Automatic BOOST to Communities (ABC) Act Introduced
[guest post by Dana]
Hoo-boy, it’s official: we’re through the looking glass now:
The CARES Act provided many Americans with financial relief in the form of a $1,200 stimulus check. But as that program rolls out, it has become apparent to lawmakers that more financial assistance is needed. There are currently several proposals from various lawmakers that would provide Americans with ongoing financial support. You can learn more about current proposals here.
Now you can add the Automatic BOOST to Communities (ABC) Act proposal, which was introduced by Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).
If approved, the ABC Act would provide every American with a BOOST debit card that is preloaded with $2,000. The card would be reloaded with $1,000 each month until one year after the end of the COVID-19 crisis.
The bill calls for the use of pre-paid debit cards to assist those who are unbanked or do not have access to check cashing services.
The authors of the bill want to help ensure that “no one is left behind”. As such, it proposes a $2,000 pre-paid debit card be provided to every American, including taxpayers, dependents, non-citizens, and individuals who do not have a bank account, social security number, or permanent address. It also includes Americans living abroad, permanent residents, undocumented individuals, and temporary visitors whose stay exceeds three months. Recipients of the debit cards can use the funds to make in-person and online purchases, as well as making cash withdrawals at ATMs.
And here’s how the federal government would pay for it:
The ABC Act would be funded directly from the Treasury with no additional debt issued by minting two $1 trillion platinum coins. Additional coins would be minted as needed. Title 31 of the U.S. Code gives the Treasury Secretary the authority to mint and issue platinum bullion coins (see 31 U.S.C. § 5112(k)).
Here we go:
This proposal also outlines the possibility of using the infrastructure behind the U.S. Debit Card system to create a “digital public currency wallet system,” or a digital currency based on the U.S. dollar.
–Dana
Debt??? What debt??
Dana (0feb77) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:11 pmWhat
Dustin (e5f6c3) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:15 pmAt today’s price, that means each coin would weigh 0.0014662 ounces, if my math is right.
Kishnevi (1bb3ae) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:22 pmNow have we gone too far? -.-
Gryph (08c844) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:22 pmNo, I think they mean two (2) coins. Probably symbolic, maybe?
Hey, we’re $4.5T in, why not go for $6.5T.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:24 pmWait, sorry. I misread that. I thought they were talking about minting two trillion platinum coins worth a dollar each.
Kishnevi (1bb3ae) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:24 pmThis reminds me of a college friend who complained that the bank “keeps bouncing my checks.”
“Do you have money in your account?” I asked.
“No, but I still have checks!”
felipe (023cc9) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:25 pmI went ahead and linked to where you can find the cited code.
Dana (0feb77) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:25 pmWhile they’re at it, they might as well mint enough of these coins to pay off the national debt.
Dana (0feb77) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:27 pmA pre-loaded EBT card is what the Tilapia and ETphonehome constituents are very much used to.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:31 pmI just knew that we’d find a really good use for bitcoin at some point.
John B Boddie (efe944) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:32 pmfelipe,
No offense to your friend, but when I was around nine years old or so, I kept whining to my mom buy me something, and she said she couldn’t because there was no money in the checking account. I didn’t believe her because I had seen her checkbook, and accusingly said “But you have checks in your checkbook!” We still laugh about it once in a while because it took her a good while to convince me that using a check required money in the bank.
Dana (0feb77) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:33 pmPeople talked about the idiotic idea of minting trillion-dollar coins back when budget fights were raising the spectre of default on the national debt during Obama’s administration.
Not gonna fly as a Dem proposal, but if they could get some rodentia rectalis to advocate it on FoxNews, I predict Trump would love the idea.
Dave (1bb933) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:38 pmHaha! Yes! The first time I saw my mom use a credit card, it blew my mind.
Free stuff!
Dave (1bb933) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:39 pmOnce again, The Simpsons predicts the future…
Burns steals a trillion dollar bill… Season 9, Episode 20
Glenn (009dae) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:40 pmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KgHy3Pi5Yw
And that’ll show you all that Trump is not the only foreign sleeper planted to destroy America.
nk (1d9030) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:43 pmThe ABC Act would be funded directly from the Treasury with no additional debt issued by minting two $1 trillion platinum coins.
Vindication for Paul Krugman, and apparently the Trump Administration and GOP Congressmembers (with the honorable exceptions, I would guess, of Thomas Massie, Rand Paul, and hopefully a few others) are going to sign off on it. So there you have it.
