Ten Republican Senators met with President Joe Biden recently in the hopes of hashing out a compromise stimulus/COVID relief plan. Both sides said it was a good meeting, but neither said anything substantial had been accomplished.
I think the first question is will ONE solution help stimulate the economy AND help those that have been hurt economically by the pandemic or are they different problems that require different solutions?
Who should get money? Only those who are struggling financially directly as a result of the novel coronavirus to help them get by or everyone up to a certain level so they will spend that money and stimulate businesses hurt by the pandemic?
Also, where should the cutoffs be? How bad of a financial hit would be necessary to receive any aid, and should everybody get the same amount or should those that have been hurt more receive more? And what of those who haven’t been hurt? If the goal is to get them to spend and buy things, where do you put that upper limit? People who make a lot of money would like to buy extra stuff too, right?
Those are some of the issues we discussed with Howard Gleckman, Senior Fellow at the Tax Policy Center. It was an interesting conversation that definitely proved two things: one size does not fit all and there are no simple solutions to complex problems. Take a listen and see what you think is fair while bringing about the desired results.
