COVID-19/Coronavirus Information and Support Thread (see OP for useful links)

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I don't want to make my friends south of the border feel bad, but ...

as the owner of a small (incorporated) business I hadn't really expected to be eligible for any stimulus money from the Canadian government. In reality, my business has lost almost all its normal revenue since the beginning of March & I don't anticipate much improvement in the coming few months.

My accountant sent me an email on Thursday April 16th explaining that the government was actually extending support not just to employees, but also to owners of small businesses, which amounted to $500/week for lost income (with certain stipulations). The payments were retroactive to the middle of March & may be extended for 4 four week periods. I applied for myself & my wife the following day. I don't remember ever receiving any money from the Canadian government & given that I've paid in hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes over the years, I figure WTH, I'll take it.

To my considerable surprise, by the following Tuesday, April 21st, our bank account had had $8,000 transferred to it from the Canadian government ($500 for myself & my wife covering the 8 weeks from March 15th to May 15th).
 
Northstar
Are you starting to understand why so many people are hesitant to give the US government more control over things?

Crap like that is nothing new, if anything they have been more helpful than usual during this mess.
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"Starting to understand"? Not at all, we're seeing another piece of evidence that neoliberalism has failed working class people. How public works and public service are defunded in order to cripple it and profit from its privatization or elimination.

This blanket "US government" distortion nonsense belongs to Ruby Ridge and NWO territory.
 
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Apparently on May 1st, Texas will start a soft re-opening of retail, restaurants, malls, & theaters, maintaining every business can only have 25% occupancy & full safe-guards in place. However, Dallas' County Judge is possibly going to bypass this stating that places like theaters aren't what one would assume to be part of the 1st group of businesses to reopen.

As Touring Mars alluded between both our countries, Dallas is stuck in a stubborn rate. Last 5 days worth of cases: 80, 70, 70, 105, 91. We seem to be either increasing/declining in rates of 10-20 over the course of a few days. It has not dropped below 70 since 4/13.
 
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Biggles
I don't want to make my friends south of the border feel bad, but ...

as the owner of a small (incorporated) business I hadn't really expected to be eligible for any stimulus money from the Canadian government. In reality, my business has lost almost all its normal revenue since the beginning of March & I don't anticipate much improvement in the coming few months.

My accountant sent me an email on Thursday April 16th explaining that the government was actually extending support not just to employees, but also to owners of small businesses, which amounted to $500/week for lost income (with certain stipulations). The payments were retroactive to the middle of March & may be extended for 4 four week periods. I applied for myself & my wife the following day. I don't remember ever receiving any money from the Canadian government & given that I've paid in hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes over the years, I figure WTH, I'll take it.

To my considerable surprise, by the following Tuesday, April 21st, our bank account had had $8,000 transferred to it from the Canadian government ($500 for myself & my wife covering the 8 weeks from March 15th to May 15th).
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It's almost as if those countries with governments based around the concept of Socialist Democracy (or to use the US neo-con term - Commie) work!
 
Scaff
It's almost as if those countries with governments based around the concept of Socialist Democracy (or to use the US neo-con term - Commie) work!
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Hi, Scandinavian here. We are all three socialist democratic. We are absolutely not against capitalism, but consider it an engine for creating wealth, not a viable idiology for distribution of said wealth. That means mainly that our government are much more geared towards helping the ordinary people before the companies. They get help too, for sure, but the majority of help is to keep people's jobs intact after this and to find ways to stimulate the economy when we are through the crisis (if we get to that point).

Edit: one way has been to let the companies put their workers on hold from work, while the state pays 75% of their wages, instead of laying them off.
 
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Eunos_Cosmo
I don't want to get bogged down in a small government vs big government debate...but damn does the US federal government seem particularly useless compared to any standard.
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It would help if we had elected officials that were interested in actually running the country. We've elected officials (on both sides) that only know how to attack and bully. I cannot see this going so poorly under Obama.... or Bush Jr..... or Clinton.... or Bush Sr.... or Reagan....
 
Eunos_Cosmo
I still haven't been stimulated yet. HBU @Joey D ?
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I finally got my check on Friday, it was more than I thought it was going to be for at $1,600 for my entire family. I can't imagine if both my wife and I were out of work right now. That amount isn't even enough to pay our rent. Thankfully, I am still working and still getting a paycheck twice a month. I do realize my family is lucky though, especially after hearing about my wife's coworkers. They're mostly single moms who live on a shoestring budget and since barbershops were one of the first places shut down, they've been without a paycheck. They are getting unemployment, but it's difficult for them. We've tried to help a few of them by donating some of the extra baby stuff to them, but I know that's not ensuring they're rent is getting paid.

