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424 lines
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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>09 February, 2021</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Risks of Trump’s Impeachment Trial</strong> - Given the importance of condemning Trump’s destructive actions, the message sent by an acquittal may be worse than no trial. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-risks-of-trumps-impeachment-trial">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Indoor-Dining Debate Isn’t a Debate at All</strong> - On Valentine’s Day, New Yorkers will be allowed to eat inside restaurants again. We shouldn’t. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-indoor-dining-debate-isnt-a-debate-at-all">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Can a Country Control the Virus and Host a Grand Slam? Australia Is Trying</strong> - In light of Melbourne’s long stretch of stringent lockdown measures, Australia’s decision to allow more than a thousand people into the country for a tennis tournament has been controversial. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/can-a-country-control-the-virus-and-host-a-grand-slam-australia-is-trying">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s at Stake in the Fight Over Reopening Schools</strong> - From housing to health care, low-income people and others ravaged by debt and inequality are beginning to demand a better life subsidized by public money. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/whats-at-stake-in-the-fight-over-reopening-schools">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trump’s Impeachment Trial Offers a Chance to Seize the Initiative on the Future of Free Speech</strong> - Trump should be convicted, and the First Amendment should be protected in the process. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/trumps-impeachment-trial-offers-a-chance-to-seize-the-initiative-on-the-future-of-free-speech">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>A survey of 30,000 households reveals Covid-19’s economic toll in the developing world</strong> -
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zwKHSNryy-R3W8CjQSCh3l0YH30=/0x0:3669x2752/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68791681/1230415959.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Students in Nairobi, Kenya, walk to school after the January reopening of a national school system closed since March 2020. | Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The pandemic is pushing families across the developing world into poverty and hunger.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Al0tbZ">
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Even in the richest countries in the world, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19">pandemic</a> has devastated millions. Many families are behind on rent and facing eviction; lines at food banks are at record highs; mental health is in a crisis.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V8Rdo1">
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Developing countries have faced the same challenges with far fewer resources to absorb them with. How have their people fared? There have been <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21492321/global-extreme-poverty-getting-worse-hunger-death-covid-19">lots of attempts</a> to model or estimate the answer, but it’s not an easy thing to do. The global economic recession induced by Covid-19 is unlike past recessions. Some industries (like tourism) have been wiped out entirely, while others are doing fine. In developing countries, most people work in informal economies that are hard for the government to measure. For many countries, we only have aggregate data on consumption and income, which is hard to use for insight into the changes in daily life in poor households.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hYOI9u">
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A <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/6/eabe0997">new paper</a> aims to solve that problem in the most direct way possible — by surveying tens of thousands of people in developing countries about what Covid-19 has been like for them. The paper, by UC Berkeley’s Edward Miguel and UC Berkeley and the World Bank’s Dennis Egger along with more than a dozen co-authors, published Friday in <em>Science Advances</em>, gives us a new window into what it has been like to live through 2020 in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, the Philippines, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TePWhF">
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In short: It’s been awful.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tlNnD2">
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Across the 16<strong> </strong>areas surveyed (in some countries multiple areas were surveyed), a median of 70 percent of households reported a drop in income. Forty-five percent were forced to miss or reduce meals. Only 11 percent were able to access relief aid of any kind from governments or NGOs, and in some communities, it was zero percent. Measures of economic activity like business income suggest that in some areas, it dropped by half.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p1pJDx">
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“We find that the economic shock in these countries — where most people depend on casual labor to earn enough to feed their families — leads to deprivations that seem likely to generate excess future morbidity, mortality, and other adverse longer-term consequences,” the paper concludes, citing research that finds that children born in times of mass hunger have lifelong negative consequences.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AysKqp">
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This research adds to a growing body of research with one depressing conclusion: 2020 turned around years of progress in addressing global poverty, plunging many poor communities back into food insecurity and extremely low incomes. By talking to thousands of people on the phone, the study adds more detail on what that overall impact is like in individual households.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bsmisi">
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As the pandemic stretches into its second year, preventing mass starvation in affected areas should be a critical aid priority — or we are likely to see the ripple effects of the pandemic follow today’s hungry children through their entire lives.
