UI Makes People Lazy

In the middle of a pandemic and a global economic crisis, Jeff Bezos cashed out $3B in Amazon stock this week.

At the same time, Bezos refuses to give Amazon employees hazard pay and paid sick-leave.

The unbridled greed of America’s billionaires never ceases to amaze me.

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) August 7, 2020

Jeff Bezos earned his $3 billion by the sweat of....other people's brows.  Moral hazard means you are immoral because you are poor.  You see.

Don't believe Trump and Republicans in Congress when they claim we can't afford to provide health care for all Americans.

By taxing 60% of the wealth gains of billionaires during the pandemic, we could cover all out-of-pocket health care costs for a year.

Tax the rich.

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) August 7, 2020

All we have to do is change Congress.  And the White House.  You know, this might be achievable.

Corporate health insurance companies are raking in huge profits during the pandemic:

CVS Health: $3B
Anthem: $2.3B
UnitedHealth: $6.7B
Humana: $1.8B

Meanwhile, more than 5M Americans have lost health insurance.

It's profits for the rich, Covid-19 for everyone else.

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) August 7, 2020

Again, people who make claims on health insurance are obviously unworthy.  I actually heard a local NPR host, a fairly smart guy, ask a lawyer if insurance companies didn't deserve a break on policies for business interruption, because who knew a pandemic was coming?  The response was:  business paid big bucks for insurance, and now it was time to get some back.  If ins. cos. hadn't managed and prepared for that, sux to be them (he was right).  Ins. cos. take your money; they should give it back, too.  Of course, that's not "free market capitalism."  Which is called "putting your finger on the problem."

So let me get this straight: $600 in unemployment benefits for out-of-work Americans is bad for the economy, but billions in bailouts for profitable corporations is good for the economy? https://t.co/3aNO9anvUm

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) August 7, 2020

Moral hazard, as I said.  Jeff Bezos will spend that money wisely, maybe even invest in other corporations.  Individuals would just squander it on food and clothing and housing.  Can't have that (I have actually heard this posed as an economic argument.  And I remember economics started as a branch of moral philosophy.  Which tells you something about the value of ethics as a philosophical study.)