Y'all Got Any More of that Stimulus Plan

I thought this would go without saying, but no, you cannot shut down businesses without a stimulus package. Alexa, play Worst of Both Worlds by John Maynard Hayek.

In a pandemic situation, it makes sense to close businesses in order to prevent spreading of disease. You need a stimulus package to keep money in people's pockets and help pump money into the businesses that can stay open, but it's a reasonable course of action. What is completely asinine, however, is restricting businesses while not compensating them for their losses.

Interest free loans from the Federal Reserve available to businesses (so they can pay people and cover costs) and individuals (so they don't have to eat sleep for dinner) is somewhere to start. People need to have money in their pocket. We all have bills and rent to pay. The threat of starvation is enough to prompt anyone from disregarding lockdown measures, so it would be wise to eliminate that threat. A stimulus check could work, but if we don't want to keep borrowing from future generations, loans would be sufficient.

We can't keep doing this half laissez-faire-half Keynesian approach. Everyone is exhausted. If our government chooses to not try to prevent the spread of the virus, then they don't have to stimulate the economy. If government takes the recommended route in preventing Covid's spread and protect the people, they have to completely protect us, especially from financial ruin.

What's so bothersome to me is that we know all the answers for how to handle shutdowns economically. We're being held up by arbitrary numbers based on projections of how much aid is required (and some disinformational grifting but that's a whole other can of worms). My point is that we need relief yesterday. People are losing their homes and businesses because they have to fight through a recession with both hands and a leg tied behind their backs.