March 10, 2020

Trump is looking for any kind of a stimulus for the economy after the markets crashed since most of his reelection campaign for 2020 is based on the stock markets.
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His administration is promoting payroll tax-cuts and even offering up help for those workers who do not get paid sick leave.

Almost every conservative pundit loves tax cuts so they are in favor of that measure, but when it comes to helping workers that are too sick to work, guess who they side with?

On Monday, Stuart Varney had several guests on as the market crashed that attacked just the idea of a paid sick leave for workers, especially if they contract COVID–19 because in their minds it will start another social program that helps American workers.

And that's "bad for conservatism."

Varney asked, "What do you make of this? Targeted stimulus, maybe an enhancement of paid leave, sick paid leave, deferred tax payments. Do you think this is a good idea? Because we had Art Laffer on the show saying earlier, saying, “No, get the government out of this, get the politicians out of it, we don't want them to do anything, let the market work.“ What say you?"

Peter Morici replied, "I don't like “a” or “b.” The extension of paid sick leave opens the door. You know what's going to happen on the Democratic side. Schumer's going to want a permanent program."

Daring to help the American worker is anathema to conservatives alike.

"The old Rahm Emanuel approach, “Don't let any good crisis go unused.” They're going to try to get another social program out of this. We can't let that happen," Morici said.

Dylan Scott on Vox has a great article about this very issue from February, "The coronavirus makes a good case for America finally guaranteeing paid sick leave."

And Morici conveniently forgets about how Republicans in this country and conservatives around the world have used disaster capitalism to enrich themselves and promote the wealth class at the detriment to the working-class, time and time again..

Naomi Klein writes,

When I listen to Donald Trump speak, with his obvious relish in creating an atmosphere of chaos and destabilization, I often think: I’ve seen this before, in those strange moments when portals seemed to open up into our collective future.

One of those moments arrived in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, as I watched hordes of private military contractors descend on the flooded city to find ways to profit from the disaster, even as thousands of the city’s residents, abandoned by their government, were treated like dangerous criminals just for trying to survive.

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