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Coronavirus stimulus checks talks break over partisan fight

Coronavirus stimulus checks talks break over partisan fight

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coronavirus stimulus checks

August 8th update: The likelihood of Coronavirus stimulus checks coming in the near future has dampened. Late Friday, Trump tweeted out that the Democrats were mostly interested in bailing out blue (Democratic) states, which are in deep date. Whatever, ones feelings on the matter the fact that there is public feuding over other crucial details does not bode well for checks anytime soon.

Editor’s note: This article contains the latest news on the coronavirus stimulus package. It’s updated regularly with news about coronavirus stimulus checks and related issues.

August 7, 2020 Update: Americans’ hope of a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks is drying up again as talks between the White House and key Democrats collapse. Although the two sides agree that they should send a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks, they don’t agree on anything else.

Their disagreement threatens to derail all hope of more coronavirus stimulus checks. President Donald Trump has said his staff is working on executive orders in case the stimulus talks do fall apart. However, the executive order probably won’t include a second round of checks.

Trump and Democrats argue

If Trump is forced to use an executive order because Congress won’t come to a bipartisan agreement, the order will probably include a payroll tax cut, protections from eviction, an extension for unemployment and options for student loan repayment.

The president listed those items and said he instructed his staff to keep working on an executive order including them. There was no mention of coronavirus stimulus checks, probably because that would require Congress to approve funds to pay for the checks.

His constitutional ability to issue such an order and have it be binding is in question.

No coronavirus stimulus checks if no deal by Friday

August 6, 2020 Update: The White House and Democratic leaders are slowly moving closer to a deal on the next relief package and more coronavirus stimulus checks. The two sides met again on Wednesday in an attempt to strike a deal on the next stimulus package.

They hope to have an agreement by the end of the week. If there is no deal by tomorrow, there might be no deal at all. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Republicans on Wednesday during a close-door lunch that they might stop the negotiations if a deal is not made by Friday, according to USA Today.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has kept his distance from the talks, which some Republican senators find to be a bit strange. According to The Hill, McConnell has stayed away from issues that divide Republicans over the last several years.

The issue of the next stimulus bill has been extremely divisive for the GOP. A Republican senator told The Hill that 20 Republicans aren’t on board with the GOP’s proposal for the next stimulus bill. The senator said conservatives are worried about saddling the next two generations with enormous piles of debt.

Another step toward second coronavirus stimulus check

August 5, 2020 Update: Republicans, Democrats and the White House agree that they should send Americans a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks. However, negotiations on other provisions of the next stimulus package continue to hold things up.

Democrats refuse to negotiate, and they may have already won on one key area of disagreement. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters he is “prepared to support” a stimulus bill that includes an extension of the $600 in weekly federal unemployment benefits.

Republicans have wanted to reduce the amount of the extra benefit, so people aren’t being paid more on unemployment than they were getting paid on the job. McConnell’s agreement to allow the extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits into the next stimulus package could go a long way toward getting the bill passed.

That means Americans have moved a bit closer to receiving the second round of coronavirus stimulus checks. However, lawmakers are still far from a compromise on other provisions. Some senators are calling for their August recess to be cancelled so they can get the stimulus package passed.

House lawmakers have been told to be prepared to return to Washington to vote on the package after the Senate passes it.

A “little” progress made on deal

August 4, 2020 Update: The second round of coronavirus stimulus checks remains on hold today as lawmakers continue to bicker about what to include in the next package. Bloomberg reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated that Monday’s negotiations brought “a little bit” of progress.

However, despite that progress, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remain wide apart in what they want to see in the next stimulus package. At this point, a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks appears to be the only thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on.

Lawmakers remain split over unemployment benefits as the extra $600 in weekly benefits was allowed to expire without a new deal. Democrats want to extend the $600 to allow people to continue to get paid more on unemployment than they did on the job.

However, Republicans want to reduce the amount of the extra unemployment benefit. Democrats are unwilling to compromise on the amount, demanding that it be kept at $600 a week instead of allowing a smaller amount so that a deal can be made.

Coronavirus stimulus checks and UI

In order for a deal to be made, both parties will have to compromise. That means the Republicans will have to allow more than $200 in weekly benefits, while Democrats will have to allow for less than $600.

Other key issues holding up a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks include financial aid for state and local governments and a number of pet projects lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and the White House are trying to tack on.

August 3, 2020 Update: Lawmakers supposedly made some progress on negotiations about the next round of coronavirus stimulus checks and other provisions. However, news reports this morning downplay any alleged progress.