JVW (54fd0b) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:46 pmI didn’t believe her because I had seen her checkbook, and accusingly said “But you have checks in your checkbook!”
I remember when I was a kid the bank would issue a guaranteed check card to its checking account holders who had proven to be trustworthy. My mom got in an argument with a grocery store checkout clerk and manager once because they were insisting that people writing checks had to provide their phone number, with my mom arguing that the bank had issued her a guaranteed check card and therefore the grocery store had no business knowing our home phone number.
JVW (54fd0b) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:50 pmWhile I am no fan of creating entitlements, the recent collapse of oil prices may be the harbinger of a more general deflationary spiral. Deflation is one of the main reasons the Great Depression proved so difficult to escape, because it prompts people to defer spending money and investing.
Short-term inflationary spending may be the least bad solution.
I’d like to hear what a smart economist like Thomas Sowell thinks.
Dave (1bb933) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:53 pmZimbabwe approves.
Vote for leftists.
NJRob (4d595c) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:53 pmtwo $1 trillion platinum coins.
Dustin (e5f6c3) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:15 pm
Obama didn’t do it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillion-dollar_coin
Sammy Finkelman (329d95) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:55 pmtwo $1 trillion platinum coins.
Uncle Sam whips it out and plays the Platinum Card.
Reaganomics.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/23/2020 @ 8:26 pm“ The law, the CARES Act, offered $349 billion in loans for small businesses struggling as a result of Covid-19. Banks, backstopped by the federal government, can fully forgive the loans under certain conditions.
Among them, the bulk of funds must go toward payroll, salaries must remain intact and employee head count must not decrease. Businesses have until June 30 to rehire laid-off or furloughed workers.
Black-Lewis was trying to meet these rules, especially after her bank reiterated she must continue to pay workers for loan forgiveness.
The anger came from employees who’d determined they’d make more money by collecting unemployment benefits than their normal paychecks.
“It’s a windfall they see coming,” Black-Lewis said of unemployment. “In their mind, I took it away.”
“I couldn’t believe it,” she added. “On what planet am I competing with unemployment?”
Black-Lewis is surely not the only entrepreneur to struggle with such dynamics.
More than 26 million Americans filed for unemployment in the five weeks ended April 18, erasing all the jobs created in the decade since the Great Recession. Lawmakers are poised to infuse an additional $310 billion into the Paycheck Protection Program, which exhausted its initial funding, this week.“
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/04/22/she-got-a-paycheck-protection-loan-her-employees-hate-her-for-it.html?__source=iosappshare%7Ccom.apple.UIKit.activity.CopyToPasteboard&__twitter_impression=true
harkin (8f4a6f) — 4/23/2020 @ 9:21 pm_
The current value of platinum is $768/oz or $24,706/kg; two trillion dollar coins will weigh about
Angelo (10e6d4) — 4/23/2020 @ 9:46 pm32 million kg apiece, if not it would destroy the platinum market by artificially assigning higher value to the gov’t coins
This is nuts. And it’s been proposed by 2 low seniority dems from extremely safe districts. It will not make it out of committee.
I assume it was drafted
-to show primary voters that they’re ‘fighting’ for the ‘right things’
-to get their names in the paper in a way that something even remotely likely to pass would not.
-move the conversation within the party leftward
I wish move ppl here (and everywhere) cared about the debt as a goal in itself and got worked up about when it was their party running it it up.
Time123 (ea2b98) — 4/24/2020 @ 5:02 amI have a low opinion of ‘fighters’ like this or Bernie Sanders.
It’s like a boxer that rages in the media before the fight, spends the fight covering up and throwing the occasional haymaker to the air, loses a unanimous decision, and says after the fight they’d have won if they landed that one big punch. In reality they never really tried to do anything that would have enabled them to land a punch.
Our fractured media and safe districts give us more and more examples where the best thing for an elected official to do is loudly demand their maximalist position, loudly refuse to compromise in any way, loudly demonize anyone who isn’t in full agreement, and loudly tell their base that they’re ‘fighting’.
A fighter steps into the pocket, trades shots, and tries to get the best win they can. When they have a chance to land a big hit (like mitch with Garland in 2016) they take it.
Time123 (ea2b98) — 4/24/2020 @ 5:18 amRashida Tlaib is clearly a Palestinian nationalist who hates America. I don’t know anything about the other one.
nk (1d9030) — 4/24/2020 @ 5:46 amIf the US starts conjuring trillions of dollars in currency out of thin air, I would say the platinum market is the least of our worries.
