Gettin it Done.

[Sour Masher]

Well, Biden managed to cut the amount of folks eligible for the $1400 stimmy check by 17 million from the batch Trump gave the $600 checks to, so Biden just made 17 million others pissed off in the way you are. Super smart, austerity politics in the midst of a global crisis.

I've been waiting ages for somebody to bring up cutting the $15/hr minimum wage. If you all think Biden is going to keep his high approval ratings and not get destroyed if he abandons the minimum wage increase, you're smoking stronger stuff than I am. The bullshit excuse of the Senate Parliamentarian recommendations is so laughable. They're trying to pretend this person has authority when it's just a recommendation. Kamala Harris could overrule the recommendation, but she has signaled she won't. That's a very bad move for her own future ambitions. If you want to fuck over the progressives they'll come for your head.

Now, I will state this publicly. If Biden passes a $15/hr minimum wage with a 5 year or less phase in, I will praise him to high heaven and change my avatar back to one praising Biden. That's how certain I am he will fail, but I hope I'm wrong!

But I'm sure it will be something like a $12/hr federal minimum wage, phased in over 10 years, or some such nonsense. Like Kamala's primary campaign proposal of M4A phased in over 10 years which sunk like a rock as soon as she announced it. Transparent bullshit that won't pass the smell test for most voters who get screwed over like Sour Masher did, only they're living below poverty. Good work, yep, gonna crush the midterms.

I hope you are wrong about min wage, but I fear you are right. I think Biden cares more about that than the 17 million that got burnt on this stimulus, so I think he will fight for it more, but so far, his ability and willingness to stand up to repub and "moderate" dems has not impressed me.

I will say ahead of time that while I'd be disappointed in a half measure on min wage, the fact that it has been frozen for so long as this gets debated is so egregious, even a half measure of $12 would be a hell of a lot better than another 4 plus years of it stuck at 7.25. I do not get why it has been stuck there so long. It is below historic averages adjusted for inflation, and has been for awhile. He should fight for 15 and every dollar below that is a loss. My psychological disgust factor would be really high below 12, since that would be no real victory, since repubs and moderate dems are cool with 11 or so now. So, what great victory is there if he doesn't get it to higher than that?

[Teenwolf]

I hope you are wrong about min wage, but I fear you are right. I think Biden cares more about that than the 17 million that got burnt on this stimulus, so I think he will fight for it more, but so far, his ability and willingness to stand up to repub and "moderate" dems has not impressed me.

I will say ahead of time that while I'd be disappointed in a half measure on min wage, the fact that it has been frozen for so long as this gets debated is so egregious, even a half measure of $12 would be a hell of a lot better than another 4 plus years of it stuck at 7.25. I do not get why it has been stuck there so long. It is below historic averages adjusted for inflation, and has been for awhile. He should fight for 15 and every dollar below that is a loss. My psychological disgust factor would be really high below 12, since that would be no real victory, since repubs and moderate dems are cool with 11 or so now. So, what great victory is there if he doesn't get it to higher than that?

The victory is supposed to be "look, we said we were going to do bipartisanship, and we delivered!"

It all goes back to my current signature.

[The Feral Slasher]

I hope you are wrong about min wage, but I fear you are right. I think Biden cares more about that than the 17 million that got burnt on this stimulus, so I think he will fight for it more, but so far, his ability and willingness to stand up to repub and "moderate" dems has not impressed me.

I will say ahead of time that while I'd be disappointed in a half measure on min wage, the fact that it has been frozen for so long as this gets debated is so egregious, even a half measure of $12 would be a hell of a lot better than another 4 plus years of it stuck at 7.25. I do not get why it has been stuck there so long. It is below historic averages adjusted for inflation, and has been for awhile. He should fight for 15 and every dollar below that is a loss. My psychological disgust factor would be really high below 12, since that would be no real victory, since repubs and moderate dems are cool with 11 or so now. So, what great victory is there if he doesn't get it to higher than that?

4 years ? hmmm....been a bit longer than that I think. A change.to less than 12 dollars an hour would be dissapointing to me as well

[The Feral Slasher]

4 years ? hmmm....been a bit longer than that I think.

It's pathetic how long it's been since the minimum wage was increased. People can blame whoever they want, it's just sad.

[madducks]

It's pathetic how long it's been since the minimum wage was increased. Blame whoever you want, it's just sad.

