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There is no shortage of food at the moment. Just pay people to stay home.

missedthecue 6y ago
until what?
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
You can do that, but then the system's not really in hibernation; you've just replaced it with a temporary UBI. There's no reason to expect the transition back to a normal market economy to be particularly smooth.
- Dirlewanger 6y ago
  A rocky transition from a temporary UBI to normalcy is better than thousands upon thousands of small businesses permanently closing across the country.
  - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    My point is, I'd expect a transition from temporary UBI to normalcy to also involve a lot of small business closures.
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
Right, so the government needs to cover the costs. That's what the Paycheck Protection Program was trying to do, but it wasn't expansive enough and now it has run out.
- adammunich 6y ago
  Some companies collected those loans and still didn't pay employees. I've seen this unfold personally too and it has really shaken my respect for American businessmen...
  - 1-more 6y ago
    Every business owner is a cute mom-n-pop, just makin' ends meet, we're a family here, don't think of me as your boss type of boss during a bull market. When the chips are down, less so.
  - Wowfunhappy 6y ago
    If the loans weren't used to cover payroll, then they'll have to pay the money back to the government. And, they may have decided that covering e.g. rent was actually more important, since unfortunately without a location there's no business either. As I said, the program was not expansive enough.
    - nradov 6y ago
      In theory that's correct, but in reality the law isn't being enforced. There is a huge amount of fraud.
      - Wowfunhappy 6y ago
        What makes you say that?
driverdan 6y ago
> Just pay people to stay home. With what money?
- selectodude 6y ago
  The Fed Money Printer (TM) has been running on overdrive for awhile now.
- loktarogar 6y ago
  There's always money if they want to spend it. For what they pumped into the markets earlier this year, they could have given $7.5k to every American adult (or $4.5k to every single person inc children) https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/03/12/fed-injects-15-trillion-to-prop-up-crashing-markets/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/03/12/fed-inje...
  - coredog64 6y ago
    The repo market is not a direct cash infusion. It’s essentially the Fed propping up the price of US T-Bills (a good thing).
- eli_gottlieb 6y ago
  Bottom-left quadrant of this. https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1789676-money-printer-go-brrr https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1789676-money-printer-go-brr...

until what?

You can do that, but then the system's not really in hibernation; you've just replaced it with a temporary UBI. There's no reason to expect the transition back to a normal market economy to be particularly smooth.

Dirlewanger 6y ago
A rocky transition from a temporary UBI to normalcy is better than thousands upon thousands of small businesses permanently closing across the country.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  My point is, I'd expect a transition from temporary UBI to normalcy to also involve a lot of small business closures.

Wowfunhappy 6y ago

Right, so the government needs to cover the costs. That's what the Paycheck Protection Program was trying to do, but it wasn't expansive enough and now it has run out.

adammunich 6y ago
Some companies collected those loans and still didn't pay employees. I've seen this unfold personally too and it has really shaken my respect for American businessmen...
- 1-more 6y ago
  Every business owner is a cute mom-n-pop, just makin' ends meet, we're a family here, don't think of me as your boss type of boss during a bull market. When the chips are down, less so.
- Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  If the loans weren't used to cover payroll, then they'll have to pay the money back to the government. And, they may have decided that covering e.g. rent was actually more important, since unfortunately without a location there's no business either. As I said, the program was not expansive enough.
  - nradov 6y ago
    In theory that's correct, but in reality the law isn't being enforced. There is a huge amount of fraud.
    - Wowfunhappy 6y ago
      What makes you say that?

driverdan 6y ago

> Just pay people to stay home. With what money?

selectodude 6y ago
The Fed Money Printer (TM) has been running on overdrive for awhile now.
loktarogar 6y ago
There's always money if they want to spend it. For what they pumped into the markets earlier this year, they could have given $7.5k to every American adult (or $4.5k to every single person inc children) https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/03/12/fed-injects-15-trillion-to-prop-up-crashing-markets/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/03/12/fed-inje...
- coredog64 6y ago
  The repo market is not a direct cash infusion. It’s essentially the Fed propping up the price of US T-Bills (a good thing).
eli_gottlieb 6y ago
Bottom-left quadrant of this. https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1789676-money-printer-go-brrr https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1789676-money-printer-go-brr...