CNN is reporting that despite the optimistic talk, lawmakers are still far from striking a deal on the next stimulus package. The deadline for extending the extra unemployment benefit has come and gone without a deal. That means jobless Americans will see their income drop dramatically this week.

$1,200 threshold

Republicans and Democrats agree on $1,200 coronavirus stimulus checks. However, the Democrats’ refusal to pass the next package in pieces the way Republicans have suggested means that there won’t be any checks until there is agreement on other, more controversial provisions.

Unemployment remains the sticking point between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats want to extend the extra $600 in weekly benefits, but Republicans want to reduce the amount so that people don’t continue to get paid more on unemployment than they did on the job.

Key Democrats and White House officials will be meeting again today to see if any progress can be made on a deal for the next coronavirus stimulus package and a second round of checks.

July 31, 2020 Update: The Senate has left for the weekend without passing a stimulus package for the House to vote on. That means there won’t be any coronavirus stimulus checks or other provisions because lawmakers just can’t get along.

Bipartisan support?

In a further demonstration of just how much bickering has been occurring on Capitol Hill, four Republican centers proposed yet another bill for coronavirus stimulus checks. Sens. Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, Steve Daines and Bill Cassidy introduced the Coronavirus Assistance for American Families Act, which calls for $1,000 coronavirus stimulus checks.

The bill would send $4,000 to a family of four, so while it means less for individuals, families would receive more because dependents would receive $1,000 each instead of $500, like in the CARES Act and HEALS Act. The bill also differs from the CARES Act because it includes dependents of all ages, including those with disabilities and college students.

It also makes U.S. citizens married to foreign nationals eligible for the money, although foreign nationals and others with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers would not be eligible to receive the payments.

Like with the CARES Act and HEALS Act, individuals earning up to $75,000 and couples earning up to $150,000 would be eligible for the coronavirus stimulus checks. The amount of the payments would be reduced by 5% of an individual’s adjusted gross income over those levels.

Trump wants second coronavirus stimulus check to be more than $1,200

July 30, 2020 Update: President Donald Trump has suggested that the second round of coronavirus stimulus checks could be more than $1,200. Both Republicans and Democrats have proposed a second round of $1,200 coronavirus stimulus checks.

Trump told KMID-TV in Texas on Wednesday he wants the next stimulus package to be “very generous” and that the second round of coronavirus stimulus checks “may go higher than” $1,200. He said he wants to see the second check be “very high because I love the people.”

Trump interviews

The president didn’t say how much he wants the second round of checks to be. According to NBC News, earlier in the day while leaving the White House, Trump said his biggest priorities for the next stimulus package are a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks and a moratorium on evictions.

He added that Congress can handle the rest of the issues “later,” noting that Democrats and Republicans are “so far apart” on other major issues. Both sides indicated on Wednesday that they hadn’t made any progress on striking a deal for the next coronavirus stimulus package.

Lawmakers are on a tight timeline to get something passed. The House leaves for its month-long August recess in a matter of days, and the Senate hasn’t even passed anything for the House to vote on yet.

Why families may receive more in second coronavirus stimulus check

July 29, 2020 Update: Under the HEALS Act, the second round of coronavirus stimulus checks could be larger than the first round of checks for many families. A key difference between the CARES Act, which sent the first round of checks, and the HEALS Act, is the fact that dependents of any age will be eligible for the extra $500.

The CARES Act capped the age of dependents at 17, which meant those age 18 and older did not receive the extra $500 in the family’s coronavirus stimulus check. That excluded older high school students, college students and other adult dependents from receiving $500 each.

Aside from the dependent payment, the coronavirus stimulus check provisions under the HEALS Act and CARES Act are identical. Individuals earning up to $75,000 will receive $1,200, while couples earning up to $150,000 will receive $2,400. The payments phase out after those levels and end at $99,000 for individuals and $198,000 for couples.

HEALS Act revealed with more coronavirus stimulus checks

July 28, 2020 Update: It seems more and more likely that there will be checks similar to those in the first round. However, do not get too excited even if it becomes official. The IRS is allegedly still working out glitch details, so you may have to wait even if the bill is passed soon!

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell revealed the HEALS Act on Monday, which includes a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks, among other provisions. The Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools Act comes with a $1 trillion price tag.

In addition to a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks, the bill includes an extra $200 in weekly unemployment benefits, which is a decrease from the $600 that was offered in the CARES Act. The bill also includes additional funding for schools.

How much money you will get

The second round of coronavirus stimulus checks under the HEALS Act is very similar to the first round under the CARES Act. Individuals earning up to $75,000 per year will receive $1,200, while couples earning up to $150,000 will receive $2,400.

