So as the government prepares to throw large quantities of money in random directions in the hope that something good would come out of it, I was thinking of just how stupid that is, and what could we do instead. Here is my "If I were President, here's how I would spend a trillion dollars" thread.
It starts with unemployed people registering as general purpose labor to do whatever is needed.
Then, do the following.
(TL,DR version: Use government money to pay grocery delivery drivers and people to assist cleaning and anti-contagion issues at essential industries.)
1. Do whatever is possible to increase production of medical equipment and personal protective gear like those N95 respirator mask thingies that I had never heard of but seem important. Likewise for test kits.
Unfortunately, you can't just make those things appear, but is there any way that a bunch of people could help? I don't know. Whatever it takes, give the people making them whatever they need, for free (i.e. with tax funds) employ as many general purpose laborers as they can use to make that happens. I will call the general purpose laborers GPLs from now on.
2. Make it so people don't have to leave their house.
Where do people have to go? The grocery store. So how do you stop that? You hire GPLs as delivery drivers. Free delivery. At government expense.
That's pretty darned expensive, but let's think about this. The government is willing to hand me 1,000 dollars for nothing. How much would it cost to pick out and send some groceries to me? Fifty bucks? I would rather, instead of giving me 1000 dollars, make 20 grocery deliveries. Now I don't have to leave my house. I can't catch the virus. I can't spread the virus.
And it shouldn't cost fifty bucks anyway.
3. To facilitate that, a modern grocery store doesn't quite work. I don't want the GPLs to be searching for the 8 ounce can of Hunt's Tomato Paste instead of the 7.5 ounce store brand tomato paste.
Instead, you set up distribution centers in unused high school gymnasiums and kitchens, and they have rolling stock. You order online based on what's available. Today you have Doritios? Great. But the staples, milk, eggs, bread, are there as consistently as possible. Yes, I know you want to pick out that really good package of pork chops, but if it means not catching a disease, would you just trust the GPL? Yeah, go for it. I've worked food banks. You package what you have.
And do you know how easy it is to set up a simple web site, the kind without fancy graphics and that doesn't track user preferences, to place orders? It could literally be done by tomorrow morning.
You will also need GPLs to man phone banks to answer questions, especially from people who aren't so internet savvy, and of course people who just think they're special so they have to talk to a person instead of reading the directions.
And you work with existing, conventional, stores to provide more custom deliveries. I tried to order groceries online yesterday, but the delivery option took two days because of the crush of demand. Make GPLs available, at no cost to the stores, to perform deliveries.
4. Some industries are essential. Medical supplies. Food processors. Toilet paper factories.
Essential industries get GPLs to ensure sanitation and whatever else non-trained labor can do. Somebody's job will be to wipe down door handles every few minutes at the chicken nuggets factory. That ensures these key industries keep running.
5. In order to make this all work, you need people on the ground, lots of them, to coordinate things. Since there is no way that there can be uniform procedures set up, the local coordinators have to have a lot of power to make decisions. The guys running these ad hoc distribution centers have to have power to make decisions on how goods get there. Some will do it very badly. Regional coordinators will have to have the power to fire and replace underperforming locals.
I think this is a job for the military. I can't see anyone else being able to create a chain of command that quickly. A huge job of an army is logistics. Put that to use. There aren't enough of them to do all the work, but they can hire the GPLs.
6, There aren't enough vans available. Authorize the local administrator to rent private vehicles. In other words, you can have my minivan if you give me fifty bucks a day.
7. Now, you have people locked (metaphorically) in their homes, the virus spread drops drastically. There will still be spread amongst the GPLs and at the essential industries you kept open, but as soon as the PPE goes to the health care workers that need it, you start sending them to essential industry workers, and the GPLs who serve them. That reduces contagion at distribution centers. At some point, it gets to the point that as soon as one person gets sick, you can track all the people he's in contact with, and test them before they show symptoms.
8. Did I mention this is incredibly expensive? Fortunately, you have a trillion dollars to work with, and instead of throwing money around in random directions, you are throwing money specifically at stopping the virus spread. You are employing the unemployed. You are keeping people in their homes where they can't catch or spread the virus. The GPLs and the industries they are assisting are, of course out in the world, but they have PPE as soon as it is available, and they can adopt lower risk practices more easily than random shoppers can.
It also isn't very efficient. Lots of these GPLs are going to be people who would rather sit around watching cartoons and they will be severe slackers. Oh well. That's a challenge for the administrators.
9. Congress passes laws to limit liability so that a company working with GPLs doesn't end up getting sued when it turns out one of the drivers was drunk, or whatever else might happen.
Sounds crazy? Is it crazier than having millions of people with no jobs heading to the grocery store to stand near hundreds of others during an epidemic?