I think when the government was coming up with the stimulus, they seemingly forgot that the $150,000 threshold is pretty meaningless. $150k for a married couple in SoCal is peanuts compared to a $150k for a married couple in Arkansas. Hell, even the difference between SLC and where we lived in Michigan is huge. While I got a significant bump in pay with moving out to Utah, I also had to nearly double my cost of living. I'm not sure what would've been a better solution, but what the government did isn't exactly helpful for many people.
 
ROAD_DOGG33J
To Trump's defense, he did order that his name be printed on the stimulus checks, which we all know is a very important part of the recovery.
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Yes, but who is going to pay off the trillions of dollars in new debt?? Certainly not Trump or his generation. Really, nobody I can think of is going to pay off the mountain. It may be defaulted. It may be paid by hyper-inflated currency. Payment by record growth in GDP may be out of the question for years to come.

This emphasizes that we are in an economic emergency as well as a health emergency.
 
Thanks for the input on stimulation folks. I'll check back with the fed. website, I guess. Thankfully, I'm not hurting for it, but it would be nice to get.

Joey D
I think when the government was coming up with the stimulus, they seemingly forgot that the $150,000 threshold is pretty meaningless. $150k for a married couple in SoCal is peanuts compared to a $150k for a married couple in Arkansas. Hell, even the difference between SLC and where we lived in Michigan is huge. While I got a significant bump in pay with moving out to Utah, I also had to nearly double my cost of living. I'm not sure what would've been a better solution, but what the government did isn't exactly helpful for many people.
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Jelly_of_the_Month_Club_Certificate__36400.1475714098.1280.1280.jpg


Danoff
It would help if we had elected officials that were interested in actually running the country. We've elected officials (on both sides) that only know how to attack and bully. I cannot see this going so poorly under Obama.... or Bush Jr..... or Clinton.... or Bush Sr.... or Reagan....
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Off topic: Tells me that society can't handle the power of social media / disinformation. The problem seems worse the further detached the person is from the candidate being elected - President is worst (almost no chance of a substantial personal interaction), followed by Senate (small chance). The house doesn't seem quite so bad...or at least the shear amount of them dampens the effectiveness of bad apples, and the town halls they frequently do seem to actually serve as a sort of check on them. State legislatures seem to produce occasional whackjobs, which tests my theory, but again I suppose they typically represent small whackjob communities and probably don't have much legislative power. Would it really be so bad to only have direct election of the HOR, who then themselves vote for Senate & President? It's still democracy...only filtered.
 
Blitz24
I've received nothing as well. I was told that you might need to file your 2019 tax returns if you owed money in 2018.
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I'm dumb. The website was borking on me and I applied today. I expect to receive something from the government either when I die, or when the sun incinerates the Earth, whichever comes later.
 
Joey D
I'm not sure
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Educate yourself then.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/fed-response-to-covid19/

https://www.investopedia.com/govern...ght-the-covid-19-crisis-4799723#united-states

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...ion-coronavirus-bailout-is-really-going-cost/

Joey D
Nevermind the extra $600 people are getting is going to goof things up as well. Say you make $35,000 a year and with unemployment, you get $400 a week. Tack on the extra $600 and now you're pulling in $1,000 a week, which is going to be more than you make normally. Why would you want to go back to work after that? You probably wouldn't. Yes, I get it's there to help people out, but all it's doing to making a bunch of people reliant on magic money.
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Call the extra money stimulus for the less wealthy and the economy. And anyone receiving unemployment benefits also agreed to going back to work when/if your job is available. Not doing so would be fraudulent.
Joey D
especially after hearing about my wife's coworkers. They're mostly single moms who live on a shoestring budget and since barbershops were one of the first places shut down, they've been without a paycheck. They are getting unemployment, but it's difficult for them.
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Do you think your wife's co-workers would like the extra money when the program starts in the coming week?
Joey D
Oh, and let's not forget how the government is helping small businesses with these loans. You know small businesses like the LA Lakers, an organization worth $4.6 billion.
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That is your problem with your legislator, call her/him and complain. Doing it here at gtplanet is wasting your time.
From your link......
Mnuchin said he was glad the team returned the money, "or they would have had liability."
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Don't know why you even mentioned it TBH. The fact is that it is helping those who need it.
 
Eunos_Cosmo
Just checked the website and they don't have my banking information on file, but I am supposed to get one.