The payments phase out after those levels, ending at $99,000 for individuals and $198,000 for couples. The coronavirus stimulus checks also include $500 per dependent of any age, which is a change from the first round of checks. The first round excluded dependents over the age of 17.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have already said the HEALS Act does not include what’s needed for the economy, such as hazard pay for essential workers. It also doesn’t address the eviction crisis ir provide more funds for food stamps.

GOP to unveil proposal with coronavirus stimulus checks today

July 27, 2020 Update: Senate Republicans are expected to reveal their full coronavirus stimulus package today, but negotiations are far from over. Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News over the weekend that half of Republicans are going to vote against the package, illustrating the barriers that still must be overcome before it becomes law.

A second round of coronavirus stimulus checks is expected to receive bipartisan support. Since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is introducing the package in multiple pieces, it is possible that the checks could be passed even if the other provisions he wants to see don’t pass both houses of Congress.

House on Coronavirus stimulus checks

After Republicans in the Senate reveal their proposal, they will then start negotiating with Senate Democrats. They are on a tight timeline as the House of Representatives leaves for its August recess at the end of the week.

If anything is going to be passed, it must pass at least the House before the end of the week. The Senate leaves for its August recess at the end of next week, so it will have time to negotiate on any revisions made by the House of Representatives.

The big question now is whether bipartisan bickering and infighting in the GOP keeps a second round of coronavirus checks and other provisions from being passed.

Coronavirus Stimlus Checks Are Vital For Economic Growth

July 25, 2020 Update: The US consumer is responsible for 70% of American gross domestic produce. This is why the stimulus check debate is so vital for the US economy. Especially, with business spending out, US consumers are even more vital for economic growth. If the average American does not have some extra money to spend they could take down the whole economy with them.

More and more details about the second round of coronavirus stimulus checks are coming out. We heard that the GOP’s version of the next stimulus package does indeed include more direct payments, but the amount of those payments and other details about eligibility were not released immediately.

June 24th Coverage

Now we know that the GOP’s proposal for a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks is the same as the first round. The bill calls for $1,200 checks to be sent to individuals earning up to $75,000 and couples earning up to $150,000. After those levels, the payments start to phase out, presumably until the $99,000 income level for individuals and $198,000 for couples. That makes the second round of coronavirus stimulus checks the same as the first round.

Confirmation that the second round of coronavirus stimulus checks will be the same as the first round came from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. He told reporters on Thursday that their proposal “is the exact same provision as last time,” according to Bloomberg.

Update on coronavirus stimulus checks expected today

July 23, 2020 Update:The GOP are continuing to bicker over the details of the Coronavirus stimulus checks package. It appears everyone wants a wide stimulus program, but the devil is in the details. One of the big debates is about unemployment. While not the same as the checks, the two are closely tied together. The Democrats want unemployment to continue, while the GOP believes it is boosting unemployment.

Republican lawmakers say they have reached an agreement on the next coronavirus stimulus package. They expect to reveal the stimulus bill today after three full days of negotiations.

GOP proposals

Senate Health Chairman Lamar Alexander said the agreement reflects the GOP’s priorities, which are “back to school, back to child care, back to work.” The stimulus bill includes $105 billion in funding for schools and billions of dollars for COVID-19 testing.

As expected, the bill comes with a price tag of $1 trillion. It includes a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks for families and individuals, liability protections, more forgivable loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, and incentives for businesses to retain and hire employees.

According to CNN, Sen. Roy Blunt told reporters that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to reveal the package today in pieces based on jurisdiction rather than as a single bill. That will bring the beginning of negotiations with Democrats.

GOP bickering may delay coronavirus stimulus checks

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell confirmed that a second round of IRS Coronavirus stimulus checks and payments will be included in the legislation he writes. However, it’s far from a done deal. Divisions among Republicans and the White House mean there is still much more negotiating to do before anything will be ready to go to Democrats for discussion.

Q2 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more

McConnell said Senate Republicans in general support a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks. He made the remark following a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.

Coronavirus stimulus checks and IRS

It was the first time McConnell confirmed that Republicans in the Senate will officially support sending a second round of IRS stimulus payments. He said they want another round of IRS stimulus payments “to help American families keep driving our national comeback.”

Before Tuesday’s remark, Republicans had debated among themselves whether more stimulus checks were necessary due to other priorities. McConnell’s remark is important because it indicates that Senate Republicans have joined Democrats and President Donald Trump in supporting a second round of coronavirus stimulus checks.

Income cap?

