My money is on Rand Paul being the the guy who objects (not that McConnell will pressure him to do otherwise).
@SamFisher do you know what the total US annual payroll is? Am I right that it is something like 7 trillion? Instead of tax breaks and what not, why couldn't the US backstop payroll for 30 or 60 days? All companies can pay their employees regardless of being open or not and charge it against the US government? Seems like that would be something like $500b a month. You do that for two months and you've basically bailed out everyone in the United States.
I wouldn't do it universally - I'd require that businesses closed. It seems silly for the government to pay payroll for all the businesses that are doing well - that's just free profits to already succcessful businesses. (Amazon, delivery services, grocery stores, Purell, etc). Plus I'd think you need to help those closed businesses pay their rent or other major expenses or they still might go under.
Cool that just makes the number smaller. My first thought was just to limit it to small businesses but couldn't find the numbers on that. I just don't get think any of the measures being discussed are going to save jobs/businesses.
I agree - and they are basically stopgaps for a few weeks. What happens if this goes for a few months? Austin just closed all restaurants for 6 weeks. Honestly, I'm not sure can logistically be done - there's talk of 20% unemployment and that doesn't seem particularly outlandish if everything is forced to be closed. Practically speaking, I think this has one of two endgames: 1. A vaccine or anti-viral is developed and this becomes more treatable and less scary. 2. It spreads across the world and people eventually are immune and a ton of people die in the meantime. I appreciate social distancing and flattening the curve, but I don't see it as an endgame. Let's say we all stay home for a month. And then it's lifted and people go out again, even if more carefully. All it takes is a handful of cases to restart this, and I don't see us then shutting down the whole world again. So I'm not sure how this all ends.
I just don't think they CAN shut us down for that long. I know the virus will kill 1-3% of infected, but honest to God if they shut down the economy for multiple months that will kill people too. I just don't think people are still thinking through what this would mean. 20% unemployment is catastrophic. We cannot endure that long term and expect "normalcy" to return.
Agreed. I'm not sure what the endgame is when the two things you want (economic activity and no-virus-spread) are diametrically opposed. If you have one, you lose the other and vice-versa. Normally economic activity begets more economic activity - but here, it leads to the virus becoming more active which then kills economic activity.
trump is such a idiot, one who cares only for himself. It would be nice if at least once he could act like a leader who cares about the people. You know, the general public, the average American. The ******* just doesn't give a damn.
I just think they need to think through another solution even if it means anyone over 60 has to be quarantined. You can't cause a great depression when we are so close to the automation era as it is.
At some point soon we're gonna have to rip the band-aid off and go full shut down, or we're gonna have to soldier through it and whoever dies, dies. These half measures and economic rot for more than a month or so is an absolute no go. A true depression will be far worse than whatever this mildly lethal virus can dish out.
Hey! Those of us quarantined should get Google Fiber for free. I have to pay for it now. That, and all streaming services included. Also free delivered food and drink, including wine and beer. The good stuff! If we're going to have to sit at home for months on end in an attempt to help you "young" people out and save the country from another Great Depression, which I heard plenty about from my parents, it's the least the country can do for us.
100% agree. The number of people that will die from the economic consequences may dwarf the virus consequences. I want to know what city is going to be the first to say "OK, businesses can open again" and risk a disaster. I'm curious how this 15 day closure thing works and what happens on April 1st.
LOL sure I'd be cool with that haha. In general though I think all of the ideas being kicked around are still small time things that are thinking this is some sort of financial crisis when it is an potential economic meltdown. Honestly can't believe they are talking about tax cuts and tariff reduction.
I know. It's like they're divorced from reality. Heck, they are divorced from reality. Hard to believe that we're stuck with these chumps, at least for now.
To me, the priority right now should be: 1. Address the medical situation-- unless we get a handle on the danger of the virus, the economic pain will continue. 2. Spend money to mitigate the economic harm caused by the necessary "social distancing" measures. Let's just help people and businesses (even those we don't necessarily like) survive the storm first and we can sort out the aftermath later. Are there things the government can hire the recently laid-off workers to do to help slow the spread of the virus and provide help (like food/medicine delivery to homes) of those who are not able to leave the home? Can empty hotels and motels be rented as make-shift medical facilities, or provide housing for people who lack shelter? The aftermath of this is likely going to be an economic recession, seems that this is where the traditional stimulus measures (like lower interest rates) would have more of an impact.
The lack of internet access is a huge deal in the education world right now. Many low-income students do not have internet access at home and don't have the options of "remote learning" that students in the better-off districts have while schools are out in the coming weeks and months.
Which is unacceptable. That should be a right, not an option dependent on what you family's income is.
I don't know. I got 13 trillion in annual income. That might be right. Bail out everyone and everything. Why the **** not? It's our money, our economy. Things have value because we decide they do. Like that article says, there's no real moral hazard here other than the hubris of humanity vs RNA, but meh.... What's really weird now is that a lot of the thesis of Bullshit Jobs is gonna be super tested. Tldr version of that thesis is that somewhere in the last 50 years everything went off the rails. Productivity kept increasing. Keynes predicted a 10 hour work week instead we got a longer one. Theory is that most service work we perform is in fact performative, so that the plutocracy can stay in place. I think we're going to see if this is true. But yeah I think the US could do this. Nobody should be worried about inflation now. Inflation is dead.