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</p>
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<h3 id="hzh3Qs">
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The survey of thousands of people in developing countries, explained
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nfRGAL">
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The data in the <em>Science Advances</em> paper was collected by phone survey. In the lower-middle-income countries where the researchers focused their efforts, cellphones are near-ubiquitous; even poor families typically have one. Still, randomly dialing phone numbers, as was done for seven of the 16<strong> </strong>samples that go into the paper, will skew the survey toward the well-off; to make that effect less of a problem, the other nine samples were taken from populations in earlier studies, including “formal and informal sector workers, agricultural laborers, small business enterprises, refugees, migrants, and their families.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6jLvt7">
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Starting in April 2020, researchers asked about how households were affected by Covid-19 and the<strong> </strong>economic effects of the worldwide disruptions it caused.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3EWNb0">
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Even as early as April, things were already bad: “48% of rural Kenyan households, 69% of landless agricultural households in Bangladesh, and 87% of rural households in Sierra Leone were forced to miss meals or reduce portion sizes to cope with the crisis,” the paper finds, which is a much higher rate of food insecurity than typical in the area —<strong> </strong>a 38 percent increase in adults missing meals and a 69% increase for children in Kenya, for instance.<strong> </strong>In rural Kenya, where more in-depth surveys were conducted, there are also signs of a rise in violence against women and children, though the sample was too small to draw confident conclusions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hzmzUw">
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The effects did vary widely across countries and populations within a country. In some communities, as few as 11 percent of people reported a fall in income; in some, 87 percent did. But nowhere was unscathed, and in the average community, the harms of the pandemic were widespread and severe.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0pQAKy">
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The scariest part? When the pandemic is over, these effects will likely<strong> </strong>persist. First, many households that are going hungry spend down or sell off all of their assets in order to get food. That means that when the pandemic ends, they will have<strong> </strong>lost years or decades of assets and investments in their own productivity, such as cars<strong> </strong>and tools for farming.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uc2v6N">
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Additionally, research has found that famines and economic disruptions “follow” children who were deprived of food in utero and early childhood through their entire lives. Those children grow up to be less healthy, complete less school, and earn less money. “As a result, for LMICs [lower- and middle-income countries], the economic crisis precipitated by COVID-19 may become as much a public health and societal disaster as the pandemic itself,” the paper argues.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EZYiB0">
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It’s not too late to do anything; aid now could do a lot to reduce food insecurity and ensure that the populations in the direst straits get the resources they need. Unfortunately, NGOs and aid organizations are overstretched as well as greatly constrained by worries about spreading the virus through direct aid provision programs. <a href="https://live.givedirectly.org/newsfeed/search?search=Kenya+Covid-19#search">Giving people money works better</a>, and, of course, ending the pandemic through a worldwide vaccination program will work best of all — though aid will still be badly needed to restore the savings and assets spent down as families starved.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AjLL28">
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The picture painted by household surveys isn’t too different from the one that seemed likely, given <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21492321/global-extreme-poverty-getting-worse-hunger-death-covid-19">what we already knew about collapses in economic activity</a>. But we shouldn’t let the fact that these results are not unexpected lead to policy neglect. The death toll of this pandemic should include not just those who’ve died of the virus but also those who’ve died of hunger as the world combated it — and that death toll, like the virus death toll, can be turned around through decisive, coordinated action.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>Andrew Yang’s campaign is cutting ties with a fundraiser once accused of sexual misconduct</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A blue sign reading “Yang for New York”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fm2NvUop7aMN9OSTXjgMAymjKgI=/366x0:6226x4395/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68790798/1296351635.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Andrew Yang is a frontrunner in the race to become the next mayor of New York City. | Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The NYC mayoral candidate’s campaign said it was unaware of the well-publicized allegations.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cXrg4l">
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Andrew Yang’s mayoral campaign is cutting ties with one of its fundraisers, Shervin Pishevar, an investor who stepped down from his own firm in 2017 after being accused of sexual misconduct, Recode has learned.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mmdonO">
