During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, then-President Donald Trump sent out two stimulus checks.
Now that President-elect Trump is on his way back to the White House, some social media posts are claiming that he plans to send out more stimulus checks after being sworn in for his second term. But according to CBS News reporter Aimee Picchi, some “experts” say the “likelihood” of that happening is “extremely thin.”
Picchi reports, “When the COVID-19 health emergency shuttered the economy in 2020, millions of Americans lost their jobs, sending the jobless rate to almost 15 percent and causing financial hardship for many. As a result, Trump signed two bills that sent stimulus checks to eligible households, while President Biden authorized a third. Even though many Americans feel the economy is faring badly, with some pointing to the impact of the pandemic’s high inflation, the U.S. isn’t anywhere close to the situation of the early 2020s, economists say.
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Jacob Channel, senior economist at Lending Tree, sees no need for stimulus payments at this point.
Channel told CBS News, “Stimulus checks typically only happen when the economy is in really bad shape and consumers need a push to start spending money again. That’s not really the case in the present.”
In fact, the United States has had low unemployment rates under President Joe Biden, although many voters were resentful over inflation when they went to the polls this year.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. unemployment was only 4.1 percent in October.
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Channel told CBS News, “Despite some pain points and general ‘bad vibes’ expressed by some people, the economy is currently in remarkably good shape and consumer spending is relatively strong,”
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Read CBS News’ full report at this link.