I kind of want the paper check...just to document the absurdity.
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I got my paper check and well it's not what it's like.
And he didn't sign the check it's just says "economic stimulus payment Donald J Trump" :rolleyes:
 
Biggles
Admit it: you want that Trump signature. :sly:
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It's not even signed. It's printed in print all caps DONALD J TRUMP in the bottom left and above that it says ECONOMIC IMPACT RELIEF. On the bottom right is the actual signature of some random person I don't know.
 
DesertPenguin
It's not even signed. It's printed in print all caps DONALD J TRUMP in the bottom left and above that it says ECONOMIC IMPACT RELIEF. On the bottom right is the actual signature of some random person I don't know.
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Oh. That really is so crass. Surprising from someone as classy & selfless as Donald Trump. :confused:
 
01GTP
Educate yourself then.
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I have and I know what the US government is doing. What I'm not sure about is how helpful it really is. So far, nothing has shown me that the nearly $3 trillion we've conjured out of thin air is helping.

01GTP
Call the extra money stimulus for the less wealthy and the economy. And anyone receiving unemployment benefits also agreed to going back to work when/if your job is available. Not doing so would be fraudulent.
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Yes, they've agreed to go back to work. But how many people are going to abuse the system and drag out going back to work for as long as possible? I'm already aware of several people who are going to be doing this and while that's purely anecdotal, I can't imagine I'm the only person hearing about this. Unemployment is badly abused in the US to begin with, this is just going to exacerbate the problem even more. And while it is fraudulent, I can't see any state having the resources to put an end to it any time soon.

01GTP
Do you think your wife's co-workers would like the extra money when the program starts in the coming week?
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They're already getting the extra money via unemployment. It's still not enough for them to live on since it's around $900 a week. Between rent, food, their kids, car payment, health insurance, etc they're having a difficult time making it. I don't know all the ins and outs of their situation, but I certainly don't want a kid to go without diapers or formula which is why we are helping when we can.

01GTP
That is your problem with your legislator, call her/him and complain. Doing it here at gtplanet is wasting your time.
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I'm not sure this would do anything either since I don't donate to the Republican party, belong to the LDS Church, or even care about who runs the state of Utah since they're all exactly the same person.

01GTP
Don't know why you even mentioned it TBH. The fact is that it is helping those who need it.
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Because the fact the Lakers got the loan in the first place shows what a farce the whole thing is. Yes, it's helping some businesses, but other businesses are being totally forgotten about the pushed to the wayside. I've seen more than one social media post from small businesses that I follow announce they are closing up shop because they couldn't get a loan or any help to stay afloat. If the loan is truly for small businesses, huge businesses pulling in a ton of money shouldn't have even been eligible. I know it's how the bill was written and those companies are merely taking advantage of it, but why it was even written that way in the first place shows the government doesn't really care.
 
Joey D
Because the fact the Lakers got the loan in the first place shows what a farce the whole thing is. Yes, it's helping some businesses, but other businesses are being totally forgotten about the pushed to the wayside. I've seen more than one social media post from small businesses that I follow announce they are closing up shop because they couldn't get a loan or any help to stay afloat. If the loan is truly for small businesses, huge businesses pulling in a ton of money shouldn't have even been eligible. I know it's how the bill was written and those companies are merely taking advantage of it, but why it was even written that way in the first place shows the government doesn't really care.
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The fact that the Lakers got this means that other sports teams/organizations did. All of the heads of sport should be looking into what the teams are doing with their books.
 
Joey D
I have and I know what the US government is doing. What I'm not sure about is how helpful it really is. So far, nothing has shown me that the nearly $3 trillion we've conjured out of thin air is helping....

Because the fact the Lakers got the loan in the first place shows what a farce the whole thing is. Yes, it's helping some businesses, but other businesses are being totally forgotten about the pushed to the wayside. I've seen more than one social media post from small businesses that I follow announce they are closing up shop because they couldn't get a loan or any help to stay afloat. If the loan is truly for small businesses, huge businesses pulling in a ton of money shouldn't have even been eligible. I know it's how the bill was written and those companies are merely taking advantage of it, but why it was even written that way in the first place shows the government doesn't really care.
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And this is the fault of government HOW exactly? The program was green lit from the feds but in almost every case, the abuses are being perpetrated by banks, in many cases, large national banks who are eager to (1) help their marquis customers (2) manage the loans so that they're as low risk as possible.

