{"id":279292,"date":"2021-08-18T12:41:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T12:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/?p=11344"},"modified":"2021-08-18T12:41:00","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T12:41:00","slug":"we-havent-seen-the-last-of-stimulus-checks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/08\/18\/we-havent-seen-the-last-of-stimulus-checks\/","title":{"rendered":"We haven\u2019t seen the last of stimulus checks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By:\u00a0LANCE LAMBERT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n As panicked states issued far-reaching shutdowns during the early days of the pandemic, the economy went into a complete tailspin. The immediate economic shock was the worst on record\u2014even worse than the 1929 stock market crash. Amid the unprecedented circumstances, Republican and Democratic lawmakers joined forces to put together the largest stimulus package ever passed. That\u00a0$2.2 trillion CARES Act<\/a>\u00a0signed into law in March 2020 created a host of new programs, including\u00a0forgivable small-business loans (PPP)<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0enhanced unemployment checks<\/a>. But none was more popular than the one-time $1,200 stimulus check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s easy to see why it was well liked: <\/p>\n\n\n\n The $1,200 stimulus check was a lifeline to more than 100 million households. Its success and popularity were so strong that the additional aid packages passed in\u00a0December 2020<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0March 2021<\/a>\u00a0also included direct payments.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Even now as the economy moves into a high growth phase<\/a>, there are still calls for more stimulus checks<\/a>. It is unlikely to happen again this year<\/a>. However, the next time a recession hits, there will undoubtedly be a push for more stimulus checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On economic grounds, Mark Zandi, chief economist at\u00a0Moody’s<\/a>\u00a0Analytics, says stimulus checks were unique to this crisis\u2014which quickly plunged the economy into a historic contraction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first check was very effective:\u00a0The Tax Foundation finds<\/a>\u00a0around 75% was quickly spent by recipients. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n But the second and third rounds, which went out once\u00a0the economy was already in recovery<\/a>, were less impactful for the economy. For those rounds, over 70% of the money was used to pay off\u00a0debt or put into savings, according to the\u00a0Tax Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the economic benefit of the checks isn’t why they’re likely to return, Zandi says. It’s the political popularity of the payments. Just days before the CARES Act was passed in March 2020, a Fortune<\/em>-SurveyMonkey poll found 89% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans supported a one-time direct payment. In a polarized nation, that type of political consensus is rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The politics of it suggest there will be future stimulus checks,” Zandi tells\u00a0Fortune<\/em>. Simply put, stimulus checks are poised to be a lasting policy creation of the COVID-19 recession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n