Stimulus Checks

My wife and I have not worked since the COVID Pandemic Lockdown that started in the first quarter of  2020 and extended into the first quarter of 2021 with the likelihood that the lockdown will continue in some fashion in some States well until the 4th quarter...  However, the lockdown and the fact that we have not worked does not bother either one of us because WE ARE RETIRED and receiving Social Security Benefits whether we work or not, along with income from a Trust Fund set up years ago.  Our financial security is guaranteed until the day we both die however long that is from today...  but, we both know that it is bound to happen.

This new COVID RELIEF package soon to be passed by the HOUSE, will not help us at all in that we do not need the money and plan to save the money for a later use since we have NO DEBT to pay off.  Actually, my wife and I have been debt free for over 15 years and have only been retired for 5 years.  The fact that we cannot really go anywhere does not bother us either because we have plenty of activities outside our house to keep us entertained.  We do go to doctor's appointment, the grocery store, and have gone out to eat about a dozen times since the lockdown as restaurants in TN are for the most part OPEN even though social distancing is still maintained inside.

What we were HOPING FOR more so than Stimulus Checks was a substantial increase in Social Security and now that the Democrats are in power and like to spend money, perhaps that will happen sooner or later.  The other concept that we were HOPING FOR was to have MEDICARE cover more services than it currently is covering.  Our supplemental health insurance covers what Medicare does not, still there are more out-of-pocket expenses than we anticipated...  and it would be nice if the Democrats did something about that.

Minimum Wage does not do a thing for us, especially since we are not working and especially since we have worked all our career in a State that pays low wages anyway which has resulted in us being very careful how we spend our money.

However, increasing prices would bother us...  and, it would appear that the Biden Administration is putting scenarios into play that will increase prices rather than maintain stable prices as we have seen for the last several years.  Increasing prices contradicts the minimum wage increase and will actually put those workers in a financially worse situation than before even though they are earning more money.

Gasoline Prices have been increasing in our area and there are increases in prices at the grocery stores as well as at restaurants because they have to spend more money on cleaning tables.  Although, it will not slow down the people in this State who like to go out and eat.

Stimulus Checks

In 2020, when the COVID virus was finally detected in the USA, my wife and I cancelled all of our
vacation plans for a couple of reasons:

• we were in an older age bracket
• we had compromised immune systems

My wife and I had been retired for over 5 years and were living off of Social Security and a Trust Fund that would eventually end, putting us in a situation where we would have to start drawing down on our SAVINGS.  However, and based upon our lifestyle, we had plenty of money to continue living exactly as we wanted to live and had been living for the last 5 years.  Our needs were simple and we had no DEBT and we pretty much could do whatever we wanted to do...  as long as we could drive there in a car...  if air transportation was involved, it was a slightly different story, even with our Delta Frequent Flyer Point that we were receiving each month.

SO...

when the stimulus checks arrived...  the first one was $2,400 and the second one was $1,200 we simply put that money into our savings account as we did not need it.  We DID NOT SPEND that money to stimulate the economy and we did not use that money to pay for any vacation because we were not going anywhere anyway.

My wife and I both felt like OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOOLISHLY sent us money and while we had no problem accepting that money...  it was not needed.

NOW...

the LIBERAL DEMOCRATS want to spend more money so that our Federal Government can grow larger and larger...

In my 73 years of life, I have NEVER SEEN OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT manage anything well regardless of political party.  Governmental BUREAUCRACY simply MAKES EVERYTHING WORSE...   and, when people know that they are not going to be fired from employment, then their quality of work DECLINES proportionately with their attitude.