to provide material support.
The democrats pivot to $1,400 is not about logistics nor any concept of the inherent morality of bipartisanship. It's ideological. Joe Biden and the Democratic leadership want people to go back to work. Sure, they want them to be safe while doing it, but mostly they just want to get production back up again. And they sure as shit don’t want people to get the idea that poverty is a choice that we make as a society, rather than an unfortunate byproduct of an otherwise just and moral capitalist economy.
I thought the deal was that leftists should vote for Biden against Trump and in return we get to put pressure on Biden to move more left than he had advertised himself to be during the campaign. Calling the Democrats out over punting on $2,000 checks is that pressure. I really don’t want to hear Democrats and liberals complaining about it. Would they rather we have Trump?
Democrats and liberal pundits seem to want to frame this fight as the greedy, naïve, and disingenuous left refusing to take yes for an answer. The story goes that when Republicans were set to pass only $600 checks in December, Trump threatened to veto unless the checks were for $2,000. The squad jumped at this opportunity and drafted an amendment to the house bill that increased the amount from $600 to $2,000, and that is the sticking point. Because in this interpretation of events, from the moment that the number 600 was replaced with the number 2,000, any mention of delivering $2,000 to people was specifically referencing this particular stimulus bill and no other form of stimulus. Which means that since $600 payments were already passed before Trump left office, any promise to give people $2,000 was specifically referring to adding $1,400 to that previous bill.
Okay, that makes sense. There is certainly enough evidence to support this version of the story. I believe that Democrats always intended to only offer $1,400 in this round of stimulus. But that just isn’t what they told people in Georgia. If you tell people that $2,000 checks are headed out the door and they only get $1,400, they are going to think you lied to them. Pointing out the fine print isn’t going to assuage their frustration.
I see Democrats insisting that it’s only idiotic leftists who care about this. Average people are just happy for the assistance. Marginalizing popular policy as the ravings of a fanatical and unrealistic left is a grand old tradition in the party. But the problem is, this time the issue at hand is really simple. We aren’t trying to debate the financialization of basic necessities or monetary policy. This is $2,000 vs $1,400. One number is larger than the other. And they can’t pretend that they didn’t just flip the senate against the odds by saying the words “Two Thousand'' over and over again. They aren’t just calling the left idiots for believing that $2,000 meant $2,000, they are calling the people who busted their ass working in Georgia for Ossoff and Warnock idiots as well. Those people who don’t normally vote for whatever reason, but decided to vote this time because $2,000 would really make a difference--they are idiots too.
That matters. I know Joe Biden and the K-Hive don’t want to hear it, but it really matters. Democrats won back power with the slimmest of margins. And they won on the back of activists believing in and selling voters on the idea that Democrats could really help people. And not by the standards of help normally associated with Democrats where you get to log onto a broken website and play everyone’s favorite game show: “Did I Qualify for This or Am I Still Fucked?!”
Hosted by an underpaid and overworked government employee.
If you think the left has ulterior motives in pushing for a larger and perpetual direct stimulus, then you are right. We want people to understand that things do not have to be so precarious for so many. We want people to understand that an economy is meant to serve them, not the other way around. But if you think we are being unreasonable, please understand that we have seen this movie before. It ends in a midterm massacre and sets up for a sequel where Marjorie Taylor Greene becomes president.
Cut the damn check, Joe.
Solidarity forever.
amen. really glad you put in the idea about contacting teachers in west virginia for help organizing support for $2000. i think everyone's in agreement we've gotta keep pressing, not settle back like happened with obama in the wh. build from the base up. solidarity
"Whatever we expect, with confidence, becomes
our own self-fulfilling prophecy." - Brian Tracy... There were so many untruths told to the American people, by both parties... I agree it would be suicide for Democrats to not uphold the original amount asked for just because there was a payment of $600.00 given... After what we went through for the past four years, America needs a true break and $1400.00 to those less fortunate won't keep anyone on their feet to survive... Just because somebody makes more doesn't mean they haven't also been hit hard by what has transpired and minorities have only just begun to get the first half of the vaccine because as usual they are left behind, along with teachers, sanitation workers, and postal employees... Wise up America!! Do the right thing and really embrace getting all Americans back on their feet!!! Solidarity Forever!!!