So here’s a thing I’ve been thinking:

These stimulus packages change the rules in a way not yet acknowledged. UK/EU fiscal stimuli alone are approaching 15% of output, this doesn’t include monetary stimulus, and *we’re still at the front end of this thing*. 1/

Liberal democracies often resist “planned economies,” for good (and oversold) reasons. With the scale of these stimulus packages (and more to come), it seems to me that we don’t get to have that debate anymore, regardless of your economic philosophy. In short: we need a plan. 2/

The fiscal stimulus will ultimately mean that a vast proportion of economic demand is created by state intervention. Demand for what? For what societal goals and outcomes? We are forced into massive industrial policy whether we like it or not. 3/

Monetary stimulus and bailouts too: if gov is making big debt and equity purchases, it makes government—and society—responsible for the behavior of those companies we have a stake in. Restricting gov’s ability to vote on those shares cedes control, not responsibility. 4/

There may be corporate behaviors we accept as a society but don’t condone: doesn’t that calculus shift if the government is a major shareholder, or has gobbled up all of the company’s debt? What if it treats workers poorly, despoils the environment, or lobbies to stymy policy? 5/

In short: what do we expect of these companies we will own?

The absence of a plan is a tacit (and bad) one, and I have no false hopes about some governments' capacities, but it seems we don’t have a choice but to hash out where we want the economy, and society to go. /6