2 critiques of Biden’s ‘Rescue Amerika’ plan

First: ‘Biden stimulus bill: What will it take to really ‘Rescue America?’, Jordan Woll, January 21, 2021, liberationnews.org  (CC w/ attribution)


Joe Biden’s recently-announced pandemic relief package, the so-called American Rescue Plan, is the new administration’s top legislative priority. With the bar set tragically low by the Trump government, any action at all by the Biden administration may feel like a welcome improvement. But the severity of the pandemic in the country and the threat of emerging, highly-transmissible new strains of the virus requires radical solutions to address the urgent daily needs of working and poor people.

The Democrats control both houses of Congress and the executive branch. The filibuster that requires 60 Senators to vote in favor of closing debate on a measure is not a law, but an internal Senate rule that the Democratic majority can simply decide to do away with. But despite having the power to pass laws without any Republican support, the Biden administration has introduced another bill that fails to measure up to the scale of the crisis facing the working class.

If the United States had just inaugurated a socialist government instead of a pro-corporate Democratic Party administration, it would move to immediately cancel all rent and mortgage payments along with any debt accumulated to landlords and banks. Everyone would be guaranteed a dignified income that allows them to stay home and contain the pandemic. The insurance industry would be abolished and the pharmaceutical giants expropriated to ensure universal access to healthcare, including the vaccine. Despite the eye-catching $1.9 trillion price tag on Biden’s proposal, it does not contain any of these or other sweeping measures necessary to resolve the public health and economic crisis gripping the country.

Healthcare, housing and food

Opinion polling has consistently shown high levels of support for a universal healthcare system along the lines of Medicare for All. Rather than using this historic moment of suffering to put into place what would be an incredibly popular and much-needed reorganization of the U.S. healthcare system away from the for-profit model, Biden refuses to ditch the parasitic insurance companies. The administration’s proposal is to continue to rely on the patchwork system of private insurance markets, but cap premiums at 8.5 percent of one’s income.

Tens of thousands of families have been kicked out of their homes since September 2020 despite the Centers for Disease Control’s national moratorium on evictions issued that month. Biden’s plan calls for an extension of this measure through September 2021 and additionally creates a pool of funds for states and localities to use to assist those who are at risk of homelessness. It remains unclear how Biden’s rental assistance funds would be distributed, except that a minimum of $200 million will be guaranteed to each state and that money in excess of this minimum will be based on population rather than specific need for rental assistance in a state.

This could lead to insufficient assistance in very rental-dense, high-cost areas like the major cities of the country. Also of concern is the fact that funds are intended to be paid directly to landlords, which suggests that it may be difficult for renters to figure out if their back rent or future rent is being covered by the program. States will develop their own application processes and may add restrictions, leading to another patchwork, hard-to-navigate response to this urgent national problem.

Approximately 50 million Americans experienced “food insecurity” — meaning hunger — in 2020, including one in four children. This grave crisis will not be remedied by the bill’s proposal to boost the already-gutted, means-tested food stamp program (SNAP) by 15 percent. Right now most states are issuing the maximum SNAP benefit amount as an emergency measure in response to COVID-19, and the proposed 15 percent increase would result in about $100 extra for an average household of four. But some research has found that especially single-adult households may need more than $100 extra per week in excess of the maximum SNAP benefit to meet basic nutritional needs. Furthermore, increases in emergency federal unemployment assistance will continue to count as income in SNAP eligibility testing, meaning that individuals may find themselves losing their food benefit as a result.

Direct and indirect payments

Biden has faced criticism even from more liberal members of his own party for promising $2,000 direct payments and then really proposing $1,400 checks — which would equal $2,000 when added to the Trump administration’s final direct payout of $600.

Federal unemployment aid could be raised by $100 per week to a total of $400 under Biden’s plan. This figure is less than the $600 per week that the Trump government offered in mid-2020. The enhancement to unemployment benefits would expire in September — unless dramatic improvements are made to the so far shambolic vaccination drive it is highly unlikely the crisis will be over by then.

