Because the govt super sized their unemployment checks, be ready for the end of unearned bonuses in a few weeks
There is still a couple more months of increased UI. Surely, it will be a huge fall after that, but in a much better place than if there were minimal or no increased benefits to begin with.
I would love to see another half-sized measure - but don't think the fact that it will fall in the future almost proves its usefulness.
What was passed wasn't economic stimulus. It was paying people to safely stay at home.
Stimulus would be paying people to stimulate more demand (which may happen, but it will be after the economy opens up again).
The economy may not seem "stimulated" compared to where it was a year ago - but it is certainly "stimulated" compared to what it would have been if the additional checks didn't go out and a much larger swath of the population missed rent, car payments, or credit card bills.
Both Bernanke (former chair of Fed) and Krugman (Nobel winner) have called the programs to date "disaster relief".
Many people cannot work because of the lockdowns, but still need to pay rent and food and such, so the checks are to bridge that gap.
> Plus a second wave of infections from premature opening could set recovery back a long, long time. What we need is to stay the course and keep disaster relief in place. Unfortunately, little sign that Trump and allies will do that 5/
* https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1260557224860155906
> To deal with this properly, however, we need to get past standard rhetoric. The economy is, in effect, in a deliberately induced coma—and necessarily so. So this isn’t about “job creation” or economic growth; we don’t need “stimulus.” What we need is disaster relief on an unprecedented scale, to get people through the shutdown with as little misery as possible.
* https://www.92y.org/event/paul-krugman
* https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/opinion/coronavirus-econo...
By that definition, every single bill that passes appropriations sends money to someone and therefore "stimulates the economy".
I still don't think stimulus was the impetus there. Compassion for those who lost their job, a desire to avoid/mitigate social instability, and reinforcement for people to follow the directions of health professionals.
As far as I can tell, this is the bill/law[1]. No mention of stimulus in the title or abstracts.
[1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6199...
There is no mention of the bill, either in the law itself or in discussions, that this would somehow reduce transmission by encouraging people to stay home.
Trump: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/22/coronavirus-stimulus-trump-w...
Mnuchin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoEsSwxKGtk
Pelosi: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/05/12/nancy-pelosi-...
McConnell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHGSQCMZSt4
Sanders: https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2020/05/bernie-sanders-...
Biden: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-26/biden-ass...
>The rise was mainly due to government payments to help Americans cope with the fallout of the Covid-19 global pandemic
I think most (like myself) don't often click through to read before reacting