mostlysignssomeportents:

Remember when the stimulus was first proposed, and there was a lot of concern that the GOP would us it as an excuse to put billions more into the pockets of, you know, billionaires?

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/27/just-asking-questions/#stimulus-scam

You’ll never guess what happened next.

Unsurprisingly, Mitch McConnell’s version of the CARES Act included swingeing tax-breaks for the richest people in America, eliminating the Tax Scam’s modest limits to how much individuals earning $250K or more could claim.

https://www.republicanleader.senate.gov/newsroom/research/the-cares-act-major-coronavirus-relief-for-american-workers-families-and-small-businesses

All told, the Joint Committee on Taxation calculated that this change will cost $195B over ten years: more, even, than the US is showering on the airlines who so unwisely incinerated their cash reserves in an orgy of stock-buybacks, leaving them to beg for corporate welfare.

It’s hard to overstate much much money this will give to the richest people in America. EIGHTY PERCENT of the 195 BILLION DOLLARS will go to 43,000 people.

These are literally the richest people in the country.

As Matt Taibbi explains so masterfully, this is a trickle-down bailout, with seemingly unlimited budgets to lift asset prices, but a mere $1200 to help low-waged workers survive for ten weeks (Treasury Secretary Mnuchin calls this a “liquidity bridge”).

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-trickle-up-bailout

The Fed is stepping in with billions for  junk bonds issued by “fallen angel” companies whose credit ratings have fallen through the floor. They’re buying from banks like Citibank, who buy bonds them at steep discounts, then sell them at full face value to Uncle Sucker.

Image:
Rich Brooks (modified)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/therichbrooks/4040177580

CC BY
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/