- What's going on, y'all?
Welcome back to the channel Wealth Hacker Labs.
I am your gracious host, Jeff Rose.
It is Friday, T.G.I.F.
I wanted to end the week not just with an update
on the economic stimulus checks, but also,
what is going on with the federal unemployment benefit?
This is the benefit that actually is going
to affect so many more people,
and these benefits are set to expire under the CARES Act,
which was the first stimulus package.
And these are set to expire July 31st.
But before we get to that, let's actually jump over
to the computer, and I'm actually gonna share
a article that I just published on Forbes.
Was it today, or just the other day?
But basically, this is just talking.
Now this is all my opinion, my thoughts on this,
but I'll let you read the headline
so you can see where I'm at with my thoughts on,
is there going to be another stimulus check?
And let me just go ahead and highlight there.
But basically just saying, a second stimulus check,
Congress has no choice but to pass another bill.
So, why is this is?
I mean, well, I mean, one, (laughs)
things really haven't improved that much.
We are seeing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases,
we're seeing states that were once reopened
that were on to phase, I'm not sure how every state works,
but out here in Tennessee, we were on phase three,
and we just went back to phase two,
with restaurants and bars were back to phase one.
So like, many states that were, you know, reopening,
Florida being one of those, that they just basically
went back to being shut down.
And that's just kinda where we're at,
and really in this article,
what I'm addressing is looking at, you know,
what has been going on with COVID-19?
Which obviously has a direct correlation
to, you know, what's going on with the economy,
what's going on with jobs.
And if we look back, you know, at the early peak
in April, you know, we had about 40,000 or so a day
that we were looking at.
And then new infections dropped to 20,000
in May and early June, and then, now, I mean,
I should make this a little bit bigger so you can see
the chart here, but you can easily see the numbers,
how it is spiking up.
I mean, we're seeing the numbers here, right there, whoosh!
Whoosh, whoosh!
There it is, like that's just seeing the big increase
on what's going on, and as long as this continues
to escalate, as long as these continue to soar
and hit these record numbers, it just shuts everything down.
I mean, right now, you know, for those that were getting
more comfortable going out to eat,
those that were getting more comfortable going to bars,
I've just talked to so many people now.
I know for me personally, like in the beginning stages
of this, I didn't know a lot of people that were getting
sick, you know, getting COVID-19.
And it seems like here in the last few weeks especially,
it just like, the numbers have been increasing,
but also like, I know more people personally
that are getting infected.
And we can talk about unemployment,
so looking at the unemployment numbers here.
Yes, we've seen a steady decline in the new people
that are, you know, applying for unemployment,
but, keep in mind that there's only so many people
that have, not many more can actually apply for unemployment
because everybody already has.
But if you look, as of July 9th,
we have 1.31 million new claims for unemployment
as of July 9th, and though the unemployment rate has fallen
back to the peak of 14.7% in April,
it remains high at 12.4%.
So we're still seeing insanely high numbers.
So how's this affecting Americans?
How is it affecting their income, you know, how they're
just making it day-to-day?
And this was a survey that was done by Ascent,
and then just released some very alarming figures.
But just look at, check out some of these numbers here.
Once again, I'll make this a little bit bigger
so you can see.
The key findings here, so most Americans experienced
an income loss in March right when the pandemic hit home.
Yes, we get that.
42.8% of Americans who lost income lost between 10%-49%
of their earnings, almost half of people that lost
some income, it was between 10% to half of their earnings.
And workers earning less than $15,000 a year
were most likely to lose all of their income,
compared to moderate and high earners.
And then lastly there, 64.9% of Americans had
to cut expenses due to income loss, while 26.2% took
out some type of loan.
And the only way that these people are making it work
is through taking out loans.
How much are Americans borrowing?
46% have borrowed from family or friends,
46% have taken out a personal loan,
32% have taken out a 401K loan,
12% have borrowed against their house, their mortgage.
I mean, you just go on and on,
and this is how people are making ends meet.
And so if the government doesn't do something,
and not saying that sending out the $1,200 stimulus check
is going to save everyone,
but looking at these unemployment benefits,
extending this some way somehow,
seems like the only logical step that they can make.
