US Politics, March 2020 — There’s a very good chance you’re not going to die.

xp amount

I think I just realized it's time to [command +] my screen, that's been my whole problem all this time

Did y'all honestly think this thing was just going to magic the problem away in one fell swoop? Jesus.

― Unparalleled Elegance (Old Lunch),

Who said that?

Agreeing with you, shaking my head at people grousing that it's too little. Because of course it is, but it's a surprisingly good start.

I mean, apologies for trying to take into account the possibility I'll still be alive and have bills to pay in August?

To quote my favorite benefit track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXGgWf2lacM

get busy Humpty

are y'all seriously thinking that with a Republican majority Senate (albeit a thinner one right now due to people who are quarantined at home and can't vote) that anything better than 100% of your salary for 4 months was possible? I didn't even think THAT was possible.

I sincerely doubt that's the last piece of legislation if this thing continues into September, but...if we're going to constantly feel despair because we can't guarantee everything is going to be roses six months in the future, that's just going to bring you undue pain, and I say this as someone that has been fighting to keep panic attacks at bay for the first time in over a year rn.

no, this bill if it passes as is does not guarantee we will all live happily ever after, but it WOULD guarantee that the hundreds of friends and family members I have who can now feel the tightened ropes around their chest loosen a bit and feel like they might have a fighting chance at coming out ok in the long run. Fuck making me feel bad for feeling happy about that, because it's been keeping me up at night.

gotta take these things a day at a time, or you're going to wear yourself out. I should know, I wound up in the hospital over it once.

the fight doesn't stop tonight any more than it would have had Dems just signed the first shitty bill that was thrown in front of them.

people grousing that it's too little

these were the same people bitching that congressional Dems were getting rolled afaict

are y'all seriously thinking that with a Republican majority Senate (albeit a thinner one right now due to people who are quarantined at home and can't vote) that anything better than 100% of your salary for 4 months was possible? I didn't even think THAT was possible.

I've held my fire hoping sic and others aren't obtuse enough not to see this.

Neanderthal otm

that said, until this thing is passed, I am going to be a bit on pins and needles worried about shenanigans. but I'll take that over wondering how $2,400 was going to somehow keep my parents afloat. or worrying that my best friend, who has told me she's had suicidal thoughts on more than one occasion in recent months prior to the crisis, and in the last week alone, is going to finally be pushed over the edge by all this and leave me with a giant hole inside me.

everybody keeps pointing to the "well evictions are suspended now, so they're fine", but all that means is that when the crisis is over, your landlord can say "cool, well, now the moratorium on evictions is through, you now have 3 days to pay me for the five months of rent you couldn't pay while it was going on".

like, FUCK YOU dudes. I know people now whom this legislation will keep them from being on the streets. I'm SO sorry legislation is dirty. How would Sanders as presumptive nominee made it less so?

And I assume, by the way, Sanders, without any evidence, was involved in making this the biggest example of liberal largesse in 50 years if it emerges intact.

I briefly visited my FOX-sustained mom a couple hours ago and she was livid the Dems held this up. I had to explain a couple of the provisions; she understood, but I saw in her eyes she thought I'd been duped. I mention this gross anecdote only to show how FOX News already sees this bill as a surrender to liberalism.

could be worse, they could be giving Trump credit for it

and uh guess what -- if this bill passes, the poor service industry employees and POC will benefit most.

the reaction to Democrats "delaying" the bill is understandable from idiots on the right, but I heard various screams about it from my own mother (who voted Warren ffs), and one of my good friends, who is a liberal History teacher, who thinks this will 'cost us in November'. he actually suggested we should have rushed this bill through and then tried the ambitious stuff on another bill next week, as if the best bargaining moment wouldn't have been lost by doing that.

nevermind the fact that voters have shitty memories and will not even remember that it happened, Murc's law, et al, at some points you have to fucking quit thinking "how many points will this cost us in November" and do what's right. because otherwise, I know a lot of people who won't give a shit about November because they're suddenly in poverty.

like I really want to ask all of these people what was permanently lost by delaying the bill, what undoable damage was done? None. Republicans wanted the optics of passing the bill, and wanted to take credit for crafting the bill themselves and having Dems take it as is. that's all they cared about. the stock market rebounded immensely today in reaction to the bill.

Thanks, Neanderthal.

xp -- again, no, I don't think it was possible, but that still doesn't mean it's going to make everything better

this isn't me arguing some kind of purity argument or that compromise is bad or whatnot, it is just the mathematics of four months' safety vs. the much longer than four months remaining in my life

of course it's not. it's not meant to make everything better. it's meant to make the next four months better.

that's a start. it'll have to do for now. prior to today, I was struggling to think about how even the stimulus checks were going to be enough for a lot of people.

I don't blame anybody for worrying. but a lot of good is coming out of this for the near future. that had to be solved first.

I've held my fire hoping sic and others aren't obtuse enough not to see this.

I'm not arguing against what's been achieved, I think there should be much bigger messaging outside of it that much more will be needed, and soon, to set up how much of a stop-gap the first measures will be. As you noted, the GOP are much better at messaging / throwing the whole Overton window open, instead of lifting the shade a bit and hoping people adjust to the light before raising it some more.


