This is a public service announcement.
That junk-looking credit card solicitation, just might not be junk.
The latest round of stimulus checks was issued in the form of prepaid debit cards — in plain white envelopes that don’t bear any federal markings.
Some people are throwing their stimulus payments away.
The debit cards come in envelopes that say “Money Network Cardholder Services” and do not bear any federal markings.
No idea if this is any indication of others’ experiences with their coronavirus stimulus money, but I almost threw mine out with the junk mail:
1. The return address was “Money Network Cardholder Services,” no indication it’s from the govt/U.S. Treasury. pic.twitter.com/Af2dBPl9oF
— Zack Stanton (@zackstanton) May 22, 2020
2. And the NAME on the envelope is incorrect, changing my last name to my wife’s maiden name (which is not my name).
Inside that envelope? A debit card from the govt with $2,400 on it.
On that debit card, my name is also incorrect. pic.twitter.com/8ZU3T5HlkF
— Zack Stanton (@zackstanton) May 22, 2020
Others received checks from the IRS.
Fees Apply
Note that some Fees Apply.
Who concocted this program?
Mish
Just a quick question. Is there some form of authentication/activation with these debit cards?
Or can you just take one out of the trash and use it, assuming you are not challenged for ID?
That’s part of the problem with using them for $$ dispersion.
Yep, it’s cheesy, but so was Trump appearing on an Israeli token with King Cyrus. I guess that was a preview of coming attractions. Our nation is now a ship without a rudder.
It’s not because it is the government doing this. Government works very well when it comes to coddling corporations. Look how smooth the $4 TRILLION dollar corporate bailout worked.
It is only when it comes to the ordinary people, that the corporatists make sure the government doesn’t work for the masses.
Not surprising at all. Trump is the junk mail, infomercial, real estate seminar, trashy scammer in chief. Even his signature looks like something you’d see in junk mail. Everything he does is a scam.
I have a splinter from working yesterday. Damn Trump and his administration. Before he came around things like this never happened.
Theres something we both agree on: Trump wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.
“Trump wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.”
A Democrat Michigan legislator who contracted Covid thanked Trump for helping get her hydroxychloroquin, which she credits for saving her life.
She is being pissed on by fellow Democrats for thanking Trump.
Is Isaiah 2:17 Trump’s favorite Bible verse? Oh yeah, I forgot, he can’t quote a single verse and the Bible is just a prop to him. As are churches. And tear gas, rubber bullets and batons are for inconvenient peaceful protesters on his public soundstage.
Remember when Obama did all that? Yeah, me neither.
“Remember when Obama did all that?”
What i don’t remember is Obama doing anything for the black community. The South side of Chicago and Baltimore were just as bad off when he left the White House, as when he entered it.
And even better – when you get a stimulus deposit in your checking account, it is followed by a letter from the president explaining that the stimulus was deposited. It arrives over a month after the deposit and of course signed by the President. What a waste of federal money – but another excuse for the president to take credit.
Got my direct deposit (about 90% of max benefit) a month ago and just got that little autographed piece of toilet paper a few days ago.
So for all of you that dislike any of the ideas or venues chosen to get the money to everyone chosen by the current government body, have you any better choices? The perfect solution? I’m amazed at all the disgruntled commentary and lack of any rational solution offerings.
So, to quote Gaiman-Pratchett’s character, Aziraphale, “Got any better ideas? One single better idea?”
“Got any better ideas? One single better idea?”
…
Simplicity.
CARES Act comprised of 247 pages of text. Cobbled together in a matter of days (doubtless much of it pre-written by lobbyists just waiting for an emergency bill to insert to avoid debate) with many voting members clueless of details.
10 pages … or less would suffice.
Agreed on that. But we are way past the common sense part that Congress ignored. On Mish’s topic though, no one can come up with anything better. Well, so it seems.
Direct deposit was best. Then checks. If they wanted to do this, they could have at least explained.
