When you give money to poor and working-class people, you see an immediate multiplier effect in the economy—because they spend it. They buy food, they pay rent, they buy new shoes and fix their broken refrigerator. And consumers are the best arbiters of which companies should survive the crisis, not the government. If you believe in the power of markets, we should be putting money into the hands of consumers, not companies. The $1,200 checks the government sent out at the onset of the pandemic were a baby step in the right direction, but we are way past baby steps.
