I am trying not to use cash unless I have the exact change. I don't want other people's money. So I'm carrying more change. But I'm not sure how to handle getting more dollar bills.
The House and Senate are considering legislation. We can't trust them. But we can tell them what they should and should not be doing. First, they should use a bottom-up approach as much as possible. Give the money to the people. Take Andrew Yang's idea of universal basic income (UBI) and get some money out to the people who are hurting. Focus first on the most vulnerable. They are not home owners with mortgages. They are renters. They are paying for utilities. So pay the utilities for these people directly. Put a freeze on rent increases. If you're going to help home owners with mortgages, and you want to help the banks, alot the money in the banks to help pay the mortgages-- that way big payments can be made that are bottom-up based.
When it comes to big corporations, force them to propose bottom-up solutions that help main street, so any money they get ends up must be based on helping end users. Remember Obama's cash-for-clunkers program. It released billions of dollars, but helped end users.
Don't allow corporations to use any of the money for stock buybacks. Better, make them sell some of their stock to match funds they get. If they want $10 billion in help, make them sell off $10 billion or $5 billion in their stock, and use it to help their employees, their suppliers and the communities they operate in. Make sure that any companies getting aid cut the salaries of executives a LOT. No executives get more than two million a year in pay.
Or even better, nationalize the companies needing help. Banks, airlines, hotels. Don't give them anything. If they can't survive without the government, take them over or take a portion of their equity.
There are some companies that are price gouging. They should be nationalized and their leaders should be jailed, just as the Senators who profited from advance knowledge should be jailed.
What is clear is that capitalism has failed humanity. People are dying because the form of capitalism that the leaders in both parties celebrate did not protect us. Capitalism probably made things a lot worse. The idea of giving everyone money to help them survive is socialist and based on a gift economy. We are on the cusp of shifting to a different economic model. That should be a part of the conversation.
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