WHAT JUST HAPPENED WITH YOUR STIMULUS CHECK

What's up, Graham? It's guys here, so I'm sure we all know this saying: whatever can happen will happen. As much as we thought it was a sure thing that the Senate would pass some sort of stimulus package before they left for recess on August 7th, they weren't able to pass an agreement, and the negotiations came to a bit of a standstill.

I'm not going to bore you with the details, but long story short, both sides had a very different opinion of what they were and were not willing to spend, and they were not able to get close enough to reach a compromise. That meant that as of Saturday, with nothing accomplished, the president took it upon himself to issue what's known as an executive order with four new points that should get more money back in your pocket through the end of the year.

However, these points aren't without a catch that everyone needs to be made aware of. So I'm just going to keep this video super quick and to the point and explain exactly what this means, what's going on, what this means for you, explain all the details that often get left out, what's going on with your stimulus check, and I'll just be sticking with the facts because this situation is quite an unusual one.

But really quick, if you wouldn't mind just issuing an executive order on the like button to turn blue for the YouTube algorithm, it would be greatly appreciated. All you need to do is give it a little push until it turns blue, and then once it does, the almighty algorithm is going to be super happy, super grateful for that. So with that said, thank you very much, and let's begin the video here.

So just to some background: the Senate has spent the last few weeks negotiating the upcoming stimulus package, with the hopes of extending unemployment benefits, sending out another stimulus check, refunding the Payroll Protection Program, and a multitude of other points that are very important to address. Unfortunately though, as much as this seemed like a sure thing of being negotiated and passed, after weeks, nothing much was accomplished, and it dragged on way longer than any of us could have anticipated.

On Saturday, the president formally came forward and issued an executive order that would give most Americans more money back in their pockets. We'll discuss that shortly because there are some details that everyone should be made aware of. But when it comes to that, here's exactly what this executive order does: the president has to some degree the rights to enforce certain authorities, and when those terms are created, it goes through a review to make sure everything is in order.

This review process makes sure the president can't just say, "You know what, I woke up today, I don't like the color purple anymore, so we're banning purple," and "I feel like giving everyone $10,000, so let's do that." And make sure the like button gets smashed because obviously something like that just can't be passed.

But the president does have the rights to basically cut to the front of a line with the executive order, within reason, and just be able to expedite this type of assistance much faster. So once the president does issue an executive order, it does not mean it's 100% finalized and nothing could be done about it, but it does at least show a strong willingness by the president that he wants these terms to go into effect.

However, when it comes to these four points that he wants to push through, it's not as easy as you might think. Even though a president can pass an executive order, only Congress can approve how much money is spent, if anything. And for several of these executive orders, there are items in here which could be argued in an attempt to block them. I'll explain how this works throughout each of these executive orders, but it's really important to understand this because even though some of these might be helpful, it probably is not going to be without at least a little bit of skepticism as to whether or not these will pass exactly as it's currently written.

So let's go over exactly what these are. First, we have what's known as the Payroll Tax Holiday. Because you know it, we all need another holiday. This is an executive order for employers to temporarily defer payroll taxes for their employees, effectively giving you more money back on every paycheck. See, anytime you get paid, a portion of your paycheck is deducted for taxes.

Here's how that works: first, you have 6.2% deducted for social security taxes, and then you have another 1.45% deducted for Medicare taxes. This new executive order would defer those taxes from September 1st until the end of the year for anyone making less than $4,000 bi-weekly before taxes, which is another fancy way of saying for most people making under $104,000 a year.

Now, for somebody earning $6,000 a month, that would equate to a paid boost of roughly $240 a month, or about $1,800, give or take, through the end of the year. However, this is where things start taking a slightly different turn. The president can, through executive order, defer taxes like this for up to a year, but that tax cannot be forgiven without approval from Congress.

That means as of right now, the payroll tax is going to need to be paid back by 2021. So even though you do get to keep more money up front, unless anything changes, this is money that you have to pay back, and this is not money that you get to keep. Now, this was mentioned in the executive order that the Secretary of the Treasury shall explore avenues, including legislation, to eliminate the obligation to pay the taxes deferred pursuant to the implementation of this memorandum.

