How do people manage? How do DUers manage?

[question everything]

Sure, it is too early and risky to open businesses but what are people supposed to do? How can many continue to stay home? How long can the stay at home work last? What if someone manages orders but no one orders?

What about the ones whose jobs are gone?

Both of us are retired, live on Social Security benefits - so far - and drawing from IRA accounts as needed. I honestly don't know how we would have managed had we were still working, work that included lab research. A small business owner who would be heard complaining that when he signs checks for the employees he was thinking of them taking food from his children. (This is why I prefer a corporation..)

And we hardly spend anything. A weekly visit to the grocery store, utilities, income and property taxes.. So far, fingers crossed, no major expenses.

How long can the stimulus checks last? Even if everyone would get $1,000 a month, would this be adequate?

Most of the our stimulus check has gone to political and charity donations. Checks, through the postal service. Whatever I can help.

Yes, many protest for the sake of protesting; they don't like "government" telling them what to do. But I think that many just need their jobs, hoping that the jobs will still be there.

What do you say?

[Laelth]

1. You're right.

My daughter just wants her job back. Her job isn’t there any more, and she has no clue what to do once the stimulus money runs out.

It is a frightening time for a lot of people.

-Laelth

[Demsrule86]

6. I she eligible for unemployment?

[Laelth]

7. She was turned down initially.

Now, it appears that she will get some benefits, but the money hasn’t come in yet. No clue what to do when unemployment runs out. It’s highly unlikely that her job is coming back.

-Laelth

[applegrove]

2. I thought you said "How do you peel a mango?"because i was just watching martha stewart cook somethi

I manage by trying to find the humour in it all. LOL When you can, laugh at yourself.

[photokath]

3. I don't know...

If, as they say, many Americans can't come up with $400 dollars extra I don't know how they are managing. My guess is that many have other things they can do for money (under the table type things) I know someone who is making arty unique masks, sells them online and is doing okay She has several jobs part time like that so is able to get by.
We are retired like you and our only income is Social Security and whatever we take from our limited IRA also. We garden and make bread and don't have expensive tastes for things. We do have some trips we would like to take but with the virus on the loose we won't be doing that for awhile.
I don't know what we would do otherwise and I don't know what's going to happen if everything has to stay closed much longer. I have a feeling there will be more civil unrest and the "good old boys" will rattle their sabers and march around. Hopefully it won't be much more than that.

[Demsrule86]

5. If you are eligible for unemployment you get an additional $600.00 weekly.

[MichMan]

10. Until unemployment eligibility runs out

The $600 additional payments end July 31

[Demsrule86]

4. Even if you open business, people won't show up...I am not risking my life to go to movies,

restaurants, beaches,parks or plays...and I can't afford a car or the new gas stove I covet.

[Initech]

15. Yeah if anything that's going to hurt businesses more than it's going to help them.

Opening up to fewer customers and more restrictions means that they would be more likely to lose money every day more than if they stayed closed.

In 1918, the places that were more vigilant about keeping restrictions in place were more likely to rebound once the restrictions were lifted tan if they didn't.

[question everything]

23. Fewer people in 1918 and we were still an agrarian society

I don't think that we had factories or food processing plants where many were close to each other.

No wonder it started at a military base and came back with the returning soldiers at the end of WWI.

[Igel]

8. I work from home.

If there's 20% unemployment there's 80% employment. Both of us are still employed.

Surveys have borne out the same kind of conclusion. As of a week or two ago, most people who weren't reporting a loss in income to pollsters. There's a strong divide here, at the intersection of income and education and the PPP--remember, a lot of money went to keep people on the payroll, even if there's not much for them to do.

For those, the stimulus is just that--stimulus. Not supplemental unemployment, which is how it's been reinterpreted. For that, there's the actual supplemental unemployment that's good until the end of July, additional sick leave for COVID sufferers, expanded benefits for gig workers/self-employed, and extended unemployment benefits when the state benefits run out.

[cyclonefence]

9. We're in a situation similar to yours, and we feel fortunate

but our son, who works in retail sales, is suffering from the loss of his commission checks, which make up the bulk of his income. He is the best salesman in the office and the only one not furloughed--they don't want to lose him--so he continues to get benefits (thank god) but can't afford rent plus car payment. We've been thrifty and can help him out for now, but if things continue as I fear they will, eventually he's going to be in the shitter, and we won't have anything left for our own emergencies.