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Pishevar, a venture capitalist who made a prescient early bet in Uber, was one of three dozen names the campaign announced as being on its host committee for a Tuesday fundraiser in support of Yang’s mayoral bid in New York City. But the campaign said on Monday evening that when it approved Pishevar as a co-host, it was unaware of the well-publicized allegations against him from three years ago, raising questions about the Yang campaign’s vetting process.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rUJIge">
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“Upon learning of these allegations this evening, we promptly removed Mr. Pishevar from the 35-person host committee,” a Yang spokesperson said on Monday evening.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J3tgtG">
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The spokesperson said Pishevar had yet to contribute to Yang. But campaigns typically closely scrutinize the people who serve on their host committees. Though they are not employed by the campaign, hosts offer their time and lend their credibility in pitching the event to friends and business contacts. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/18/politics/pete-buttigieg-chicago-attorney-fundraiser/index.html">There is a history</a> of high-profile candidates cutting ties with fundraiser hosts who pose reputational problems to the campaign that they are trying to help.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ndcKbE">
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A representative for Pishevar declined to comment. “Excited to lend my support to <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewYang"><span class="citation" data-cites="AndrewYang">@AndrewYang</span></a> for Mayor of NYC,” he tweeted last week. A source close to Pishevar, however, said he recently had tested positive for coronavirus and that he had postponed or withdrawn from events as he recovers.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RpBNPB">
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<a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/tech-men-accused-sexual-misconduct-new-jobs-metoo">The tech industry has had to grapple </a>with whether or not to offer second chances to men who have admitted to or faced allegations of sexual misconduct. Not all incidents are alike, and there is a diversity of opinion in which leaders should be welcomed back into the industry, when that should happen, and what the standard should be for making sufficient amends.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="buQjk5">
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Ellen Pao, a prominent leader in Silicon Valley who has tried to make the industry more equitable for women and minorities, said there were no easy answers.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L0CnBQ">
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“We have not decided how we want to repair things. Is Andrew Yang going to be the person who decides? Because their vetters didn’t know to look for this kind of stuff?” Pao said. “We’re on a path to just taking everyone back and having all the same problems all over again.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1J36Rc">
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Pishevar was accused of sexual assault and or harassment by five women, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-01/uber-investor-shervin-pishevar-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-by-multiple-women?sref=Wg6QzS2e">Bloomberg reported in late 2017</a>. “In each case, the women accused Pishevar of exploiting a professional connection, and using the prospect of a job, mentorship or investment to make an unwanted sexual advance,” according to the news outlet.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SJOhHd">
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The allegations against Pishevar were among the most prominent #MeToo storylines in Silicon Valley. The claims went beyond unsolicited comments: Multiple women told Bloomberg that Pishevar forced himself onto them and kissed them, for instance.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CqMDeW">
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Pishevar’s representatives denied the allegations at the time, saying that he was “confident that these anecdotes will be shown to be untrue.” Pishevar was also dogged by a rape allegation published in the media that was <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40493814/smear-campaign-or-not-tech-investor-shervin-pishevar-really-was-arrested-earlier-this-year">later proven to be based on a falsified police report.</a> Pishevar <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/12/14/16778218/shervin-pishevar-sherpa-capital-resign">stepped down from his firm</a>, Sherpa Capital, in the aftermath of the allegations in order to, he said, fight “the smear campaign against me.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LrU3Bx">
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There was political fallout from the stories, too. Pishevar had been a big fundraiser for Democrats, including for both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. Some high-profile Democrats in 2017, like Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-04/booker-harris-donate-pishevar-funds-after-misconduct-claims?sref=Wg6QzS2e">redirected the donations that Pishevar had given to their campaigns in the wake of the scandal.</a> For the next few years, he seemingly was out of the political fundraising game.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="urtZom">
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But now Pishevar has has been slowly reemerging onto the public scene far from Silicon Valley — now in Miami, where he moved in the aftermath of the allegations. He has launched <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-21/an-uber-outcast-s-blank-check-company-is-set-to-go-public">several new business ventures</a> based in the city.
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He has also been returning to the world of politics, as the Yang fundraiser shows. After the allegations emerged in late 2017, Pishevar’s political donations almost dried up. But in December 2020, he cut checks to the Republican candidates running for the Senate in Georgia, according to federal records. <a href="https://twitter.com/francissuarez/status/1356980846310395907?s=21">Pishevar has also been spending time with Miami’s tech-friendly mayor,</a> Francis Suarez, and helping him pitch the city to Silicon Valley transplants.
