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> but the demand was likely less driven by federal stimulus, than everyone being stuck home and looking around and realizing maybe its time to finally fix that fence/deck, and knock out that project I have had on the to-do list for years now…

Yes, and also, aside from the general stimulus payments, there was also the combination of a whole lot of unemployment plus federally increased and extended unemployment payments that were designed to approximately, on average, to boost unemployment payments to 100% of last employment level. So you had lots of people with extra time on their hands (whether newly remote workers saving commute or people completely out of work) with less “normal” activities to spend time and money on, with their normal money or more. So, yeah, there were lots of opportunities to knock out household projects that were otherwise being deferred, or to discover and take on ones that hadn’t been planned.

> if a $1200 check can just radically reshape the economy

It was far more than that. There were child tax credits, student loans were paused, evictions were paused, unemployment insurance payouts were massively increased etc. With the covid boosts my wife made no less on unemployment than she did working, and some people got a moderate raise to stay home!

>I mean its a real indictment of the state of America if a $1200 check can just radically reshape the economy.

It sounds like a very small amount of money when you put it that way.

What do you get if you multiply by the number of people who got it?

Also, do you not recall more than one check?

I was not eligible for any COVID relief. I was above income limits. Wasn't it two $600 checks though?

The total (maximum; there was an income phaseout) amount under the CARES Act was $1,200 credit per single filer ($2,400 for married filing jointly) + $500 per dependent child, the amount under the American Rescue Plan (which had a different income phaseout) was $1,400 per individual (including adult and child dependents).

And, yeah, there were lots of other payments in those bills besides the income-tested-only stimulus payments to individuals. (

I did get a similar check from my state government too.

The demand was driven by REQUIRED construction to meet safety measures. Instead of the attack on 'free money' he thinks he is making he is showing that his company profited from big government (IE rent seeking).

I am sorry, I don't understand- can you explain this? What construction was required for safety measures? Especially such that required wood specifically?

In NYC, some restaurants could reopen and conduct business as usual if they were classified as outdoor venues. This interacted oddly with another regulation that let a restaurant count as “outdoor” if part of its seating area had outdoor seats, so you had a lot of restaurants in the middle of the bustling city build these gazebo-type structures that put some number of tables right on the sidewalk in the midst of pedestrian foot traffic.

For a small restaurant owner, the combination of these two loopholes created an intense pressure where building out this outdoor seating was simply a requirement of doing business

You really think this causes lumber prices to fly through the roof though? It may have been a factor but it seems a stretch that NYC restaurants would increase demand that much.