Very interesting that the US is discussing, and Hong Kong is actually doing, direct cash transfers to millions of people to stimulate the economy from below in response to the coronavirus. >> #COVID2019#BasicIncome
This is exactly how a basic income could work, to "put a floor under the collapsing economy". We will just have to realize that collapses are not an exception but rather a defining feature of a global market economy.
I see basic income as providing a necessary infrastructure that is simply needed just like buildings, roads, communication, water, power supplies and so on in a modern society. No one can persist without an income today.
• "Cash giveaways," suggested Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at independent research firm Capital Economics as a way to boost consumer spending and spark growth. cbsnews.com/amp/news/as-co…
• "[R]apid direct payments to individuals," recommended Josh Bivens, director of research at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. (Link above)
• "Stimulus payments to households," said Jay Shambaugh, director at the centrist Hamilton Project, founded by former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.
• "Hong Kong’s embattled government unveiled a budget packed with giveaways including a one-time cash handout, as the city struggles to stabilize an economy battered by political unrest and the coronavirus." google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.…
• "The administration of Chief Executive Carrie Lam is seeking to put a floor under the collapsing economy, rolling out the boldest budget in recent years" google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.…
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A thread to explain everything everywhere all at once – about the Swedish covid strategy! 🧵🇸🇪
This is what you should read to understand what happened in Sweden.
Everything becomes much more coherent and clear and tells us what we should learn and not.
1) Start with this excellent thread which explains the logic behind the strategy.
TL;DR Tegnell went for WHO's classic flu strategy – based on the mistaken assumption that the Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) of covid was ten times lower than others thought.
Tegnell & Giesecke thought that covid spread more quickly than it did and was about as deadly as the flu. Hence: it made sense to use the WHO plan for the flu. But they got the numbers wrong.
"In order for a crisis to evoke a rally, it must be perceived as a ‘nation-disrupting event’, which elicits a ‘deep sense of distress among the public’, including fear (at the nation’s perceived power loss) and anger (at the nation’s perceived status loss)."
"This happens when the crisis at hand is seen as ‘pertaining to the “true” essence or virtue of the nation, which should be celebrated or requires protection’ (Feinstein 2020)."
Stort tack Markus. Fantastisk sammanfattning av coronarevanschismen!
"Att utifrån ett bristfälligt mått på överdödlighet påstå att Sverige hanterade pandemin väl säger nog mest om människors önskan att ge upprättelse åt den svenska coronahanteringen." gp.se/debatt/missvis…
"Flera av dessa problem påtalades av den medarbetare på SCB som lämnade ut siffrorna till SVD:s vetenskapsjournalist. ... Resultatet är ett trubbigt mått som 'fått ganska mycket kritik' för att låna SCB-medarbetarens egna ord."
"Att frestas att tillskriva skillnader i överdödlighet främst till Folkhälsomyndighetens omtvistat kompetenta ledarskap är inte rationellt."
"Hur ska 'bekräftad myndighetsinformation' hanteras om den inte går att lita på? Satsa på mångfald och glöm rådet att vissa källor inte behöver granskas, skriver medievetaren Kajsa Klein."
Ja, man hade kunnat ta fasta på EU:s smittskyddsmyndighet ECDC:s uppmaning från februari 2020 om att följa försiktighetsprincipen:
'We recommend a cautious approach due to possible transmission through aerosols.'"
"Representanter för svenska myndigheter tillhör de som aktivt försökt påverka andra länders pandemihantering. När ... Anders Tegnell i mars 2020 uppmanade ECDC att ta bort munskyddsrekommendationen gjordes det med motiveringen att den skulle antyda att viruset var luftburet."
"'Vi anser att kommunikationen, framför allt i inledningen av pandemin, i alltför stor utsträckning förefaller ha styrts av en vilja att inte oroa människor', skriver Svante Werger [MSB]."
"'Lärdomen från tidigare kriser var att det är 'oftast är upplevd brist på information som är det mest oroande'.
Om myndigheterna medvetet undanhöll information skulle det kunna bli 'förödande för förtroendet', enligt Svante Werger."