People getting paid that amount have to work 2 or 3 jobs to just barely get above the poverty level. And some people even get married to someone they don't really love just to add a second household income and share health benefits. It's why kids have to live with their parents a lot longer than they want to.

And the loophole that allows restaurants to pay their wait staff below minimum wage because they receive tips needs to be eliminated.

[Sour Masher]

4 years ? hmmm....been a bit longer than that I think. A change.to less than 12 dollars an hour would be dissapointing to me as well

The line you bolded did not mean that it has only been 4 years since min wages had been raised. It meant that raising min wage to $12 now would be a lot better than playing kick the can for ANOTHER 4 more years of kick the can (I was aware that the min wage had not been raised since 2009). I should have worded it differently so it was clear that the another 4 years did not mean that it had only been 4 year so far. I wasn't putting all this on Trump. Obama should have raised it before the end of his second term.

I still think a gradual increase to 15 could happen, but really, since Lord Manchin has declared $11 is acceptable to him, if Biden cannot get to a number higher than that, he will have proven that he is feckless and that Lord Manchin is the true shot caller in Washington now. To me, where the number falls between 11-15 will show how good Biden is at getting what he really wants. Anything below 13 shows Manchin is better at it.

[The Feral Slasher]

The line you bolded did not mean that it has only been 4 years since min wages had been raised. It meant that raising min wage to $12 now would be a lot better than playing kick the can for ANOTHER 4 more years of kick the can (I was aware that the min wage had not been raised since 2009). I should have worded it differently so it was clear that the another 4 years did not mean that it had only been 4 year so far. I wasn't putting all this on Trump. Obama should have raised it before the end of his second term.

I still think a gradual increase to 15 could happen, but really, since Lord Manchin has declared $11 is acceptable to him, if Biden cannot get to a number higher than that, he will have proven that he is feckless and that Lord Manchin is the true shot caller in Washington now. To me, where the number falls between 11-15 will show how good Biden is at getting what he really wants. Anything below 13 shows Manchin is better at it.

I probably just misinterpreted. Anyway, let's hope they get it done

[Bene Futuis]

$1.9 trillion COVID bill passes the Senate with no Republican support. The bill certainly doesn’t have everything but it’s got an awful lot for those of us who are most vulnerable.

[revo]

This is gonna sound like a very privelged whine fest, but I cannot help vent somewhere.

Not happy with how Biden folded to Manchin over the stimulus limits, especially with a hard cap that doesn't give credit for kids. I was comparing notes with a friend who combined with his wife to make 148k. He has three kids, so will get the full 7k. My wife and I made more than we ever made in 2019 and 2020, taking on all the extra work that we could, moonlighting, teaching extra classes, etc, because her mom lost her job and needed some financial support for her brother who is disabled, and my mom has medical issues and needs financial help as well. We were fortunate to be able to have jobs and work extra, so we did and combined to make more than we ever have, which put us at 161k for the year. We didn't end up keeping any of that extra money--we used it to help extended family. Given what we make, I was not expecting or feeling we should get the full amount, but given that we have two kids, I thought we'd get something, even when I heard about the aggressive phase out. But the 160k is a hard cap, no matter how many dependents you have.

That is the part that is really annoying the hell out of me right now. I get that there has to be a cut off, but living in NY, with the taxes I pay, combined with the fact that we currently have a lot of people leaning on us financially, in addition to our own young kids, we sure could have used something--anything, to help pay off some debt and buy stuff that we have put off. All told, Manchin's cut saved 12 billion out of a 1.9 trillion dollar bill. And Biden folded on it like a house of cards. Again, if they wanted to lower the cut off, I get it, but they should have kept the kids in the equation. If we made what we made with no kids, we would be much more comfortable financially--there is a huge difference between having kids and not that is being ignored with this change in eligibility. I'm sure there are folks even more screwed than we were, folks who made 161k but have 8 or 10 kids. I know it is a lot of money compared to the average (for most of our adult lives, we made below average as students)--it would have seemed like a lot of money to us just 5 years ago. But between the massive taxes of living in NY and the financial burden of our extended family hit harder than us right now, we are left really regretting we didn't combine to make $1500 less. It would have netted us thousands of dollars.

