Stimulus Needs to Trickle-UP
How can a 5,593 page bill spending $900 billion manage to leave out so many and do so little? Despite the pandemic bringing the role of essential workers to the forefront, we are still blind to the importance of the core economy, or caring economy, and so they are left out of our discussions of stimulus relief.
The focus on corporate bailouts, business support and unemployment benefits leaves out some of that invisible economy. For example, parents who have had to leave work to take care of children whose schools have been closed. You don’t just leave a 6 year old in front of the computer for the day and say “have a good time time at virtual day care- sandwiches are in the fridge.” Whether it is mom or dad, someone has to be home with the kids. And those parents are unlikely to qualify for unemployment- because they did not technically lose their jobs. For single parents, this is devastating, but even for couples, their income is cut while their expenses are the same. While the stimulus bill does provide $600 per child, remember this is a one-time payment, not monthly like the unemployment bonus.
The self employed, gig workers, part-time workers, artists and musicians are all likely to have lost income. It is helpful to look at the economy in terms of who creates wealth, and who creates value. If you are employed and creating wealth for someone else- you are likely to find more relief in the stimulus bill than if you work for yourself or create value such as caring for children, elders or the sick. The value creators will most likely not qualify for unemployment benefits. The individual stimulus checks are the only thing that might help them until business picks up again. Even as they cut expenses and max out credit cards, it isn’t enough. The fact is that 53% of Americans already live paycheck to paycheck- there just isn’t anything left for a rainy day, much less a pandemic year.
This is why Trump and the Democrats were right to demand a higher stimulus check amount. As we have seen, the trickle down approach used by Republicans- bailing out airlines and big business, has not staunched the bleeding of the economy. The promise that these corporations would use the proceeds to keep more people on the payroll, was an empty promise. Who was surprised by this? It is exactly what we have seen for the past 40 years of trickle down economics- that is to say- nothing has trickled down.
The government is spending large amounts of money to keep the US economy afloat. They might as well give up the fairytale of trickle down and invest in the people- so that the money can trickle up through the economy. Money given directly to the people will not go to stock buy-backs, CEO salaries and dividends. It will be spent at grocery stores, paid to their workers and the truckers who deliver the food and the farmers who grow it- trickling up and out into the economy. Even those big business owners will eventually see the money in their pockets from this spending.
Let’s hope the 2021 stimulus bill connects with reality and directs the money where it can do the most good- directly to the people.