The US gov finalizes a deal for historic $2T economic rescue package
Let's get fiscal, fiscal... The White House and Senate struck a deal for a huge $2T economic stimulus package — it's 2.5X bigger than the stimulus given after the 2008 financial crisis. 90% of Americans will be eligible to receive full or partial payments, according to estimates. Since it's being paid to you (courtesy of your tax dollars), we'll itemize the receipt:
- Around $900B in payments to Americans: $1.2K checks sent to each taxpayer with individual incomes of up to $75K/year (little less for $75K-$99K) and no check if you're making over $100K. Families also get $500/child. Plus, the gov is looking to dramatically increase unemployment assistance by an extra $600/week for up to 4 months.
I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a... mammoth $2T economic rescue bill. We didn't forget there's still a key $1.1T left to account for:
- $350B for Small Biz: Loans for small businesses. Important: Loans are forgiven for businesses that don't lay off workers and keep sending them paychecks for the duration of the crisis.
- $500B for Big Biz: $425B in loans for struggling corporations and $75B for specific industries like airlines (which will be banned from stock buybacks — the $$$ should go to employees and investments, not shareholders).
- $150B to State/Local Gov: To deal with virus-related costs and losses.
- $100B for Healthcare: To help hospitals manage the front lines of the crisis (and buy crucial medical supplies like beds, masks, and ventilators).
This (partly) fills the giant spending hole... Consumer spending + government spending makes up a huge part of America's Gross Domestic Product. $2T is around 10% of the total spending/production in the US each year (aka, 10% of GDP). In 2019, the US gov spent $4.45T — this stimulus alone is nearly half that, and is meant to offset spending and income that doesn't happen because of the virus. And it still might not be enough.