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Most businesses don't have the cash reserves to handle effectively shuttering for 1-3 months, which is probably what will be required to get a handle on the Cor

Most businesses don't have the cash reserves to handle effectively shuttering for 1-3 months, which is probably what will be required to get a handle on the Coronavirus outbreak without overwhelming our medical systems. This means those businesses will be forced to lay off many (if not most) employees, possibly going bankrupt altogether, and those laid-off employees will themselves have trouble paying their own bills causing them to go bankrupt, lose their house and car (and health insurance in the US!), etc. It's a huge vicious cycle that will almost certainly lead us into a deep recession in the short term, and will likely require huge fiscal interventions by the major governments of the world to prevent an outright depression (as all the remaining monetary options have already been used up to little effect). It's telling that Senator Mitt Romney was floating a temporary Yang-style UBI today... even a week ago that would have been unthinkable to hear from a Republican, even a moderate like him.

tjs8rj 7y ago
1. Most of those problems are being tackled: localities, states, and the fed have interest free loans and many have frozen rent and evictions (for both residential and commercial real estate). As far as that goes, 1-3 months with the above addendums makes me skeptical about mass bankruptcies. 2. This is such a silly point I keep hearing: "Everyone is a socialist in a crisis", "Oh suddenly people realize UBI and universal healthcare are good!" - DUH! Collective problems require collective solutions. Everyone agrees that the tax-payer foots the bill for the healthcare of veterans in WW2, everyone agrees with price-controls when fighting Nazi Germany. Everyone agrees with collective action to fight collective threats because it's necessary. If you contract a pandemic disease, collective action must be taken for the good of everyone else. If you break your leg falling of your roof on a bender, you and only you should foot the bill. This isn't hard: supporting collective action against Coronavirus doesn't mean M4A is a good idea for more normal situations.

tjs8rj 7y ago

1. Most of those problems are being tackled: localities, states, and the fed have interest free loans and many have frozen rent and evictions (for both residential and commercial real estate). As far as that goes, 1-3 months with the above addendums makes me skeptical about mass bankruptcies. 2. This is such a silly point I keep hearing: "Everyone is a socialist in a crisis", "Oh suddenly people realize UBI and universal healthcare are good!" - DUH! Collective problems require collective solutions. Everyone agrees that the tax-payer foots the bill for the healthcare of veterans in WW2, everyone agrees with price-controls when fighting Nazi Germany. Everyone agrees with collective action to fight collective threats because it's necessary. If you contract a pandemic disease, collective action must be taken for the good of everyone else. If you break your leg falling of your roof on a bender, you and only you should foot the bill. This isn't hard: supporting collective action against Coronavirus doesn't mean M4A is a good idea for more normal situations.