Federal assistance to state and local governments — amounting to $350 billion under Biden’s proposal — could help large numbers of public sector workers keep their jobs. The same could be true of increased funding for small business assistance programs. But strict oversight will be necessary to ensure that government entities and businesses that receive aid do not find backdoor ways to conduct layoffs, or that highly profitable companies do not exploit loopholes to access aid meant for struggling small businesses.

The new President’s plan to address the needs of children and the deeply impoverished is not to offer direct payments or guaranteed income and employment. Instead, Biden will extend and increase individual tax credits. This will delay the receipt of aid that is needed right now, ensure the disqualification of many undocumented workers, and create barriers to access what is necessary for people whom the capitalist system has failed or excluded.”

Next: ‘Biden’s ‘rescue America’ plan is big. How its trillions could help both Wall Street and Main Street’, 16, 2021, marketwatch.com

“As Americans hunker down and wait to get vaccinated, the toll of the coronavirus pandemic keeps rising.

Its costs, both in lives and livelihood, prompted President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday to propose another $1.9 trillion “first step” spending package to help combat the carnage of the pandemic, even before he takes office next week.

But as Washington gears up to debate another big relief initiative, hand-wringing on Wall Street has already begun as investors worry the bull-market for stocks could be threatened by an economy that might overheat and cause borrowing costs to rise, while also potentially saddling the U.S. with unsustainable debts.”  […]

“If passed, total spending from Congress in the past year on coronavirus aid would reach $4.8 trillion, plus the Federal Reserve’s huge monetary stimulus and bond- buying program that’s expanded its balance sheet to about $7.3 trillion from $4.2 trillion as of last February, writes MarketWatch columnist Michael Brush.

“On the one hand, you have investors worrying about the Fed pulling back from stimulus, while the Biden administration wants to throw a ton more stimulus at the pandemic,” Doty told MarketWatch. “But the more Biden’s stimulus packs a punch, the sooner the Fed will start pulling back.”

And yes, Sergeant Dow Jones is at 30,996 ! today, a week ago at 31, 176 !

Michael Hudson:

“Well, the pandemic’s been a bonanza for the stock market and for the wealthiest one percent. They’ve gained a trillion dollars since the start of the pandemic. Amazon stock is going through the roof. And with 70 percent of restaurants in New York City going bankrupt, this is made Doordash and other Internet firms make a fortune by essentially wiping out the restaurants, taking 30 percent of the receipts and the charge for the restaurant menu. Essentially, this puts most restaurants in America out of business.

That means that it’s a bonanza for the really big companies to pick up all the slack now that you’re wiping out the middle class. It’s a great prospect for private capital real estate companies like Blackstone, because they can buy a huge number of foreclosed properties and empty properties that can’t be rented out and Blackstone can pick up these homes that are defaulted on, buy them out, turn them into rental property and make a fortune by raising the cost of housing in the United States, all increasing the rent by the people who have lost the jobs. And it’s great prospects for the big restaurant chains, McDonald’s and the others. The big chains can survive, whereas the small individual restaurants have basically been driven out of business. So if you’re a billionaire, it’s been just a wonderful year.”

**********************************************

A brief PSA:

If you receive an envelope that says in RED:

‘Not a bill or an advertisement.  Important information

about your Economic Impact Payment’:

Don’t throw it away!  It may be that it contains a plastic debit card for your $600 per person you’re receiving from the US Treasury under the COVID-related Tax Relief Act of 2020.  Discover more here at Business Insider, but no, only half of the Treasury Dept. logo can be seen through the opaque window in the return address position.  Visa?  WTF?  Does one really have to get online to sign the user agreement?

How many will that screw out of their measly $600?

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wendy davis's picture

images that hadn't come thru w/ easy copy. i hadn't meant to comment.

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One thing on the filibuster. I was reading this at TPM and it will be telling how it turns out. Will the spinal fluid start running up the backbones of democrats, or will this be an excuse to play hostage to the republicans. Y'know, keep powder dry, 9th dimensional chess, the odds weren't in our favor and other kabuki just to cover their asses and pass legislation their donors want, while looking blameless.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/senate-democrats-have-a-choice

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wendy davis's picture

@Snode

they'll fold, then cry Wolf later? ; )

whooosh, josh marshall's a flash from the past. sadly i can't access any of his behind payall links, even an internal one by...josh marshal himself: $60 a year or something?

