We need to give people more money
The next 12-18 months are going to be especially difficult for tens of millions of Americans.
This newsletter is produced w/ Zach Peterson (@zachprague). This Sree selfie was taken Saturday in Rockefeller State Park Preserve, about 30 miles north of NYC, as the family got to be mask-free for a while.
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30 million Americans just lost unemployment benefits and the effects will be devastating. For a lot of these people, restrictions put on landlords’ ability to evict will also be wiped off the books. There will be no support, no protection, and no great options for millions of people.
Congressional leadership and the Trump administration are “still negotiating”, but it’s anyone’s guess as to how that will go.
As with so many other major issues — digital transformation, online learning, mandatory work-from-home — Covid19 has accelerated the discussion on universal basic income (UBI), and, to me, it’s worth a try.
There is a lot (a lot!) of good reading out there on the finer points of some form of guaranteed income, but I want to focus on the human side of what “a living wage” really means.
Katie McDonough (@kmcdonovgh) and J.C. Pan put together a great compilation of personal anecdotes from people who have been receiving enhanced unemployment benefits for the last few months — $600 per week — and how it’s changed their lives.
Read all of “What $600 Can Do” at The New Republic, please. Here’s a particularly poignant example, from Andrea (30) in Wisconsin:
The full benefit has been enough to completely cover my rent, groceries, and transportation. It felt amazing making a living wage for once. Before the pandemic, I made less than half of my unemployment benefits and was living paycheck to paycheck. Life was more of a struggle then.
Even though we were on lockdown, the everyday stress of “how am I going to pay my bills or afford food this month?” disappeared. It felt like a paradox. The world was—is?—collapsing around us, but I was able to finally afford to live. I almost felt guilty for feeling relieved, but I mostly felt enraged that the government has the ability to provide a safety net for its citizens, yet it took a global pandemic for them to prove it.
It’s not hard to imagine the knock-on effects of helping people pay their bills and make rent. Better mental health, less stress, more time for family, and the list goes on and on.
The downstream effects of these benefits going away are ominous. Families who rely on schools for food and child care — on top of education — are only going to be hit harder. People who couldn’t afford a reliable internet connection are going to be far less likely to be able to afford one now. And, perhaps the scariest of all, homelessness.
Critics presuming that people are going to be addicted to this small amount of money and won’t bother going to work or looking to work are clearly out of touch.
We NEED to give people money.
- Sree
Read Something
Evangelical Christians tend to be pretty big fans of President Trump (72% approve of the job he’s doing). This baffles me for any number of reasons — the most obvious being his utter lack of anything resembling even the most minimal moral compass. If you have Evangelical friends and family on Facebook, chances are good that you’ve seen something like this.
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Tech tips w/ @newyorkbob: Portable Power
As public spaces reopen, there will be more opportunities to spend time away from home. Staying connected is easy, but what happens when your device runs out of power at noon? Don’t reach for that AC outlet! Who knows how many hands have touched it. The safe option: Take a power bank.
OtterBox, better known for its rugged phone cases, just launched a full line of mobile power accessories, including power banks, that support the fast-charging features found in many smartphones and tablets.
For example, the $40 OtterBox Fast Charge Qi Wireless Power Bank – Standard (15,000 mAh version) not only offers wired fast charging via its old-style USB-A and modern USB-C ports, but can also charge Qi-standard devices like Apple’s iPhones wirelessly.
Follow Robert S. Anthony at @newyorkbob
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Listen to Something
Police accountability lies at heart of…so many issues. Following a recent court ruling, the misconduct reports for the entire NYPD are now a matter of public record. This episode of “On the Media” goes deeper on the reports — and what it means for transparency — with Eric Umansky (@ericuman), deputy managing editor at ProPublica, Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project and Frank Serpico. Listen here and on all major podcast platforms.
Watch Something
This week’s congressional hearing with the CEOs of Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon was lacking a bit, given the video conference format (write me at sree@sree.net if you want to do a proper virtual event). But, there were some tough, fair questions that, frankly, got some pretty weak answers. Engadget put together a nice cut of the better exchanges from the hearing. Not pictured: Republicans somehow still complaining about “censorship of conservative voices” on social networks.
Odds & Ends
🗞 My Sunday #NYTReadalong, executive produced by Neil Parekh (@neilparekh), where we read the print NYT out loud every week, 8:30-10:30 am ET: Our guest this week is Matt Goldman, an Emmy Award-winning television writer. His newest book, Dead West, comes out Tuesday, August 4. Harlan Coben, a previous guest on the #NYTReadalong, has called him a "writer to watch." Matt's television writing credits include Seinfeld, Ellen, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Catch it in my YouTube archives.
The Readalong is followed Sundays 11 am-noon ET by a new medical show I’m co-executive producing with surgeons Sujana Chandrasekhar, M.D. (@DrSujanaENT), and Marina Kurian, M.D. (@MarinaKurian), called She’s On Call (watch live or later).
The Sunday #NYTReadalong is sponsored by Muck Rack, Magic Bus USA and Strategy Focused Group. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email sree@sree.net and neil@neilparekh.org.
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