(In my own personal policy, I reckon nationalising Boeing, jailing its CEO, and sending everyone $2000 tax-free a month would have been a very very moderate first proposal, but I don't expect that to have been signed this week.)

I agree 100 percent w/you and katherine, but it's the grossness of our political system and our undemocratic Senate.

obviously much more would be needed, but it's difficult to achieve more if the country descends into unresolvable chaos in the first month of the crisis in the States.

the House is already talking about another bill after the one they haven't signed yet, for example.

it's just like how you can't think clearly when someone is chasing you, so you get to safety before you can think about anything further downstream than 5 minutes from now.

I don't understand how it's "obtuse" to be fucking terrified about the future, where "the future starting August" is really not that much smaller a span than "the future starting April"

I mean, you do you, I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, but for all I know I can wake up and have a bus drive through my bedroom and run me over tomorrow.

also, I can celebrate the victories and still be simultaneously concerned about the future (which..guess what? I am!).

I mean there's a non-zero chance I could be laid off by summer, if that happens...I'll deal with it, as scary as it might wind up being.

Alfred wasn't referring to you k

like obviously I would love it if I lived in a country where a crisis like this happened, and I didn't even have to worry about anybody's financial ruin as a result and could be confident that they'd be taken care of, but sadly, this is the country I was born in, one where people inexplicably think taking care of other people is a bad thing.

maybe this is finally the moment we see that we have to adapt the economy to the 21st century and the decreased demand for labor or people will needlessly die, but I've said "maybe this is finally the moment" more times than I can count.

this is better than the 80% the UK government is offering!

but like the UK, this is only for people on a salary, right? not for freelance or zero-hours. or part-timers. do hourly workers count? seasonal? i'm still thinking there is an absolutely monumental number of people who have been right on the edge who are getting the rug pulled under them rn without much to save them.

there is also that! (in which case it wouldn't help me at all)

according to one of Schumer's aides, it's supposed to include gig workers/freelancers, not just salaried people.

We have expanded the universe of people who qualify for UI (people who are furloughed, gig workers, freelancers … ), and we have increased the benefit by $600 per week for four months (that’s in addition to whatever their state would give them as a base salary for being on unemployment). Also expanded UI by 13 weeks.

https://slate.com/business/2020/03/coronavirus-stimulus-bill-democrats-unemployment-insurance.html

ah sorry that's a different animal than what's going on in the UK

i should maybe try actually reading what is going on in this bill

Larry Kudlow announced six trillion dollars in stimulus—equal to roughly 1/3 U.S. GDP. 4 trillion of that is going straight to Wall Street.

Personally I'm astounded that this much relief went through, but zoom out, look around the world, consider the context^, and this country fucking sucks

got it -- I do wonder what level of means-testing is going to be involved, because the process of trying to do that as a freelancer attempting to get health insurance a few years ago was arduous and in some cases impossible (asking me to predict my income for the next year's tax return, as if I had any way of knowing that) enough when we weren't in the middle of a global pandemic confining us to our houses

Nobody had any guarantee of a lifelong income prior to the pandemic so it's baffling to me to expect that to be gifted to everyone after it.

I mean there's no time like the present

in the ideographic language of terrible made-up orientalist facts, the characters for "crisis" and "opportunity" are the same!

in english reads as "shock doctrine"

I just don't want to hear from Joe Biden anymore that "we can't afford it"

and I look forward to his new line of argument in the next debate

money printing machine go brrrrrrr

if what comes out of this is the Democrats learning how to shock doctrine money into people's pockets, dayenu

attempting to get health insurance a few years ago was arduous and in some cases impossible (asking me to predict my income for the next year's tax return, as if I had any way of knowing that)

I've been on ACA health insurance the last 4-5 years, and whenever they ask me how much I think I'm going to make in the coming year I say $20,000, because that's right about the threshold for the biggest insurance subsidy. I get a very decent plan that covers me and my wife for less than $300 per month. When I do my taxes, the IRS is like, "Hey! You made more money than you thought you would!" and I say, "Yeah, but next year's probably gonna suck — I predict another $20,000 in earnings, gimme that cheap insurance," and they do it.

Damn, why didn't I think of that.

I cannot emphasize this strongly enough — when doing ACA stuff, do it on the phone. Do not use the website. If you call, you will get a very nice, helpful person in some red state somewhere, and they will walk you through the process with incredible patience, tell you about better deals than you would have found on your own, and it will generally be quick and easy. It takes me about 15 minutes every year.

The one time I did ACA stuff on the phone, that very nice helpful person gave me incorrect info that wound up hitting me all at once to the tune of five grand, so I'll pass.

lol the first time I logged onto the chat the dummy couldn't even explain how the credits worked towards the premium/deductibles for a Silver plan, so we were like "nevermind, in the time you incorrectly explained it, my brother and I figured it out - ciao".

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

buuuuuut that was like the first month it went live soooo

xp -- believe me, I have tried the phone

that said, it is weird that The Discourse has done a full 180 about the merits of UBI just as companies have started to prove the anti-UBI people (that is, the people anti-UBI from the left) exactly right https://www.askamanager.org/2020/03/my-company-plans-to-absorb-any-stimulus-checks-that-employees-receive-for-themselves.html