LogFAQs > #947394819

Aaantlion posted...

Again, he's 17. Have you ever met a 17 y/o? Or remember when you were 17? They're not terribly likely to just hand over large amounts to their parents if they can avoid it. And most parents wouldn't ask for it if they could avoid it.

I didn't blow large amounts of money simply because I had it when I was 17, either, even without the very obvious issue of a growing pandemic and incoming economic recession. Even at 17, I had enough situational awareness to know that said pandemic meant I should probably hang on to that money in case my family fell on hard times in the months to come, and I definitely would have done so if my parents raised that concern with me (especially since they generally respected my financial autonomy and I could comfortably trust that they would let me keep it if it turned out they didn't need it, and wouldn't ask unless they really did).

Teenagers do have common sense. Heck, on average, I wouldn't be surprised if teenagers understand the ramifications of this pandemic better than adults, on average (though that wouldn't be that hard, given some of their competition). There's absolutely room to criticize his poor judgement, even though he's a teenager (in fact, there's always room to criticize teenagers' poor judgement, since without that criticism, they can't learn better).

Shadowbird_RH posted...

Waaaiiit. So it was a recent acquisition? I hadn't been following the story closely enough to know that, but that makes it pretty conclusively damning that it was a case of having a shiny new toy and just dying to use it.

Better than that, he wasn't legally allowed to buy it due to being a minor, so he got a 19-year-old friend to buy it for him.

likehelly posted...

to be fair, that was the entire point of the stimulus money.

literally in the name stimulus, to stimulate the economy by purchasing things.

Ehh, yes and no. The idea is to stimulate the economy, but the need to do so was arising/expected to arise due to everybody having less money in the near future. It shouldn't have been hoarded indefinitely (since that's a major contributor to recessions), but blowing it all at once - particularly on items made outside the US (meaning the money loses its ability to stimulate local economies) - also isn't ideal.

Ultimately, it should be spent, yes, and anyone who doesn't actually need the extra money doesn't need to save it for the upcoming rainy days (there's room to question whether or not such people should have received the cheques, but that's another issue), but blowing it immediately still is not very sensible for the vast majority of people.

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