Our daughter lives in a group home, supported by tax money, and we are terrified for her. We would, of course, move her back in with us, but we aren't going to live forever, especially if our daughter moves back home. We've made large donations to the agency that runs her home, but, again, that well will eventually run dry, and then what?

[jmg257]

11. UI, credit card, and savings. 401k as last resort.

No such thing as stimulus here. Hopefully idiots in congress will change that.

[bigtree]

12. remember, most of those businesses closed or faltered without any order from the govt. at all

...because customers were afraid to frequent their establishments because of the risk of infection.

Ordering everyone back to work isn't going to magically reverse all of that.

This isn't a question for us, it's a question for govt. leaders who refuse to provide us with a portion of what we've already paid in taxes to tide us over until there's confidence in the public again to resume business as usual. They've also dragged their feet on aid to states which could go further in helping folks out of work get the resources they need to survive.

It's simply not the fault of scared people that someone isn't working and earning right now, no matter how much some govt. leaders and others want to place that responsibility with the public. Government simply needs to step up. Until they do, masses of people will suffer from the financial distress.

[question everything]

17. Agree, but pointing fingers is not going to help the ones who are hungry

who may face eviction, who cannot get medical care because everything is channeled to the virus.

I think that if a business thinks that opening will generate revenue and restore paychecks, and if employees are willing to go back - all while keeping social distancing - well, I will not point a finger at them and shame them.

We already hear that many jobs are gone forever. Also, for decades our economy has moved from agricultural and then manufacturing to a service one. It took awhile for the economy to come back after 2009 because most kept their money, saving it, instead of buying.

Many of us remember the recession of 1992, when Bush Sr. went to the story to purchase a pair of socks. To encourage us to spend.

I really don't have the answer but whenever I watch people hungry, worrying about next day I feel despair.

[Steelrolled]

21. I think you have a very healthy view

about businesses reopening, and one I agree with.

I am not so pessimistic about the future of the economy. The doomsayers get the headlines, and I give them little attention. Even trained economists have a long history of frequent getting it wrong, and an equally long history of making excuse for their bad predictions . The phrase "many jobs are gone forever" is of course true, and has been true for millennia. But how many of today's jobs existed 20 years ago? Quite a few did not (including mine).

[BigmanPigman]

25. Ditto!

[MissMillie]

13. I think of all the hard-working people that have been treated so badly for decades

with no health insurance, minimum wage jobs (sometimes more than one job because employers will keep people working part-time to avoid giving benefits)….

So many of them are now considered "essential."

And those that aren't "essential" turn out to be essential to the economy.

When consumer spending is such an enormous portion of your economy, you need to make sure people--a lot of people--have money to spend.

I wonder if the supply-side folks will ever rethink their strategy. If these events don't bring about a re-evaluation, I'm not sure anything will.

[bigtree]

14. have to imagine business would welcome putting money in the hands of those who will spend it now

...right back into the economy.

I'd be willing to bet McConnell is hearing from business leaders right now with that purpose in mind.

[SWBTATTReg]

18. It isn't the supply side that's the problem. It's the rampart greed on the supply side ...

that continues to keep prices high, limits supply to support the artificially maintained high prices, that keeps demand steady enough so the entire process needed to sustain that product won't go out of kilter and thus cause unplanned price spirals / disruptions in the supply chain / unneeded labor salary increases.

And all of these combined activities pretty well guarantee a sizeable profit, taxed at the lowest tax rate(s) in history (I'm not 100% sure in history rates are at their lowest, I'm suspecting that they are). Why did rump take so long to get contracts out for the personal protection masks, etc.? So his cronies could score big on the resultant contracts. To these people GREED is the primary motivator, and nothing else. That's what wrong w/ our predatory system of capitalism, in that capitalism is making all of the rules w/ no input from anyone else.

What did we expect w/ a broken, so called $billionaire in office? I bet he is grifting 10% or some amount off of every single government contract in some manner. Why do you think Kushner and family are so closely involved? Because of massive fraud being committed at all levels of the federal government that rump can get away w/.

By the way, a well known business tycoon agreed w/ your sentiment in that 'you need to make sure people--a lot of people--have money to spend. Henry Ford, in order that his workers could afford to buy his cars gave his workers more money than others did, his cred was exactly what you said, workers can't buy anything if you don't pay them enough.

