QUARANTINE LIFE: STIMULUS

Usually, there’s no “only” preceding six hundred dollars, considering what six hundred dollars can buy. The “only” comes into play when ten thousand, eight hundred dollars is what so many thought they would have been working with by now.

After nine months, our well-fed, well-dressed, good health insurance-having, vaccine-getting, senators and representatives are floating six hundred dollars and calling it a "stimulus". Oh, it's stimulating alright...stimulating constituents to ask what planet politicians are on, and if they are in denial that we've been in the throes of a pandemic. 

I wonder how any of them would be able to live on what they're planning to toss to the American people. It’s a slap in the face and a testament to how cold and out of touch many leaders are.

Let's see. Six hundred dollars.

That was my rent for a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment in SE Washington DC in 1986. Thirty four years ago...Utilities weren't included. 

Six hundred dollars. Is that the magic amount that wealthy people think will silence the cries of the poor?

Six hundred dollars. 

That's seventy-eight dollars less than it cost to fix the AC this summer. I thought I could tough it out by using my late grandmother’s habit of putting fans in the windows, but who was I fooling? The masked techs from Belair Engineering were only the second and third human beings I hesitantly allowed to enter my home after the lock down, when they showed up one 90+ degree summer day. (The first had been the young, gloved, but unmasked Verizon guy, who was promptly gifted a mask.) 

Six hundred dollars. That's $193.55 more than my next scheduled car insurance premium payment.

Six hundred dollars is one third of what it cost to fix my car, this past spring, when it conked out from non-use. When the governor shut down the state, that's just what the heck I did, too—shut down. I forgot, however, that my car needed to be started every once in a while. My neglected car timed it's stubborn hissy fit to commence just as the stimulus check arrived.

Six hundred dollars. Added to the twelve hundred sent back in April (that went straight to my mechanic), that's eighteen hundred dollars. One hundred-fifty dollars a month. That would cover what? A cell phone bill? Five dollars a day. That’s what? A tall latte? A McDonald's dollar menu meal? Work an eight hour day, and that comes out to about 62 cents an hour. 

Think about it. In 1949, the minimum wage increased from 40 cents to 75 cents an hour. Minimum wage in 1955 was a dollar an hour. We, inhabitants of the often touted “richest country in the world” are apparently traveling backward with all deliberate speed. The world is discovering that their envy of the US was grossly unfounded. The pity for America blankets social media every day. The democracy, civil and human rights we have promoted, sold and enforced around the world is apparently good for everyone except us.

I suppose you could think of all the ways you could earmark, divide, and spend a stimulus check of any amount. After all, something is still better than nothing. You wouldn’t do anything frivolous, I imagine. You'd buy groceries; pay a utility bill or two; fill up your tank. Hey! Maybe you'd buy Lysol! Yep. The elusive, price-gouged Lysol would be a smart investment. It would also be a perfectly acceptable, enthusiastically received Christmas present. Buying it these days is a splurge that will show just how much you care.

What ya'll buying? I don't know about you, but I haven't had a need to buy clothes or shoes this year; there was no need to dry clean anything, no visiting a salon of any kind, no movies, concerts, or restaurants, and I've only been to the gas station twice. (Does gasoline evaporate?)

Yes. I'm one of those who’s been sure 'nough quarantining since March. Instacart, DoorDash, and Amazon have not failed to deliver. I'm happy to say I've actually sold several paintings. Sadly, every singing engagement this year that wasn't virtual, was cancelled--two that would have provided income were back in April. One that I thought would provide income, didn’t.  

So many creatives, gig workers, self employed, 1099ers are really tightening belts and dipping into savings. But for people whose rainy day stashes are dwindling or gone; for people who have children; who were already living paycheck to paycheck; who've been laid off; whose bills have been piling up since the lock down was imposed, six hundred dollars is a gut punch that won't even begin to cover nine months of overdue bills.  

Someone in the United States Congress thinks that six hundred dollars is a sufficient amount to finally send to Americans who have been experiencing everything from food insecurity to sickness, to loss of loved ones, homes, and jobs. Someone thinks eighteen hundred dollars is enough to exist on for a year in a country where one cannot rent an apartment for six hundred dollars a month in most states. Why the inexcusable foot dragging by our leaders? Why is there no urgency to help? Why do leaders seem to be so eager to help fund everything and everyone except the people right here in America who need help the most? The people they took an oath to represent? I’m beginning to think they simply don’t want to.

When people are tasked to decide what others need, I think they should have some familiarity; some point of reference; some information to go on. They should also have integrity and empathy. Money and greed have got to get out of politics! It's hard not to conclude that the poor, and working class families mean nothing to wealthy politicians. The newly needy--people who never dreamed they'd be idling in long lines waiting for food-- don’t matter either.

I'm somewhere between baffled, disgusted, and concluding that lawmakers just don't care, are stingy, or simply don't know any better. How do leaders know and witness the degree of suffering that is taking place all across the land, have the wherewithal to relieve it, and choose not to; for months? What's there to debate? Why pledge to do less than is actually required and call it progress?

Are they heartless, evil, or can they simply not relate to their constituents any more? What or who is precluding them from simply acting in the best interest of Americans? How do people with so little humanity get voted into office in the first place? Is it that some people are so determined to keep others oppressed that they vote against their own interests? Do they forget when decisions are made, the gap between them and their leaders will show itself? Whether red or blue, working class people of every ilk are all rowing in the same boat; all expressing shock over the proposed six hundred dollars. Perhaps it’s time for people to wake up and unite; take candidates and elections more seriously. We’re all being played and pitted against each other by people for whom six hundred dollars is mere chump change.

A scene from an episode of “Roseanne” hits differently today. So many citizens are not okay-- not because they’re not working hard; not because help isn’t available, but because leaders are enjoying playing games, and watching people jump through hoops. Why are they failing to provide adequate relief? Why are they breaking their deal with, and failing their constituents?

Because they can.