What A Day - Stimulus Check, Please!

Episode Date: April 16, 2020

Over 80 million Americans should have seen their coronavirus stimulus payments deposited in their bank accounts yesterday. For the rest of us, we'll have to wait for the mail version. Small businesses are seeing their loan program, which has been overloaded and clunky, run out money.Conservative activists gathered in Ohio and Michigan yesterday to protest the pandemic lockdown status in those states. But polls show they are in the minority.And in headlines: universities are dropping standardized testing requirements for fall applicants, retirees discover lost apples, and Reese Witherspoon’s dress company bungles a giveaway.

It's Thursday, April 16th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, giving our daily salute to frozen pizza. How you can stay so delicious after being many months old is truly beyond me. Please show us the secret to eternal tastiness, Mr. Pizza. I will do whatever you ask. On today's show, protests against lockdowns in Ohio and Michigan, and then some headlines. But first, the latest. It's like, you don't need no Democrats to make you look bad. Sir, you make your own self look bad.

Well, Cardi, he's doing that. You're talking about your views on Twitter. He's doing that right now. And then you don't take responsibility. We are in this point because of him. He could have been avoided this in January. So that was Cardi B and Bernie Sanders, in case you couldn't tell, going off on Trump on Instagram Live. We love it. The two most identifiable voices perhaps in the world. But in news, let's start with the stimulus payments that are part of the last economic relief package that passed in Congress. The first of those started to go out yesterday.

Something like 80 million Americans should have seen the money deposited into their bank accounts. And that number is derived from people who filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return and got their refund from the IRS via direct deposit. Yeah. So if you didn't get yours yet, but you think you qualify, it could still be on the way. Yes, exactly. And as we've talked about before, Americans in lower income brackets that didn't file a tax return or anyone that doesn't have direct deposit set up with the IRS will be getting paper checks in the mail. And those will come later with the president's name printed on them. A beautiful added bonus. Those checks are scheduled to start going out to about 70 million Americans, and about 5 million checks will be mailed every week until September, beginning first with the lowest income taxpayers. The first checks are set to be mailed in the coming days.

The IRS also unveiled a website for people to track the money yesterday, but it was quickly overwhelmed. The cleverly titled Get My Payment tool will also tell users if the IRS needs more information from you, like bank account info. All right. And let's remind people quickly how the payments work. Yeah. So individuals with adjusted gross income below $75,000 will get the full $1,200. And it's $2,400 for couples who make less than $150,000 jointly. You're just doubling the numbers there. The money scales down above those income brackets, and individuals making above $99,000 or $198,000

for married couples don't qualify. All of this sounds like a pretty simple rubric, but identifying who qualifies and getting the checks out to them is showing itself to be quite cumbersome. Which, side note, is why some lawmakers wanted these payments to just go out to everyone regardless of income or tax filing status and be sent in the mail via a prepaid debit card or something else easier and more quick. But instead, the program is being run through the IRS, which has seen budget cuts and doesn't have a big outreach program to educate people like we are doing in this conversation. In the meantime, private companies like TurboTax are stepping in to target people who are looking for this sort of information. For instance, ProPublica reported that Intuit, the maker of

TurboTax, rolled out a tool this month called the, quote, stimulus registration product, which is free, but sometimes steers users to their paid tax filing products rather than free options from the IRS. Yeah, so please be careful what you click on. And speaking of taxes, the federal deadline this year is delayed to July 15th, but some states like Virginia and Mississippi have earlier deadlines, so just be sure to check your state filing deadline. Are there any other economic details to catch up on? Yeah, so we're going to get new unemployment numbers today, and it's obviously been quite grim.

More than 16 million people in the last three weeks have filed for unemployment benefits. Economists are expecting millions more in the data today. And the emergency small business loan program that the government set up is already running out of money less than two weeks in. It's called the Paycheck Protection Program, and loans are run through the banks and backed by the government. The system has predictably been overloaded. That's a common trend with a lot of things that we're seeing. Clunky, slow to approve applications and slow to get money out the door. Congress is now debating when and how to add more money to that fund. So that's a little on where things stand with economic relief. But what else is happening around the country? All right. So Trump supporters and science deniers, at least a few carrying Confederate flags,

met up in large groups yesterday to protest the pandemic lockdown status in Ohio and Michigan. They want to be free to, you know, get coronavirus. They don't like all this so-called government overreach. Now, this is interesting because Ohio's governor is a Republican. Michigan's is a Democrat. And while the point of the protest was clear, the idea of a group protest in a pandemic feels like Darwinism, right? Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was subject to lock-her-up chants

from constituents outside the Capitol. The protest follows a lawsuit filed by four Michigan residents who have accused Whitmer of violating their First and Fifth Amendment rights. One of those is the freedom to die in an unsavory mob, right? I cannot say that it is. Are you sure? I'm pretty sure. All right. Well, it would appear that their First Amendment rights haven't been trampled since, you know, they were literally at a protest. According to their attorney,

they're upset that they can no longer visit their vacation homes in the state. Meanwhile, Michigan just passed 25,000 COVID-19 cases this week. By the way, while these protests are super troubling, national polling shows that more than 80% of people favor stay-at-home measures. And even the business leaders that Trump has gathered together on his Reopen America advisory group say they want more testing and they want it to be available before going back to business. Right. That's the thing that has to precede any sort of reopening. And more broadly, what's happening with the federal government?

