Other Countries Are Spending More Than Us On Coronavirus Rescue Packages

Congress recently passed a $2.2 trillion rescue package to deal with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. How does that compare to what other countries are doing? Here’s a very rough answer:

These comparisons are hard to make since every country had different safety net provisions in place even before the pandemic. It’s also hard to directly compare different kinds of assistance. Usually, though, media reports converge on something like “_____ passed a package worth $_____” and that’s the number I used.

This suggests that the US is likely to need a further stimulus bill, perhaps another $1-2 trillion. Luckily, the normal Republican reluctance to help the economy during a Democratic administration no longer applies, and Donald Trump is desperate for the biggest spending package he can get. I doubt he even cares what’s in it.

Another thing worth noting for lefties who are concerned/outraged/disgusted over the $500 billion corporate bailout that was part of the rescue bill: nearly every other country is doing the same thing. (The hardy capitalist Swiss are the exception.) Like it or not, it probably needs to be done if we want our economy to be ready for a bounceback when the pandemic is finally over. And remember: they’re just loans. We’ll get the money back eventually.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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