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Now he has developed ties to the possible next New York mayor. Yang is seen as a frontrunner in this fall’s mayoral race due to his national profile. He is popular, too, with tech executives: The event on Tuesday is billed as a conversation between Yang and <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/2/2/22261358/elon-musk-chamath-palihapitiya-tech-billionaires-gamestop-reddit">Chamath Palihapitiya, an early Facebook executive.</a> Other tech figures in both New York and the San Francisco Bay Area have signed up to co-host the virtual event.
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Tickets run from $100 to $2,000, according to a copy of the invitation.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>The debate over who deserves a stimulus check, explained</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/L1I4G4_tJbcw_SxhaZf2_Enf3a8=/199x0:3346x2360/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68788091/1230973039.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Sen. Mitt Romney and Sen. Joe Manchin before a vote-a-rama on the Covid-19 relief package on February 4. | Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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One new proposal to limit the $1,400 stimulus checks could cut roughly 40 million Americans from eligibility.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KF77QJ">
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As Congress continues to negotiate over the $1.9 trillion stimulus package, a group of bipartisan lawmakers has proposed more limited payments by lowering the income threshold for who gets the full $1,400 benefit.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HwskCz">
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Their proposal would begin phasing out the benefit for individuals earning over $50,000 and married couples earning more than $100,000. Previous stimulus checks had phaseout thresholds at $75,000 per individual and $150,000 per household.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wght4N">
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<a href="https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1357812394672730117?s=20">Several</a> <a href="https://replbr.medium.com/blunt-rochester-mckinley-introduce-1-400-direct-payment-covid-relief-bill-1786a916ee09">members</a> of Congress, from both parties, have argued for sticking to the original targeting. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has signaled he’s open to revisiting the income thresholds, and on Sunday, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/537727-yellen-argues-for-60000-stimulus-check-threshold">Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen</a> broached the idea of restricting checks to those making $60,000 or less per year.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qvyT7j">
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Then, on Monday night, House Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee released their <a href="https://waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/documents/7.%20Tax_sxs.pdf">proposal</a>: a $1,400 benefit that would pay out along the same lines as the first two stimulus check, but with one difference. No individual earning more than $100,000 would get a check, and no couple earning more than $200,000 would get a check.
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</p>
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<div id="1HJ5z1">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
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“We’re just trying to make sure that people are truly in need, ok, so if they can show that $75,000, $150,000 are truly in need, it’s basically, they have adjusted gross income that’s how people get up to 250, 300. They want to solve that and put a hard stop. A hard stop.”
|
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</p>
|
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|
— Erica Werner (<span class="citation" data-cites="ericawerner">@ericawerner</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/ericawerner/status/1358923850713563136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2021</a>
|
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</blockquote></div></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IXSR62">
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But the debate isn’t over. Many of those advocating for more targeted aid say it is important to limit checks to<strong> </strong>lower-income people, who they see as most likely to spend the money quickly to help stimulate the economy and are also more likely to need it to meet everyday expenses.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Axqzp">
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The recovery from the Covid-19 recession has been<strong> </strong>unequal. Higher-income Americans have been largely insulated from job losses, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22264268/covid-19-housing-insecurity-housing-prices-mortgage-rates-pandemic-zoning-supply-demand">homeowners have seen wealth grow</a>, and personal savings have increased over the course of the pandemic (in part as a result of previous stimulus measures). This has sparked concern among some<strong> </strong>lawmakers<strong> </strong>that the third round of checks should be more targeted so they don’t go to families who are already financially secure.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BGvNmu">
|
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But at the heart of the political debate is something less academic and more visceral: Who do lawmakers, and their constituents, think <em>deserves</em> a third stimulus payment?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eONthj">
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In a Vox/DFP poll, 60 percent of Americans supported <a href="https://www.vox.com/22250471/poll-1400-stimulus-checks-2000-means-test-covid-19-congress-undocumented-immigrants">means-testing the stimulus checks</a>, agreeing with the statement: “Checks should be phased out based on income so higher-income people receive less money.” Opposition to the wealthy receiving financial assistance from the government isn’t surprising, but the popularity of means-testing this benefit helps explain why there’s such a fierce debate raging over what will likely be a relatively small part of Biden’s final package: Lawmakers and their constituents want “fairness,” even if they have a hard time defining what that is.
