GV27:
The world is a very different place since I wrote this - about $1tn poorer globally.
I definitely share your sentiment now. I still think the most effective thing we could do is big picture relief (WFFTC overboost, defer/discount PAYE obligations for employers, RBNZ cooperation to assist mortgage owners etc).
I think whatever assistance the Govt provides needs to be done in a way that still allows this well-overdue minimum wage increase to go through. If they're going to reach into the bag of tricks, they just need to reach deeper.
$1 trillion is a vast underestimate. Back of envelope calculation suggests to me that it's probably about $25 trillion in global stock market capitalisation got wiped out.
I don't have the foggiest clue what's really happening apart from the obvious:
The crash was triggered by the pandemic - that's not over and we don't know when it will be, and the crash has taken form as unprecedented panic deleveraging - everything is being sold to get cash - and so far the market is not responding to trillions of dollars of stimulus.
Nobody knows what the end point of this is going to be. Sure we're going to have to look after the people most vulnerable, beyond that it's almost pointless deciding now what an appropriate rescue package for the economy should be, just put out fires one by one as they crop up.