There’s no harm in sending $1,200 checks to everyone. This kind of flat, one-time payment is a favorite of Republicans, so it’s no surprise they’ve defaulted to it yet again.
But it also doesn’t do much good. We need to get through our heads that the coronavirus outbreak won’t be over in April. Or May. Probably not by June, either. We have months to go.
This means people need income, not one-time checks. And this income needs to fully replace their old income—or come pretty close to it.
This is what Congress should be working on, and they should be doing it in crisis mode, right along with building more temporary hospital capacity. So why aren’t they? Why are they instead fussing over dumb little checks and bailouts for the cruise industry? It’s insane.
INCOME AND HOSPITAL CAPACITY. That’s what we need. And it needs to start yesterday. Then Congress can go back to squabbling over other stuff.