|
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</p>
|
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<h3 id="Lj8fQI">
|
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The economic debate over targeting the checks
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z6UJK1">
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At the center of the economic debate over the stimulus checks is the question: What are the $1,400 payments for?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GJ0lGy">
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These payments have commonly come to be known as “stimulus checks,” though their official name is Economic Impact Payments. So the question of who will use the money to positively affect the economy by immediately spending it has dominated the debate.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FsZ6qq">
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The Covid-19 recession is not like a normal recession — in many places, broad swaths of businesses are closed or have limited capacity. Even where they are open, many kinds of in-person economic activity, like dining indoors, attending large events, or browsing in crowded stores, are risky.<strong> </strong>Thus, many people are independently choosing to avoid the very types of economic activity that is needed for stimulus to work.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bpQ9mT">
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Some economists, like <a href="https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/covid-relief-isnt-stimulus-its-social">Noah Smith</a>, have argued that we should instead think of stimulus payments as social insurance. The goal of these payments could be to help those who have suffered financially in unseen ways but maybe weren’t laid off (e.g., took a pay cut at work, have to pay increased child care costs, have coronavirus-related medical expenses, quit their job to take care of their kids, etc.) and to make it less terrible to stay home during the pandemic and keep yourself away from your friends and family.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iF5qKu">
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Other economists — and many lawmakers — do not see the checks this way. They talk about them as “stimulus checks” meant to stimulate the economy by getting people to spend more. And part of the political viability of programs like these is proving that there’s a macroeconomic payoff.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ER2A3h">
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In an <a href="https://opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Oi_Secondstimulus_analysis.pdf">analysis</a> by Opportunity Insights, a research and policy institute based at Harvard University, researchers Raj Chetty, John Friedman, and Michael Stepner recommend “targeting the next round of stimulus payments toward lower-income households would save substantial resources that could be used to support other programs, with minimal impact on economic activity.” Their findings indicated that people with incomes greater than $78,000 spent only $45 of the $600 payment sent out in the second round in January<strong>.</strong>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qb0gOC">
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This research has made the rounds on Capitol Hill, one senior Democratic aide told Vox, who spoke of the popularity of a Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/01/26/spending-stimulus-checks/">article</a> that reported on the findings with the headline: “Cutting off stimulus checks to Americans earning over $75,000 could be wise, new data suggests.”
|
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</p>
|
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<div class="c-float-right">
|
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|
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<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lJdxkagZLAjjoDnD7LAMoFVMILI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22288657/Screen_Shot_2021_02_07_at_10.37.49_PM.png"/> <cite>Opportunity Insights</cite>
|
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</figure>
|
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CXr9Io">
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But some economists are pushing back<strong> </strong>for a few reasons.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AMIJws">
|
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First, there are questions over the data. Opportunity Insights is looking at spending within zip codes, not household data. That means the researchers aren’t actually comparing higher-income folks with lower-income folks, they’re comparing zip codes with residents whose average incomes are above $78,000 with those below $46,000. Thus, the within-zip code variation could be clouding their results.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pcg961">
|
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Friedman, one of the researchers and a Brown University economist, argues that variation within zip codes actually supports their hypothesis. He told Vox that in the top 25 percent of zip codes by median income, half of households in zip codes make less than $74,000. Since they observe such a small increase in spending following the distribution of the $600 checks, Friedman believes that lower-income residents are the ones who are actually driving spending in wealthier zip codes.<strong> </strong>
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e5Bpf7">
|
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The spending data comes only from consumer credit and debit card information. That means they have no record of cash payments or payments made by check. And the data also doesn’t track paying down debt like student loans, car payments, back-rent, or mortgage payments.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QALuS1">
|
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|
|
Friedman agreed this type of spending is valuable, but pointed out that payments that go toward servicing debt don’t have the direct stimulative effect that buying clothes, food, or other goods and services would.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gNC7nV">
|
|||
|
|
There’s also a debate about whether the income and ultimately spending the payments are really as tightly linked as the Opportunity Insights data suggests. Claudia Sahm, an economist who has worked at the Federal Reserve and the Council of Economic Advisors, argued against new income restrictions, <a href="https://stayathomemacro.substack.com/p/who-should-get-a-1400-check">pointing to</a> studies that find a stronger connection with liquidity (essentially, cash on hand) than income.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oSzG8x">
|
|||
|
|
“You could have a family earning $150,000 before the crisis and they could be earning $102,000 now … a $50,000 drop in income is a big hole,” Sahm told Vox. “Now, my heart might not bleed for them in the same way that it does for a single mom with three kids … but the reality is both of them cannot miss a paycheck without causing problems.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2wFV76">
|
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|
|
Jonathan Parker, an <a href="https://mitmgmtfaculty.mit.edu/japarker/research/">economist at MIT</a>, emphasized this point in an email, adding that Opportunity Insight’s research “does not answer the question as to whether higher-income people spend over a month instead of a few days”: People could be putting aside that money to spend later, for instance when there is mass vaccination. But he still argued against sending payments that aren’t strictly targeted to those with the greatest need.