Well, yesterday we told you that Donald Trump was halting funding to the World Health Organization pending an investigation. And yesterday, world leaders, Trump's CDC director, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Bill Gates, and the Chamber of Commerce, which is famously conservative, spoke against Trump's decision because they think halting funding during a pandemic is a bad idea. I kind of agree with them. Yeah. And then internationally, what else do we know? All right. So there is plenty to cover, but we want to do a quick zoom in on Africa. So the continent had initially fared incredibly well, even as European visitors brought the virus to Nigeria and South Africa early last month. Well, unfortunately, there are now more

than 15,000 cases reported on the continent. So we're going to continue to follow that as it develops. And that's the latest. happy Thursday WOD squad we're still staying home keeping our distance and we're

checking in on each other so Giddy have you acted on any nostalgic impulses since being

locked down nostalgic impulses hmm I've looked at old photos for sure

uh Nickelback blaring in the background um as as the background as we want to do. That's probably it. I have nostalgia for like a month ago, not like nostalgia for years and years. I sometimes see like Instagrams of food from like la times food writers and i'm like fuck i wish i could just like have a greasy ass sandwich at a restaurant um yeah i miss restaurants yeah

yeah it's fair do you have any 90s vibes though that's sort of what you're you're getting at right like yeah i mean you know just stuff from childhood i i feel like i definitely just like gave up on my not eating cereal stance you know shout out to magic spoon not sponsored right now but i also like just have been jonesing to watch space jam been listening to like mostly old playlists like for some reason nothing from right now is hitting So I'm just I'm going real far back, like pre-Trump before I knew anybody back when I was barefoot in Kentucky. That sounds good. Yeah. I mean, the most like recent music I've listened to is probably John Prine. And that's not from that's not from this era at all. That's like from like before I was born. So

well, I dig that. All right. Well, consider our temperature checked. You know, we hope the vibes are right where you are and that, you know, you have a good rest of the day. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. since the beginning of the pandemic. Voters were handed masks and gloves and had their temperatures taken before entering polling stations. There were also special voting booths available in government-run isolation centers for those who might be feeling symptoms of the virus.

The government has gotten a lot of praise for how they handled the virus from the beginning with widespread testing, tracing, and containment. We could learn something. The country's news outlets should also be praised for announcing election results using little animated politicians that face off in video game style battles. Tech in 10, Biden versus Trump. Colleges and universities across the country are dropping their SAT and ACT requirements.

Around 51 schools, including all the schools in California's UC system, have waived the testing requirements for fall applicants. Over 20 schools are making them optional in addition to that. This comes after the companies behind the SAT and ACT postponed all spring exam dates due to restrictions on public gatherings and high school closures. Some see this as a stepping stone to getting rid of the test for good. Education reform groups have long been criticizing the SAT and ACT for giving an advantage to wealthier students. Yesterday, the companies behind the

tests announced that exams will resume in the fall, and depending on the public health situation, students might be able to take them online at home. Man, Aunt Becky has to be pissed. Two retirees who form a group called Lost Apple Project have unearthed 10 presumed to be extinct pioneer-era apples in the Pacific Northwest. Finally, some good news. The two men log hundreds of miles each year searching for ancient apple trees, using old maps, county fair records, newspaper clippings, and more to pinpoint the sites of long-abandoned orchards. I can already feel myself crying at this movie when I watch it next year on Disney+.

North America once had 17,000 named varieties of apple, but only 4,500 are known to exist today. Give these apple boys a few more years and they're going to get that number up to 5,000. This year's 10 rediscovered apples include the Sari Synap, the Streaked Pippin, and the Buttersweet. Experts were able to identify them using 19th and early 20th century watercolor paintings, which is something you would do if you were a detective from a children's book whose name is Officer Rabbit. The first job I want is to be part of the Lost Apple Project. The second job I want is to name said lost apples. What a treat. Companies all over are rushing to show that they care in times of coronavirus.

And one company rushed too fast and fell down several metaphorical flights of stairs. That was Reese Witherspoon's wealthy southern lady fashion company Draper James, which announced on April 2nd that in an effort to thank school teachers for working harder than ever during the pandemic, they were giving teachers a free dress. Now, the problem is the 30 person company had just 250 dresses to give away. After their promo was picked up by the stage show and Good Morning America, nearly 1 million teachers applied. When the truth got out, the teachers who didn't get swagged up by Draper James were furious, and they were also new members of a listserv which hit them with multiple Draper James promos per day. One teacher said the dress giveaway felt like it was made to benefit Witherspoon's brand over anyone else.

Instead, Draper James will now be associated with misleading educators in addition to floral patterns and sweet tea. Aww. And those are the headlines. Quick plug before we go. So we cover the coronavirus here on What A Day, but for more stories about hardships and resilience during this time, check out Crooked's newest podcast, Six Feet Apart, with Alex Wagner. You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. That's all for today. If you liked the show, make sure you subscribe,

leave a review, sew us a mask, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just brands trying to write tasteful ad copy during a pandemic like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick.

And that sounds like a case for Officer Rabbit. Aw, cute. He's good, but I don't think we should force animals into the police force, frankly. You know, I agree with this. We should talk about it more. What a Day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tunn is our assistant producer.

Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.