D&D and the rising pandemic

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

The economy should be on pause. We don't need a good economy in a time of crisis. What we need is to save lives. We need better testing for everyone in America, which isn't currently available. We need an app that can trace Covid-19, like most succeeding countries have, but Americans don't because we hate invasion of privacy, even if it would save lives. We need to give more money to poor people so that they won't starve to death. We need to pause rent and mortgage payments. We need to take money away from the rich people to feed the poor, if and when it comes to that. My government isn't doing that. We have 86,000 deaths, still rising, and communities and the national government want us to go to work and die for the economy. That cannot be allowed to happen.

 

[Umbran]

Which, (IMHO), is terrible for the person in debt. They are just being offered a deeper hole to step into, and are being handed the shovel to dig it.

Yep. No argument.

The loan holders, if they were truly sharing the pain...

The loan holder has no particular desire to share the pain. The financial sector is not driven by compassion. They are incentivized to keep you paying for longer - the longer you are paying off the loan, the more interest they collect.

 

[Umbran]

The economy should be on pause. We don't need a good economy in a time of crisis.

Okay, so, here's the problem. You can't just pause it.

I grow food. If I just give it to you for free, I cannot acquire diapers for my baby. So, I need you to give me something for the food (be it currency or barter). As soon as that's happening, you have an economy.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Okay, so, here's the problem. You can't just pause it.

I grow food. If I just give it to you for free, I cannot acquire diapers for my baby. So, I need you to give me something for the food (be it currency or barter). As soon as that's happening, you have an economy.

Okay, yes, but we need to pause it as much as possible, which is not happening. Farmers keep working and selling as normal, people buy as normal, but the money you get to pay for the food comes from the government if you can't afford to pay for it on your own.

 

[ad_hoc]

TL;DR: the current US pandemic economic recovery programs are poorly designed and lack proper oversight to actually aid a rapid recovery.

That all depends on what the goal is.

If the goal is to help the majority of people then no it's not working well.

If the goal is to help the wealthy then it is working as planned.

 

[ad_hoc]

Okay, so, here's the problem. You can't just pause it.

I grow food. If I just give it to you for free, I cannot acquire diapers for my baby. So, I need you to give me something for the food (be it currency or barter). As soon as that's happening, you have an economy.

Here's the thing; again.

Other countries are doing this just fine.

This is like the constant argument of 'public healthcare being impossible to be effective' that Americans keep insisting on.

We know it's possible. Not only is it possible but it is much better. With their wealth and infrastructure American healthcare should be much better than it is, but it isn't because it is privatized.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

This is like the constant argument of 'public healthcare being impossible to be effective' that Americans keep insisting on.

Not Americans in general, about half of them agree with that statement. This pandemic is proving that our healthcare system sucks. I have known this for as long as I have been old enough to understand politics. Healthcare can and should be better in the US, but Republicans don't want to change it.

 

[Deset Gled]

We know it's possible. Not only is it possible but it is much better.

Possible for intelligent, reasonable people who want to cooperate for the common good? Sure. Possible in the current political climate? I'm skeptical. And sad.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Possible for intelligent, reasonable people who want to cooperate for the common good? Sure. Possible in the current political climate? I'm skeptical. And sad.

Republicans and Democrats can't even agree is saving peoples' lives for the sake of the economy is a good or bad thing.

(Also, people dying isn't good for the economy.)

 

[Umbran]

Here's the thing; again.

Other countries are doing this just fine.

Germany, Europe's Largest Economy, Enters Recession Due To Coronavirus

Germany has seen its biggest quarterly contraction since 2009 when the global financial crisis ravaged the country's economy. Economists expect an even deeper slump in the second quarter.

www.npr.org

So, no, not "just fine". Better than we are? Probably.

Here's the thing, again - EN World has a No Politics rule. So, discussion of exactly why we do what we do can only go so far. You want to discuss it further than that, you'll have to do so on another site. I'm sorry.