|
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|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EAjSHJ">
|
|||
|
|
“The typical household has more income and more wealth than before the pandemic began,” he wrote. “Even in aggregate, average income is up. Average and median account balances are up. … Credit card debt in aggregate is way down. The typical American is in great financial shape.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EfR2sr">
|
|||
|
|
Friedman emphasized that the economy will rebound quickly when the Covid-19 outbreaks are under control. “Once the public health situation recovers, my instinct is that the economy will snap back pretty quickly given how much extra savings people have,” he told me. “I’m not sure sending everyone a $1,400 check will make that much of a difference.”
|
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|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gEhMXv">
|
|||
|
|
This is where the academic debate collides with the political one. Lawmakers have neither the information nor the state capacity to perfectly target aid in the way that Opportunity Insights would prefer (and there’s extensive research that putting requirements on people to “prove” they need the money harms the people who need it most).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="LZzqOB">
|
|||
|
|
The political debate over targeting the checks
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hv8Ajs">
|
|||
|
|
The political debate over fairness is a subset of a larger debate over whether President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package is too big.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TL5tT6">
|
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Much of the Republican caucus says it is, and this question became the center of chatter among economists, the White House, and Congress after former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/04/larry-summers-biden-covid-stimulus/">wrote an op-ed</a> in the Washington Post warning that the size of the package could cause inflation and reduce future spending on important priorities from “infrastructure to preschool education to renewable energy.” Vox’s Emily Stewart has <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22268787/larry-summers-op-ed-biden-stimulus">covered this debate extensively</a>.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q7vSn8">
|
|||
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|
But if the problem really is that Biden’s plan is too big, it does not appear that limiting who gets stimulus checks would make it much smaller. The proposal floated by some Democrats to limit check eligibility to individuals making under $50,000 and couples making under $100,000 would only save around $45 billion, according to reporting from the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/03/biden-stimulus-checks-what-you-need-to-know/">Washington Post</a>. (Opportunity Insights estimates that limiting the checks to households earning $78,000 or less would save $200 billion, but that still leaves a very sizable stimulus package for those worried about inflation.) Republicans have gone further, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22260255/senate-republicans-stimulus-plan">proposing reducing the benefit to $1,000</a> as well.
|
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|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qrIteK">
|
|||
|
|
More than the deficit, what appears to be behind the “too big” debate is an age-old question about fairness. Last week, the Senate voted 99-1 in favor of a non-binding amendment put forth by Manchin to “ensure upper-income taxpayers are not eligible” for $1,400 checks. The amendment didn’t define upper-income, but Manchin is one of the co-sponsors of a bill to begin phasing out the benefit at $50,000.
