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Boost unemployment payouts in the USA, make it 60 or 90 days with ~80% of what you made at your job. Then taper it down after that on a monthly period (and you

by bwb 7y ago

Boost unemployment payouts in the USA, make it 60 or 90 days with ~80% of what you made at your job. Then taper it down after that on a monthly period (and you can improve that in times of crisis). You will need to pump up contributions, but the gov can seed that with bailout money. Long term you gather those payments with a progressive tax per business, not the silo model we use now. Some countries in the EU do something like this, basically, your unemployment is pegged to your salary. This makes it somewhat "easy", if a restaurant in Seattle sees foot traffic at an 80% decline they fire their team and hunker down for 2 months. Then start back up once we get this thing beaten. And, this invests in labor/consumption and doesn't have the negative side effect of keeping businesses afloat that shouldn't be. High rent is a killer, that is a harder one to solve. But, you could start a rainy day fund (and seed it with a bailout). Basically offer a 0% loan to any business that needs to pay rent during a time of officially declared national crisis, but the deal is the loanee has to take ~50% off the rent payment for the month in order to get it. And, make that work its way of the pyramid. The idea being the person running the building takes a hit, the bank with the mortgage takes a hit that month... Note - In the USA unemployment maxes at 790 a week, and it scales depending on some calculations. It doesn't include tips too so most people who work in restaurants are really in trouble.

Beman30 7y ago
I can speak about Italy right now: we should (they are still debating) froze employment tax, consider that as an employer for each 1$ i give to my employee I pay roughly 0.60/0.80 in tax, this means i am cutting my costs of 60/80%. We have frozen any mortgage or installment for business and individuals. Obviously this would not be a long term procedure but even if it holds for 5-6 months this gives a lot of possibility to invest. About rent i can give you my experience: Most landlords here are boomers who don't need rent money so they prefer to keep prices high rather than rent for lower fares. I am confident those boomers will start panicking and lower rent.
- bwb 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing, sending good thoughts to Italy and hopefully it starts leveling off in 10 days or so. I live in Spain (but I am American). Everyone here is on the first day of lockdown and in high spirits. In the USA the payroll tax is around 20%, so that isn't going to do as much if they pass that through to employees (esp as people employed are less a worry). Better to help on unemployment as the service industry is all going to get fired shortly if not already in the USA. The problem in the USA is unemployment is the pay is not based on your salary but maxes at 790 a week / 2800 a month. And it scales all the way down to a minimum of $188. Even worse tips don't count against insured wages.

by bwb 7y ago

Beman30 7y ago

I can speak about Italy right now: we should (they are still debating) froze employment tax, consider that as an employer for each 1$ i give to my employee I pay roughly 0.60/0.80 in tax, this means i am cutting my costs of 60/80%. We have frozen any mortgage or installment for business and individuals. Obviously this would not be a long term procedure but even if it holds for 5-6 months this gives a lot of possibility to invest. About rent i can give you my experience: Most landlords here are boomers who don't need rent money so they prefer to keep prices high rather than rent for lower fares. I am confident those boomers will start panicking and lower rent.

bwb 7y ago
Thanks for sharing, sending good thoughts to Italy and hopefully it starts leveling off in 10 days or so. I live in Spain (but I am American). Everyone here is on the first day of lockdown and in high spirits. In the USA the payroll tax is around 20%, so that isn't going to do as much if they pass that through to employees (esp as people employed are less a worry). Better to help on unemployment as the service industry is all going to get fired shortly if not already in the USA. The problem in the USA is unemployment is the pay is not based on your salary but maxes at 790 a week / 2800 a month. And it scales all the way down to a minimum of $188. Even worse tips don't count against insured wages.