Yeah, I know, my posts have been in absentia for a few days, but here I am again. I don’t know if the break was because I have been busy working on outdoor projects and didn’t have time to write or I was just getting tired of the same topics day after day — tRump, the virus, and protests in Portland. It was nice having a little break from that schtuff and there are other important topics that need consideration, so I will try to broaden my ramblings to other topics such as the economy, the reopening of schools, the US Postal Service, Food, and sex with alien demons. I think I will start with our stalled economy and the lack of a bipartisan urgency to get the economy out of our current situation. The Democrats blame the Republicans for not acting and compromising, and, of course, the Republicans blame the Democrats, so nothing is getting done. What we have is a lack of trust by members on each side of the aisle, and without some sort of trust you will not get to a point of compromise in the negotiation process. I was heavily involved in collective bargaining negotiations for years and saw firsthand the importance of trusting the members of the team across the table from me as we each presented our priorities and what we could accept and what we could not accept. Unfortunately, right now Congress is being strictly partisan, and as a result, there is no deal being reached to help get the economy moving again. The $600 per week emergency unemployment benefit expired last week and each side is blaming the other for allowing those payments to expire. Those were payments that the unemployed worker was putting back into the economy in the way of groceries, rents, gasoline, etc. With businesses sending their employees home, shops and restaurants shutting down, jobs being lost, consumer spending declined at an annual rate of 34.6% in the second quarter, the biggest decline on record. Trump and his followers think that reopening businesses and getting kids back in school is the answer to healing the economy.
It looks like there will be a second round of stimulus checks going out, as each side seems to be in favor of getting some relief into the hands of Americans who qualify, which should help increase spending and give a boost to the economy. A flaw in the bill, however, is that qualifications for receiving the stimulus is based on the Adjusted Gross Income for 2019. The stimulus is supposed to be for the current situation in which folks don’t have the same income they had previously. For a number of reasons, I believe there are many citizens who don’t qualify because of their AGI last year, but whose income this year will be below the threshold for qualifying. These could be married couples whose combined income last year was above $199,000, but this year because of job loss, business cutbacks and salary reductions, their income will be reduced and be in the qualifying range, but because the bill bases it on 2019 taxes, they will not get the stimulus check. Retired couples who have a portion of their income from stock dividends could see a reduction in their Adjusted Gross Income if their investments are in companies who have cut their dividends or reduced the dividend amount. Even though their current income will be in the qualifying range, they don’t qualify because of last year’s tax figures. I have written my congressmen regarding this flaw, but they don’t seem to get it. Surprising, huh?
You wonder how the United States Postal Service could be involved in the November election? Politics. We have a new Postmaster General who has given Trump a boatload of money over the years and is now in a position as the PG to do Trump’s bidding by making changes to the system. The changes being made mean some mail could arrive later than expected, and some could simply fall through the cracks. The New York Times reports that it’s already happening, with “reports of letters and packages being delayed by as many as several days.” Election officials are worried that slower mail service will mean ballots are not delivered in a timely manner or not delivered at all. It looks like there has been a concerted effort by the Trump administration to weaken the USPS as Trump has been critical of mail in ballots, thinking vote by mail would hurt his reelection chance. Republicans have historically been in favor of mail in voting because it makes it easy for senior citizens to vote, and they tend to vote Republican. Now they are afraid that mail in voting will lead to more Democrats voting by mail because of the fear of the coronavirus at polling places. More to come on this as Trump is ramping up his efforts to stop mail in voting.
Gotta get goin’, we’ll get to the alien demons tomorrow. Ziggyman
Mountain Man Musings 