Last year’s near-universal stimulus checks have given way to a different kind of payment this year. This is in light of the federal government losing interest in sending out more of the monthly child tax credits. The replacement, of sorts? Basic income programs, which are producing direct payments of varying amounts and to varying numbers …
For the first time, President Biden has acknowledged something that’s seemed obvious for at least a month now. That he doesn’t have the votes and will probably be unsuccessful in his bid to pressure Congress to pass an extension of the monthly child tax credit stimulus checks. The ongoing negotiations for which he addressed during …
Millions of Americans are about to get what amounts to a pay hike. That’s thanks to a cost of living adjustment (also known as a COLA) that’s giving a boost to these disabled Americans’ Supplemental Security Income and other Social Security benefits. That COLA stems from a key measure of consumer inflation from the US …
It should be pretty clear by now that 2022 is going to be nothing like the stimulus check-filled year we got in 2021. The inability of congressional Democrats to pass President Biden’s 12-month extension of the expanded monthly child tax credit checks has seen to that. However, just because the monthly checks have ended, that …
Saturday marked the first time since June of last year that millions of Americans didn’t get a monthly child tax credit on the 15th of the month. At the same time, there has been a slew of headlines for weeks about the on-again, off-again political brawl over renewing the monthly stimulus checks. Which may still …
The federal government gave away a staggering amount of money to Americans in 2021 — tens of billions of dollars, in fact, across more than half a dozen stimulus checks meant to help people get through the pandemic. That year-long river of money flowing easily made 2021 the year of the stimulus check. And while …
When it comes to the question of whether or not the Democrat-controlled Congress will manage to pass a new round of stimulus checks before the midterm elections later this year, here’s the rather perverse state of affairs governing everything right now. Nobody is saying this out loud, but it actually works out fine for Democrats …
The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board became the latest entity, in a new commentary this week, calling on Congress to quickly revive President Biden’s expanded child tax credit. Which, as everyone probably knows by now, this month reverted back to its pre-Covid max amount of $2,000 (instead of $3,600). That also means, at least for …
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the idea that the government ought to give people a so-called universal basic income wasn’t exactly a mainstream priority in most places. It sounded, in fact, like one of the most radical, progressive concepts out there. Until 2020 came along and upended so much of the established order. Thanks to …
The just-released December 2021 jobs numbers — which showed the fewest jobs added during any month of last year — is one of several proof points that illuminate the not-so-great economy we’re in right now. Or, at the very least, one that’s far from normal. Meanwhile, the Omicron Covid variant also continues to rage around …