But the coins don’t need to contain a trillion dollars worth of platinum. The paper in a hundred dollar bill isn’t worth $100, and no US coin currently minted is worth its face value.
Dave (1bb933) — 4/24/2020 @ 5:57 amThere’s two sides of the coin here….
On the one side, it’s definitely quackery as many believe it’d destroy the value of USD worldwide.
On the other, keep in mind that the value behind the USD is completely by faith… or, more accurately derived from the relationship between the ‘supply and demand’ to the ‘stability’ of the issuing government. In short, it’s fiat currency.
Ironically, had the USD been backed by gold… this would’ve been impossible to do.
whembly (c30c83) — 4/24/2020 @ 6:48 amWhy mint two coins? If there’s no limit on denomination, just mint one coin, and make it worth $2 trillion.
Hey, why stop there? Let’s make it worth $10 trillion. That way, we don’t have to mint another one for a while.
Or hey, better yet, let’s mint a $100 trillion platinum coin, and instantly pay off our national debt. We’d even have a surplus! And if that seems like an awkward amount, let’s just move up to the next logical step, and mint a $1 quadrillion coin.
You know, as long as we’re being ridiculous.
Demosthenes (7fae81) — 4/24/2020 @ 6:50 amIronically, had the USD been backed by gold… this would’ve been impossible to do.
Well, quite a few things would have been impossible. A gold-back currency for the US is impossible.
OTOH, it would be possible to limit growth in the money supply to a given amount except during war.
It’s also possible to end deficit spending. Not at all likely, but possible.
Ragspierre (d9bec9) — 4/24/2020 @ 7:19 amCopying from a dead thread…
Greetings from Atlanta Georgia, current home of Governor Brian Kemp, the latest Trump toady to get the boot in the face from the ungrateful leader. You may think that Kemp got it for being an idiot risking the lives of his electorate, but I doubt that. Trump values his useful idiots bleating the slogans of liberty and, anyway, Trump and Pence backed the move in private. This public humiliation is because Kemp would not back Trump’s favored toady for Georgia Senator a few months ago.
That doesn’t makes Kemp’s action at all defensible. I am going to excerpt from a friend’s Facebook page, whose wife owns a hair salon, to explain the situation we have here:
Georgia is in the bottom tenth of states in the number of people tested. Kemp is forcing his state to take a flying leap into the unknown. Oddly enough, it may be the marketplace that saves him, by people refusing to rush right out there.
Appalled (1a17de) — 4/24/2020 @ 7:34 amWe could probably just use platinum-plated coins.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/24/2020 @ 7:41 amWhile they’re at it, they might as well mint enough of these coins to pay off the national debt.
It would be fair enough to “buy back” all those Chinese-owned bonds this way.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/24/2020 @ 7:45 amZimbabwe approves.
Yeah, whats thirty zeros among friends?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/24/2020 @ 7:46 amif not it would destroy the platinum market by artificially assigning higher value to the gov’t coins
You are pretty much missing the entire point of the scam. Consider this: If it was a one trillion dollar Federal Reserve Note, would that destroy the value of paper?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/24/2020 @ 7:49 amWell, quite a few things would have been impossible.
Such as maintaining the relationship between wealth and money supply. The gold standard is a throwback to the days when wealth was solely measured in gold, land and serfs.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/24/2020 @ 7:53 ama $1 quadrillion coin.
We would pay off the debt and make every man woman and child in America a millionaire 3 times over!
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/24/2020 @ 7:56 amThe gold standard is a throwback to the days when wealth was solely measured in gold, land and serfs.
Where’s that from?
Ragspierre (d9bec9) — 4/24/2020 @ 8:02 amTime123 (ea2b98) — 4/24/2020 @ 5:18 am
*cough* Lindsey Graham *cough*
frosty (f27e97) — 4/24/2020 @ 8:03 amFrosty, I think we could make a long list of political ‘fighters‘ that are really just hot air. But I’m not sure i’d put Graham on that list. He’s gotten actual results in the past…but I’m open to arguments otherwise.
Time123 (ea2b98) — 4/24/2020 @ 8:10 amFDA cautions against use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine for COVID-19 outside of the hospital setting or a clinical trial due to risk of heart rhythm problems
[4-24-2020] FDA Drug Safety Communication
What safety concern is FDA announcing?
The FDA is aware of reports of serious heart rhythm problems in patients with COVID-19 treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, often in combination with azithromycin and other QT prolonging medicines. We are also aware of increased use of these medicines through outpatient prescriptions. Therefore, we would like to remind health care professionals and patients of the known risks associated with both hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. We will continue to investigate risks associated with the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for COVID-19 and communicate publicly when we have more information.
Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing COVID-19. They are being studied in clinical trials for COVID-19, and we authorized their temporary use during the COVID-19 pandemic for treatment of the virus in hospitalized patients when clinical trials are not available, or participation is not feasible,through an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). The medicines being used under the hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine EUA are supplied from the Strategic National Stockpile, the national repository of critical medical supplies to be used during public health emergencies. This safety communication reminds physicians and the public of risk information set out in the hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine healthcare provider fact sheets that were required by the EUA.
Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine can cause abnormal heart rhythms such as QT interval prolongation and a dangerously rapid heart rate called ventricular tachycardia. These risks may increase when these medicines are combined with other medicines known to prolong the QT interval, including the antibiotic azithromycin, which is also being used in some COVID-19 patients without FDA approval for this condition. Patients who also have other health issues such as heart and kidney disease are likely to be at increased risk of these heart problems when receiving these medicines. ……
What should health care professionals do?
We recommend initial evaluation and monitoring when using hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine under the EUA or in clinical trials that investigate these medicines for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19. Monitoring may include baseline ECG, electrolytes, renal function and hepatic tests. Be aware that hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine can:
cause QT prolongation
increase the risk of QT prolongation in patients with renal insufficiency or failure
increase insulin levels and insulin action causing increased risk of severe hypoglycemia
cause hemolysis in patients with Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency
interact with other medicines that cause QT prolongation even after discontinuing the medicines due to their long half-lives of approximately 30-60 days
If a healthcare professional is considering use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine to treat or prevent COVID-19, FDA recommends checking http://www.clinicaltrials.gov for a suitable clinical trial and consider enrolling the patient. Consider using resourcesExternal Link Disclaimer available to assess a patient’s risk of QT prolongation and mortality.
……
What did FDA find?
We have reviewed case reports in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System database, the published medical literature, and the American Association of Poison Control Centers National Poison Data System concerning serious heart-related adverse events and death in patients with COVID-19 receiving hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, either alone or combined with azithromycin or other QT prolonging medicines. These adverse events were reported from the hospital and outpatient settings for treating or preventing COVID-19, and included QT interval prolongation, ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, and in some cases death. We are continuing to investigate these safety risks in patients with COVID-19 and will communicate publicly when more information is available.
RipMurdock (e81e20) — 4/24/2020 @ 8:21 am>>>>>>>
Appalled (1a17de) — 4/24/2020 @ 7:34 am
This is what every state is doing. All of the governors are taking a flying leap into the unknown. The models we’ve been using to drive this aren’t science like you hear from all of the talking heads on TV. They are math and numbers and graphs and things the average person associates with science but that’s not the same thing. Over the last couple of weeks, the models have shown a certain imprecision and some leaders have let their fascist freak flag fly. I haven’t seen anyone trying to explain NY’s numbers. They are posting numbers comparable to European countries with larger populations. The difference between NY and NJ is not small. Why should the same approach be used in GA as for NY? Why are we seeing such different outcomes for different states?
I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Hopefully, the people of GA act responsibly, wear PPE in public, take reasonable precautions to reduce the spread, etc.
frosty (f27e97) — 4/24/2020 @ 8:40 amI applaud Gov. Kemp. The states are the laboratories of the country, and I eagerly await the results of the experiment. The whole point of the experiment is not to wear PPE and hug your neighbor. Too bad his voters are the lab rats.
RipMurdock (e81e20) — 4/24/2020 @ 8:48 amGryph (08c844) — 4/23/2020 @ 6:22 pm
Actually following through on that proposal would represent having gone too far. Congressional clowns proposing ridiculous ideas to get exposure and press have been the “new” normal for a while now though. That ship has sailed. It’s over the horizon and out of sight.
frosty (f27e97) — 4/24/2020 @ 8:59 amAnd that’s not MSNBC math.
Not with a $1 quadrillion coin.
Demosthenes (0d7362) — 4/24/2020 @ 9:21 amWheelbarrows not included.
NJRob (4d595c) — 4/24/2020 @ 9:30 amBut with $1 quadrillion in the bank, after factoring in inflation…we could probably just afford them.
Demosthenes (0d7362) — 4/24/2020 @ 10:22 amCiting a ‘primary outcome’ of death, researchers cut chloroquine coronavirus study short over safety concerns
I guess a “primary outcome” of death would hamper full recovery.
