American rescue plan, do we need more stimulus?

[Notarealsignguy]

Gotta rant. I'm just curious, they are talking about another $1.9 trillion stimulus. There are material shortages and nobody can find workers, how the is this gonna work? Is it wrong to think that if demand keeps increasing without additional capacity that it will simply cause massive inflation?
Down here everyone's hands are tied due to labor shortages yet the local governments keep plowing money into these big companies in the name of "job creation." It's putting the small guys at a huge disadvantage in terms of attracting new workers.

 

[unclebun]

Don't need more "free" money. Just let people go to work. No reason to be closed down.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

"OBEY" ...you will own nothing and you will be happy!
The more they give out today... the more they take from you tomorrow. Not next week or next month, but tomorrow. The more they take from you (providers), the more they can give to others (non-producers) and themselves (non-producers). The more they take, the less you will accept in the long game. You will become a slave to them and you will bend to knees for sustenance.

 

[Johnny Best]

I bought a nice slow jigging fishing rod and reel with the first $1200 stimulus check. Looking forward to the next one to buy a new Nikon 200-500mm camera lens. "ComeonMan". The new regime has their hands on the printing press that prints money and my grandchildren and their grandchildren will be footing the bill. There is no logic to their thinking, you just have to go with the flow or as the previous person said, "Obey".

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

I never recieved anything from the first 2 stimulus checks, maybe this time I will

 

[netsol]

uncle bun,
we need ONE OR THE OTHER

more money would be a poor consolation prize, but my fear would be,since the anti-trump republicans only grow a backbone when they re attacking him, nothing might be what people get

never in history, have we deliberatelyshut down (what used to be) a $25 Trillion economy

never have we quarantined the HEALTHY

never has there been. disease so deadly, you don't know if you have it, until the results come back from the lab

when this started, it was possible, if 1000 people got infected, over 600 would die

today potentially 990 would survive (time for the endgame?)

never have we elected a president so frightened he made almost know appearances during the election cycle

i think it is past time to startt winding this foolishness down. (as does doctor marty makary from johns hopkins)

 

[Jester1167]

It's all about buying votes and bankrupting America. If they can weaken our country enough they may be able to force us into their power grab for a one-world government. The political ruling class wants a bigger slice of the pie and more power.

For the life of me, I can't understand why the government employees who were never in fear of losing a paycheck are getting any of the stimulus money. Those who are on unemployment are getting an extra $400 a week over and above the state money so why are they getting a stimulus?

Early on I probably lost a couple of weeks' worth of work. The big print companies and their clients were worried about exposing contract labor and getting sued, so they canceled many of my scheduled jobs. Probably around October, I had a month of 1 small job a week. That adds up to 6 weeks. Typically as an independent contractor, I have a couple of slow weeks a year equal to one week of lost wages. That leaves 5 weeks of Covid downtime and the Covid relief is a pittance compared to the lost wages. I realize many were impacted way worse than I was, but I have no direct experience with that.

My own perception is that Covid was overblown to hysterical proportions so the news media could make money and the politicians could rule with fear.

How many months was it before we started wearing masks, the plexiglass barriers were up, and the stores implemented stringent cleaning protocols? Yet the grocery store employees weren't dropping like fly's nor were they getting sick in record numbers... Same with Home Depot, Lowes, Pharmacies...

Now we have NY suing Amazon because they have a massive revenue shortfall because of their over-aggressive shutdown. The exodus from those states will make it even worse and requiring even higher taxes and pushing even more people out. This is a prime example where liberalism is pushing this country.

It's all about the science until it doesn't fit the democratic narrative or their union supporters (teachers' unions).

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Let's remove the politics from this all. By rights, there was stimulus given under republican control and now it will be given under democrats. When it comes to giving and receiving free money, it seems to me that everyone, Republicans, democrats, rich and poor, gleefully stick their hands out reaching for it.

 

[Jester1167]

The difference is the initial stimulus plan was to help us (small and ineffective) as we stayed home so the hospitals weren't overwhelmed and get a handle on what worked. It was pretty scary for all of us initially and no one knew how bad it was, even the scientists. Once we got past that initial surge and understood what measures needed to be implemented things were supposed to go back towards more normal measures with a few modifications (stay home if your sick, have pre-existing conditions, or elderly, wash hands regularly, wear masks). Most states that continued the draconian shutdowns faired just as bad or worse than states that took a more measured approach. I do understand that population density plays a role in these numbers as well.

