Americans spending stimulus checks on food
By midweek, an estimated 80 million Americans received stimulus payments from the federal government as a response to the economic havoc that Covid-19 has wrought. Unsurprisingly, recipients are using that money to stock up on food and other basics. According to the Washington Post, Netspend (a prepaid debit card company) processed almost $1 billion this past week, with its customers overwhelmingly using the money “for groceries, fast food, pharmacies and gas, as well as withdrawing cash from ATMs.” More than half of those transactions were PIN-based purchases at food markets and ATMs. People can track their pending payments on a new IRS site.
