21–30 of 183 posts
It's bold move, but necessary to stop people going into work. The tubes here in London were still packed a few days ago, because low wage earners still need to travel in to earn and put food on the table.
It does work pretty good though for city workers - managers, devs, etc
I do wonder if it would be easier and cheaper to bite the bullet and move to a universal basic income. This situation cold be going on for years.
You need a UBI on a level that allows people to live. That’s a lot of money. Better to extend unemployment benefits for a limited time.
And, even though it's an employer subsidy, this is more beneficial in the long run if the economy recovers, because employers don't have to go through the fire/hire destruction and deadweight loss.
The Imperial College report had 510,000 dying in the UK under a no-action scenario. Average age lets say 79 as the virus progresses.
510,000 * (82.5-79) * GBP 30,000 (QALY for the NHS) = 53.5 billion pounds based on the funding methodology used for the NHS.
Instead the Uk seems to be willing to throw its entire GDP at this problem, 3 trillion pounds. This seems... completely unjustified.
How can we justify this sort of effort for Coronavirus, but not Climate Change, Obesity, Air Pollution, which will kill many more than COVID-19? Is it just because Coronavirus does it spectacularly in 3 months and all of those other things take decades?
And people keep saying that basic income is impossible. This is an astonishing U-turn, and a very welcome one. I just hope the social distancing isn't too late.
And people keep saying that basic income is impossible. This is an astonishing U-turn, and a very welcome one. I just hope the social distancing isn't too late.
So, with all these people not working... when do our supplies start to run out? I mean, the stores are getting replenished now; but what happens when the supply chain dries up for a period of time? Will we be able to boot-strap the supply chain to keep the economies of the world rolling?
And people keep saying that basic income is impossible. This is an astonishing U-turn, and a very welcome one. I just hope the social distancing isn't too late.
And people keep saying that basic income is impossible. This is an astonishing U-turn, and a very welcome one. I just hope the social distancing isn't too late.
It's not impossible, but Americans voted against it overwhelmingly less than two months ago, well after this epidemic had already started.