US Stimulus Approved! Discussion thread

[rcmaehl]

Good news US gamers
 

The government is giving us free money

 

You have enough money to buy 1 of each item (minus the garmin camera, single style or size) from LTTStore.com and STILL HAVE MONEY LEFT OVER

 

What are you waiting for?

 

Go to https://lttstore.com/ today!

---

 

Jokes aside,

It's about time another round of stimulus comes out. Granted, I haven't been negatively affected by the current situation, quite the opposite as work volume has greatly increased.

 

Regardless, if you live in the US, what are you using your new stimulus on? RTX Cards? Ryzen?

[PlayStation 2]

More than likely my car. It needs suspension work, tires and an oil change. The latter I'm almost certainly gonna get very soon, but I just have not had a chance this month to do so, so I had to make do with throwing a quart of oil into my shitbox. 

If I have any leftover cash, I'm putting it towards my PC, either towards a power supply, more storage or a GPU.

[Zusafek]

Simple.  Put it in the bank and forget about it like the first stimulus check. My job has not slowed down at all.  I don't have any debt nor any need to upgrade my home computer. 

[piratemonkey]

glances at location

if I was in the us, probably I would use it for necessities, like a good citizen

it's worth noting that the bill for the aid also has other goodies in it, for stuff like transit and schools iirc. The bill passing also blocked a partial government shutdown too iirc

[handymanshandle]

I'm curious if I can change the info like people were able to do last time because I had the account I used for tax returns closed between the start of this year and now and I really don't want to wait weeks for the money to drop in lol

 

I mostly left my job I started last year that made decent enough money for the time being before the pandemic (still there on call really) but I work at Fedex now and it's mostly doing the trick since as long as my normal job keeps paying me I can make things work out mostly but it seems like the option to go full time is there if my other employer stops paying me

[plsno]

Just going to invest it since I don't want or need anything. 

[CommanderAlex]

Just save up the money until something becomes affordable and not astronomically costly. 

[Radium_Angel]

I think my last bill will be covered by this.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

7 hours ago, Zusafek said:

Simple.  Put it in the bank and forget about it like the first stimulus check.

17 minutes ago, plsno said:

Just going to invest it since I don't want or need anything. 

15 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

Just save up the money until something becomes affordable and not astronomically costly. 

 

For many, this is will be the rational thing to do. Unfortunately, it also reduces the effectiveness of this payment as economic stimulus (and also shows that it will reach people who don't need relief). Clearly, a more targeted payment would be better (targeted to those more likely to spend it right away), delivering more bang for each government buck, but it comes with its own problems (how to target? How to avoid unintended side-effects? Maybe the latter is less relevant for one-time policies, unless it creates an expectation of recurrent payments in the future).

 

[Zusafek]

1 hour ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

 

For many, this is will be the rational thing to do. Unfortunately, it also reduces the effectiveness of this payment as economic stimulus (and also shows that it will reach people who don't need relief). Clearly, a more targeted payment would be better (targeted to those more likely to spend it right away), delivering more bang for each government buck, but it comes with its own problems (how to target? How to avoid unintended side-effects? Maybe the latter is less relevant for one-time policies, unless it creates an expectation of recurrent payments in the future).

 

I'm not hurting the purpose of the stimulus check.  I'm still spending money the same way I always have. But I do agree that there are some who truly need the money more than others. But just like everything else in the US, it's a broken system. 

[CommanderAlex]

1 hour ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

 

For many, this is will be the rational thing to do. Unfortunately, it also reduces the effectiveness of this payment as economic stimulus (and also shows that it will reach people who don't need relief). Clearly, a more targeted payment would be better (targeted to those more likely to spend it right away), delivering more bang for each government buck, but it comes with its own problems (how to target? How to avoid unintended side-effects? Maybe the latter is less relevant for one-time policies, unless it creates an expectation of recurrent payments in the future).

 

Like I do have bills to pay but otherwise, not going to spend that money carelessly. 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

1 hour ago, Zusafek said:

I'm not hurting the purpose of the stimulus check.

It's not a matter of "hurting" it, nor there is anything wrong with what you're doing. It's just that there is a multiplier effect based on the recipients' marginal propensity to spend out of the government's payment, which matter for the overall stimulus the economy receives. The impact of giving $100 of government money to someone who will spend all $100, or  $80, is very different (and bigger) than the impact of giving $100 to someone who will save all $100, or $80. In fact, if everyone saves it then there is no impact at all.

That is not a judgement on what people do with their money. From a policy-making perspective, what people will do is taken as given, as a constraint on policy design. The perspective is not that people should change their behavior to make policies work, but that policies have to take people's behavior into account so that their design makes them work.

In the current circumstances, an indiscriminate check will still be effective, but not efficient.

 

 

1 hour ago, CommanderAlex said:

Like I do have bills to pay but otherwise, not going to spend that money carelessly. 

OK, so?