But what I think you're going to see happen,
is if they do extend the unemployment benefits,
so this is the $600 per week, $2,400 a month.
Check out this article, once again, I'll have a link
to all these in the description and show notes
that you can read at your own leisure.
But this was an article that I just read on Forbes,
talking about the next $600 federal unemployment benefit
will likely be smaller.
Well, why is that?
Like, where is that coming from?
So if you check this out,
so according to the research paper
by the National Bureau of Economic Research,
two-thirds of laid-off workers are eligible for benefits
that exceed their wages.
I wanna say that one more time.
Two-thirds of laid-off workers are eligible for benefits
that exceed their wages.
So going back to, and I've shared this in previous videos,
one of the biggest concerns that, you know,
the government has, is if they're going to extend
these benefits, these unemployment benefits,
there still has to be some incentive for people
to go back to work.
Well, if you're one of these, and I think it says
about 20% of workers.
It says 20% of workers, actually their benefits,
their unemployment benefits are twice as much
as their salary.
Well, that just doesn't make sense,
like, if you were making this,
and now you're making twice as much as that,
then of course you're, yeah, you want unemployment.
You want that to continue.
So they have to look at this and try to figure out,
okay, what, if we're going to do some sort
of unemployment benefit that's going to continue,
then how are we gonna look at the wages,
how much they get based off of their salaries,
I mean, there has to be more to figure out.
And obviously I feel like the initial HEROES Act,
I mean, this was something like, man, we just gotta
get this out the door, we gotta get everything signed,
we gotta start helping the people.
And now that we've had some time to digest and see
how things are panning out, even though we're going back
into another shutdown, at least we have
a better understanding of how the economy is doing,
how companies are coping,
and the next steps that people have to take to,
just to deal with this pandemic, especially if it's gonna
be with us for an extended period of time.
As far as any updates on the actual stimulus check,
the only news that I have to share,
this was actually provided
by Steve Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary.
I have no idea why my screen looks like that.
But he had an interview that he did with the CNBC or Fox?
No, with CNBC, and he went on to say,
he wouldn't provide any specific details
of the actual stimulus check, the amount,
the timeline, et cetera, et cetera,
but this is what he did say.
"We do support another round of economic impact payments.
"We're discussing the criteria with the Senate,
"and had a productive talk with Senate Majority Leader
"Mitch McConnell."
He also went on to say, you know,
"We will work on a bipartisan basis,"
I'm actually not gonna read that,
'cause it's just all political mumbo jumbo.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Either way, once again,
you're just having somebody else coming up to the forefront
and saying that, yes, you know, we are talking about
another stimulus package.
It is, obviously it's going to happen,
I mean, Trump has already said that.
But you're just hearing more chatter about it,
and yes, it's getting serious, obviously, you know,
something's going to happen.
But I'm really curious to see how this is going to pan out,
especially with the unemployment.
'Cause I think this is, the more people I talk to,
this is the benefit that's helping people stay afloat.
And I'm curious to hear from you,
which one, if you had to choose either one,
would you rather have the one-time $1,200 stimulus check,
or would you want an increased
or an extended unemployment insurance benefit?
And would you want that if it was less than the $600
a week that you might be getting now?
Which one would you feel would be more helpful
in your situation?
And I know that many of you, many people in the comments
have shared that they've applied for unemployment,
and they've gone through all this rigmarole,
tried to get their benefit,
and a benefit that they should qualify for based off of
the standards and the criteria to get his benefit,
and they still haven't got it.
Like, how frustrating.
Like, we though waiting on that one $1.200 check
was frustrating.
Imagine waiting on $600 a week, $2,400 a month,
and it's been months now, and you've yet to receive a check.
Like, I can't even imagine what you are doing right now
to make ends meet.
My heart and prayers go out to you all that are struggling.
But let me know in the comments below,
which one would you prefer?
The one-time check, or extending the unemployment benefit
insurance?
Curious to hear your comments.
As always, hope you're having, just a great week,
making the best of what you can,
be grateful, hug your loved ones.
If you've got sun, it's sunny where I'm at right now,
I'm grateful for all that.
And yeah, really appreciate you.
All right, y'all.
This is Jeff Rose reminding you that it's your money,
it's your life, and only you can make it awesome.
'Til next time, peace.