It’s our slice of a $2.2 trillion pie.
The feds want to stimulate our quarantine by doling out $1,200 checks.
What’s up with that?
It is part of the ginormous coronavirus relief package to reboot the economy and the survival of the huddled masses.
About 80 million people will get stimulus checks up to $1,200 for singles and $2,400 for couples.
Out of $2.2 trillion, this might seem like chump change.
Make that Trump change.
President Donald Trump’s autograph is on the memo section of the mailed checks.
It’s sad money and mad money.
Fashion Nova tried to turn the black plague into Black Friday. The online clothing store got a backlash of tweets for its push to get people to spend their stimulus money on clothes endorsed by the Kardashians.
People seem stoked by the sales at pot shops, though. The checks arrived just in time for “Weed Day” on April 20.
That $1,200 windfall will buy a joint a day for eight months. Or a Popeye’s chicken sandwich every day for 10 months. Or both daily for 4.5 months.
The New York Post reported stimulus spenders are buying firearms, sex toys, stripper poles and tigers.
In Lynnwood, hot ticket items are guns, guitars and game systems, said Jerry DuRuz III, third-generation owner of Jerry’s Jewelry & Loans pawn shop on Highway 99 in Lynnwood.
Guns sell because people are scared, DuRuz said. The other items because they are bored.
It’s a good time to score deals on tools and jewelry, which are gathering dust these days at the pawn shop that his grandfather Jerry started in 1964.
It’s an essential business, but foot traffic is down. He cut back hours and extended his grace periods on pawned items.
“If the loan is past due, I’ll hold their stuff,” DuRuz said. “I keep the doors open. I’m doing what I can.”
His wife, Coley, a bartender, was laid off from the Cactus Moon Saloon in Everett. Together, they have eight children, including 18-year-old triplet boys who will graduate from Glacier Peak High School this year.
The couple’s stimulus money will go toward the mortgage, bills and property taxes.
Current, a digital bank, reported customers are spending their payouts with 16% going for food, 14% for money transfers, 10% for gas, 9% at grocery stores and 5% on video games.
Here’s how Herald readers responding to a Facebook post said they were using their bonus bucks:
“Pay the rent.”
“New tires.”
“Billzzz.”
“Boogaloo.”
“Use it to pay for 2019 taxes owed.”
“Holding it to pay this year’s medical insurance deductible.”
“Savings and a nice spa day treatment for mom.”
“Donating and spending the money locally.”
Retired teacher Judith Lowell is among those sharing the wealth.
“I am giving my $1,200 to the closest food banks to where I live, Volunteers of America Food Pantry on Casino Road and Faith Food Bank,” said Lowell, who taught at Snohomish High, Machias Elementary and Seattle Hill Elementary.
“Also, I just added $5 a month to my Herald subscription to go to my paper carrier.”
Thanks a trillion, Judith. Those carriers are a crucial part of the news.
Trillion isn’t a number we use often.
What is it?
A trillion is 1,000,000,000,000, also known as 10 to the 12th power. It’s a million million. A thousand billion.
That tiny $0.2 trillion amounts to $200 billion.
Wait, and all we’re each getting is a measly $1,200?
After trillion comes quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion and decillion, which has 33 zeros.
Gazillion, bazillion and zillion aren’t real numbers, but googol is.
A googol is 1 followed by 100 zeros: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Google originated from a misspelling of googol, which was picked to signify that the search engine intended to provide large quantities of information. One share of Google stock will cost you the entire $1,200 check.
To count to a million, at one number per second, non-stop with no breaks, it would take 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes and 40 seconds. In 2007, an Alabama man started with the number 1 and counted 16 hours a day. It took him 89 days to reach 1,000,000. He celebrated by doing the chicken dance.
And yes, kids, you can try this at home during lockdown. Parents can sing “A trillion bottles of beer on the wall …”
To count to a trillion, starting with 1, it would take almost 200,000 years, according to an enchanting children’s picture book, “How Much is a Million?”
The book is $3.99 at Amazon.com. You can buy 300 copies with your check.
A share of Amazon stock is $2,400, so you’ll have to sweet-talk your partner into it.
Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.
What does $1,200 buy?
• A giant $30 bag of movie popcorn curbside from Galaxy Theatre in Monroe and a giant TV.
• A YMCA couples membership for a year.
• 1,090 things from the dollar store (sales tax, remember).
• A dog or cat adoption and food and vet bills for a year.
• Six trips to Costco.
Double the bang: Donations to Sharing Wheels, a nonprofit that refurbishes bicycles for kids and adults, will be matched through May 6.
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