i see the "they only gave us $1200" discourse has, unfortun…

it's totally fine to blast senate republicans for being cheap fucks who'd rather 100,000 go hungry than 10 people pay more in taxes, but we got more than $1200, we got, for the briefest of moments, a glimpse of how we could genuinely end poverty in this country, don't ignore it.

there's a very good reason mcconnell is reportedly willing to look like he will cave on stimulus, and it's because he's taking it out of unemployment, which is a terrible trade-off, and everyone grumbling about $1200 is helping him sell it.

if you only got $1200, congratulations, you kept your job! tens of millions of people didn't, and as bad as things are right now, they'd be *significantly* worse if house and senate democrats hadn't written a genuinely visionary UI package into law.

so, definitely demand stimulus, but keep pushing for better unemployment and social stability programs, too, because if you find yourself unemployed (as i suspect many will in the year of disaster management to come), you're going to hope things look better then than now.

the layoffs and business closings aren't over, not by a long shot. nothing really gets fixed until we get the virus under control, and even the most blue sky optimistic estimates don't peg that until midway or late into 2021.

consumer retail is going to be an absolute bloodbath in 1Q based on holiday spending reports that came out today, and it's a bloodbath that will last all year long, given how heavily consumer retail leans on holiday revenues.

if we can't get restaurants and bars safely opened in 1Q (and we can't), the overwhelming majority of those will be gone, too. i've seen no less than four of my regular haunts go under in the last two weeks. all of those places had employees who are now out of work.

know who works in consumer retail, bars and restaurants? people who could really, really appreciate an extra $600/mo in unemployment insurance. we could make enormous, demonstrable quality of life improvements in this country in one or two fiscal quarters.

and the longer we keep it going, the harder it will be, politically, to strip it away. so, yes, get mad about paltry stimulus, but keep your eyes on the real prize, which is going to war with poverty and inequality.

we probably aren’t going to be able to save your favorite bar or coffee shop or sandwich joint or yarn store, and that’s worth being angry and mournful about, but there’s still a chance we may be able save our neighbors.

alternately, you can focus on $1200 and pay down a couple of bills or order something nice from some big box or order something from the local chain restaurant, and in that case, get used to it, because all your favorite shops and bars and restaurants will be gone forever.