[stupac2]

While I find many of the proposed expenditures to be worthwhile, I have a hard time seeing an economic justification for the proposed $6K/person transfer payments.  



Assuming unemployment rises to even 30%, the majority of families still are drawing their paychecks.  In fact, it appears that consumer saving has increased by five percentage points during the pandemic as people stay at home and reduce discretionary expenditures.  So why indiscriminately hand out $6K payments to families whose economic circumstances have not worsened?



Let's keep the focus on areas of need, as done in many other provisions of the bill.

Lots of people who still have jobs might have been hit by a reduction in hours, they could still lose their job in the future, etc. And the point of the stimulus is to, uh, stimulate. Giving people are relatively secure more money means they're more likely to spend it.

But really, what's the harm? The worst-case scenario is inflation, which we need anyway. Targeting makes the funds take longer to go out and is more likely to miss edge cases. Just make it universal, the benefits from means testing are really minor, and the downsides obvious and large.

[stupac2]

While I find many of the proposed expenditures to be worthwhile, I have a hard time seeing an economic justification for the proposed $6K/person transfer payments.  



Assuming unemployment rises to even 30%, the majority of families still are drawing their paychecks.  In fact, it appears that consumer saving has increased by five percentage points during the pandemic as people stay at home and reduce discretionary expenditures.  So why indiscriminately hand out $6K payments to families whose economic circumstances have not worsened?



Let's keep the focus on areas of need, as done in many other provisions of the bill.

Lots of people who still have jobs might have been hit by a reduction in hours, they could still lose their job in the future, etc. And the point of the stimulus is to, uh, stimulate. Giving people are relatively secure more money means they're more likely to spend it.

But really, what's the harm? The worst-case scenario is inflation, which we need anyway. Targeting makes the funds take longer to go out and is more likely to miss edge cases. Just make it universal, the benefits from means testing are really minor, and the downsides obvious and large.