Although a major milestone has now been passed with Republicans finally on board with another round IRS stimulus payments, the details remain unclear. McConnell previously said he thought Americans earning less than $40,000 a year have been hit the hardest by the pandemic.

Thus, it was widely speculated that the income cap for the second round of coronavirus stimulus checks would be set at $40,000. However, after his remark on Tuesday, he offered no further details about eligibility for the second round of checks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi previously said she thought people earning more than $40,000 probably need help as well, so Democrats may want the income cap to be set higher. The question will be what Republicans come up with as a starting point for negotiations with the Democrats.

Republicans want to keep the next stimulus package at a $1 trillion price tag. A couple of ways to do that would be to tighten eligibility for the second coronavirus stimulus check and to reduce the amount of it.

Republicans split over next coronavirus stimulus package

McConnell’s comment about a second round of IRS Coronavirus stimulus checks payments indicates that at least one provision may have been agreed to. However, despite his comment, many Republicans may not actually support more coronavirus stimulus checks.

News reports indicate that several Republicans are speaking out against the bill as it’s taking shape under McConnell’s leadership. That means there may not actually be as much widespread support among Republicans for a second round of IRS stimulus checks as what is being reported.

Media reports

CNN and The New York Times both report that the divisions within the GOP have gotten to extreme levels following Tuesday’s close-door meeting. The meeting was aimed at negotiating provisions to include in the next stimulus package.

However, it devolved into a venting session in which key members of the GOP talked about what should and shouldn’t be in the package. CNN quotes McConnell as saying that the proposal he is working “enjoys fairly significant support among Republican senators” and adding but “not everyone.”

In a floor speech before the meeting, he listed the provisions he expects to include in the Republican plan. Those provisions include $105 billion in funding for schools, more targeted funding for forgivable small business loans, a second round of IRS stimulus payments, and liability protections for schools, businesses, healthcare workers and hospitals.

Negotiations delayed by divisions

While many Republicans are rallying behind the proposal, many provisions are still being discussed with the White House. One area of hot debate is a payroll tax cut, which Trump has said must be included in the package, or he might think about not signing it.

At Tuesday’s meeting, many senators reportedly spoke up against the idea of a payroll tax cut. Some even questioned whether another major spending package is necessary as they expressed concern about the federal deficit and how much has already been spent to deal with the pandemic.

Sen. Ted Cruz told reporters that based on where the proposal stood after the meeting, he was “not only a no,” but a “hell no.” Sen. Rand Paul also said he doesn’t support the bill as it stands.

Negotiations on the package were supposed to start in earnest this week, but the divisions within the GOP have significantly delayed them. Republicans still plan to reveal their package this week, but they are swiftly running out of time.

Coronavirus stimulus checks and the broader economy

Both houses of Congress will have to pass the bill by the end of next week. The longer Republicans take to come up with a starting point, the less likely Congress will be able to get something passed before the August recess. Negotiations with the Democrats are likely to be at least as difficult as the discussions among Republicans.

The August recess isn’t the only deadline lawmakers are up against. The extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits also runs out at the end of the month, and millions of Americans remain out of work.

Democratic demands

Democrats want to extend the extra $600 in benefits, but Republicans will likely seek to decrease the amount of extra benefits. However, given the division over other provisions in the bill, the GOP may not have even gotten to discussing unemployment yet, which is likely to be a key sticking point with Democrats.

The New York Times reports that top Republican officials privately said the negotiations are likely to stretch into August, which will leave millions of Americans without extra help as the pandemic continues to rage.

The post Coronavirus stimulus checks talks break over partisan fight appeared first on ValueWalk.

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‘Excess Mortality Skyrocketed’: Tucker Carlson and Dr. Pierre Kory Unpack ‘Criminal’ COVID Response

‘Excess Mortality Skyrocketed’: Tucker Carlson and Dr. Pierre Kory Unpack ‘Criminal’ COVID Response

As the global pandemic unfolded, government-funded…

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March 14, 2024

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'Excess Mortality Skyrocketed': Tucker Carlson and Dr. Pierre Kory Unpack 'Criminal' COVID Response

As the global pandemic unfolded, government-funded experimental vaccines were hastily developed for a virus which primarily killed the old and fat (and those with other obvious comorbidities), and an aggressive, global campaign to coerce billions into injecting them ensued.

Then there were the lockdowns - with some countries (New Zealand, for example) building internment camps for those who tested positive for Covid-19, and others such as China welding entire apartment buildings shut to trap people inside.

It was an egregious and unnecessary response to a virus that, while highly virulent, was survivable by the vast majority of the general population.

