Not passing a national moratorium on rent & mortgage payments along with a monthly basic-income program during a global pandemic that has shut down large parts of the economy is ideological cruelty & bad economics. 1/6

10s of millions have already lost their jobs. It is estimated that unemployment will peak higher than the worst months of the Great Depression.

Not only would these policies help alleviate unnecessary suffering & anxiety, they would also help prevent an economic death cycle. 2/6

Most Americans were *already* in economic crisis *before* the pandemic & resulting economic shutdown.

In this thread below, we explore some of the causes of economic vulnerability in the US & suggest policies to get us through the pandemic: 3/6 https://twitter.com/ArashKolahi/status/1240718506821160960">https://twitter.com/ArashKola...

But beyond quantifiable economics, our current vulnerability runs much, much deeper.

The US is also in the peak of a mental health crisis.

‘Deaths of despair,’ including suicide, drug & alcohol-related deaths were *already* at historical highs: 4/6 https://twitter.com/ArashKolahi/status/1243282532050677760">https://twitter.com/ArashKola...

Establishment Democrats & Republicans quickly & decisively bailed out corporations & the 1%.

A far more effective response is one that helps the most vulnerable while lifting the economy from the bottom up. 5/6

So, with bipartisan support for cruelty towards the 99% over sound economic policies we must ask:

Whose interests do they really serve? 6/6