It’s amazing what you can do when you’re not hamstrung by reliance on a phony, outmoded ideology.
The government is to pay the wages of millions of workers across Britain to keep them in jobs as the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak escalates.
In an unprecedented step for the British government, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said the state would pay grants covering up to 80% of the salary of workers if companies kept them on their payroll, rather than lay them off as the economy crashes. The extraordinary payments will be worth up to a maximum of £2,500 per month, just above the median income.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak also announced there would be no limit on funding to pay people’s wages. The payments will be backdated to the beginning of March, with an initial target of three months’ payment and subject to extension going forward after that.
Any employer in the country is eligible for this plan, provided that they agree to “furlough” as opposed to lay off their workers. The plan is intended to keep businesses afloat without resorting to such layoffs, while keeping their employees alive.
As pointed out by Josh Marshall in TalkingPointsMemo, we should keep in mind that this is a conservative, Tory government doing this.
Sunak said: “We are starting a great national effort to protect jobs. We want to look back on this time and remember how in the face of a generation-defining moment we undertook a collective national effort and we stood together. It’s on all of us.”
Imagine that-- a government actually taking care of its people.
“Now more than at any time in our history we will be judged by our capacity for compassion. Our ability to come through this won’t just be down to what government or businesses do but the individual acts of kindness that we show each other.”
Marshall notes that the fine print of the plan has not yet been provided. However, on its face it seems to be exactly the type of bold and decisive measure that this crisis demands, one that should serve as a model for other countries around the world as they grapple with the cascading economic effects of this pandemic. Denmark, for example, has agreed to pay its workers 75% of their salaries.
Nor is that all the Brits are doing.
They are doing various increases in social safety net spending, offering loans to business, mortgage holidays, a separate plan for the self-employed. But it’s this part of the plan that is likely the most important both for the British economy and as a model for other countries.
While the final details have yet to surface, one can’t help but remarking on the beautiful simplicity of this plan. Meanwhile in the U.S. our government continues to nibble around the edges of the looming crisis, dithering with meager cash payments to individuals, loans to businesses, and of course, massive tax cuts.
I suspect when the magnitude of what is coming finally hits home, we will be revisiting that strategy.