Oh, and the vaccines, which governments are still pushing, didn't work as advertised to the point where health officials changed the definition of "vaccine" multiple times.

Tucker Carlson recently sat down with Dr. Pierre Kory, a critical care specialist and vocal critic of vaccines. The two had a wide-ranging discussion, which included vaccine safety and efficacy, excess mortality, demographic impacts of the virus, big pharma, and the professional price Kory has paid for speaking out.

Keep reading below, or if you have roughly 50 minutes, watch it in its entirety for free on X:

"Do we have any real sense of what the cost, the physical cost to the country and world has been of those vaccines?" Carlson asked, kicking off the interview.

"I do think we have some understanding of the cost. I mean, I think, you know, you're aware of the work of of Ed Dowd, who's put together a team and looked, analytically at a lot of the epidemiologic data," Kory replied. "I mean, time with that vaccination rollout is when all of the numbers started going sideways, the excess mortality started to skyrocket."

When asked "what kind of death toll are we looking at?", Kory responded "...in 2023 alone, in the first nine months, we had what's called an excess mortality of 158,000 Americans," adding "But this is in 2023. I mean, we've  had Omicron now for two years, which is a mild variant. Not that many go to the hospital."

'Safe and Effective'

Tucker also asked Kory why the people who claimed the vaccine were "safe and effective" aren't being held criminally liable for abetting the "killing of all these Americans," to which Kory replied: "It’s my kind of belief, looking back, that [safe and effective] was a predetermined conclusion. There was no data to support that, but it was agreed upon that it would be presented as safe and effective."

Carlson and Kory then discussed the different segments of the population that experienced vaccine side effects, with Kory noting an "explosion in dying in the youngest and healthiest sectors of society," adding "And why did the employed fare far worse than those that weren't? And this particularly white collar, white collar, more than gray collar, more than blue collar."

Kory also said that Big Pharma is 'terrified' of Vitamin D because it "threatens the disease model." As journalist The Vigilant Fox notes on X, "Vitamin D showed about a 60% effectiveness against the incidence of COVID-19 in randomized control trials," and "showed about 40-50% effectiveness in reducing the incidence of COVID-19 in observational studies."

Professional costs

Kory - while risking professional suicide by speaking out, has undoubtedly helped save countless lives by advocating for alternate treatments such as Ivermectin.

Kory shared his own experiences of job loss and censorship, highlighting the challenges of advocating for a more nuanced understanding of vaccine safety in an environment often resistant to dissenting voices.

"I wrote a book called The War on Ivermectin and the the genesis of that book," he said, adding "Not only is my expertise on Ivermectin and my vast clinical experience, but and I tell the story before, but I got an email, during this journey from a guy named William B Grant, who's a professor out in California, and he wrote to me this email just one day, my life was going totally sideways because our protocols focused on Ivermectin. I was using a lot in my practice, as were tens of thousands of doctors around the world, to really good benefits. And I was getting attacked, hit jobs in the media, and he wrote me this email on and he said, Dear Dr. Kory, what they're doing to Ivermectin, they've been doing to vitamin D for decades..."

"And it's got five tactics. And these are the five tactics that all industries employ when science emerges, that's inconvenient to their interests. And so I'm just going to give you an example. Ivermectin science was extremely inconvenient to the interests of the pharmaceutical industrial complex. I mean, it threatened the vaccine campaign. It threatened vaccine hesitancy, which was public enemy number one. We know that, that everything, all the propaganda censorship was literally going after something called vaccine hesitancy."

Money makes the world go 'round

Carlson then hit on perhaps the most devious aspect of the relationship between drug companies and the medical establishment, and how special interests completely taint science to the point where public distrust of institutions has spiked in recent years.

"I think all of it starts at the level the medical journals," said Kory. "Because once you have something established in the medical journals as a, let's say, a proven fact or a generally accepted consensus, consensus comes out of the journals."

"I have dozens of rejection letters from investigators around the world who did good trials on ivermectin, tried to publish it. No thank you, no thank you, no thank you. And then the ones that do get in all purportedly prove that ivermectin didn't work," Kory continued.

"So and then when you look at the ones that actually got in and this is where like probably my biggest estrangement and why I don't recognize science and don't trust it anymore, is the trials that flew to publication in the top journals in the world were so brazenly manipulated and corrupted in the design and conduct in, many of us wrote about it. But they flew to publication, and then every time they were published, you saw these huge PR campaigns in the media. New York Times, Boston Globe, L.A. times, ivermectin doesn't work. Latest high quality, rigorous study says. I'm sitting here in my office watching these lies just ripple throughout the media sphere based on fraudulent studies published in the top journals. And that's that's that has changed. Now that's why I say I'm estranged and I don't know what to trust anymore."

