Pandemic Stimulus Was Misguided

I said at the time that these pandemic relief bills were passed that they were inadequate, misguided, and misdirected. They were not necessarily inadeqaute as to the total price tag, but rather that--as usual--they were top heavy. Also, "relief" to the wealthy was more permanent than the relief given to workers, the unemployed, and other individuals.

This article from the Washington Post addresses some of those issues. This quote from the article is a pretty good summing up of the problem:

The legislation bestowed billions in benefits on companies and wealthy individuals largely unscathed by the pandemic, ...while at the same time allowing special aid for unemployed workers to expire over the summer and leaving some local public health efforts struggling for money to conduct testing and other prevention efforts.

In fairness, this is not something unique to this administration. The Obama administration's response to the financial meltdown of the late aughts was also top-heavy: generous to those who caused the recession; and inadequate or nonexistent for those who were harmed the most.

It is just another example of the biases built into the economic system: bail out capital, and screw labor.

Reading this article is infuriating. This was entirely predictable. And it repudiates the Congressional Democrats' strategy that they'd get the things needed for workers and the states in "the next bill".