We now have effective treatments, no shortage of ventilators (which were and are practically a death sentence), and vaccines, but we have teachers' unions fighting for more money and delays while many of our kids languish in online school hell. Learning less with none of the important social contacts with their friends. And, science says it safe to go back... Elderly teachers or ones with pre-existing conditions should continue to stay home until they are vaccinated. Like most government employees, they will continue to be paid, so why all the backlash. Our local schools have been back in person this semester and there haven't been reports of Covid problems in the schools.

The news media sells fear and they love to whip us into a panic to get us to tune in every night. They also are an arm of the Democratic party. They report but downplay or spin anything that has to do with Democrats and whip up any hint of wrongdoing by Republicans. Compare the disparity and veracity of the coverage between Cruz and Cuomo, then compare the effects of their decision. Cruz is a Federal lawmaker the only thing he can do is make federal laws and apply some pressure to the State and Federal Government. If they don't take his advice, he has no effect. Cuomo is the CEO of the state, he makes all the decisions that affect NY State. Cruz came home and apologized. Cuomo is blaming everyone else and threatening people while under investigation?

It's all political BS. Until the News Media holds both parties accountable and equally so, this country is doomed.

 

[Gene@mpls]

From what I have seen the sign industry has weathered this disaster quite well. Many industries and people have not. Compassion is a good thing.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

The difference is the initial stimulus plan was to help us (small and ineffective) as we stayed home so the hospitals weren't overwhelmed and get a handle on what worked. It was pretty scary for all of us initially and no one knew how bad it was, even the scientists. Once we got past that initial surge and understood what measures needed to be implemented things were supposed to go back towards more normal measures with a few modifications (stay home if your sick, have pre-existing conditions, or elderly, wash hands regularly, wear masks). Most states that continued the draconian shutdowns faired just as bad or worse than states that took a more measured approach. I do understand that population density plays a role in these numbers as well.

Pop density only goes so far. You have an area (with a pretty good pop density) 4th in terms of infection, but 1 in total of fatalities and that was under reported by 50% by accounts so far. Due directly to policies enacted.

Look at the big "winners" of the PPP that rolled out.

Then you have all the pork that went into the supposed stimulus to help the public. If they truly cared for the little person (which they don't, they never have within my lifetime), why do they feel like they can send money off to other countries for unrelated "concerns" to what's going on?

What's going on is a farce, plain and simple.

I've lost a lot of clients (too high of a % really) due to the lockdowns and they aren't coming back. I've actually had to vamp up other things totally unrelated to my original business in order to compensate.

"OBEY" ...you will own nothing and you will be happy!

This is very true and it can be clearly seen with the software that we get (in terms of what abilities our licenses give us) and for some brands of computer hardware as well (and this was happening before now, but I do recall a congressman quoted as saying that now they can reshape the country into their vision). Vehicles/farm equipment are also under the sights right now.

Ironically some on here are actually embracing it, although I'm not to sure if they realize the ramifications or not.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

From what I have seen the sign industry has weathered this disaster quite well. Many industries and people have not. Compassion is a good thing.

I agree. My gripe is with all of the money being handed out to those who don't need it. Just because a business took a hit to their revenue doesn't mean they have a need or are going to layoff either.
My other gripe is with states and local governments giving money to big companies that are expanding. Why? They have the funds and the need to expand, why are we giving them additional tax dollars?
How would we all feel if some big national sign company decided to move to our town and then were given no taxes for 5 years and $500k as an incentive to hire 50 people in a year? It would pull some people from the small guys

 

[Stacey K]

We don't need more money, they need to get people back to work, kids back to school. The virus has virtually disappeared in my county in a few short weeks. Of course they try to trick us into thinking there's a lot of infected by keeping active cases on the roll for 30 days. I can do the math.

How long will they be able to keep this "dark winter" game going?

I've never been happier to live in my small town. My son is in school full-time and there's plenty of work. Lots of people hiring with $1-2,000 sign-on bonuses.

