Wednesday Soapbox Cartoonist’s take Stimulus check can do more as donation

On New Year’s Day, a deposit of $1,200 from the IRS hit my checking account — a payment of $600 for both my wife and me. This was the latest “stimulus” payment, and it worked. We were stimulated to donate the entire amount to Marin nonprofits that serve our community’s most needy. We did this before when we received the first stimulus check last year.

Tens of millions of Americans are in desperate need of additional stimulus funding. They need money to support their families, avoid eviction, provide health care, put food on their tables, buy time until they can find a job and to stay afloat a little bit longer. These are the people who need support.

However, millions of us do not need or deserve such stimulus payments. We have been employed or are retired and living on investment income that has maintained, or even increased, over the past year. We have been most fortunate. Indeed, we are blessed.

It seems clear that our government cannot determine who does or does not deserve to receive stimulus payments. Consequently, the waste in “working” capital is extraordinary.

I am writing to urge everyone to look in the mirror and, if you can honestly say, “I don’t need this stimulus payment,” to donate it to those who do. Many excellent Marin nonprofits serve our most underserved. The choice is yours, and together, we can stimulate a significant difference in their lives.

— Bruce Burtch, San Rafael