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Many countries already had income support for the unemployment without the need for additional cheques. In Australia the government handed out $600 to individu

by Guthur 6y ago

Many countries already had income support for the unemployment without the need for additional cheques. In Australia the government handed out $600 to individuals who were on income support, and I can guarantee some of those recipients went straight out and bought a 60" television. This would naturally stimulate some sales but do absolutely nothing beneficial in the long run because the rest of us will have to pay for it eventually.

throw0101a 6y ago
In Canada, we handed out CA$ 2000 per month to the unemployed with our CERB program for several months: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_aid_during_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_Canada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_aid_during_the_COVID-1... > This would naturally stimulate some sales but do absolutely nothing beneficial in the long run because the rest of us will have to pay for it eventually. Define "rest of us". The UK is still rolling forward debt from the 1700s and 1800s: * https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/31/uk-first-world-war-bonds-redeemed https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/31/uk-first-wo... * https://www.theguardian.com/business/blog/2014/oct/31/paying-the-price-of-war-britain-makes-good-on-historic-debts https://www.theguardian.com/business/blog/2014/oct/31/paying... Unless your government has run budget surpluses sometime in its history, then the debt you have accumulated has probably never been paid off, but simply rolled forward. This generally isn't a probably as long as economic growth is higher than interest rates, which for AU look to be quite low: * https://ca.investing.com/rates-bonds/australia-government-bonds https://ca.investing.com/rates-bonds/australia-government-bo... And interest rates have been (generally) falling for Western European countries for 700 years (with some gyrations): * https://www.visualcapitalist.com/700-year-decline-of-interest-rates/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/700-year-decline-of-interes... So it's probably cheaper to pay off old debt with new debt. In Canada for example, even though we had an unprecedented CA$ 340B deficit, our total debt servicing costs will be lower over the next few years.
- Guthur 6y ago
  Inflation and tax increases. If you really think that this stimulus will not be used as an inexcuse to raise taxes/levies whatever upon the all of us you've been living under a rock. Whether or not countries have been carrying debt or not is irrelevant because that will not be the narrative.
  - hestefisk 6y ago
    Maybe raising taxes will be a good thing. In many countries it has been a race to the bottom for personal income taxes in return for constant budget cuts in healthcare and other services. Maybe if we had maintained higher taxes, we wouldn’t have struggled with ventilator capacity, PPE equipment and other essentials when the shit hit the fan. Hopefully we will learn from this and provide adequate funding to our healthcare services.
  - throw0101a 6y ago
    Top tax rates used to be 70% in US and CA post-WW2, and we had great economic growth; Clinton raised taxes and the doomsayers about economic catastrophe were wrong. I'm with Piketty here and have no problem with more redistribution: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Ce... We're living in another Gilded Age.

by Guthur 6y ago

throw0101a 6y ago

In Canada, we handed out CA$ 2000 per month to the unemployed with our CERB program for several months: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_aid_during_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_Canada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_aid_during_the_COVID-1... > This would naturally stimulate some sales but do absolutely nothing beneficial in the long run because the rest of us will have to pay for it eventually. Define "rest of us". The UK is still rolling forward debt from the 1700s and 1800s: * https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/31/uk-first-world-war-bonds-redeemed https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/31/uk-first-wo... * https://www.theguardian.com/business/blog/2014/oct/31/paying-the-price-of-war-britain-makes-good-on-historic-debts https://www.theguardian.com/business/blog/2014/oct/31/paying... Unless your government has run budget surpluses sometime in its history, then the debt you have accumulated has probably never been paid off, but simply rolled forward. This generally isn't a probably as long as economic growth is higher than interest rates, which for AU look to be quite low: * https://ca.investing.com/rates-bonds/australia-government-bonds https://ca.investing.com/rates-bonds/australia-government-bo... And interest rates have been (generally) falling for Western European countries for 700 years (with some gyrations): * https://www.visualcapitalist.com/700-year-decline-of-interest-rates/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/700-year-decline-of-interes... So it's probably cheaper to pay off old debt with new debt. In Canada for example, even though we had an unprecedented CA$ 340B deficit, our total debt servicing costs will be lower over the next few years.

Guthur 6y ago
Inflation and tax increases. If you really think that this stimulus will not be used as an inexcuse to raise taxes/levies whatever upon the all of us you've been living under a rock. Whether or not countries have been carrying debt or not is irrelevant because that will not be the narrative.
- hestefisk 6y ago
  Maybe raising taxes will be a good thing. In many countries it has been a race to the bottom for personal income taxes in return for constant budget cuts in healthcare and other services. Maybe if we had maintained higher taxes, we wouldn’t have struggled with ventilator capacity, PPE equipment and other essentials when the shit hit the fan. Hopefully we will learn from this and provide adequate funding to our healthcare services.
- throw0101a 6y ago
  Top tax rates used to be 70% in US and CA post-WW2, and we had great economic growth; Clinton raised taxes and the doomsayers about economic catastrophe were wrong. I'm with Piketty here and have no problem with more redistribution: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Ce... We're living in another Gilded Age.