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@wendy davis Seems like they always fold. When we're this far down the hole, compromise is complicity. Yeah, Marshall is a flash from the past, and huffpost, but then, so am I. That link should be a freebie though. I don't subscribe to it.

It's about how McConnell is demanding the d's swear to keep the filibuster or he won't agree to new senate rules, and that will keep republicans in charge of committees, same as under the old rules. So I guess the d's would have to nuke the filibuster pretty much out of the gate, or compromise on new rules. I think it will go that way.

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wendy davis's picture

@Snode

the link you'd provided, but none of the internal ones that had further explanation and background. but in a way, they all seemed to be providing cover for why the glorious new president may not get to enact his superb and multifaceted plans to help The People.

the reason i'd chosen the obamaville image i'd already in my media files was that the new administration is an obomba one, only less covert. 2 goldman sachs flaks and one black rock one on his economics team. yellen? better than timothy geithner? i have my doubts.
and of course there already tent cities all over amerika, but it's all Trump's fault™! nothing to do with obama's serving wall street not main street post-2008 meltdown, oh no.

the first placed i'd blogged was joshua's TPM Café, closed maybe a dozen years ago (?).

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@wendy davis @wendy davis TPN used to great (or so I thought) with insightful lefty reporting, and critical thinking in the forums. It seemed to go to complete garbage sometime around when O'Bomber came to town. I just recall one day noticing that it had seemed to have been converted into a DNC mouthpiece. HuffPo just went to complete and utter shite on par some hollywood gossip rag.

Thank Earth we have C99 in this vacuous wasteland of (non) critical journalism.

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wendy davis's picture

@BORG_US_BORG

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enhydra lutris's picture

@Snode

eliminate the filibusterr and haven't. The argument has always been that they will someday be in the minority and will maybe need it then, but when they are in the minority they never use it (because, work together, ya know). The reality is that they rely on its existence to permit them to say stuff is impossible or to propose stuff that will be pupular but which cannot pass the Senate in order to score talking points.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris We have seen this too many times before.

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Roy Blakeley's picture

@enhydra lutris .Obama era failure theater. Priorities are being set to prevent useful things from being done. Screw the impeachment. Get the COVID relief bill passed under budget reconciliation and if Manchin doesn't want to make nice, nail his nuts to the smokehouse door.

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enhydra lutris's picture

In a vacuum, if they had to insure everybody and provide full coverage it would be quite a windfall for those with no income. Those in the poverty zone would still pay more than they can afford and would, at a minimum, besides starving and all, skip their meds.

But, this is all in the context of Obamacare, so one effect is to reduce the subsidy that the government must pay to those whom it must subsidize. Those with lowest tier private insurance will still effectively have nothing, being generally in an income zone where they will not be able to come up with the deductibles and co-pays that they must pay, up front, in cash, to even use their so-called insurance. It's the same old scam as it always was.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

wendy davis's picture

@enhydra lutris

con game. what income? but....but...medicare4all would be a handout, wouldn't it?

it may have been aliasalias who'd recently mentioned jane hamsher's use of The Veal Pen. she then turned into part of it when she knuckled on single payer instead of Obomba's Exchanges. dennis kucinich had as well, but only after getting off a plane during which ride back to DeeCee obomba had requested them to meet and...er...talk. seemed as though O had made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

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from City Hall, whose entire grounds, and the big lawn of the library across the street, are covered in tents,so I guess I should go to each and explain the exciting legislation proposed by Biden.

Maybe I can borrow a bullhorn to tell them....(drum roll)everyone here really needs help, cheer up! "Biden will extend and increase individual tax credits"!
Oh the tears of joy (/s), until someone asks. 'what is that,when do I get it, where do I get it, and is it redeemable at the grocery store?

