Congressional Democrats and the Biden administration marketed the $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” as a way to help Americans in financial need after a year of government-induced lockdowns, purposefully leaving out people they believed should not benefit from the extra funds.

Now that the same government that encouraged a widespread economic shutdown has allocated Americans’ own money back to them by passing a bill that costs taxpayers more than they will ever get back in stimulus checks, people are speculating how they will spend their new money.

As some have already pointed out, there are beneficial ways to spend that stimulus “hush money,” such as buying necessities (food, water, shelter), purchasing guns, and paying off any outstanding debts. Others, however, are in full splurge mode, showing that the trillion dollars showered on Americans didn’t just go to those who desperately needed it or would use it for practical purposes.

Drugs

A 2-year-old boy in Kentucky died this week after he overdosed on fentanyl his mother bought with her stimulus check. The toddler reportedly ingested some of the synthetic opioid while the 33-year-old woman slept off the dose she took a shot of earlier in the day, the police report stated.

During the first round of stimulus in 2020, approximately 24 million Americans used their check from the government on alcohol, tobacco, or drugs, sparking concerns about a potential rise in overdoses and addiction in vulnerable communities. While some areas of the country are no longer subject to prolonged lockdowns and strict orders to isolate, people who work in the drug market expect the same rise in purchases to continue shortly after the most recent stimulus check hit bank accounts and pockets.

Sports Betting

While some Americans already opted to spend their stimulus money on physical products, others chose to blow through their $1,400 checks by placing bets on teams in the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament or attending the games in-person.

This is an especially poor choice because not only are there no concrete returns or benefits if a gamble is wrong, but the chances of creating a perfect bracket that will rake in tons of money are insanely low. According to the NCAA, there is a 1 in 120.2 billion chance of someone with knowledge of basketball creating absolutely flawless predictions. Those chances plummet to a one in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 chance of creating a perfect bracket if someone merely guesses about the outcomes of each team each round.

Elaborate Vacations

After a year of being forced to stay home, many Americans would love some time off to relax, and the latest stimulus payments are doing just that for people who received the money and are not struggling to feed their families every day.

CNBC highlighted one of these Americans, 47-year-old Katie Kopiec, who said that because she took no hits to her income over the last year, she is planning on using the money for a trip to Tennessee.

“To us, this means something extra for everything we’ve lost in this awful year,” she said.

She is not alone. Multiple Twitter users said they used their stimulus checks to fund their vacations.

In 2020, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Congress did not start considering stimulus bills to fund peoples’ vacations.

Other Unnecessary Things

Other honorable mentions in the dumb things to fund with stimulus money include…

Big Tech products:

https://twitter.com/HermesConrad00/status/1373098017608306694

and home decor:

Source: The Federalist

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