Vaccine Injuries

Carlson asked Kory about his clinical experience with vaccine injuries.

"So how this is how I divide, this is just kind of my perception of vaccine injury is that when I use the term vaccine injury, I'm usually referring to what I call a single organ problem, like pericarditis, myocarditis, stroke, something like that. An autoimmune disease," he replied.

"What I specialize in my practice, is I treat patients with what we call a long Covid long vaxx. It's the same disease, just different triggers, right? One is triggered by Covid, the other one is triggered by the spike protein from the vaccine. Much more common is long vax. The only real differences between the two conditions is that the vaccinated are, on average, sicker and more disabled than the long Covids, with some pretty prominent exceptions to that."

Watch the entire interview above, and you can support Tucker Carlson's endeavors by joining the Tucker Carlson Network here...

Tyler Durden Thu, 03/14/2024 - 16:20

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Shakira’s net worth

After 12 albums, a tax evasion case, and now a towering bronze idol sculpted in her image, how much is Shakira worth more than 4 decades into her care…

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March 14, 2024

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Shakira’s considerable net worth is no surprise, given her massive popularity in Latin America, the U.S., and elsewhere. 

In fact, the belly-dancing contralto queen is the second-wealthiest Latin-America-born pop singer of all time after Gloria Estefan. (Interestingly, Estefan actually helped a young Shakira translate her breakout album “Laundry Service” into English, hugely propelling her stateside success.)

Since releasing her first record at age 13, Shakira has spent decades recording albums in both Spanish and English and performing all over the world. Over the course of her 40+ year career, she helped thrust Latin pop music into the American mainstream, paving the way for the subsequent success of massively popular modern acts like Karol G and Bad Bunny.

In late 2023, a 21-foot-tall bronze sculpture of Shakira, the barefoot belly dancer of Barranquilla, was unveiled at the city's waterfront. The statue was commissioned by the city's former mayor and other leadership.

Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images

In December 2023, a 21-foot-tall beachside bronze statue of the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer was unveiled in her Colombian hometown of Barranquilla, making her a permanent fixture in the city’s skyline and cementing her legacy as one of Latin America’s most influential entertainers.

After 12 albums, a plethora of film and television appearances, a highly publicized tax evasion case, and now a towering bronze idol sculpted in her image, how much is Shakira worth? What does her income look like? And how does she spend her money?

Related: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's net worth: How the new TKO Board Member built his wealth from $7

How much is Shakira worth?

In late 2023, Spanish sports and lifestyle publication Marca reported Shakira’s net worth at $400 million, citing Forbes as the figure’s source (although Forbes’ profile page for Shakira does not list a net worth — and didn’t when that article was published).

Most other sources list the singer’s wealth at an estimated $300 million, and almost all of these point to Celebrity Net Worth — a popular but dubious celebrity wealth estimation site — as the source for the figure.

A $300 million net worth would make Shakira the third-richest Latina pop star after Gloria Estefan ($500 million) and Jennifer Lopez ($400 million), and the second-richest Latin-America-born pop singer after Estefan (JLo is Puerto Rican but was born in New York).

Shakira’s income: How much does she make annually?

Entertainers like Shakira don’t have predictable paychecks like ordinary salaried professionals. Instead, annual take-home earnings vary quite a bit depending on each year’s album sales, royalties, film and television appearances, streaming revenue, and other sources of income. As one might expect, Shakira’s earnings have fluctuated quite a bit over the years.

From June 2018 to June 2019, for instance, Shakira was the 10th highest-earning female musician, grossing $35 million, according to Forbes. This wasn’t her first time gracing the top 10, though — back in 2012, she also landed the #10 spot, bringing in $20 million, according to Billboard.

In 2023, Billboard listed Shakira as the 16th-highest-grossing Latin artist of all time.

Shakira performed alongside producer Bizarrap during the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards Gala in Seville.

Photo By Maria Jose Lopez/Europa Press via Getty Images

How much does Shakira make from her concerts and tours?

A large part of Shakira’s wealth comes from her world tours, during which she sometimes sells out massive stadiums and arenas full of passionate fans eager to see her dance and sing live.

According to a 2020 report by Pollstar, she sold over 2.7 million tickets across 190 shows that grossed over $189 million between 2000 and 2020. This landed her the 19th spot on a list of female musicians ranked by touring revenue during that period. In 2023, Billboard reported a more modest touring revenue figure of $108.1 million across 120 shows.

