Bailouts Versus Pitchforks

Everything seems to be happening at once; with the global response to the corona virus, the subsequent economical meltdown and the elections in the United States of America, things are moving rapidly indeed. One of the most interesting developments, in my opinion, is that the Republicans are outflanking the Democrats on the left, proposing popular economical emergency measures like direct payments to citizens.

It's sad to see that corporate Democrats are falling behind when it comes to proposals that would help the average American. Even some billionaires are suddenly in favor of the government stepping in to actually help regular people, not just the banks and corporations. Some local governments even go a step further and issue emergency laws to prevent price-gauging in this time of crisis; the most hardened libertarians are now confronted with the reality that at least some government planning is necessary. In times of crisis this becomes apparent for everyone to see.

Right now it's the Republicans, and even some billionaires, who are advocating a government takeover of vital segments of the economy, not the Democrats. What I proposed in my post two days ago, Bailouts Biting Back?, is now an essential part of their message; if corporations and banks are bailed out with taxpayers' money, there should be guarantees attached to that bailout as to benefit the taxpayers. In other words: that money should somehow be made available to prevent evictions and to cover the loss of income of the millions who are now without a job or had a significant cut in working hours due to the pandemic. Watch the above linked video and be amazed by Trump's proposals to ease the suffering of common people, and how he has copied those proposals from Bernie Sanders; most amazing is that the Democrats are now trying to stop those Sanders-inspired proposals!! The Democratic party establishment is truly lost...

Now, they don't do this out of the goodness of their hearts; they can see the pitchforks coming if the billions of dollars of bailout money is used again for stock buybacks and bonuses for CEO's, while the regular populations is left to rot. They know that both Trump and Sanders are a symptom of the neoliberal disease they've been spreading for decades; they are both expressions of a demand by the people to make the economy work for them, not just the rich. It'll be interesting to see if this awareness is here to stay, or if we just go back to neoliberal business as usual after this whole panic situation has calmed back down. I'm not holding my breath though...

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