[CommanderAlex]

Just now, SpaceGhostC2C said:

OK, so?

Your making it sound like everyone is just banking on this stimulus money... 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

1 minute ago, CommanderAlex said:

Your making it sound like everyone is just banking on this stimulus money... 

No.

And if they did, so?

[TargetDron3]

3 hours ago, CommanderAlex said:

Just save up the money until something becomes affordable and not astronomically costly. 

Not going to happen.  When they create more money the value of all money goes down.  Thus the costs go up.  

I won't see a dime of this, but my and your children will pay dearly for it.  

IF I got $600 of my own money back, err I mean a stimulus payment I would just go drop it in a Salvation Army kettle. I don't want nor need it.

[Jason 57]

In my house, I am sure we will do the same thing with it as the last one, pay some medical bills. 

 

I just hope this one doesn't come with another letter from CofC making it sound like he paid me personally from his own account. 

 

LOL

[WhitetailAni]

My parents aren't letting me have any.

I'm going to see if I can get them to give me just 1 day of it.

[CommanderAlex]

Just now, TargetDron3 said:

Not going to happen.  When they create more money the value of all money goes down.  Thus the costs go up.  

I won't see a dime of this, but my and your children will pay dearly for it.  

IF I got $600 of my own money back, err I mean a stimulus payment I would just go drop it in a Salvation Army kettle. I don't want nor need it.

That's true cause the value of the dollar is decreasing as a result of pumping money out. The pandemic has taken a toll on every country and is constantly changing every day. 

[Sarra]

I broke my vehicle yesterday, true story, so it's probably going to that... Assuming it's an Axle. If it's a diff or the front driveshaft, then it's game over and I'll be using it as a down payment for a new vehicle. >_>

[atxcyclist]

1 hour ago, Sarra said:

I broke my vehicle yesterday, true story, so it's probably going to that... Assuming it's an Axle. If it's a diff or the front driveshaft, then it's game over and I'll be using it as a down payment for a new vehicle. >_>

What vehicle?

[Sarra]

1 minute ago, atxcyclist said:

What vehicle?

Subaru Baja Turbo

 

Dumped the clutch, there was a 'bang', and no more drive.

[atxcyclist]

2 minutes ago, Sarra said:

Subaru Baja Turbo

 

Dumped the clutch, there was a 'bang', and no more drive.

Oof. I know the older 5-speed Subaru manuals can have issues when beat on a bit. That said, I would imagine you could get even a whole transmission assembly for less than $600, but without the workspace to change the thing out the labor would be a lot. I've only done one clutch on a Subaru, a '99 Legacy, you have to pull the exhaust, heat shields, and a bunch of other stuff off. You may have just destroyed your clutch if you get no movement at all, the AWD system on those is mechanical, so not sure one axle breaking would have stopped it. Either way, hope you get it sorted, those are cool cars.

[panzersharkcat]

Put that towards the next version of this modded X230 with a 16:10 display. He's making one with a custom motherboard with either Tiger Lake U or Renoir CPUs, IIRC. It'd be a nice upgrade over even the third-gen quad core CPUs he can solder onto the original motherboards and have a lower TDP.

[Sarra]

4 minutes ago, atxcyclist said:

Oof. I know the older 5-speed Subaru manuals can have issues when beat on a bit. That said, I would imagine you could get even a whole transmission assembly for less than $600, but without the workspace to change the thing out the labor would be a lot. I've only done one clutch on a Subaru, a '99 Legacy, you have to pull the exhaust, heat shields, and a bunch of other stuff off. You may have just destroyed your clutch if you get no movement at all, the AWD system on those is mechanical, so not sure one axle breaking would have stopped it. Either way, hope you get it sorted, those are cool cars.

It's not that easy... Baja is a complete mishmash of parts. The engine is a 2005 STi block, heads, cams, injectors, the turbo is from a 2.0 WRX, the up pipe is... well, all turbo Subies from 2002-2007 or so used the same exhaust manifold/UP, the downpipe is from a Forester turbo, the midpipe is from a Legacy GT, the silencer is from a Forester turbo, the muffler is... unique to the Baja... The 5 speed is a 2.0 WRX gearbox with a 4.1 front diff and a 4.1 rear diff (the WRX used a 3.9 front and 3.545 rear), drive shaft is from the Legacy (I think?), axles are Outback Wagon axles...

 

It's pretty much impossible to go to a junk yard and find a Baja transmission. I could get a WRX gearbox, but I'd have to pull it apart and swap out the front diff. Pretty sure the speedo gear is different, too, so that would have to get swapped.

 

I'll have time Friday to mess with it. It still goes into gear, so the internals of the transmission are okay, and it will move under it's own power, but it's like the clutch slips really bad, it revvs but barely moves. It's either: clutch, axle(s), center diff, or a drive shaft.

[Mooshi]

For those that actually need it, $600 is a god damned joke.