{"id":49258,"date":"2021-02-22T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/?p=9983"},"modified":"2021-02-22T17:30:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T17:30:00","slug":"why-walmarts-ceo-says-americans-urgently-need-another-stimulus-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/22\/why-walmarts-ceo-says-americans-urgently-need-another-stimulus-check\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Walmart\u2019s CEO says Americans urgently need another stimulus check"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p id=\"article-summary\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/melissa-repko\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Melissa Repko<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>KEY POINTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said more customers spent their recent stimulus checks on necessities, such as groceries, rather than big-screen TVs.<\/li><li>He said the spending patterns indicate that more families are hurting and need help.<\/li><li>The retail chief stressed that message when he met with President Joe Biden last week.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/WMT\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Walmart<\/a>\u00a0CEO Doug McMillon went to the White House last week, he said he gave a clear message: Americans urgently need another round of stimulus checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Walmart\u2019s stores and websites reflect consumers\u2019 spending patterns, the retail chief said in an interview with CNBC\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/courtney-reagan\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Courtney Reagan<\/a>\u00a0on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/squawk-alley\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Squawk Alley<\/a>.\u201d The company could tell when they stocked up on food and cleaning supplies in the early part of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/coronavirus\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Covid pandemic<\/a>\u00a0and gravitated toward bikes, puzzles and hair color as they remained stuck at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>When consumers got the most recent stimulus checks at the end of the year, he said a new pattern emerged: more shoppers put the extra dollars toward buying necessities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe can see in our customer behavior that some customers \u2014 as they received this most recent stimulus \u2014 are spending it more on basics, more on private brands, smaller pack sizes, things like that as opposed to some of the stimulus dollars that came out earlier last year that were spent more like tax rebate checks, where people were buying televisions and things to entertain themselves at home,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u201cThere\u2019s a bit of a mix shift now and we think it reflects the fact that customers out there do need some help.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>McMillon\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/02\/09\/stimulus-update-biden-and-yellen-to-meet-with-ceos-of-jpmorgan-walmart-gap.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">met with President Joe Biden\u00a0<\/a>and Treasury Secretary\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/id\/10000336\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Janet Yellen<\/a>\u00a0last Tuesday, along with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/JPM\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">JPMorgan<\/a>\u00a0CEO Jamie Dimon,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/GPS\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gap<\/a>\u00a0CEO Sonia Syngal,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/LOW\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lowe\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0CEO Marvin Ellison and Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He said he urged help for American families and small businesses during that meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Congress and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/joe-biden\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Biden<\/a>\u00a0administration\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/02\/18\/1400-stimulus-checks-what-we-know-about-how-soon-they-could-arrive.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">are working on a coronavirus relief bill that could send another direct payment to millions of Americans<\/a>\u00a0intended to keep families afloat and help boost an economy hampered by the global health crisis. On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that first-time unemployment filings\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/02\/18\/us-jobless-claims-.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rose to a total of 861,000 last week<\/a>. That was higher than the Dow Jones estimate of 773,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The current bill calls for direct payments of $1,400 per individual, or $2,800 per married couple, plus $1,400 for both child and adult dependents \u2014 but lawmakers are still hammering out a deal and numbers could change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If approved, it would be the third direct payment to Americans since the start of the pandemic and the largest check so far. The government sent payments of up to $1,200 in the spring and another that was up to $600 in December, but the amounts and eligibility were based on a person\u2019s income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>As a major retailer, Walmart would benefit if customers have more money in their pockets. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Its chief financial officer, Brett Biggs, told CNBC that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/02\/18\/walmart-wmt-earnings-q4-2021.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings<\/a>\u00a0got a lift from stimulus payments and it would expect similar results if consumers get another check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet McMillon said he stressed stimulus checks during his Oval Office visit because of what he has seen and heard at the company\u2019s stores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>He said some families have increasingly dire financial circumstances as they struggle to find work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>McMillon said he recently spoke to a customer who was trying to stretch $20 to cover all of his expenses for the last week of the month, from groceries to gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThose customers are the ones that the stimulus package needs to go help and go help quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><span class=\"has-inline-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color\">_____<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2014 CNBC\u2019s\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/courtney-reagan\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Courtney Reagan<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To see original article please visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/02\/18\/why-walmarts-co-says-americans-urgently-need-another-stimulus-check.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/02\/18\/why-walmarts-co-says-americans-urgently-need-another-stimulus-check.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/why-walmarts-ceo-says-americans-urgently-need-another-stimulus-check\/\">Why Walmart\u2019s CEO says Americans urgently need another stimulus check<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/\">Basic Income Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/why-walmarts-ceo-says-americans-urgently-need-another-stimulus-check\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=why-walmarts-ceo-says-americans-urgently-need-another-stimulus-check\">Basic Income Today<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Melissa Repko KEY POINTS Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said more customers spent their recent stimulus checks on necessities, such as groceries, rather than big-screen TVs. He said the spending patterns indicate that more families are hurting and need help. The retail chief stressed that message when he met with President Joe Biden last week. [\u2026]<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/why-walmarts-ceo-says-americans-urgently-need-another-stimulus-check\/\">Why Walmart\u2019s CEO says Americans urgently need another stimulus check<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/\">Basic Income Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1529,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5257,9578,7959,8518,5554,5561,5559,7960],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1529"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49259,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49258\/revisions\/49259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}