Coronavirus Outbreak...

[Mountain Man]

No - but apparently some 70 million Americans will be receiving their stimulus payment as a paper check because the IRS lacks direct-deposit banking information on them. That's has now become a huge campaign ad paid for by our tax dollars and giving the incumbent a campaign edge not available to their competition. It is yet another example of Trump using the power of his office and the tools of government for personal benefit/enrichment.

I wonder how many liberals will be stupid enough not to cash the checks out of spite?

[oxmixmudd]

Pix, if you think the combination of receiving a check in tough times for over $1,000 with the name of a candidate for the presidency clearly printed on it is not going to have any effect, then I suggest you are deluding yourself. It's a political add. It adds nothing to the value of the check and serves no purpose other than to promote Donald Trump to the recipients. I also suspect, but cannot prove, that if Obama had done this in 2009, you (and others on the right) would have been outraged at his abuse of his powers and government resources to promote his campaign for re-election.

Well clearly Donald Trump thinks it has some meaning. He wants every bit of credit for those checks he can muster, to the degree he is actually willing to make the people that still get paper checks wait even longer for them. (I would hope the Democratic candidate can 'cash in' on such a petty move). Personally, I'd be pretty disgusted if I was in the hole with creditors biting at my heals and my much needed financial relief was delayed another week just so a narcissistic, self-aggrandizing president could get has name printed on my check.

[carpedm9587]

I wonder how many liberals will be stupid enough not to cash the checks out of spite?

I will be donating mine to the local food shelf. Meanwhile, I will be pointing out far and wide that Trump is abusing his office and using the resources of government (again) for personal gain. He just cannot seem to stop himself. And he's doing it at the expense of the recipients who have their checks delayed due to the coding change requirements.

And yes - I know the IRS is denying it - but their denial doesn't hold water. They admit this change requires alteration to the coding, which then has to be tested, and that all of this was done last-minute because the requirement was kept secret until the very end. You cannot do that and not cause a delay.

[lilpixieofterror]

Pix, if you think the combination of receiving a check in tough times for over $1,000 with the name of a candidate for the presidency clearly printed on it is not going to have any effect, then I suggest you are deluding yourself. It's a political add. It adds nothing to the value of the check and serves no purpose other than to promote Donald Trump to the recipients. I also suspect, but cannot prove, that if Obama had done this in 2009, you (and others on the right) would have been outraged at his abuse of his powers and government resources to promote his campaign for re-election.

No I wouldn’t care because there’s more important things to care about. Just as I didn’t care about Obama nor Trump’s golf trips.

[carpedm9587]

Well clearly Donald Trump thinks it has some meaning. He wants every bit of credit for those checks he can muster, to the degree he is actually willing to make the people that still get paper checks wait even longer for them. (I would hope the Democratic candidate can 'cash in' on such a petty move). Personally, I'd be pretty disgusted if I was in the hole with creditors biting at my heals and my much needed financial relief was delayed another week just so a narcissistic, self-aggrandizing president could get has name printed on my check.

Exactly. And I do hope that the Dems add this to their list of outrageous things this man has done since he moved into the highest office in the land.

[carpedm9587]

No I wouldn’t care because there’s more important things to care about. Just as I didn’t care about Obama nor Trump’s golf trips.

I'm sure you don't, Pix. After all - he's "your man" and he gets defended for pretty much everything he does. And I have no clue what the golf trips have to do with this. You just seem to regularly toss in nonsequitors to any conversation.

[Mountain Man]

Pix, if you think the combination of receiving a check in tough times for over $1,000 with the name of a candidate for the presidency clearly printed on it is not going to have any effect...

Something tells me you would still have your panties in a twist even if Trump wasn't up for reelection.

[oxmixmudd]

No I wouldn’t care because there’s more important things to care about. Just as I didn’t care about Obama nor Trump’s golf trips.

On the surface, I'd agree with you about it's 'importance' if there was no actually delay in issuing the checks required to put his signature on them.

But this is a campaign year, and that is free advertising for the republican candidate at the federal government and taxpayers expense.

(Or maybe not if it backfires like it should).

[carpedm9587]

On the surface, I'd agree with you about it's 'importance' if there was no actually delay in issuing the checks required to put his signature on them.

But this is a campaign year, and that is free advertising for the republican candidate at the federal government and taxpayers expense.

(Or maybe not if it backfires like it should).

Hopefully, it will backfire bigly!

[carpedm9587]

But their total testing is more than the US, and Brazil skews the numbers a lot.

You know - it just hit me what you are saying here. When you take Brazil out of the equation, the other six countries have a testing level that is 9,391 tests per million people, compared to the U.S. 9,845 per million. So they have tested 0.94% of their population to our 0.98%. That's pretty close to equal. Now I need to follow up with the day-to-day rate to see if that gap is closing or widening. Anecdotally, I believe it is closing.

[Cow Poke]

Ah - but the lot of you....

More hypocrisy.

[Cow Poke]

Hopefully, it will backfire bigly!

BOTH sides have glommed onto this (glommed is not a word? ) loading up the package with goodies for their own constituents. But, hey, it's just money!

[Cow Poke]

You actually have a twisted perspective on my posts CP - ....

Yup, always the other guy!

[Cow Poke]

I'm sure you don't, Pix. After all - he's "your man" and he gets defended for pretty much everything he does. And I have no clue what the golf trips have to do with this. You just seem to regularly toss in nonsequitors to any conversation.

I'll be happy to not defend him for a lot of stuff! Pick me!

[carpedm9587]

BOTH sides have glommed onto this (glommed is not a word? ) loading up the package with goodies for their own constituents. But, hey, it's just money!

Oh I have no disagreement about THAT. I am pretty much 100% against this stimulus for the same reason I was against it in 2008/2009. There are programs in place to help those who need help. They may need supplemental money, but stealing $2T from generations that have not been born yet so we don't have to endure discomfort in the present is not a defensible position, IMO. We should be supporting one another, those who have should be helping those who do not; those who are healthy should be helping those who are not (physically or psychologically). We should simply ride this out together. Some businesses will fail. Some businesses will thrive. Businesses that fail will be replaced when all of this is over, and life will go on.

Fiscal responsibility is now a quaint, obsolete notion. And it doesn't help that we have a person in the Oval Office who doesn't care because our massive debt "won't be a problem until he's out of office."

Fiscal responsibility was one of the few things I used to be largely aligned with the Republicans on. Now that too, along with so much of what the Republican party used to stand for, is abandoned in favor of "Trumpism."