Federal Benefits Cancelled as Moratoriums Extended

• Author: Michael Bordonada
• Posted: 2024-05-26

The Democratic side of the political party coin has always had some serious juggling to do. While there is a ton of overlap between America's two mainstay political parties, the fact is that the Democrats generally spend around four-times the money as Republicans spend. Many claim that this is a great thing, since much of that spending goes to the most impacted of America's communities, such as communities of color, single mothers, and the unemployed. Though good or bad, it's still a juggling act between spending money and just providing so much that it's wasteful and discouraging for citizens to work. This is why news from the White House suggests that the $300 weekly unemployment benefit will end in order to keep eviction moratoriums going.

Basically, the Democrats are juggling benefits here to the level which no government before has ever seen. Since the COVID pandemic smacked America last year, the federal government has spent many trillions of dollars in state-based funds, virus vaccine research, and on general benefits to citizens in order to help them stay afloat. The thinking from the Biden Administration is that giving Americans an extra $300 and extending eviction moratoriums is just too much to juggle. The basic idea here is that it doesn't make any sense to keep giving unemployed Americans an extra $300 if they do not have to spend it on rent.

As a lot of economists have pointed out, this is a busted system that's working in exact reverse as how it was intended. The fact is that giving people the money and doing away with the moratoriums, claim some economists, will compel people to use that money to pay their rent. This means landlords are also able to pay their bills, their taxes, and will not have to live on subsidies. Though when the money is simply taken away and no rent has to be paid at all, it's willfully creating a new impoverished class in America: The small-time landlord.

After all, huge banks that deal with mortgages, and big-time owners of large tenements, are not losing any money in the eviction moratoriums. The people who are affected by this are all middle-class people who rely on their tenants paying their rent. Many people who are skeptical of the government have cited this as an obvious play to thrust America into the "great reset," with some even claiming that it's the nation's final push toward "socialism."

Whether or not that's true remains to be seen. The fact of the matter is that we're dealing with many unprecedented things in America right now, and the government seems to only be extending the eviction moratoriums because more federally enforced lock-downs are on the way. If that is the case, expect that $300 weekly to go away for a few weeks but to be replaced with former President Donald Trump's initial subsidy of $500 per week.

We're dealing with a mess in America. That's the only thing that anyone knows for sure. Yes, people are going to be losing that $300 federal benefit, which is going to sting when people have been used to getting that for around a year now. Though the Biden Administration wants people to realize that, in essence, they no longer have to worry about paying rent. A lot of people are entirely unsure how to feel about that, and some are livid but powerless to stop it. "Elections have consequences," as Nancy Pelosi is so fond of reminding everyone.

What "Indefinitely" Means in Political Speak

Some of the wording coming out of the Biden camp is what so many are angry or unsure about. The Biden Admin is claiming currently that the benefits are to be cancelled and the moratoriums are expected to go on "indefinitely." For a lot of people, that word means forever, or for a very long time. In political speak, however, "indefinitely" typically means until it makes it up to the Supreme Court, or until another Bill or order comes along that does away with it. The general gist of the matter is that unemployed Americans are losing $300 weekly in unemployment benefits while gaining rent security.

For people who pay mortgages to large banks, it is still very unclear whether or not they will be covered by these moratoriums. Generally speaking, people still have to pay for food and for electricity, Internet, etc, and people who are paying mortgages still must pay their banks. So it's not as if government has stepped in to take care of people's entire lives. We'll have to wait and see whether these moratoriums will cover homeowners paying mortgages or not.