I Received a Stimulus Check from the Government.
What Should I Do with that Money?
Part Two.
Hi, welcome to today's Little Lesson.
Thank you so much for joining me.
On our last Little Lesson, we began to address something that's on the minds of many Americans
recently, and perhaps the citizens of other countries who have kind of followed suit with
what's happening in the United States at this particular time in history, this is early
May of 2020 and most American taxpayers are receiving a stimulus check in the mail or
by check or direct deposit into their bank accounts.
And my wife and I received $2400.
Being a husband and wife without any dependent children.
So if we've had children, we would've gotten $500 per child.
Okay?
And that's going to everybody.
Where that money came from?
People say, "Well, the government sent it."
Okay, that's true.
The government sent it, as we discussed in our last Little Lesson, the government doesn't
have any money unless it taxes people.
That's what the government, all governments get all their money in taxes.
Now some governments like for example, in China, they're getting income from businesses
because the government owns so much of the business enterprises or joint ventures they
have with citizens.
So it's a little different in those places.
But nevertheless, in countries like the United States, governments get all their money from
taxes.
And so the money that we all just got had to come from taxpayers.
And when you say, "Well, I'm a taxpayer, so nothing wrong with that."
Okay, that would be correct if it was that simple, but it's just not quite that simple.
And we all know that on one level, the whole idea of a progressive tax structure contains
a degree of whether it's debate, I should say on whether even that's fair.
Okay?
Because in a progressive tax system, people who make less pay a smaller percentage of
their income to the government in taxes and people who make more pay a larger percentage
of their income in taxes.
And so those of us who aren't in the wealthy classes, we benefit a great deal from the
taxes that are paid by the welfare individuals.
They're taking a greater share of the overall tax burden in this country.
Our government's going to spend $4 trillion at least.
I think this year might be more like six trillion with the stimulus money that's all gone out
there.. the government has to come up with the money by taxing taxpayers and they actually
don't get enough from the taxpayer.
So the United States government borrows a huge percentage of their budget.
I think last year before this whole stimulus thing, the budget was four and something like
800 billion of that was borrowed money.
And of course, who's on the hook for that?
Well, taxpayers.
If you're an American taxpayer, about 1/10th of what you pay in taxes goes just to pay
the interest on the loans that the government has taken out to provide its services to you.
Okay?
And you're benefiting so you ought to be paying a portion of it.
That's fair.
All right.
So what about these stimulus checks?
Where'd that money come from?
It came from a government, but it comes ultimately from your fellow citizens.
And what's odd about it is it's not just the people who are living on your street or who
are alive right now.
It's people who are babies right now, because this debt is so huge that our grandchildren
will be the ones paying back the principle and the interest.
So that brings kind of a moral question, is it right to keep these stimulus checks when
it's actually money that has been borrowed from our grandchildren?
And I think most of us would agree that to take out a loan and you benefit from that
loan and then buy a car, buy a boat, buy a house, whatever.
And in the loan it says that your grandchildren are going to pay this back 20 years from now
or 30 or 40 years from now, that wouldn't be ethical.
But that's in essence what the government has just done on our behalf.
So some of us have had a little trouble taking that stimulus money.
Now I totally get it and that people who have lost their jobs, people that don't have any
savings, those people are in desperate situation and for them it's a little bit different.
They've got to feed their families and so forth and so the stimulus check was a godsend
to them.
Folks like me, who didn't really need it.
It's a little different.
So as I wrestle with it, and I'm not going to give you a pat answer on this.
So you're entitled to your opinion and I'll respect you and hope you respect me for my
opinion, but I didn't really feel right about keeping it.
I actually have quite a few friends who are Amish.
And as a rule, at least this is what they tell me.
When they get their stimulus checks, they just throw them in the garbage can.
And it's based upon their, their conviction that they should be taking care of their own
and they don't need help from the government.
Not even considering the fact that the money is being borrowed from their children and
their grandchildren, who will be the ones who have to pay it back.
Just that we're self-sufficient, we can take care of our own.
So we're not going to take money from the government.
That's their conviction.
And I can actually argue that there's some flaw in that, a little bit of flaw and that
conviction, but regardless, what about for you?
Well, I money from the government and it was a direct deposit because that's how I have
gotten tax refunds in the past.
And again, there's nothing wrong with the tax refund.
You're just paying your fair share of taxes.
And if you've overpaid, they're giving you back what you overpaid.
So that's your money.
There's nothing wrong with taking a tax refund.
And every year I get my tax refund by direct deposit.
So they sent me my stimulus money by deposit.
It wasn't in a form of a check that I could rip up.
I suppose I can investigate how to send a check to the government, send it back for
$2400, but I don't know how to do that.
That's beyond my pay grade.
Okay.
Anyway, so I just decided I'm going to try to help people.
This is a windfall for me.
I wasn't expecting.
Yeah, I know my grandkids are going to pay it back.
I don't know what I can do about that because I have the money.
I can't give it back.
So I gave the money to charity and I gave him money to my favorite charity Heaven's
Family because I know what we're doing and helping the least of these around the world.
And they say, "Well, actually you're giving money to yourself then because you get paid
by Heaven's Family."
Actually I don't.
I have friends who personally support me and so I don't have to.
When people donate to Heaven's family to help the least of these, none of that money gets
back to me in the form of my salary.
Because I have a personal support group that takes care of me.
And that's a blessing.
I'm so blessed.
We're all so blessed in so many ways so if we just start thinking about it, okay.
So I actually recommended to our constituents that if they didn't need the stimulus money
and it wasn't in the form of a check that they could just tear up and they could prayerfully
consider donating it to charity.
And of course, Heaven's Family is one of the many great charities that are out there and
do as the Lord leads.
But I'm not, of course setting any rules.
I have no right to do that.
Right?
Of course not.
And I find no fault with anybody who needed their stimulus check and utilized it to take
care of themselves and their families.
And isn't it a blessing that our government is concerned?
It's a blessing.
Both Democrats and Republicans are both concerned.
And we all know that our system isn't perfect.
But let me tell ya, it's a whole lot better than what has existed in many, many countries
around the world and pass and exist in many countries around the world today.
Okay.
So thank God for those blessings.
Okay.
Well, there's much more I can say on this subject, but I think I'll just stop there
because of recent I'll be opening cans of worms and it's hard to get those worms back
in those cans.
Oh boy.
All right.
Check out heavensfamily.org.
Thanks for joining me.
God bless you.