A phase out that goes from thousands to 0 because of a $1500 gross pay difference is an idiotic phase out. I'm not begrudging my friend who will get 7k in stimulus, but he lives in rural Georgia, with much less expenses, and is getting 7k. We will get nada. I believe I'd feel that stark difference for two comparable families was unfair even if it did not negatively impact me. We are obviously much better off than most, so I'm not complaining about not getting the money so much as frustrated by the way it phased out. It seems really poorly thought out that a family can go from getting a stimulus of several thousand dollars to 0 with such a small difference in gross income. With the previous stimulus, kids counted toward the phase out. I guess I was naďve to assume they would this time too.

Keep in mind the stimulus cutoff threshold is based on adjusted gross income, not gross income. Could be a HUGE difference. It is for me.

Look at line 8b on your 1040 to see how much of a difference it was in years past compared to your gross income.

[Sour Masher]

Keep in mind the stimulus payment is based off of adjusted gross income, not gross income.

Yeah, I am going by my AGI. I'm in that 17 million group that got something under Trump that get nada under this stimulus. Nothing to be done about it now. Just have to duct tape up the old furniture and keep plugging along. I still maintain that not counting the kids in the phase out, like they did with the last two, is idiotic. A family with 8 kids making 160k need stimulus a lot more than a couple making 150k. That was baked into the last two stimulus packages, but taken out of this one. Under this one, the couple making 150k will get $2800 and the family of 10, with 8 kids, making 160k, would get $0.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Yeah, I am going by my AGI. I'm in that 17 million group that got something under Trump that get nada under this stimulus. Nothing to be done about it now. Just have to duct tape up the old furniture and keep plugging along. I still maintain that not counting the kids in the phase out, like they did with the last two, is idiotic. A family with 8 kids making 160k need stimulus a lot more than a couple making 150k. That was baked into the last two stimulus packages, but taken out of this one. Under this one, the couple making 150k will get $2800 and the family of 10, with 8 kids, making 160k, would get $0.

It's not perfect, but it's more than we got from July to December. I'd have really liked to see the $400 weekly bump, but we'll manage. Sorry you got stuck in the much pot, you have 8 Kids? :P


It's hard to relate though, our total income for 2020 was 30K as a couple. 161k seems like a dream from my perspective, though I don't know your life and please don't take that as some kind of slight--it's not--just for a guy who's never made much--ever 161k seems like a lot. Like a lot, a lot.

[Sour Masher]

It's not perfect, but it's more than we got from July to December. I'd have really liked to see the $400 weekly bump, but we'll manage. Sorry you got stuck in the much pot, you have 8 Kids? :P


It's hard to relate though, our total income for 2020 was 30K as a couple. 161k seems like a dream from my perspective, though I don't know your life and please don't take that as some kind of slight--it's not--just for a guy who's never made much--ever 161k seems like a lot. Like a lot, a lot.

Yeah, my wife and I lived off of under 30k combined for much of our adult lives. We were in grad school until we were 30, and made less than that until then. If you had told us then that we'd be making this much, we'd have been pretty stoked about it. But between paying federal and state taxes at a much higher rate (which is fair, of course), her student loans, the kids, and the expectation of supporting extending family that comes with the higher income, aside from being in a home rather than an apartment, we live our lives at a pretty similar level as when we were just a couple getting by in grad school, believe it or not.

Of course, a large part of that is debt we are now able to climb out of, so I'm sure it will be much different when we do. Once we pay off the 30k in student loans and 20k in credit cards, and are free and clear of child care (we were paying 2k a month for child care last year), we will be much better off. We just started making this amount, but assuming we continue to do so, we will be in good shape, eventually. A part of why we are living about the same now is that we were living above or means then and are still paying for it. That and the fact that the pandemic fit our extending family harder than us and we had the means to help them out (my sister needed a new car to get to work, for instance, and needed help with that, as she supports 3 kids and a sick boyfriend on one income, my mother-in-law lost her job and my in-laws needed some help, my mother has needed extra month income from me since she went on disability nearly 20 years ago).

I still say it is completely idiotic for this phase out not to factor in kids. I'd be more fine with getting nothing if it did. I maintain there is a big difference between a family with kids, especially young kids that need child care than a couple making a similar amount.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Talk about fast, $2800 Pending Deposit in our account as of tonight.

Thanks for voting Blue Georgia!!

[Hornsby]

Talk about fast, $2800 Pending Deposit in our account as of tonight.

Thanks for voting Blue Georgia!!

[madducks]