President Joe Biden proposed a 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus and the House passed it last week on March 6th. This creates many positive and negative impacts on our economy and the country as a whole. What does A-West think of this and how might this impact help schools reopen as well as provide funding for Coronavirus testing and vaccine distribution

This will not be good for the national debt but may help stabilize the people that live in our society. The more money they have the more likely they will spend to reboot our economy. 

Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary says, “I think there’s a prospect with an all-out effort on vaccination and reopening schools that we can really get the labor market back on track this year or next year to avoid what we had after the financial crisis.”

America and the Biden administration will hopefully learn from the previous mistakes during the start of this pandemic so when coronavirus is over, society will be in a much better place both mentally and physically.

Kaylyn Courtney, a sophomore at A-West says, “While I won’t necessarily be directly impacted right now, I likely will be soon when I start a job this summer.  Not only will taxes likely be higher, but an increase in the minimum wage could also make it much harder for me to find a job since many businesses couldn’t afford to hire me.”

Courtney disagrees with this stimulus because she thinks it will make the poor get poorer and the rich, richer. From her viewpoint, she thinks that this stimulus might make things more challenging.

Courtney’s solution is, “I think we should continue what we’re doing with vaccinating everyone who is willing and then gradually phasing back into normal life.  As long as we protect at-risk populations first I think it will be beneficial to return to normal to improve people’s mental and physical health.” 

Courtney cares more about the coronavirus than corporate money although our country has differing views.

Research from NBC suggests that this stimulus will put money in the pockets of desperate Americans which should, in turn, help the economy.

CNBC reporter Jacob Pramuk states, “The legislation includes direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans, a $300 weekly boost to jobless benefits into September, and an expansion of the child tax credit for one year.”  

This evidence shows that people will be getting money and some of this money is also reportedly going to help fight covid.  

According to the Washington Post, Americans with income below a certain amount; $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples are eligible to get the stimulus. So the average American qualifies.  Lastly, the remaining amounts of the bill will serve as an anti-poverty program, going to low-income citizens.

This enormous bill has proven to have many pros and cons and it will surely impact people, even students at A-West. No matter if you agree with this decision or not, some people may benefit from this stimulus while others may not. It is up to people’s own conscience to decide whether this will be good or not.