 

[Andy D]

I honestly think they're trying to bankrupt America to make it easier to transform us into a socialist country.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

From what I have seen the sign industry has weathered this disaster quite well. Many industries and people have not. Compassion is a good thing.

From our annual profits, about 45% is generated from sign work and the remaining 55% is from apparel decoration. Sign work has remained steady as can be through this entire last year, but apparel decoration dropped off substantially to the point where our total annual sales were down 35% last year. When schools and events are shut down, the screen printing jobs dry up pretty fast. Not to mention, the blank apparel shortage hasn't helped things much either. Needless to say, it's been a terrible year for us. Typically, our annual sales increase year after year so when we suddenly see a 35% loss of profit it's scary.

 

[Stacey K]

From our annual profits, about 45% is generated from sign work and the remaining 55% is from apparel decoration. Sign work has remained steady as can be through this entire last year, but apparel decoration dropped off substantially to the point where our total annual sales were down 35% last year. When schools and events are shut down, the screen printing jobs dry up pretty fast. Not to mention, the blank apparel shortage hasn't helped things much either. Needless to say, it's been a terrible year for us. Typically, our annual sales increase year after year so when we suddenly see a 35% loss of profit it's scary.

I am lucky in that most of my apparel sales are to small businesses. I do have a lot of school apparel "samples" in my shop but sales for the dropped off to almost nothing since this started. Small businesses have been going crazy with apparel, larger orders such as 100 Carhartt hoodies full back, small front, both arms (big order for a small business). The problem for me is also supply. I've lost a good chunk of money just because I can't get the blanks I need for the jobs.

 

[De.signs Nanaimo]

In my opinion when looking for answers to large scale problems in our modern society, you need to follow the money. The RAND Corporation recently released a paper on income trends, here is a link to the paper https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/working_papers/WRA500/WRA516-1/RAND_WRA516-1.pdf but it is a long read.

I have just read a few reviews and précis, but the jist of it is that since '75 the top 1% have redistributed 50 trillion dollars from the lower 90%, and that when all factors are accounted for the bottom 90% have had a 10% decrease in wage buying power, where the top 1% has skyrocketed. Here is a Time article too, https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/

So I think the answer is clear, our governments, bankers and CEO's have our money, happily handed out by the central banking system. The US Federal Reserve is a private corporation not controlled by the government, and we all know a corporations only obligation is to increase shareholders profit.

 

[White Haus]

In my opinion when looking for answers to large scale problems in our modern society, you need to follow the money. The RAND Corporation recently released a paper on income trends, here is a link to the paper https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/working_papers/WRA500/WRA516-1/RAND_WRA516-1.pdf but it is a long read.

I have just read a few reviews and précis, but the jist of it is that since '75 the top 1% have redistributed 50 trillion dollars from the lower 90%, and that when all factors are accounted for the bottom 90% have had a 10% decrease in wage buying power, where the top 1% has skyrocketed. Here is a Time article too, https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/

So I think the answer is clear, our governments, bankers and CEO's have our money, happily handed out by the central banking system. The US Federal Reserve is a private corporation not controlled by the government, and we all know a corporations only obligation is to increase shareholders profit.

That Time article was an interesting (shocking) read. Thanks.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

I have just read a few reviews and précis, but the jist of it is that since '75 the top 1% have redistributed 50 trillion dollars from the lower 90%, and that when all factors are accounted for the bottom 90% have had a 10% decrease in wage buying power, where the top 1% has skyrocketed. Here is a Time article too, https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/

That is definitely a huge issue that stands to cause some pretty serious problems to our economy in the future. People are going to continue to ignore it until it starts really reaching the middle and upper middle class which it will. I also think that it is going to get harder and harder for small business owners to survive which is why I take issue with the governments constantly giving these big guys competitive advantages. First it was drive out the small guys with regulations that didn't hurt the big companies and now it's give them preferential treatment for building, zoning, hiring and then no taxes and free money to "create jobs." It's all BS

 

[WildWestDesigns]

People are going to continue to ignore it until it starts really reaching the middle and upper middle class which it will.

What are you talking about? The middle class has been eroding for quite some time (that dam has already burst) and I can only surmise that that is the plan as that keeps people needing those handouts. Less likely to bite the hand that feeds you. That policy has worked well for along time. Started with "The Great Society". Not like it is now, but that's when it started for sure.