[blind-democracy] The Dem's $3 Trillion Dollar HEROES Act Can Not Brace Us for the Coming Shock

From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 18 May 2020 17:18:51 -0400

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/democrats-heroes-act-can-not-brace-us-coming-
shock/267687/> The Dem's $3 Trillion Dollar HEROES Act Can Not Brace Us for
the Coming Shock

As the Trump show continues and each side of the political aisle takes aim
at each other, the economy's freefall is quickly reaching catastrophic
levels.

by  <https://www.mintpressnews.com/author/raul-diego/> Raul Diego

May 18th, 2020

By  <https://www.mintpressnews.com/author/raul-diego/> Raul Diego

0 Comments

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The actual number of people who stand to benefit the most from last month's
<https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hr748/BILLS-116hr748enr.pdf> CARES Act
could fit into Dodger Stadium and still have plenty of elbow room to catch
any foul balls that might come their way. Just 43,000 of the richest
Americans, those making at least $1 million a year, were handed a $1.6
million-dollar average "
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaharziv/2020/05/18/house-democrats-pass-a-hy
pocritical-135-billion-tax-cut-for-wealthy-in-heroes-act/#5c536e887018>
windfall" by provisions included in the bipartisan bill by Republicans.

Sections
<https://www.foley.com/en/insights/publications/2020/03/cares-act-summary-of
-tax-provision> 2303 and 2304 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic
Security (CARES) Act temporarily suspends a limitation on tax deductions for
capital gains and other "
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/14/coronavirus-law-congress
-tax-change/> nonbusiness income," effectively handing hundreds of billions
of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans worth an estimated
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaharziv/2020/05/18/house-democrats-pass-a-hy
pocritical-135-billion-tax-cut-for-wealthy-in-heroes-act/#5c536e887018> $80
billion in 2020 alone.

On Friday, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats introduced a massive $3
trillion-dollar stimulus package called "
<https://apnews.com/3c1ea3456f7d906dabf3ed336f6c1ad0> The Heroes Act," named
in honor of the monies allotted to front-line emergency workers. The new
bill also seeks to repeal the egregious provisions included in the CARES
Act, which allow hedge fund managers, real estate speculators, and business
owners to apply them retroactively all the way back to 2017.

<https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-and-doggett-unvei
l-bill-to-repeal-gop-tax-giveaway-to-million-dollar-plus-earners-in-coronavi
rus-relief-legislation> According to a study commissioned by Senator Sheldon
Whitehouse (D-RI) from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) at the end of
April, less than
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/14/coronavirus-law-congress
-tax-change/> three percent of the tax-relief benefits included in the CARES
Act will go to people earning $100,000 a year. "Relief legislation ought to
address the needs of small businesses and workers,"
<https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-and-doggett-unvei
l-bill-to-repeal-gop-tax-giveaway-to-million-dollar-plus-earners-in-coronavi
rus-relief-legislation> said Whitehouse, "not fleece taxpayers to benefit
real estate moguls and hedge fund billionaires." The Senator introduced a
bicameral piece of legislation with Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) to
"unwind" the tax-liability reductions and is part of the Heroes Act.

Austerity politics

Despite the clear political advantages of attacking such a grossly unfair
gift to the most well-off at the expense of the most vulnerable, the
Democrats' HEROES act actually goes further in undermining the help offered
to small business owners by
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaharziv/2020/05/16/heroes-act-passes-house-o
mits-2000-recurring-stimulus-checks-and-other-notable-items/#386589ca1120>
excluding the Paycheck Guarantee Act, which would have assured 100 percent
coverage of workers' wages up to $90,000 a year.

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/economy-stimulus-covid-19-inflation-time-bomb
/267446> No Stimulus for the Weary: The US is Now Sitting on an Inflation
Time Bomb

The White House doesn't know if the $2.2 Trillion-dollar stimulus package
will cause inflation to spiral. But economists have no doubt.

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/>

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/> MintPress News |
<https://www.mintpressnews.com/author/raul-diego/> Raul Diego | May 12

A "mini-rebellion" reportedly ensued among progressives in the House over
its exclusion but was eventually squelched by Pelosi, leading to the passing
of the controversial bill in a 208-199 vote. In addition, the legislation
stamped out efforts to provide monthly recurring relief checks of $2,000 per
household, opting instead for a one-time payment in a second round of the
$1,200 stimulus checks. Other measures aiming to correct some of the
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/12/mass-unemployment-is-pol
icy-choice-we-must-choose-differently/> shortcomings of the CARES Act were
also rebuffed by the Democratic leadership, such as automatic stabilizers to
tie federal aid to economic conditions and logistical improvements for the
delivery of funds to individuals.

While the Heroes Act was immediately pounced on by Senate Majority Leader,
Mitch McConnell, and other Republicans, who derided it as an election-year
ploy with " <https://apnews.com/3c1ea3456f7d906dabf3ed336f6c1ad0> no chance
at becoming law," the implications of their political infighting for
millions of Americans could prove very costly in both the short and the long
term.

