There’s mourning in America, The Lincoln Project organization’s attack ad against President Donald Trump begins and then proceeds to enumerate significant failures of the Trump administration in managing the Coronavirus outbreak in the US.
The bleak outlook in the current state of affairs calls for decisive action in the form of monthly-bill waivers for all and bailouts for state governments and businesses, large and small, for the US to overcome this public health and economic crisis.
Infection tracking indicates close to 2 million people in the US are infected, and by the end of Memorial Day, the death toll from Coronavirus will hit the grim milestone of 100,000.
Jobless claims in the states have skyrocketed. More than 40 million so far have lost their jobs; small and large businesses are filing for bankruptcy, and some are shuttering their doors for good.
On average, the US lost three months of productivity— a quarter of its 2020 financial year due to Coronavirus, an equivalent of almost $4 trillion in a $20 trillion economy.
That is the amount of money the federal government must consider disbursing to households and businesses to stay afloat.
Just like disaster relief, US businesses, states, workers, and residents, regardless of their immigration status, need indemnity from Coronavirus’s impact to fully recover.
Stimulus relief already disbursed is a good start, but a more robust and well-targeted blanket relief that would reach every person and business in the US is required.
Some might call this welfare, yes it is, welfare to save the US economy, and not just a select group or interest.
There is an urgent need to provide this waiver without exception, even for essential workers, who worked and earned while others stayed home on shelter-in-place orders.
Such essential workers, including first responders, healthcare workers, military members, garbage collectors, grocery store workers, teachers, and the police, among others, are heroes who deserve the bailout money as a bonus for keeping the US going during the crisis.
The current uncertainty about jobs and public health is causing unrest in the country, and if the federal government does not take decisive action, the result could be anarchy, that would be difficult to control.
It’s paramount to address the anxiety now expressed through anti-lockdown protests. While some might consider the demonstrations unreasonable because they appear to downplay the lethality of the Coronavirus, they are a testament to the irony of asking people to stay home without income and not shielding them from financial ruin.
The prevailing situation calls for drastic, unprecedented, decisive action to stop the pandemic from spreading and stabilize the economy.
A 3-month monthly-bill waiver for all, regardless of income and immigration status, with opt-out options for millionaires and billionaires, and a bailout for states and businesses negatively affected by the pandemic, would have a therapeutic effect in the country, boost patriotism and revive a flagging economy.
Such is the stimulus that would guarantee an instant bounce-back from the impact of Coronavirus. It would also protect healthcare workers from getting infected as people would be more apt to stay at home when sick, rather than risk going to work to make ends meet.
People are hurting, and if there were a moment deficit-spending could be justified, none is better than now.
Who knows? Such a move might promote safe health practices such as social-distancing, a surefire way, according to experts and scientists, in stopping the spread of Coronavirus.
Only the Federal government can pull-off such an effort.
Deficits hawks will scoff and roll their eyes at this proposal, asking how do we pay for it? But none would dare propose such bold action, a twofer, saving the economy and public health simultaneously.
The same deficit hawks looked the other way when America bailed out large corporations and leaving behind the regular folk. The tax cuts Republicans and the Trump administration doled-out to their buddies did not trickle down as they said it would. Ordinary folk barely got a raise in their jobs, and now most don’t even have jobs.
So far, the pandemic relief economic stimulus packages approved by Congress have benefitted larger companies more than small businesses. In contrast, the regular folk has only received unemployment and stimulus checks that could barely cover their monthly bills.
People are hurting, and if there were a moment deficit-spending could be justified, none is better than now.
While we grapple with piecing back the economy and returning to normalcy, the US should work closely with allies and investigate whether China bears any responsibility for the devastating global effects of the Coronavirus outbreak.
If found liable in an objective investigative process, China should compensate the world and the US.
Until then, it’s time for Uncle Sam to bail out every household and business in America.