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It is somewhat amazing to me that politicians don't seem to understand this. The solution is so simple: give people money directly, give money directly to busin

It is somewhat amazing to me that politicians don't seem to understand this. The solution is so simple: give people money directly, give money directly to businesses with the promise that they will not fire anyone, and do it yesterday. Perhaps I'm simply misreading the situation and am in a bad mood, but it seems that whenever we see a government program rolled out, politicians seem more interested in preventing fraud, misuse, and politically sensitive spending than they are in seeing the program actually succeed / solve it's stated problem. This results in layers of complexity, regulations, and bullshit that impede the program from functioning efficiently. I would rather a cash transfer program have a 25% fraudulent claim rate and a 90% legitimate claim success rate than a 2% fraudulent claim rate and a 50% legitimate claim success rate. Politicians seem to want the latter. Further, there were arguments during the negotiations about the 2 trillion dollar bail out about abortions and oil subsidies ffs. These guys need to get their heads out of their asses and join us in the real world.

Meekro 7y ago
They actually are doing both of those points. Everyone's heard of the $1200 checks to individuals, but they also created the Paycheck Protection Program[1] which advertises itself as a small business loan program but "will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities." In other words, if you run a small business, Uncle Sam will cover your payroll for 2 months if you don't fire anyone. It's the "do it yesterday" part that they're having trouble with. Major banks are saying that the government isn't forthcoming with the details they need to actually implement the lending program, so they've had to delay its launch. [1] https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program-ppp https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relie... [2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianthompson1/2020/04/03/no-small-business-relief-yet-false-start-on-paycheck-protection-program-loans/#110533934c46 https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianthompson1/2020/04/03/no-sm...
- notyourday 7y ago
  There has never been a single program administered by the SBA that was not comically broken. There are two possibilities: 1. This program is going to continue the great tradition of government epic failures of providing help to small businesses 2. This time around it works and small businesses get an immediate ( in a commercial sense of the word ) help in record time. One won't need to be a genius to figure out the implication of 2. Personally, I think it would be 1.
bhupy 7y ago
> The solution is so simple: give people money directly, give money directly to businesses with the promise that they will not fire anyone, and do it yesterday. The CARES act did do this, and it did it yesterday.
- Thriptic 7y ago
  Passed != Implemented
  - bhupy 7y ago
    > It is somewhat amazing to me that politicians don't seem to understand this. Since we are now awaiting implementation, politicians are no longer in the picture. They understood what needed to be done, and did their jobs. It is now up to the bureaucrats.
    - ryanobjc 7y ago
      This isn't an accurate picture of the US Federal government. Now that congress has passed the law, it's up to the EXECUTIVE BRANCH of the government to make it happen. There's a politician at the head of that - POTUS. People wanted an outsider in the White House, someone who would "shake things up", and this is the consequence. This is what it means. The POTUS can and should be making this implement faster.
      - bhupy 7y ago
        > Now that congress has passed the law, it's up to the EXECUTIVE BRANCH of the government to make it happen. There's a politician at the head of that - POTUS. This is implemented through the agencies of the Executive branch, the operations for which are almost entirely run by bureaucrats. When Trump entered office, he didn't just fire all of the bureaucrats at the Department of Labor, he just replaced its head. The folks that work on the day-to-day operations of processing unemployment insurance claims, or maintaining/improving the systems remain largely unchanged. Their employment is a function of the budget and funding, which is determined by Congress, and then assented by the POTUS. In the case of CARES, the Senate unanimously passed it, and POTUS quickly signed it into law. He is not going to micro-manage its implementation. It's now up to the bureaucrats.
ryanobjc 7y ago
The POTUS is the executive in control of making federal government GO. That's the structure of the government as per the constitution: congress passes laws, runs oversight, controls the pursestrings, and the POTUS implements the laws. So having the House speaker talk about oversight and corruption: totally appropriate. This is her job. Implementing the law and getting money out there: POTUS. Every single daily briefing that doesn't talk about how he is pushing to get money to people is a failure. You're hedging your criticism under "politicians be like" but the real issue is "Republican politicians be like" -> An entire political party pushes incompetence in government, and now it's killing people. Also, finally, anyone who is reading this and thinks of themselves as apolitical because it's messy: this is your fault. By abdicating your responsibility to building the political solution space, the void has been filled in by right-fundamentalist crazy people.

Meekro 7y ago

They actually are doing both of those points. Everyone's heard of the $1200 checks to individuals, but they also created the Paycheck Protection Program[1] which advertises itself as a small business loan program but "will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities." In other words, if you run a small business, Uncle Sam will cover your payroll for 2 months if you don't fire anyone. It's the "do it yesterday" part that they're having trouble with. Major banks are saying that the government isn't forthcoming with the details they need to actually implement the lending program, so they've had to delay its launch. [1] https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program-ppp https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relie... [2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianthompson1/2020/04/03/no-small-business-relief-yet-false-start-on-paycheck-protection-program-loans/#110533934c46 https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianthompson1/2020/04/03/no-sm...

notyourday 7y ago
There has never been a single program administered by the SBA that was not comically broken. There are two possibilities: 1. This program is going to continue the great tradition of government epic failures of providing help to small businesses 2. This time around it works and small businesses get an immediate ( in a commercial sense of the word ) help in record time. One won't need to be a genius to figure out the implication of 2. Personally, I think it would be 1.

bhupy 7y ago

> The solution is so simple: give people money directly, give money directly to businesses with the promise that they will not fire anyone, and do it yesterday. The CARES act did do this, and it did it yesterday.

Thriptic 7y ago
Passed != Implemented
- bhupy 7y ago
  > It is somewhat amazing to me that politicians don't seem to understand this. Since we are now awaiting implementation, politicians are no longer in the picture. They understood what needed to be done, and did their jobs. It is now up to the bureaucrats.
  - ryanobjc 7y ago
    This isn't an accurate picture of the US Federal government. Now that congress has passed the law, it's up to the EXECUTIVE BRANCH of the government to make it happen. There's a politician at the head of that - POTUS. People wanted an outsider in the White House, someone who would "shake things up", and this is the consequence. This is what it means. The POTUS can and should be making this implement faster.
    - bhupy 7y ago
      > Now that congress has passed the law, it's up to the EXECUTIVE BRANCH of the government to make it happen. There's a politician at the head of that - POTUS. This is implemented through the agencies of the Executive branch, the operations for which are almost entirely run by bureaucrats. When Trump entered office, he didn't just fire all of the bureaucrats at the Department of Labor, he just replaced its head. The folks that work on the day-to-day operations of processing unemployment insurance claims, or maintaining/improving the systems remain largely unchanged. Their employment is a function of the budget and funding, which is determined by Congress, and then assented by the POTUS. In the case of CARES, the Senate unanimously passed it, and POTUS quickly signed it into law. He is not going to micro-manage its implementation. It's now up to the bureaucrats.

ryanobjc 7y ago

The POTUS is the executive in control of making federal government GO. That's the structure of the government as per the constitution: congress passes laws, runs oversight, controls the pursestrings, and the POTUS implements the laws. So having the House speaker talk about oversight and corruption: totally appropriate. This is her job. Implementing the law and getting money out there: POTUS. Every single daily briefing that doesn't talk about how he is pushing to get money to people is a failure. You're hedging your criticism under "politicians be like" but the real issue is "Republican politicians be like" -> An entire political party pushes incompetence in government, and now it's killing people. Also, finally, anyone who is reading this and thinks of themselves as apolitical because it's messy: this is your fault. By abdicating your responsibility to building the political solution space, the void has been filled in by right-fundamentalist crazy people.