U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

Re:U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Rec... by notfromhere on Wednesday April 29, 2020 @11:12AM (#23020182)

It’s a false choice between the economy and people’s lives. The problem is that while labor economy was shut down, the financial system was not, so that rents and debts had to flow out of people that could not generate income, and the government has been ignoring the issue with nominal support.

Not freezing debts/rents across the entire economy is how this whole thing spins into a depression

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Re:U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Rec... by treis on Wednesday April 29, 2020 @12:24PM (#23020992)

Every expense is someone else's income. Freezing debts/rents doesn't solve anything. It just shifts the burden.

Ultimately we are losing the wealth that we otherwise would have generated. We are poorer and there's no way around that.

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Re:U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Rec... by vkou on Wednesday April 29, 2020 @01:23PM (#23021734)

Yes, it shifts the burden from people who work for a living, to people who's living is worked for by other people.

The former are far more important, and numerous than the latter. I eat butter, I don't eat dividends.

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Re:U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Rec... by treis on Wednesday April 29, 2020 @02:04PM (#23022195)

If you're a renter you live in a home that a landlord built or paid someone else to build. And if people stop paying rent then they stop paying people to build. Construction workers lose their jobs and our housing problems are made worse.

And don't have any illusions about the rich losing here. Most units are owned by small time landlords who will be wiped out by a rent freeze. Those units will be gobbled up on the cheap by rich people that can borrow money at cheap rates.

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Re:U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Rec... by vkou on Wednesday April 29, 2020 @04:31PM (#23023885)

> And if people stop paying rent then they stop paying people to build. Construction workers lose their jobs and our housing problems are made worse.

So what? They've already stopped paying people to build. Construction workers have lost their jobs already. While having to keep paying their rent, or mortgage.

This is a temporary disruption, and needs temporary, stop-gap measures to stop the bleeding. Nobody's advocating to stop all rents forever.

> And don't have any illusions about the rich losing here. Most units are owned by small time landlords who will be wiped out by a rent freeze.

1. No, they aren't. Most units are owned by real estate companies.

2. Couple it with a mortgage freeze, and none of them will be wiped out. You can, in fact, kick this can up the hill until it hits the capital markets...

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