The people at the shelter are counted and named in the registry at the front desk, so maybe there are ways to get a stimulus check, and I seriously doubt anyone there files income tax returns. These people are homeless, and jobless, with the exception of a very small number with any kind of a job.
I don't know but all those in small 'tent cities' all over town are on their own without an address, so I don't know how they'd navigate getting 'relief checks' (a name from The Great Depression), but 'tax credits' are no help at all, especially when you don't file income tax returns (I don't file).

If I knew how to do it I'd post some pictures I took with my phone of the tent encampments in downtown Bellingham. There certainly is no 'social distancing' at the encampment at City Hall, those tents are jammed together tightly on the lawns, with barely enough room to walk between the tents.

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wendy davis's picture

@aliasalias

your bitterness. the thing is, THIS proposal is supposed to be part of his covid-stim package, and the deepening depression will be blamed on the virus, but not that the Stock Market's been about to burst into many bubbles, forecast for years now.

i also loved this passage from the OP:

"Federal unemployment aid could be raised by $100 per week to a total of $400 under Biden’s plan. This figure is less than the $600 per week that the Trump government offered in mid-2020. The enhancement to unemployment benefits would expire in September — unless dramatic improvements are made to the so far shambolic vaccination drive it is highly unlikely the crisis will be over by then."

bing hits on "images tent encampments in downtown bellingham"

one pithy one with signs, 5 days ago:

stay safe out there, my friend.

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@wendy davis

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@wendy davis tent city. It a link from the City saying they are serving the legal papers and everyone must be gone by 4 pm this Friday.

Early this morning we provided the required legal notice to inform people on the City Hall and Library lawns that they must remove their belongings and leave by 4 p.m. Friday, January 29. This follows our intentions, stated repeatedly during the past month, that this illegal encampment must end in January. Please help us encourage campers to find shelter elsewhere. Space is available at the Base Camp shelter and at its overflow facility.
https://cob.org/services/safety/emergencies/covid-19/city-county-address...

On that images page the bottom right picture shows part of City Hall but I don't when they took the picture but there are a helluva lot more tents. Some of those pictures are from a bigger city, there is no building here as tall as the one in one picture.. Thanks again for the pics.

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wendy davis's picture

@aliasalias

and sorry to have neglected this thread. i wonder if they'll use prison labor to sweep th tents away as they did in another NW city a couple years ago? portland?

one below here this a.m., sleeping rough must be terrifying.

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@aliasalias Are you in Bellingham, Wa?
I'm in Seattle, and it gets cold at night down here,because of the humid maritime air, I'm sure it's just miserable up there...
Almost the entirety of Seattle is a homeless camp now. Some of the parks are so overtaken by tents, you couldn't visit them even if you wanted too. Lots and lots of trash and discarded syringes.
We are a 3rd world shithole country that is collapsing in on itself.

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wendy davis's picture

@BORG_US_BORG

it right: This is a #ShitholeNation.

Bingling images of 2021 seattle homeless camps.

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@BORG_US_BORG and there have always been people that set up camp out of view.
I live across the street from a park on the bay and when I walk the river trail I've always noticed spots in the bushes where someone has been sleeping, but the current situation is incredible to see.
Whenever the day comes that City Hall and the library reopens, all of these people will be getting the boot and where they can relocate I have no idea.

All that is in downtown but across from me along the road beside the bay people are living in cars, vans, Motor homes and trucks. Which look like many of the people in the encampments, all with not a lot of miles left.

Homelessness is bad for anyone,but especially hard on the old.

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wendy davis's picture

@aliasalias

it's been snowing here, which has become a rarity. mr. wd said that south of durango east of us the fire dept. has had to put out fires in a tent city there.

denver has a large homeless population too, and it's hard to even imagine the horrors so many are so needlessly experiencing.

no massive WPA programs, but zillions for War. but never fear: biden's Climate Program will offer big bucks for Green Project jobs!

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@aliasalias

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness anyone votes. Getting them interested in voting has been tried before and basically the common feeling was that voting makes no difference, besides that our ballots come in the mail and not everyone has an address but I'm sure with the correct ID they could get a ballot at the Courthouse.

Be around homeless people around election time and see if you hear a peep about the elections, other than it being waste of time.

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@aliasalias

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.