191–200 of 266 posts
No need to keep imagining that there is a strong causal link with money in the short term. At least not so much as it might matter.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The most important aspect of the claim about spending money is the broken window fallacy. Henry Hazlitt wrote a great book on the subject called Economics in One lesson. The simple example is that we can't go around breaking windows to stimulate the economy. Sure, the window manufacturer and the window replacement companies might benefit, however that money which went towards the window could have gone elsewhere. Eng…
It's hard to be an Austrian and a decent human being. Moral hazard is real, but it's hard to stand by and watch humans suffer in a world full of abundance.
Pardon the negativity, but this is a childish way to disagree with someone. Very few people think "I don't care what happens to people", mostly simply think there are better ways to do the most good. A person's inability to understand someone else's morality doesn't make that person superior, it makes them arrogant and ignorant.
It's much better to "steel man" a point of view, find the strengths in its arguments and understand it, then argue against those rather than just dismissing it out of hand because it doesn't align with your presuppositions.
As long as the money is given to folks who need and/or will spend it, it feels like this is the exact situation where the federal government steps in for stimulus. There’s no pull yourself up by your bootstraps talk right now and there shouldn’t be. I know the single parent working a couple of jobs will spend every dime they’re given in a time like this, just to survive. A yuppie like me would just park it in my savi…
I would personally feel obligated to spend it, and I normally save 75% of my income.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure people in the top 10% are not likely to need this money, but giving it to everyone is a lot easier and faster than figuring out who needs it the most. Even in that top 10% there are still people that live paycheck-to-paycheck. I was there not long ago. It's a lot better to give everyone the money and be wrong about ~10% of the people needing it then delay it for people who have bill past due right now.
Why isn't it a direct credit towards rent and free food/water/meds instead of cash? Wouldn't that be a way to ensure it isn't stowed away?
What about people for whom this is pretty close to their rent/food/entertainment budget anyway? You want them to sit in their houses staring at each other with no way to pay their bills for [insert streaming entertainment service here]?
Send money to everyone equally. It's fast. It's fair. And it will quickly increase the velocity of money. [1]
[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/business/economy/stocks-e...
As long as the money is given to folks who need and/or will spend it, it feels like this is the exact situation where the federal government steps in for stimulus. There’s no pull yourself up by your bootstraps talk right now and there shouldn’t be. I know the single parent working a couple of jobs will spend every dime they’re given in a time like this, just to survive. A yuppie like me would just park it in my savi…
$1000 to every american right now will end up just being a huge payment to landlords. i'm not saying it's a bad idea, people still need to make rent and buy food, but it's not going to stimulate anything. grocery stores are already bringing in record revenues, and landlords don't need the money. It's financial aid, not a stimulus.
Why can't we collectively say, no Americans have to pay mortgages/rent for x months. No small/medium sized businesses have to pay business loans for x months. Everyone focus on social distancing and making sure everyone has food and shelter. Weather this out, and start back up after peak infections/hospitalizations has been dealt with.
Hey, maybe they could stop trying to kill SNAP while they're at it https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/presidents-bud... https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/3/13/21178257/trump-admi...
As long as the money is given to folks who need and/or will spend it, it feels like this is the exact situation where the federal government steps in for stimulus. There’s no pull yourself up by your bootstraps talk right now and there shouldn’t be. I know the single parent working a couple of jobs will spend every dime they’re given in a time like this, just to survive. A yuppie like me would just park it in my savi…
Of course to really get this fair, you should tax wealth too, which tends to be difficult...