Corona economy

Money in the times of COVID

The government is now giving out large amounts of money it doesn’t have. Out of necessity we are going deeper into debt as a country. Who are we borrowing this money from, and how did these sources get all this money to loan to us?

What is it about Americans and the American economy that have so many living on the financial edge? How can wages be so inequitable when so many are so rich? What is inherent in our economic and government structures that allows so much money to be stashed away by the obscenely rich?

Why do wealth, privilege and lobbying persist in protecting the rich? Why do the wealthy even want so much money? Why are the poor and middle class relatively more charitably generous that the wealthy?

Why is there so much coverage during COVID of the charitable actions of celebrities and not of the same kind of actions by ordinary people? How did large banks manage to get their wealthy clients to the top of the corona loan list without even applying for them?

These questions and many more are crucial to address, and COVID has shown light on the systemic economic inequalities in American financial and government institutions. The economy is now a disaster and can’t be rebuilt by the same old methods. This is a chance to make changes that will bring fairness and economic security to more.

David Brooks argues in the New York Times that it is not the 99% vs. 1% but rather the 20% (college educated, financially secure, children in good schools) vs. the 80% (high school education, access only to poor schools, living on the financial edge).

In this time of many making sacrifices of all kinds for others and many finding new ways to solve corona-created problems, we can only hope that this spirit drives big changes.