Raiding the castle

The disconnect between reality on the ground and Capitol Hill is staggering.
As the  <https://apnews.com/95f4b1ce45413f5e6b162221a456894a> Trump show
continues and each side of the political aisle takes aim at each other, the
economy's freefall is quickly reaching catastrophic levels.

A recent University of Chicago poll found that 37 percent of unemployed
Americans
<https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/14/poll-coronavirus-e
nough-eat/111715302/> ran out of food in April. Kate Maehr, executive
director of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, has "never seen anything
like it," referring to the 60 percent increase in the number of people
visiting food pantries that are part of her organization.

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/breadlines-outside-food-banks-america-struggl
es-cope-covid-19/266651/> Long Breadlines Form Outside of Food Banks as
America Struggles to Cope With COVID-19 Fallout

MintPress spoke to people working food banks and on the front lines
attempting to keep America fed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/>

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/> MintPress News |
<https://www.mintpressnews.com/author/alan-macleod/> Alan Macleod | Apr 15

Meanwhile, 46 percent of those surveyed confessed to worrying that they,
too, might run out of food in the near future if they didn't find employment
soon. Their prospects depend heavily "on whether states can restart their
economies without creating new surges in COVID-19 infections," according to
<https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/14/poll-coronavirus-e
nough-eat/111715302/> Gabriel Ehrlich of the University of Michigan. His
assessment was echoed by the Federal Reserves'
<https://money.yahoo.com/fed-says-financial-system-came-202640518.html?gucco
unter=1> Financial Stability Report last Thursday, which noted the "sharp
economic contraction" resulting from the economic shutdowns would "create
fragilities that last for some time."

Fed chairman, Jerome Powell,
<https://thehill.com/policy/finance/498091-fed-chair-issues-dire-warnings-on
-economy> stated last week that "Additional fiscal support could be costly,
but worth it if it helps avoid long-term economic damage," calling out the
GOP for "pumping the brakes" on Pelosi's $3 trillion stimulus bill. Senate
Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell said the government should "take a pause
here" and evaluate what has been done to this point.

Other Republicans voiced their opposition to the Heroes Act calling it "
<https://apnews.com/3c1ea3456f7d906dabf3ed336f6c1ad0> bloated" and "nothing
more than the Democratic policy agenda masquerading as a response to the
coronavirus crisis," according to Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma. Only one
Republican House member voted against his party and for the Democrat-led
bill. Soon-to-retire Rep. Peter King of New York, who has served 14 terms in
the U.S. Congress,
<https://www.foxnews.com/media/gop-rep-peter-king-says-he-has-no-choice-but-
to-vote-for-democrats-3t-coronavirus-relief-bill> told Fox News that he "had
no choice," asserting that "New York will absolutely collapse if that aid
money is not there," and adding that this wasn't a time for politics.

Canary in the coal mine

New York City, in fact, provides a clear picture of what is in store for the
country as a whole as the crisis motivates the wealthy to escape to safety
and the less fortunate are left behind to deal with increasingly
deteriorating circumstances. A
<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/15/upshot/who-left-new-york-cor
onavirus.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes> recent article published by the New
York Times delves into data provided by Descartes Labs and others, which
analyzed smart-phone data to determine where New York residents had been
over a two-week period in February when the pandemic began to unfold in the
United States.

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/super-rich-buying-covid-19-pandemic-mansions-
new-zealand/267406/> World's Super Rich Buying Pandemic Escape Mansions in
New Zealand

A number of the planet's richest people are buying luxury bunkers designed
to withstand even nuclear explosions amid the COVID-19 pandemic,

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/>

<https://www.mintpressnews.com/> MintPress News |
<https://www.mintpressnews.com/author/alan-macleod/> Alan Macleod | May 11

Notwithstanding the broader implications of smart-phone data surveillance,
the results of the analysis determined that the city's population declined
by almost 5 percent as people with the means to do so fled to
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/nyregion/coronavirus-leaving-nyc-vacatio
n-homes.html> second homes out in the country or elsewhere.
<https://sociology.columbia.edu/content/peter-bearman> Peter Bearman, a
sociologist from Columbia University, highlighted the contrast in inequality
this phenomenon makes clear, stating that "everybody is really aware of the
uneven distribution of risk, and the unfairness of having to work to provide
services to people who are wealthy enough to avoid providing services for
themselves".

As the crisis deepens and those who don't have the luxury of riding it out
in the Hamptons or some other place are forced to stay behind in an economy
in free fall, where unemployment is projected to reach unprecedented levels
of
<https://community.solutions/analysis-on-unemployment-projects-40-45-increas
e-in-homelessness-this-year/> 40-45 percent, the pussyfooting and pettiness
that has become endemic in the American political system - run by the same
class of people running for the hills with their million-dollar tax breaks -
will inevitably give way to a mass insurrection by those most affected by
their contempt, that not even a pandemic can hold back.

[blind-democracy] The Dem's $3 Trillion Dollar HEROES Act Can Not Brace Us for the Coming Shock

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