In 2003, Shakira reportedly generated over $4 million from a single show on Valentine’s Day at Foro Sol in Mexico City. 15 years later, in 2018, Shakira grossed around $76.5 million from her El Dorado World Tour, according to Touring Data.

Related: RuPaul's net worth: Everything to know about the cultural icon and force behind 'Drag Race'

How much has Shakira made from her album sales?

According to a 2023 profile in Variety, Shakira has sold over 100 million records throughout her career. “Laundry Service,” the pop icon’s fifth studio album, was her most successful, selling over 13 million copies worldwide, according to TheRichest.

Exactly how much money Shakira has taken home from her album sales is unclear, but in 2008, it was widely reported that she signed a 10-year contract with LiveNation to the tune of between $70 and $100 million to release her subsequent albums and manage her tours.

Shakira and JLo co-headlined the 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show in Florida.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

How much did Shakira make from her Super Bowl and World Cup performances?

Shakira co-wrote one of her biggest hits, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” after FIFA selected her to create the official anthem for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. She performed the song, along with several of her existing fan-favorite tracks, during the event’s opening ceremonies. TheThings reported in 2023 that the song generated $1.4 million in revenue, citing Popnable for the figure.

A decade later, 2020’s Superbowl halftime show featured Shakira and Jennifer Lopez as co-headliners with guest performances by Bad Bunny and J Balvin. The 14-minute performance was widely praised as a high-energy celebration of Latin music and dance, but as is typical for Super Bowl shows, neither Shakira nor JLo was compensated beyond expenses and production costs.

The exposure value that comes with performing in the Super Bowl Halftime Show, though, is significant. It is typically the most-watched television event in the U.S. each year, and in 2020, a 30-second Super Bowl ad spot cost between $5 and $6 million.

How much did Shakira make as a coach on “The Voice?”

Shakira served as a team coach on the popular singing competition program “The Voice” during the show’s fourth and sixth seasons. On the show, celebrity musicians coach up-and-coming amateurs in a team-based competition that eventually results in a single winner. In 2012, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Shakira’s salary as a coach on “The Voice” was $12 million.

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How does Shakira spend her money?

Shakira doesn’t just make a lot of money — she spends it, too. Like many wealthy entertainers, she’s purchased her share of luxuries, but Barranquilla’s barefoot belly dancer is also a prolific philanthropist, having donated tens of millions to charitable causes throughout her career.

Private island

Back in 2006, she teamed up with Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame and Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz to purchase Bonds Cay, a 550-acre island in the Bahamas, which was listed for $16 million at the time.

Along with her two partners in the purchase, Shakira planned to develop the island to feature housing, hotels, and an artists’ retreat designed to host a revolving cast of artists-in-residence. This plan didn’t come to fruition, though, and as of this article’s last update, the island was once again for sale on Vladi Private Islands.

Real estate and vehicles

Like most wealthy celebs, Shakira’s portfolio of high-end playthings also features an array of luxury properties and vehicles, including a home in Barcelona, a villa in Cyprus, a Miami mansion, and a rotating cast of Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Philanthropy and charity

Shakira doesn’t just spend her massive wealth on herself; the “Queen of Latin Music” is also a dedicated philanthropist and regularly donates portions of her earnings to the Fundación Pies Descalzos, or “Barefoot Foundation,” a charity she founded in 1997 to “improve the education and social development of children in Colombia, which has suffered decades of conflict.” The foundation focuses on providing meals for children and building and improving educational infrastructure in Shakira’s hometown of Barranquilla as well as four other Colombian communities.

In addition to her efforts with the Fundación Pies Descalzos, Shakira has made a number of other notable donations over the years. In 2007, she diverted a whopping $40 million of her wealth to help rebuild community infrastructure in Peru and Nicaragua in the wake of a devastating 8.0 magnitude earthquake. Later, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Shakira donated a large supply of N95 masks for healthcare workers and ventilators for hospital patients to her hometown of Barranquilla.

Back in 2010, the UN honored Shakira with a medal to recognize her dedication to social justice, at which time the Director General of the International Labour Organization described her as a “true ambassador for children and young people.”

On November 20, 2023 (which was supposed to be her first day of trial), Shakira reached a deal with the prosecution that resulted in a three-year suspended sentence and around $8 million in fines.

Photo by Adria Puig/Anadolu via Getty Images

Shakira’s tax fraud scandal: How much did she pay?

