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All except the stimulus (line 2). At least the to the general public kind; very agree with the (line 3) interest rate BS since 2008 that another comment mentio
by mjevans 4y ago
All except the stimulus (line 2). At least the to the general public kind; very agree with the (line 3) interest rate BS since 2008 that another comment mentioned.
About the stimulus to the public; the policy should have been more nuanced and less about propping up failures. It should have been more solidly focused on humanitarian relief and incentivization of services that would be necessary during the pandemic (such as funding premiums, space, and PPE for critical jobs). The funded tests were a good step, but even better would have been blanket sending out a first test kit (of some size) free to every address registered to vote along with a letter that detailed the program and how to order more.
The PPP program (relief for businesses, not directly workers), as an example, should have been in conjunction with already existing banks and credit unions (who already have due diligence systems) and about vastly reducing the interest and underwriting a small percentage of the overall firm's total loaned out value to some degree.
Worker support should have been two prong, in the form of extended unemployment benefits during the pandemic and also the creation of new jobs fulfilling civic needs during the pandemic.
- landemva 4y ago> The PPP program Rather than the forgiveable loan scheme, I would have implemented as a rebate to employer on say 5% of the payroll tax they remitted to the feds. That would precisely track actual payrolls without the application hurdles.
- mjevans 4y agoThose would have to be tracked, and that also begs for kickbacks or outright hiring/retaining family/beneficiaries. There's probably a better design, but a think tank of experts given a week or two of time to explore them and bake them into a proper response would obviously be far more effective than back of the napkin replies by armchair observers on an Internet forum. Though the wisdom cherry picked from a crowd still seems to do better than government / congress; so maybe they need to be more humble and/or make an agency/think tank for problem solving that becomes legislation.