321–330 of 433 posts
Another example of how hyper focusing on jobs is counterproductive. You were afraid these jobs would be lost. It is conceivable that you could let these jobs just die and then give this money to the newly unemployed. But no, you stilll have that puritanical / protestant devotion to work itself.
I know a few upper-middle class small business owners (all non-retail sectors) whose businesses weren't substantially affected by the pandemic, but who basically got a free handout as part of the program. Two mentioned how they were initially hesitant to apply for money, but then worried that if they didn't, their business could take a downturn after it was too late. Then as long as they spent the money on payroll (w…
The government can't even give our money away with a basic level of competence? This is worrisome.
Lots of people in the executive wing and their friends/cronies benefited: it was competence, but in the way one would hope. A member of cabinet resisted[1] releasing names of companies that benefited from PPE loans to congress, calling it "proprietary information" - that was not an accident or bumbling.
1. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/06/13/mnuchin-ppp-...
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Sure, if you agree with socialism for the rich and for the rich only this was great just like 2008.
It is bad to keep citing 2008 money as if it were a handout. Much of the money was paid back with interest, and the government MADE money on those loans. Look up the “maiden lane” loans for an example.
So if I make reckless decisions because I am greedy, the govt should bail me out and then if some of my investments work out in the end I can return the govt's money.
Its heads I win and tails I dont lose strategy.
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> it is clear that investments made in public school education has much higher returns do you have evidence of increasing funding to public education directly resulting in better outcomes in general? obviously better schools are usually better funded, but i can't imagine how throwing money at a bad school would result in better education...
> but i can't imagine how throwing money at a bad school would result in better education... ...what? How about hiring better teachers. Building nicer facilities. Funding extracurricular/after-school activities. Smaller class sizes. Better equipment (computers, technology, textbooks). Better/more support staff (counselors, etc). The list goes on... I would much rather go to a school that had plenty of money than go t…
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Which is in fact what the British did when they ended slavery.
Though to be fair you can make a very compelling argument that that wasn't the most moral choice
Also, as you can see from the other replies, there were other considerations at the time. Compensation to the slave owners is morally repugnant, and yet the alternative might have also had morally repugnant consequences. In any case, that is what they did.
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UBI has the potential to shift the cost of ubi into everything else, then you are back to the starting point
This is not very great logic. People try and argue the same about minimum wage and it falls in its face, because economists who practice critical thinking note that when minimum wage has been raised historically, inflation generally did not follow.
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In hindsight, it should have been structured like Germany's Kurzarbeit ("short-time working") program. Impacted businesses simply furlough employees they don't have work for. Employers continue to pay furloughed employees 70% of their salary, and the government reimburses businesses for the cost of the furloughed employees' salaries. There are no loans, no unemployment insurance. There is nothing employees need to ap…
My impression of PPP is that this was more or less the stated intention. Hard to say whether deviating from that was malice or incompetence.
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Though to be fair you can make a very compelling argument that that wasn't the most moral choice
No doubt, but that was what the British did. I made only a statement of fact. Also, as you can see from the other replies, there were other considerations at the time. Compensation to the slave owners is morally repugnant, and yet the alternative might have also had morally repugnant consequences. In any case, that is what they did.
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Sure, if you agree with socialism for the rich and for the rich only this was great just like 2008.
It is bad to keep citing 2008 money as if it were a handout. Much of the money was paid back with interest, and the government MADE money on those loans. Look up the “maiden lane” loans for an example.
I worked on a paper that showed that the "Paycheck Protection Program loans increased employment at small businesses by only 2%, implying a cost of $377,000 per job saved" in April 2020: https://opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/t... It still hurts me to read. Over a third of a million, 7 times the average salary, to save a job during the pandemic under this plan
In general, a government spending program to create jobs costs 3x as much as the jobs pay.