CNN is reporting this afternoon that the US government is looking at issuing every US citizen in the next few days with $1,000 to combat the economic effect of COVID-19.
This would amount to 1.7% of US GDP and would cost circa $350 billion.
A number of economic advisors to the US government are already backing the idea, these include Greg Mankiw, a former top economic adviser to President George W. Bush.
CNN reports that the details of this action and the chances of it passing Donald Trump’s desk are unclear, but CNN apparently spoke this afternoon with Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow who did not rule out the idea.
There is no doubt that the proposed strategy is dramatic, and it undoubtedly underlines the severity of the current situation in the US and across the world, but it would help dramatically too.
You could also ask yourself if Donald Trump might see this as a vote winner, if he does, stranger things…
The UK economy is in similar disarray to its US counterpart, so we can all hope Prime Minister Johnson is inspired by President Trump, especially those of us in the hospitality front line.