RipMurdock (e81e20) — 4/24/2020 @ 10:35 amYou are pretty much missing the entire point of the scam. Consider this: If it was a one trillion dollar Federal Reserve Note, would that destroy the value of paper?
Angelo (0cf0e8) — 4/24/2020 @ 10:55 amKevin M (ab1c11) — 4/24/2020 @ 7:49 am
On the contrary I understand the scam, by deceptively tying it to something of value but not really is the scam. Why bring up platinum, or unicorn tears if one isn’t going to actually bind bind the new money to things of value. No one is deceived by paper money, we know its based on faith and reputation not the value of paper,especially since it isn’t advertised that way. This is predicatively designed to make people believe its based on precious metal like it was on gold and silver in yesteryear. I happen to enjou number and data puzzles so I worked it out. I don’t apologize for offending you
The federal budget deficit will be nearly $4 trillion in 2020, the C.B.O. says.
The Congressional Budget Office said Friday that it expected the federal budget deficit to hit $3.7 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year, which would be its largest size as a share of the economy since World War II.
In a new round of forecasts that officials cautioned were highly uncertain amid the coronavirus pandemic, the budget office said it expected the economy to shrink by 5.6 percent over the course of this year, ending 2020 with an unemployment rate of nearly 12 percent.
The budget office said it expected a historic drop in economic activity to be recorded this spring, but that recovery will begin to set in as social distancing measures are relaxed but not eliminated at the end of June.
Still, it forecasted a slow climb back from the damage the virus caused the economy and the federal budget. It projected growth of 2.8 percent in 2021 — which would be nowhere close to the sharp rebound that some Trump administration officials have said they expect — and a budget deficit of more than $2.1 trillion for the 2021 fiscal year.
RipMurdock (e81e20) — 4/24/2020 @ 11:13 am>>>>>>
The federal budget deficit will be nearly $4 trillion in 2020, the C.B.O. says.
I expected higher. Nothing in, lots out. This is what happens when the government is the “insurer of last resort.”
Somewhat related: Insurance companies are refusing to pay off on “business interruption” policies. Why? Because they exclude most widespread events. like pandemics, since they would be bankrupted if they happened. See “earthquake insurance” for an example of that.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/24/2020 @ 11:35 amSo, four coins then.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/24/2020 @ 11:35 amA hard rain is about to fall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12rUOLtbQDk
That’s Bob Dylan at his best, and he was a visionary, a prophet, deserving of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Suddenly I turned around and she was standing there
With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair
She walked up to me so gracefully, took my crown of thorns
Come in, she said, I’ll give you shelter from the storm
If you think federal government spending is out of control, and it is, to the tune of trillions in deficits, just take a look as state pension funds.
https://reason.com/2020/04/24/the-covid-19-economic-collapse-is-decimating-state-pension-systems/
Yeah, that’s going to hurt, a lot. I’m expecting many foreclosures, bank failings, businesses dying in the next few months. No sport events, no concerts, no festive events, no profitable large social gatherings of any kind. Yeah, it totally sucks, this novel coronavirus.
We are heading toward a deep recession, if not a global depression. There is no two ways of looking at this. We are in a debt-spiral, and there’s nothing to do more than that.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 4/24/2020 @ 11:41 amThe Los Angeles Police and Fire Pension Fund has 14 retirees with annual pensions (not counting benefits) over $1 million, and 33 more over $800K per year.
Until this abuse is stopped, they can go broke for all I care. This doesn’t happen without a wink and a nod.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 4/24/2020 @ 11:55 amFrosty (#43) —
Georgia is actually a lot like New York in one respect: It has a very bad outbreak in SW Georgia, and a moderately bad one here in ATL. But much of the state is in decent shape. Kemp has imposed a one size fits all solution. Localities can’t prescribe anything stricter. And the guy running the tatoo parlor is going to be denied unemployment benefits if he refuses to reopen, so he’s stuck making an ugly choice.
Appalled (1a17de) — 4/24/2020 @ 11:56 amAppalled (1a17de) — 4/24/2020 @ 11:56 am
I’m assuming you mean the guy working at the parlor for the guy running it. Presumably if you’re running the store you can decide the hours, etc. A version of this applies to a lot of job choices though. I’m not a fireman and the risk/reward is a factor in that. Things change and people need to adapt.
If the SW GA outbreak you’re referring too was the funeral I don’t think that is justification to lockdown the entire state.
frosty (f27e97) — 4/24/2020 @ 8:19 pm