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OC9zmQ">
|
|||
|
|
No lawmaker wants to be seen as being on the side of the wealthy, or giving the “wrong people” money when so many are struggling, but the optics of the debate are threatening to overwhelm the actual policies being put forth. The real policy debate should be whether a person earning $51,000 should get the full benefit.
|
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</p>
|
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<div id="YlEvbu">
|
|||
|
|
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
|||
|
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There is no reason the federal government should be sending stimulus checks to families making upwards of $300,000. <br/> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> relief needs to be targeted at those folks who need it the most.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
— Rob Portman (<span class="citation" data-cites="senrobportman">@senrobportman</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/senrobportman/status/1357099323859861509?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2021</a>
|
|||
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|||
|
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</div>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LTv1me">
|
|||
|
|
Key Democratic leaders have suggested that they are open to some level of targeting. Sen. Ron Wyden, chair of the Finance committee, has signaled his desire to keep the checks at the current level, telling reporters: “I’m always willing to listen, but I’m opposed to it,” when asked about lowering the income threshold.
|
|||
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Rs5cX">
|
|||
|
|
And Biden has made it clear that he feels Democrats owe Americans checks, after promising further direct aid if the party won both Senate seats (and control of the Senate) in Georgia’s January special election.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FPkFDG">
|
|||
|
|
Biden, in a call with House Democrats early last week, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/we-need-act-fast-biden-democrats-move-speed-process-pass-n1256636">said</a>: “We can’t walk away from additional $1,400 in direct checks we proposed because people need, and frankly, they’ve been promised it. Maybe we can — I think we can better target that number. I’m okay with that.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ttfcMn">
|
|||
|
|
But targeting will have consequences — including, perhaps, electoral ones. Sahm has estimated that if Democrats choose to lower the threshold to what Manchin and others are suggesting, roughly 40 million Americans who received the previous two checks will not receive one this time.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6nmB8D">
|
|||
|
|
“It’s the most visible part of the relief package,” one senior Democratic aide told Vox. “You may not see the spending on vaccines or on state and local aid, but if you’re expecting a check and don’t get one, you’ll know.”
|
|||
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gmaeb6">
|
|||
|
|
<em>Ella Nilsen contributed reporting to this story. </em>
|
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</p>
|
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|
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</p>
|
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|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Australia Open: Rafael Nadal, Ashleigh Barty advance in straight sets</strong> - Nadal finished off a 6-3 6-4,6-1 win in just under two hours in his first competitive match in months</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ind vs Eng first Test in Chennai | Reverse swing was huge for us, says James Anderson</strong> - Anderson’s excellent mid-morning three-wicket burst blew away the Indian middle-order before the hosts were bundled out for 192.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Body language and intensity was not up to mark, no excuses, says Virat Kohli</strong> - Kohli also felt that India did not put enough pressure on England and leaked way too many runs.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India slips to 4th position, England brightens WTC final prospects</strong> - India will now be looking to win at least two of the remaining three matches.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cricket South Africa seeks redress from ICC after Australia no-show</strong> - Australia also pulled out of series against West Indies, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and New Zealand since the pandemic started</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Uttarakhand glacier disaster: Toll rises to 31, race against time to rescue those trapped in tunnel</strong> - The workers have been trapped in the 12-ft-high and about 2.5-km-long ‘head race tunnel’ (HRT).</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Assam Assembly elections | Congress launches video contest on State’s biggest issues</strong> - The most relevant problems highlighted will make it to the party’s manifesto</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>As PM plans two Europe visits, Poland pitches for Warsaw stop</strong> - Envoy urges resumption of flights, bilateral talks</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Major fire in Maharashtra’s Taloja industrial area in Navi Mumbai</strong> - As per preliminary information, the blaze erupted at a factory and spread to three adjacent units that deal in acid, packaging and fabrication.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SC stays HC ban on Fathima</strong> - She was barred from using any kind of media to share her views</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two Holocaust historians face Polish court verdict</strong> - A controversial ban on defaming the nation is used to claim two historians libelled a wartime mayor.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covid: Two tests for all UK arrivals during quarantine</strong> - Details of the new system, aimed at tracking cases and detecting new variants, will be set out later today.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Brexit effect: No custard creams for Brits in Europe</strong> - A British supermarket chain in Belgium is on the verge of closure with no deliveries since December.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>‘Pandora’s Box’ opened over UK-EU vaccine row, says Gove</strong> - Michael Gove says post-Brexit trade rules between Britain and Northern Ireland are not working.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>EU states expel three Russian diplomats in tit-for-tat</strong> - Three Russian diplomats have to leave Germany, Poland and Sweden after Russian anti-EU expulsions.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple hardware chief Dan Riccio stepped down to focus on AR/VR</strong> - Also from the report: Apple may make its own displays for Macs, iPhones. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1740631">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Scary 22% vaccine efficacy in South Africa comes with heaps of caveats</strong> - South African data on AstraZeneca vaccine is as iffy as it is scary - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1740664">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Proposed Sec. 230 rewrite could have wide-ranging consequences</strong> - Sec. 230 reform bills are already pouring into this Congress. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1740477">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>US drops suit against Calif. net neutrality rule, but ISPs are still fighting it</strong> - California law still faces court challenge from broadband-industry lobby groups. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1740656">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Computer intruder tried to poison Florida city’s drinking water with lye</strong> - Change boosting sodium hydroxide level was reversed before anyone got hurt. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1740652">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>The nurse hands a man his newborn and says “I’m sorry, but your wife didn’t make it.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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He responds “well give me the one my wife made.”