Honestly, the only challenge I see that might be insurmountable would be the payroll handling.
Or.....how would you spend 1 trillion dollars?
It starts with unemployed people registering as general purpose labor to do whatever is needed.
Then, do the following.
(TL,DR version: Use government money to pay grocery delivery drivers and people to assist cleaning and anti-contagion issues at essential industries.)
1. Do whatever is possible to increase production of medical equipment and personal protective gear like those N95 respirator mask thingies that I had never heard of but seem important. Likewise for test kits.
Unfortunately, you can't just make those things appear, but is there any way that a bunch of people could help? I don't know. Whatever it takes, give the people making them whatever they need, for free (i.e. with tax funds) employ as many general purpose laborers as they can use to make that happens. I will call the general purpose laborers GPLs from now on.
2. Make it so people don't have to leave their house.
Where do people have to go? The grocery store. So how do you stop that? You hire GPLs as delivery drivers. Free delivery. At government expense.
That's pretty darned expensive, but let's think about this. The government is willing to hand me 1,000 dollars for nothing. How much would it cost to pick out and send some groceries to me? Fifty bucks? I would rather, instead of giving me 1000 dollars, make 20 grocery deliveries. Now I don't have to leave my house. I can't catch the virus. I can't spread the virus.
And it shouldn't cost fifty bucks anyway.
3. To facilitate that, a modern grocery store doesn't quite work. I don't want the GPLs to be searching for the 8 ounce can of Hunt's Tomato Paste instead of the 7.5 ounce store brand tomato paste.
Instead, you set up distribution centers in unused high school gymnasiums and kitchens, and they have rolling stock. You order online based on what's available. Today you have Doritios? Great. But the staples, milk, eggs, bread, are there as consistently as possible. Yes, I know you want to pick out that really good package of pork chops, but if it means not catching a disease, would you just trust the GPL? Yeah, go for it. I've worked food banks. You package what you have.
And do you know how easy it is to set up a simple web site, the kind without fancy graphics and that doesn't track user preferences, to place orders? It could literally be done by tomorrow morning.
You will also need GPLs to man phone banks to answer questions, especially from people who aren't so internet savvy, and of course people who just think they're special so they have to talk to a person instead of reading the directions.
And you work with existing, conventional, stores to provide more custom deliveries. I tried to order groceries online yesterday, but the delivery option took two days because of the crush of demand. Make GPLs available, at no cost to the stores, to perform deliveries.
4. Some industries are essential. Medical supplies. Food processors. Toilet paper factories.
Essential industries get GPLs to ensure sanitation and whatever else non-trained labor can do. Somebody's job will be to wipe down door handles every few minutes at the chicken nuggets factory. That ensures these key industries keep running.
5. In order to make this all work, you need people on the ground, lots of them, to coordinate things. Since there is no way that there can be uniform procedures set up, the local coordinators have to have a lot of power to make decisions. The guys running these ad hoc distribution centers have to have power to make decisions on how goods get there. Some will do it very badly. Regional coordinators will have to have the power to fire and replace underperforming locals.
I think this is a job for the military. I can't see anyone else being able to create a chain of command that quickly. A huge job of an army is logistics. Put that to use. There aren't enough of them to do all the work, but they can hire the GPLs.
6, There aren't enough vans available. Authorize the local administrator to rent private vehicles. In other words, you can have my minivan if you give me fifty bucks a day.
7. Now, you have people locked (metaphorically) in their homes, the virus spread drops drastically. There will still be spread amongst the GPLs and at the essential industries you kept open, but as soon as the PPE goes to the health care workers that need it, you start sending them to essential industry workers, and the GPLs who serve them. That reduces contagion at distribution centers. At some point, it gets to the point that as soon as one person gets sick, you can track all the people he's in contact with, and test them before they show symptoms.
8. Did I mention this is incredibly expensive? Fortunately, you have a trillion dollars to work with, and instead of throwing money around in random directions, you are throwing money specifically at stopping the virus spread. You are employing the unemployed. You are keeping people in their homes where they can't catch or spread the virus. The GPLs and the industries they are assisting are, of course out in the world, but they have PPE as soon as it is available, and they can adopt lower risk practices more easily than random shoppers can.
It also isn't very efficient. Lots of these GPLs are going to be people who would rather sit around watching cartoons and they will be severe slackers. Oh well. That's a challenge for the administrators.
9. Congress passes laws to limit liability so that a company working with GPLs doesn't end up getting sued when it turns out one of the drivers was drunk, or whatever else might happen.
Sounds crazy? Is it crazier than having millions of people with no jobs heading to the grocery store to stand near hundreds of others during an epidemic?
Honestly, the only challenge I see that might be insurmountable would be the payroll handling.
Or.....how would you spend 1 trillion dollars?
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