Quarantine and Shut Down - on whom do we shoulder the financial hit?

The simple fact is that virus spreads more slowly when people aren't physically near eachother, and if less people interact, less people will die.

This is the logic behind closing businesses and restricting travel. In cities like San Fran (and many many more, very soon, I predict), they have mandated that during quarantine/shut down, no one is to be evicted and no utilities will be shut off. TBC, I'm not criticizing this tactic. Its reasonable. But so far as I know, landlords still have to pay mortgages and utility companies still have to pay workers. What happens when they can't? Are we setting the banks up for a mass collection of defaulted properties the instant quarantine drops? Will an exponential homelessness epidemic after the virus subsides be any less catastrophic than rampant infection would have been? Maybe we just freeze everything, run the country on credit, and massively raise taxes afterward to pay it all back...

I'm not trying to make a statement here, more just brainstorming how an economy works in this situation.

 

Great point.

In a world where only about 40% of Americans have $400 saved for "emergency expenses", what is going to happen when millions can't pay their rent?

Do we put a national moratorium on eviction (for non-payment of rent)?

Do we put a national moratorium on foreclosures?

You pose a very interesting and puzzling question.

 

A lot of our "leaders" and their cronies are just waiting for that opportunity.

 

Never let a crisis go to waste...

So how do we prevent it?

 

I honestly don't know.

People complain that libertarianism leads to feudalism, yet it's the people they vote for that are sucking up massive wealth in downturns that they practically engineered, and then making bank on rents.

 

Which 'libertarian' politicians are sucking up massive wealth in downturns?

 

I think he's saying that the argument is that Libertarianism leads to feudalism, but in reality the Democratic state has led to that. Of course, I somewhat agree/disagree in that I hold that the Libertarian state of living is ideal..if we lived up to it. But we sadly don't. And our 'democracy' evolved like other democracies evolve into a Plutocracy. For, by and ruled by the special interests.

We live in a Plutocracy today, strengthened and enabled by the two party system. We've got to destroy the two party system before we the people can voice our in actuality plural views of politics.

 

I think I would throw the money at the people effected by the virus thru unemployment and sick leave. Then after the virus is brought under control come back to see what has to be done to restart business.

 

As the FED buys $700b of their most distressed assets, at face value of course.
Has the FED offered to pay your mortgage yet?