By George Miller
Even though an unprecedented health crisis brought by the Wuhan Coronavirus has triggered an unprecedented financial crisis, it seems like politics as usual. The Democrats stopped a Republican effort for financial, operational and health care supports in the Senate twice, in just days.
Nancy Pelosi then introduced a version which rapidly morphed into a 1,400 page stimulus bill which also contains massive support for the partisan Democratic agenda, much of it alleged by Republicans to be not Coronavirus-related. We have outlined why in previous articles (Example), (Example). The Democratic leadership had a very different vision of what the solution should be, with many of their longtime pet projects included, plus more of an emphasis on direct support to individuals and not so much to business, which Republicans see as the economic engine that produces jobs, innovation and prosperity.
Evidently, opposition to that bill has been very heavy, even from some Democrats who believe it to be overreach, given the emergency conditions and need for very rapid, unified action.
The last we heard, that bill is dead and Pelosi has agreed to go back to the Senate version of the Trump bill, after final negotiations between Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. At this point, it seems as though all parties see the need to get this done quickly, before too much irreversible damage is inflicted upon the economy.
Simultaneously, President Trump has been trial ballooning winding down the various “lockdowns” and other restrictions which are rapidly bringing the economy to its knees and opines that we should consider starting to get back to normal by Easter. He suggested that the “cure” could be worse than the “disease”- that the economic damage could actually cause more deaths, misery and financial destruction that the effects of the virus itself. He is getting big pushback from multiple key players, because many believe that we aren’t even close to stopping the rapid pandemic spread. Today at the daily White House Coronavirus briefing, even Trump conceded that certain areas of the nation, such as NY and CA were much worse than the nation as a whole. He has agree to heed advice from his health experts, a relief to many.
The unprecedented nearly $2 TRILLION dollar stimulus bill would also be accompanied by $4 TRILLION in “liquidity” facilitated by the Federal Reserve. This totals more than a quarter of U.S. GDP.
Many Citizens urge, hope and pray that Congress and the President will not only act quickly on this, but also act to effectively contain the threat so that the country can get back to work and reverse the disaster of an economic shutdown which will otherwise rapidly consume our prosperity. That could be even more unhealthy.
In the coming months, work on vaccines and treatments, as well as judicious use of preventive measures (travel restrictions, sanitation, social distancing, etc. will make all the difference. It could take longer than we’d like to have effective medication in place.
Related and supporting:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-coronavirus-economic-stimulus-package-bill-2020-03-24/
https://www.redstate.com/bonchie/2020/03/24/nancy-pelosi-signals-surrender-on-relief-bill-just-a-day-after-going-full-leroy-jenkins
George Miller is Publisher/Co-Founder of CitizensJournal.us and a “retired” operations management consultant residing in Oxnard.
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Too bad there isn’t a line item veto.
This should be simple: three parts
1. Establish 6 months unemployment lost wages for anyone who applies. Incrementally renewing every three months.
2. For companies drowning in bond debt, help with refinancing.
3. Create a Federal Public Works program to improve nations’s infrastructure and a a fund for states to apply for such projects.
KISS, best approach.
Sounds good, but what about the businesses which have been bled dry and are needed to provide jobs to those workers?