The inefficiency of bureaucratic red tape ensured that time would be wasted. I do not refute this at all. I honestly think that these last ditch effort of credit card style was to get it out to those who could get it any other way. I agree that informing the recipients prior to sending them out would have been best. I like Zardoz idea of the tax return envelope. But those would have soon become a target for thieves. Mr. Purple, much as I like your first proposal, it’s a pipe dream. That’ll never happen in the warped system that is American finance. I have to say, Mish, I see alot of complaining, but not alot of people making good ideas. Somewhere, sometime, this has to change if any of our mess is to be cleared up.
I’ll bite. Legislated rent/mortgage forgiveness for x months. That would have dispensed with the bureaucracy.
Then the noteholders could petition the government directly for compensation. Let the fat cats wait for theirs.
But your question ignores the most salient feature — Trump’s signature needed to be on something, so it had to be inefficient and wasteful or there would have been no way for him to take credit. Because it’s always and forever about him. It’s his world and only by his grace are we living in it.
A tax return envelope. Everyone knows what those look like. But no, it had to have that moron’s signature, and it all went to hell from there.
I defend Trump sometimes and definitely do not have TDS. However on this one Trumps narcissism strikes again and is a total mess. My stimulus check did however come in a regular tax refund style envelope so I am wondering if this a bit of fake news. It did come from twitter which I have a rule for….dont’ believe jack shit that comes from Twitter.
The Trump administration at its best: thoughtless half-assery…
“Who concocted this program?”
…
Kudlow?
Did a double take when he said The Administration considering a “back to work bonus” (to counteract the $600 / week … on top of state UE benefits … given to UE). Amazing.
When it comes to the economy, Kudlow is more like a Democrat.
The economics of America’s civil unrest
High consumption and low savings helped set the stage for the explosion of violence across America link to asiatimes.com
I presume these are going to people with no checking account. Had they sent a check, those people would have been forced to take it to a “check cashing” loan shark, who would take 10% off the top. With a card, the recipient would get 100% of the benefit. Then some bureaucrat decided that theft would have been rampant had they clearly marked them as “stimulus payments”, keeping in mind that a prepaid card would be easy for any person to use, not just the intended recipient.
It’s a lose-lose situation. Regardless of how the government tries to get money to people with no checking account, there are going to be fees, theft, and lost payments.
The ‘too easy to steal’ if they identified it as a check occurred to me as well. Mine came as a check in an official envelope. I was a little worried about that getting boosted as well, but not all the neighborhood got theirs on the same week, much less day, so that would have complicated a thief’s plan.
Has nothing to do with a checking account, two IRS offices gave out repayments this way.
If you had and account, and paid taxes via EFT, the stimulus was deposited in your account. If you didn’t pay electronically, you got a check or a debit card.
Randy Newman, 1999, was a visionary—Big Hat, No Cattle
Since I was a child
I’ve tried to be what I’m not
I’ve lied and I’ve enjoyed it all my life
I lied to my dear mother
To my sisters and my brother
And now I’m lying to my children and my wife
Big Hat, no cattle
Big head, no brain
Big snake, no rattle
I forever remain
Big hat, no cattle
I knew from the start
Big boat, no paddle
Big belly, no heart
Can’t remember why I do it
Oh, maybe I can
An honest man these days is hard to find
I only know we’re living in an unforgiving land
And a little lie can buy some real big piece of mind
Oftimes I wondered what might I have become
Had I but buckled down and really tried
But when it came down to the wire
I called my family to my side
Stood up straight, threw my head back and I lied, lied,lied
Big hat, no cattle
Big shoes, well you know…
Big horse, no saddle
He goes wherever I go
Big hat, no cattle
Right from the start
Big guns, no battle
Big belly, no heart
When it came down to the wire
I called my little family to my side
Stood up straight, threw my head back and I lied, lied,lied
Lied, lied, lied
Big hat, no cattle
Big head, no brain
Big snake, no rattle
I forever remain
Big hat, no cattle
I knew from the start
Big boat, no paddle
Big belly, no heart
Big boat, no paddle
Big belly, no heart
i don’t think you’re likely to see return service requested on junk mail because i expect that costs the sender money when usps utilizes.
nope, it’s free of charge to sender.