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</p>
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</div>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/a_very_solid_potato"> /u/a_very_solid_potato </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lfs4zq/the_nurse_hands_a_man_his_newborn_and_says_im/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lfs4zq/the_nurse_hands_a_man_his_newborn_and_says_im/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>A priest, a Baptist minister, and a rabbit walk into the Red Cross to donate blood</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The nurse asks, what’s your blood type?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The rabbit says, “I’m probably a Type O”
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</p>
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</div>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cactusmittens"> /u/cactusmittens </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lftvaf/a_priest_a_baptist_minister_and_a_rabbit_walk/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lftvaf/a_priest_a_baptist_minister_and_a_rabbit_walk/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>“Doctor, I think I’m going deaf.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Doctor said, “Describe the symptoms.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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</p><ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“Well, Homer is bald, Marge has blue hair…”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
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</li></ul></div>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/isu_asenjo"> /u/isu_asenjo </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lfd7fu/doctor_i_think_im_going_deaf/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lfd7fu/doctor_i_think_im_going_deaf/">[comments]</a></span></li>
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</ul>
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<li><strong>Two factory workers are talking.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Two factory workers are talking. The woman says, “I can make the boss give me the day off.” The man replies, “And how would you do that?” The woman says, “Just wait and see.” She then hangs upside down from the ceiling. The boss comes in and says, “What are you doing?” The woman replies, “I’m a light bulb.” The boss then says, “You’ve been working so much that you’ve gone crazy. I think you need to take the day off.” The man starts to follow her and the boss says, “Where are you going?” The man says, “I’m going home, too. I can’t work in the dark.”
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</p>
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</div>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/corporalcrocodile"> /u/corporalcrocodile </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lfbu8n/two_factory_workers_are_talking/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lfbu8n/two_factory_workers_are_talking/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>No one believes seniors . . . Everyone thinks they are senile</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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An elderly couple was celebrating their sixtieth anniversary. The couple had married as childhood sweethearts and had moved back to their old neighborhood after they retired. Holding hands, they walked back to their old school. It was not locked, so they entered, and found the old desk they’d shared, where Jerry had carved I love you, Sally.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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On their way back home, a bag of money fell out of an armored car, practically landing at their feet. Sally quickly picked it up and, not sure what to do with it, they took it home. There, she counted the money - fifty thousand dollars!
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Jerry said, We’ve got to give it back.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Sally said, Finders keepers. She put the money back in the bag and hid it in their attic.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The next day, two police officers were canvassing the neighborhood looking for the money, and knocked on their door. Pardon me, did either of you find a bag that fell out of an armored car yesterday?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Sally said, No.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Jerry said, She’s lying. She hid it up in the attic.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Sally said, Don’t believe him, he’s getting senile
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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The agents turned to Jerry and began to question him.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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One said: Tell us the story from the beginning.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Jerry said, Well, when Sally and I were walking home from school yesterday ……
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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The first police officer turned to his partner and said, Were outta here!
|
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</p>
|
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</div>
|
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<!-- SC_ON -->
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/jamesrush308"> /u/jamesrush308 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lfa5js/no_one_believes_seniors_everyone_thinks_they_are/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lfa5js/no_one_believes_seniors_everyone_thinks_they_are/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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