The economic fallout of the COVID-19 epidemic could be among its most severe impacts. Millions of people are losing jobs, thousands of businesses are closing, and many Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness – or they already are there. The plunging stock market is putting retirement funds of millions of Americans at risk (and some rich people’s fortunes, ho, hum), and even the White House has started to warn us that we could enter a recession by mid-year.
A number of proposals have been floated in recent days to address this economic fallout. Only one is sufficient, but is it politically viable?