This is a good idea. Congress should commit to such ongoing payments, and the Fed should back it with a commitment to unlimited borrowing. Borrowing money is i

This is a good idea. Congress should commit to such ongoing payments, and the Fed should back it with a commitment to unlimited borrowing. Borrowing money is incredibly cheap at the moment, perhaps even negative cost! Three reasons: 1. Interest rates are very very low. Borrow when it's cheap. 2. With these payments, sick people won't need to go to work to have an income. 3. Universal payments can keep people out of programs such as SNAP, state unemployment insurance, etc. These are currently overwhelmed and typically have high administrative costs, plus human costs in terms of means-testing and other shortsighted cruelties (would you like to prove you have been looking for work?) The article doesn't go into details about the sunsetting provisions (which ought to be tied to infection rate, deaths, etc) but the idea of "the govt borrows until the health crisis is over" is correct.