[ExI] Unemployment

[John Clark]

Things are happening so fast it's difficult to be certain but right now the
unemployment rate in the US is probably about 13%, the highest since 1937;
16 million Americans who had a job 2 weeks ago don't have one today, not
because they don't want to work but because if they did work they'd not
only be risking their lives they'd be risking yours too, the more people
infected with COVID-19 the greater the chance you will become infected too.
And the number of unemployed will certainly go higher, much higher, in the
immediate future.

Even under the most optimistic scenario I don't see things getting better
for at least 2 months, and even then only very slowly, and 69% of Americans
have less than $1000 in savings and tens of millions have no health
insurance, but nearly all Americans have guns. So what to do? With great
fanfare congress passed legislation giving a one time payment of $1,200 but
that won't get people very far, and due to bureaucracy they won't even get
their checks for weeks if not months. I think congress is going to have to
pass legislation for something like $2000 a month and free health care
until this pandemic is over. I know this rubs hard core libertarians the
wrong way but what is your alternative if you want civilization to
continue? Remember, those tens of millions of people may not have a job or
savings or insurance or hope but they do have guns.

There is another problem, how can congress pass any legislation if it
becomes unsafe for hundreds of elderly men to meet in one room? It seems to
me in that case you've got to have online virtual meeting and voting, but
one of the very few things that both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agree about is they don't like that idea.
But neither has offered an alternative solution.

John K Clark
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