In 2018, prosecutors in Spain initiated a tax evasion case against Shakira, alleging she lived primarily in Spain from 2012 to 2014 and therefore failed to pay around $14.4 million in taxes to the Spanish government. Spanish law requires anyone who is “domiciled” (i.e., living primarily) in Spain for more than half of the year to pay income taxes.

During the period in question, Shakira listed the Bahamas as her primary residence but did spend some time in Spain, as she was dating Gerard Piqué, a professional footballer and Spanish citizen. The couple’s first son, Milan, was also born in Barcelona during this period. 

Shakira maintained that she spent far fewer than 183 days per year in Spain during each of the years in question. In an interview with Elle Magazine, the pop star opined that “Spanish tax authorities saw that I was dating a Spanish citizen and started to salivate. It's clear they wanted to go after that money no matter what."

Prosecutors in the case sought a fine of almost $26 million and a possible eight-year prison stint, but in November of 2023, Shakira took a deal to close the case, accepting a fine of around $8 million and a three-year suspended sentence to avoid going to trial. In reference to her decision to take the deal, Shakira stated, "While I was determined to defend my innocence in a trial that my lawyers were confident would have ruled in my favour [had the trial proceeded], I have made the decision to finally resolve this matter with the best interest of my kids at heart who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight."

How much did the Shakira statue in Barranquilla cost?

In late 2023, a 21-foot-tall bronze likeness of Shakira was unveiled on a waterfront promenade in Barranquilla. The city’s then-mayor, Jaime Pumarejo, commissioned Colombian sculptor Yino Márquez to create the statue of the city’s treasured pop icon, along with a sculpture of the city’s coat of arms.

According to the New York Times, the two sculptures cost the city the equivalent of around $180,000. A plaque at the statue’s base reads, “A heart that composes, hips that don’t lie, an unmatched talent, a voice that moves the masses and bare feet that march for the good of children and humanity.” 

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International

Delta Air Lines adds a new route travelers have been asking for

The new Delta seasonal flight to the popular destination will run daily on a Boeing 767-300.

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7 hours ago

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March 14, 2024

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Those who have tried to book a flight from North America to Europe in the summer of 2023 know just how high travel demand to the continent has spiked.

At 2.93 billion, visitors to the countries making up the European Union had finally reached pre-pandemic levels last year while North Americans in particular were booking trips to both large metropolises such as Paris and Milan as well as smaller cities growing increasingly popular among tourists.

Related: A popular European city is introducing the highest 'tourist tax' yet

As a result, U.S.-based airlines have been re-evaluating their networks to add more direct routes to smaller European destinations that most travelers would have previously needed to reach by train or transfer flight with a local airline.

The new flight will take place on a Boeing 767-300.

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Delta Air Lines: ‘Glad to offer customers increased choice…’

By the end of March, Delta Air Lines  (DAL)  will be restarting its route between New York’s JFK and Marco Polo International Airport in Venice as well as launching two new flights to Venice from Atlanta. One will start running this month while the other will be added during peak demand in the summer.

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“As one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Venice is hugely popular with U.S. travelers, and our flights bring valuable tourism and trade opportunities to the city and the region as well as unrivalled opportunities for Venetians looking to explore destinations across the Americas,” Delta’s SVP for Europe Matteo Curcio said in a statement. “We’re glad to offer customers increased choice this summer with flights from New York and additional service from Atlanta.”

The JFK-Venice flight will run on a Boeing 767-300  (BA)  and have 216 seats including higher classes such as Delta One, Delta Premium Select and Delta Comfort Plus.

Delta offers these features on the new flight

Both the New York and Atlanta flights are seasonal routes that will be pulled out of service in October. Both will run daily while the first route will depart New York at 8:55 p.m. and arrive in Venice at 10:15 a.m. local time on the way there, while leaving Venice at 12:15 p.m. to arrive at JFK at 5:05 p.m. on the way back.

According to Delta, this will bring its service to 17 flights from different U.S. cities to Venice during the peak summer period. As with most Delta flights at this point, passengers in all fare classes will have access to free Wi-Fi during the flight.

Those flying in Delta’s highest class or with access through airline status or a credit card will also be able to use the new Delta lounge that is part of the airline’s $12 billion terminal renovation and is slated to open to travelers in the coming months. The space will take up more than 40,000 square feet and have an outdoor terrace.

“Delta One customers can stretch out in a lie-flat seat and enjoy premium amenities like plush bedding made from recycled plastic bottles, more beverage options, and a seasonal chef-curated four-course meal,” Delta said of the new route. “[…] All customers can enjoy a wide selection of in-flight entertainment options and stay connected with Wi-Fi and enjoy free mobile messaging.”

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