[BillyBobBrilliant]

16. I am fortunate (for the first time in almost 60 years)

that I work in an essential position for the state (Texas) as a Engineering Designer within the Facilities Management Department of a major Medical Education, Research and Treatment Complex. I go to work 5 days/week, am screened daily and wear a mask, along with other provisions. I also have wonderful medical insurance (which I had none of for decades).

I am not bragging, just fortunate...Pretty much every other previous recession left me laid-off, or otherwise devastated.

I truly understand what other people are going through, and empathize completely. There was a time that my food budget was $60/month, with no assistance available.

Even though that was decades ago, I never got into the habit of socializing, or anything extravagant, like eating out a lot since then -- so this 'shelter-at-home' and 'social distancing' is not much of a change.

Seems like the toughest times arise just past the midpoint of the term of a Republican president, and extend until the next Democratic president can dig us out.

This will be my 13th presidential election, my first vote was for George McGovern; and due to my age, and health, probably, my last will go to the Democratic Party nominee this year.

[JCMach1]

19. The salon lady in Dallas received 18k in help and

She was still whining. She also applied for UI.

Rent, mortgage, utility freeze + enhanced UI and SNAP are needed more than another stimulus for everyone.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

20. Well, I consider myself lucky

in that I was already a work from home employee. What the hardest thing has been for me is trying to manage my kids being at home at the same time I am trying to work and trying to get them to do some home school stuff at the same time. It is simply ridiculous. My elementary school aged kid isn't learning much of anything right now. He needs to be in school. The other aspect of this that is difficult is all the businesses being closed and the lack of toilet paper and such. Everyone is having that problem though.

[Marrah_Goodman]

22. I think life as we know it has changed for many of us long term

I think you will see many people going back out like normal once it opens up, if they are low risk. People at higher risk will be staying away from crowds.

I do think we will see masks being required in some of the hardest hit places for a long time.

Stimulus checks will help in the short term to keep businesses afloat as people have money to spend.

The unemployment needs to stay as is for longer then 4 months or whatever the timeline is, for people whose jobs may be impacted permanently.

I think many jobs that can be done from home will switch to that model for good.

I also think that if we can flip the senate and get Biden in the WH then we will see a real push for medicare for all after this mess.

[denbot]

24. My wife is retired and I'm a long distance trucker.

I now make about 95+% of what I eat onboard with a microwave and toaster oven. Also since I have to use truck stop bathrooms, I both don a mask and glove up before going in, and take no devices in so I don’t spend a second more than necessary.

Everything that comes in the truck is sprayed with alcohol, and wiped down before consumption, or storage. I take every exit from my rig as a possible threat. I don’t want to see if I have that lucky combo of genes that offer asymptomatic pass from this killer, because I could end up infecting my family on my now almost nonexistent home trips (I’ve only been home once since January)

I would like to stay home, and we could make my early retirement work, but that would further hurt my eventual Social Security benefits. 1,000 a month would be better than nothing, but would guarantee we’d be at subsistence level budgeting.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

26. If handled properly, people would be going back to work now.

The 'protestors' have made it worse, postponing the time when it will be safe for people to return to work and buying. The incompetence of the WH and GOP has made it worse, increasing the death toll, grief, time needed for restrictions, time needed for ramping up PPE production to help get people back to work, and increasing the time it will take to recover.

[MyMission]

27. I went back to work this week

I work part-time in a 90 year old family run store, for over 10 years now. 1/2 of our customers are local, 1/2 are tourists.

Bosses sent us (3 employees) on paid vacation the week before governor Cooper shut the state down. Meanwhile, spring merchandise was due to arrive in March and April. They went in periodically to accept deliveries of hats, socks, t-shirts, shoes, sandals, water bottles, bandanas, etc.

When the state put out their reopening plan, I offered to come in, actually lobbied for it, to help put away and change merchandise on display. My coworkers are older, waiting on coming back. I'm under 60, the youngster, and felt safe to go back and work. Also felt guilty that they were paying me, I need to earn my salary.

We've had a handful of customers daily, some spending over $100, or trying to support local business.

One customer told me she started to work at local grocery store last month after the dojo she worked at closed. She said she's been making overtime, and more than she made in old job.

I don't think we'll be overrun by customers immediately, but may need to monitor number in store as things pick up.

I'm glad to be back to work, and seeing a few people but not lots of them.

[LiberalArkie]

28. If good masks were available everywhere, I believe things would open pretty quickly and be swamped