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March 31, 2020

The Trump recession is coming

By Robert Reich

Last week, corporations got a $500 billion windfall of taxpayer money as part of the $2 trillion coronavirus emergency relief package. Meanwhile, working Americans got a measly one-time $1,200 check to get them through this months-long crisis.

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From Inequality Media

Last week, corporations got a $500 billion windfall of taxpayer money as part of the $2 trillion coronavirus emergency relief package. Meanwhile, working Americans got a measly one-time $1,200 check to get them through this months-long crisis.

With 3.3 million people filing for unemployment in just a single week, it's unconscionable to think that a $1,200 check will be enough to weather this pandemic.

The unemployment numbers will only continue to rise as the economy remains shuttered to slow the spread of the virus. A recession is all but inevitable at this point, but there are things we can and must do to prepare.

Our latest video breaks down the steps we should be taking now to get ahead of the oncoming recession. See above.

This is not an economic crisis. This is a public health crisis. The answer is not to stimulate the economy. It is to keep people safe.

Keeping people safe means pushing back when CEOs try to send their employees back to work to boost their stock portfolios while they work from the safety of their multi-million dollar homes. It means giving every American enough money to stay home, pay the bills, and get the medical care they need to get through this crisis.

The coronavirus has put our economy in free-fall. A recession is coming no matter what. Our goal must not be to continue spreading the virus in an attempt to prevent the inevitable.

Instead, we must strengthen and expand our social safety nets now, while we still have time to prepare, to ensure every American has what they need to survive both the pandemic and the recession that will soon follow.

Congress is already preparing to develop another relief package. This time around, we must demand our lawmakers bail out people, not corporations.

P.S. This pandemic has laid bare the unequal power dynamics of our rigged system. Today at 4:30pm PST / 7:30pm EST, join me and Anand Giridharadas, author of one of my favorite books, "Winners Take All," for a live discussion about our books, and how the billionaires who have long gamed our system are managing to do it yet again.

Authors Website: http://robertreich.org/

Authors Bio:

Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, has a new film, "Inequality for All," to be released September 27. He blogs at www.robertreich.org.


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