So hypothetically, he wants this tax to be forgiven, but it's not guaranteed. That means the best course of action right now is that if you do get more money up front from not paying payroll taxes, just assume you're going to have to pay it back. My concern is that a lot of people might not fully understand this, or they'll go and spend the money with the assumption that it'll be forgiven, and if it's not, they might be hit with a much larger tax bill with money they might not afford to pay back.

It's also a bit unclear that if someone makes just marginally above the $4,000 a week, if that makes them ineligible for anything, or could this be something that potentially just phases out as you make slightly more money. So just be super aware of this, so there are not any surprises, and if you get money back, just think of this as a zero percent interest loan for a few months that you will have to pay back at some point in the future, and that's assuming if you actually get it, which I'll go into some detail on that shortly.

Next, before we talk about the unemployment benefits, let's talk briefly about the eviction protections for tenants, which is another executive order. Now, for anyone who's not aware, there is a temporary eviction freeze in the CARES Act that prevented evictions from being processed, meaning anybody who met a certain criteria could not be evicted from their home. However, that eviction freeze has now expired, and the fear is that landlords are going to start evicting their tenants all at once and creating a surge of new vacancies, with people all needing to leave their homes at the same time.

Now here's the thing: I've read his executive order, and I'll link to it down below in the description, but it does not explicitly provide any eviction protection, at least not in the literal sense. What it does do, however, is give the power to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the CDC to consider whether any measures of halting eviction is reasonably necessary to prevent the further spread of the illness, which is really just a fancy way of saying they will see what they can do.

So in the meantime, as of today, evictions can still be processed as usual, and it'll probably take some time for a more formal eviction protection package to go into effect. So no, this executive order does not freeze evictions, but it does pass the power onto other people who can make that decision. After that, we should probably talk about the one that's by far the most heavily debated from everything, and that would be the extended unemployment benefit.

This was one of the most heavily scrutinized points in the stimulus package that neither side could agree on either way. It's a very delicate situation, and there's no perfect solution to this, but the executive order attempts at helping out. This calls for a $400 a week unemployment benefit ending no later than December 6, 2020. From this, the federal government would supply $300 a week, and then after that, the state would chip in 25% of that, or $100 a week.

However, there's a bit of a fine print as to who qualifies for this. In order to be eligible, according to the executive order, the recipient must be eligible for at least $100 per week of unemployment compensation. That means that some people in some states would be receiving just under that $100 a week and therefore would not be able to qualify for any of it. It's also reported that states might be able to count the $100 a week from the amount they're already paying. So the net benefit from this might be more like $300 a week extra, but this would be retroactive as of August 1st, so anybody would be compensated back to that date.

As for when this all starts, they could begin immediately, but it's likely to take a few weeks for everything to get in order and for people to actually start receiving their money. Finally, before we talk about the likelihood of all of this going into effect and what's going on with the stimulus package, we should talk briefly about student loans. It's been ordered that all student loans held by the Department of Education be deferred interest-free until the end of the year. However, just remember that this does not apply to privately held loans, so if that's you, then this does not apply.

With all of that said, there are some challenges with this. The first is that technically, these executive orders could be challenged in court, and that would delay these benefits from going into effect. Now, on a smaller scale, there are some issues with this going into effect that do need to be discussed if you want a full perspective on how this is probably going to play out. First, with the Payroll Tax Holiday, this is only a deferment, so these taxes will need to be paid back.

It's also the employers who are responsible for withholding this tax and making sure it's paid, so this might create a logistical tax nightmare if they're not able to collect this money back and get it paid by the beginning of the year. So I just have a feeling that most employers, out of caution, will choose not to give their employees that extra payroll tax, knowing that most likely it's going to have to be paid back in a few more months.