We also applied for a small business loan. We're actually doing OK but we've been either losing money, breaking even or making an extremely slim margin every month so far this year and it looks like the same for April. With 30+ employees and salaries being our biggest expense, I have a feeling we're going to be very glad for this loan/stimulus in another 2-3 months time. So we applied. We don't have a particularly close relationship with our bank. They've been dragging us along while their A1 customers all get approved. Heck my brother-in-law, upstate NY, a dentist, was approved the same day from his local bank and he had the money less than 72 hours later. We're still waiting.

In my opinion the only way this IS government's fault is because the Feds didn't do enough to manage and control it. And it was left in the hands of the banks. Blame pure capitalism here. But I also understand the circumstances and rush to get the money out being largely at fault in not closing a lot of these holes.
 
jjaisli
And this is the fault of government HOW exactly?
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The government authorized the loans but didn't think through it enough to put in a provision to stop organizations like the Lakers from getting the money. The banks are just adhering to the law and doing what's in their best interest within the confines of what the government authorized them to do. So it is the government's fault for rushing through legislation without thinking or taking the time to close loopholes.

The money should only be there to help small businesses if that's what it's intended for. If it's meant for any company, then the legislation should have said that.
 
Joey D
The government authorized the loans but didn't think through it enough to put in a provision to stop organizations like the Lakers from getting the money. The banks are just adhering to the law and doing what's in their best interest within the confines of what the government authorized them to do. So it is the government's fault for rushing through legislation without thinking or taking the time to close loopholes.

The money should only be there to help small businesses if that's what it's intended for. If it's meant for any company, then the legislation should have said that.
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In other words, it's REALLY the fault of the banks who could give a crap and are only looking out for their own self interests because they basically screwed over the very people the stimulus was designed to help, but you'll blame government because they were rushing and under enormous pressure to release a stimulus bill...like RIGHT NOW and not letting this sit around for weeks or months under tight scrutiny.

In a sense, I agree. I think the feds should have had more direct control. But then, there's that whole big government/small government argument. None-the-less, under the circumstnaces, I just don't think it's fair to put all the blame on the feds for this one.
 
jjaisli
In other words, it's REALLY the fault of the banks who could give a crap and are only looking out for their own self interests because they basically screwed over the very people the stimulus was designed to help, but you'll blame government because they were rushing and under enormous pressure to release a stimulus bill...like RIGHT NOW and not letting this sit around for weeks or months under tight scrutiny.

In a sense, I agree. I think the feds should have had more direct control. But then, there's that whole big government/small government argument. None-the-less, under the circumstnaces, I just don't think it's fair to put all the blame on the feds for this one.
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The banks are only doing what they're allowed to do. Is it unethical for them to do that? Sure, one could argue that and say they shouldn't be putting Company A over Small Business B. But it's not the banks' fault that the legislation was poorly written and that it allows them to operate like this. You can't expect every company to do the right thing, especially not the banks since whenever they get in trouble the feds just bail them out.

And the feds had plenty of time to figure this out. But instead of working together like a competent bunch of people, they figured they'd just point the finger at the other party and say "See they're not doing anything!" If Congress spent half as much time working on things as they doing bitching about the other party things would get done and we wouldn't end up with bloated bills that allow for loopholes. Now more than ever we need tight legislation that helps exactly the people it's meant to help and it does need to be scrutinized heavily since we're talking about an absolute ton of money.
 
Joey D
The banks are only doing what they're allowed to do. Is it unethical for them to do that? Sure, one could argue that and say they shouldn't be putting Company A over Small Business B. But it's not the banks' fault that the legislation was poorly written and that it allows them to operate like this. You can't expect every company to do the right thing, especially not the banks since whenever they get in trouble the feds just bail them out.

And the feds had plenty of time to figure this out. But instead of working together like a competent bunch of people, they figured they'd just point the finger at the other party and say "See they're not doing anything!" If Congress spent half as much time working on things as they doing bitching about the other party things would get done and we wouldn't end up with bloated bills that allow for loopholes. Now more than ever we need tight legislation that helps exactly the people it's meant to help and it does need to be scrutinized heavily since we're talking about an absolute ton of money.
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Come on Joey, give us all a break. Was it a mess? Yes. Could they have done a better job? Probably. But again, this wasn't something that Congress could sit around debating and fine tuning for months on end. They were under pressure to start dispersing funds immediately. If they had really developed an iron clad piece of legislation that took all contingencies into account we'd still be waiting for approval. And imagine the uproar in that case. And in the end, people would still find loopholes.

It's clear you've set your mind to the notion that Government is incompetent. But to absolve the banks of any wrong doing because the legislation is poorly written is turning a blind eye to what's really happening out there.
 

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