U.S. Coronavirus Relief Plan: What American parents need to know

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The new bill, the CARES Act, includes some helpful provisions. Just information technology doesn't go far plenty to protect families and small-scale businesses from financial disaster.

To safeguard our children'due south future, we must nosotros pressure politicians to prioritize the welfare of human beings. This is precisely the fourth dimension when the government — and the major media — demand to hear from parents like you.

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© 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

Call this an editorial. It's one I wish I didn't have to write. I will accost electric current political events, and be informed by my own biases. But my intent is to telephone call your attention to an urgent threat to American families. We need to brand our voices heard.

On March 27th, the U.s.a. Congress passed a $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill — the CARES Human activity.

Then you might exist thinking, assist is on the way. I can focus on taking intendance of my kids — making ends meet — considering the government is finally taking activeness.

I understand the feeling. I know how difficult information technology is to proceed up with the news when you've got children, especially young children.

Simply every parent needs to empathise: This bill leaves individual human beings and small businesses with inadequate support. Many won't take enough money to pay their bills.

Regular people volition be scrambling to go by; some will be running up credit card debt to meet basic expenses.

The small businesses that manage to hang on will still face potentially crippling financial problems, including a lack of cash to get operations back up to speed.

At the aforementioned time, the CARES Act permits for massive corporate bailouts with insufficient strings attached. For case, unlike pocket-sized businesses — which volition go loans simply on status that they retain their employees — corporations receiving federal aid will exist permitted to burn employees.

What does it hateful?

If we don't take further action, we'll emerge from the coronavirus pandemic with millions out of work, millions more attributable months of back rent or mortgage payments, and the shuttering of small businesses throughout the country.

A pocket-size number of big corporations may stop upward as the state'southward master employers.

Ordinary families will be prepare dorsum for years, struggling just to reach bones financial security, permit alone save money to help their kids attend college.

All because we didn't do enough to help people — private humans and small business owners — go through the coronavirus pandemic.

At that place were helpful provisions in the pecker that Congress passed on March 27th, including these:

• A direct, one-fourth dimension payment (up to $1200 per developed, and $500 per child), for individuals meeting income requirements;
• opens in a new windowExpanded unemployment insurance for up to 4 months;
• opens in a new windowFinancial help for modest businesses;
• opens in a new windowBack up for hospitals needing protective equipment and supplies;
• Costless coronavirus testing (but non gratis medical treatment) for individuals

Simply the timing of direct payments will be too slow (up to four months) for some recipients. And more assistance is needed to protect our children's future. Much more needs to happen to prevent the worst-case scenario.

So please don't melody out of the current politician situation. Fifty-fifty though your duties and burdens as a parent are wearing y'all down.

This is precisely the fourth dimension when the government — and the major media — need to hear from parents like you.

Currently, the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. The lesser 50% of Americans own simply 1.3% of the nation'southward wealth (U.S. Federal Reserve 2020).

Many people working "essential jobs" are paid too petty. Though I can't detect any recent statistics, a study conducted in 2022 constitute that approximately 42% of American workers — including cashiers, nursing assistants, janitors, warehouse workers, kid care workers, and structure laborers — were making less than $15.00 per hour (Tung et al 2015).

And co-ordinate to a U.Southward. population survey conducted in 2022 (by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.Southward. Demography Bureau), 55% of households with kids under the historic period of xviii were making less than $75 chiliad dollars a year.

To put this in perspective, economists summate that a family unit of two adults and 2 children needs to make at to the lowest degree $79 thousand dollars a year to achieve basic fiscal security — "to meet basic monthly expenses—such as housing, food, transportation, and child intendance expenses—and salvage for emergencies and retirement" (Suh et al 2018).

If our authorities doesn't help ordinary people get through this crisis, many of u.s. volition slide farther into economical insecurity. And that volition create a bleaker future for everyone — peculiarly our kids.

More data virtually the coronavirus crisis

For more background on the pandemic, and what nosotros can do almost information technology, encounter my article, opens in a new window"Coping with Coronavirus."

In addition, this Parenting Science article opens in a new window"Coronavirus in children: Children get sick, also — sometimes seriously so."

Schools airtight? Stuck at habitation with the kids, and feeling the force per unit area? There'south a lot we tin practice to make the best of this crisis. But the first step is to stop pressuring ourselves with unrealistic expectations. Read my thoughts opens in a new windowhere.

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References

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, The states. 2020. "Distribution of Household Wealth in the U.South. since 1989" Table last updated March 20, 2020. Accessed iii/25/2020 from https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/table/

Agency of Labor Statistics and the Demography Bureau. 2018. FINC-01. Selected Characteristics of Families past Total Coin Income. Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement. Excel tablet accessed three/27/2020 from:  https://world wide web.census.gov/information/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/cps-finc/finc-01.html

Suh J, Clark J, and Hays J. 2018. Basic Economic Security in the United states: How Much Income Do Working Adults Demand in Each Land? Institute of women's policy research. Accessed on iii/27/2020 at https://iwpr.org/publications/best-u.s.-2018/

Tung I, Lathrop Y, and Soon P. 2015. The growing motion for $15. National Employment Law Projection. Downloaded on 2/27/2020 from: https://www.nelp.org/publication/growing-movement-15/

image of Capitol edifice by opens in a new windowRawpixel LTD / flickr

Content last modified three/27/2020

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Source: https://parentingscience.com/us-coronavirus-relief-what-parents-should-know/