Plus, if an employee quits or leaves before the end of the year, there is no way any employer is just going to try to find their employees and then track down that money that should be paid back. And also, if this amount is forgiven, meaning you don't have to pay it back, it means less money for the Social Security program, which is already very underfunded as it is. This also only benefits people who are currently working, and unless it's forgiven, it's probably not going to lead to a long-term benefit anyway. Only Congress could vote to have this tax forgiven altogether, and it's really just to wait and see what happens at this point.

The second, the eviction protection is not really an eviction protection at all; it just passes the authority to someone else to make that decision at their own discretion if needed. So as of now, evictions are still on the table, and my advice to all the tenants and landlords out there is to try to negotiate amongst yourselves instead of going through an eviction. For tenants, you might want to work out a payment plan with your landlord to stay in the house as long as you can, and landlords, try to work out a deal with your tenants because that's going to save you a lot of time and a lot of money than going through an eviction.

The third, the unemployment benefit is most likely the most substantial from all of this, but right now as it's currently written, there's only enough funding to last for about five weeks, given that $44 billion limitation. Now, of course, it has been speculated that this executive order is more like a push for the Senate to work on an all-encompassing stimulus package that would provide more thorough eviction protections, more funding for state and local governments, and stimulus checks for the people. But so far, negotiations have not been going that well.

It's also still a possibility that some of these executive orders might be challenged in court, so not to set the precedent that the president can enact these orders that include spending because the two are supposed to remain separate. So even though all of this has been signed, there are some aspects of this that are a bit up in the air, especially when this order requires that states fund 25% to the unemployment benefit, and some states say that they just don't have the money.

If and when the Senate passes a more comprehensive, all-encompassing stimulus package, that package would override any of these executive orders. So potentially what we have right now signed today could only be temporary. As of right now, negotiations with the Senate are still in effect, and I'm still a firm believer and I'm optimistic that at some point, some sort of stimulus package will be passed, although it's unclear exactly when and for how much.

The good news is that both sides are in total agreement about sending out another stimulus check, just like last time, but it's really about negotiating the details on all the other matters that are holding this up right now. But as of today, these executive orders do do something, but it's not exactly as much as people think.

And yes, I know I said doo doo. And by the way, I just want to give a very quick shout-out because this is unbelievable. In a previous video, I jokingly said that if someone were to make a compilation of every single time that I asked people to smash the like button for the YouTube algorithm, I was going to shout it out in a video. Two people came forward and probably spent like 50 to 70 hours compiling a list of every single time I said "smash the like button" for these two algorithms.

But smash that like button, like button, that like button, smash the like button, smash that like button, like button, smash that like button, smash that like button, smash that like button, smash that. This is Teddy! Teddy do not want to be on the floor; instead, you want to jump up on the chair with me as we film. You also want to make sure you guys make sure to like and subscribe.

So I'm going to link these videos down below in the description, but we got number one, Jaden Craig. He was the first one to post this video; it's 20 minutes long, and it's like almost 800 times that I said "smash like button." Then we also have Andrew Tran, who came in second on this; he posted right afterwards, and he also compiled the list in order, it looks like, by the way of every time I said "smash like button" on the main channel.

Thank you guys both so much for doing this; it's unreal how many times I've asked everyone to smash the like button. Which is a reminder: if you haven't already, smash the like button! Make sure to smash the like button because smashing a like button is good! To smash the like button, thank you so much for smashing the like button!

So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it. Make sure to destroy the subscribe button and notification bell. Also, feel free to add me on Instagram; I post pretty much daily, so if you want to be a part of it there, feel free to add me there, as on my second channel, The Graham Stephan Show. I post there every single day, I'm not posting here, so if you want to see a brand new video from me every single day, make sure to add yourself to that.

Lastly, if you guys want two free stocks, use the link down below in the description, and WeBull is going to be giving you two free stocks when you deposit a hundred dollars on the platform, with one of those stocks potentially worth all the way up to one thousand four hundred dollars. So if you want those two free stocks, use the link down below, so let me know which two free stocks you get. Thank you so much for watching, and until next time!