In recent days I have been listening to the people in government talking about how giving more money to help people during this COVID-19 pandemic would raise the deficit. I agree that giving money to people in need might make the deficit rise. The same thing happened when the Republicans gave a big tax cut to the super rich. The only difference is we have a consumer-driven economy. This means that money needs to be spent to help the economy grow. The tax cuts didn’t put money in the economy but actually took money out.

From March through October, more than 4.2 billion meals were given to people in the United States. This is a 60 percent increase in the number of people using food banks. The means about every four people out 10 are first-time users. I don’t think they are going to food banks, waiting in lines for hours because they are lazy and looking for handouts. They need help to feed their families. One way to do that is give them money so they can buy food, pay their bills and maintain a semblance of their former lifestyle. When money goes in at the bottom, it actually puts money into the economy, which in turn will lower the deficit.

Many economists have done studies that show that giving money to people in need will actually cost the government less than if they wait until the country is in a worse economic situation. The stock market isn’t the mark of what the economy is doing. Most people don’t have money in stocks. The day-to-day economy is in a recession. Some economists think that the U.S. dollar could collapse by the end of 2021 and we have a 50% chance of a double-dip recession. Now is the time for the government to get ahead of this. One way is to give aid to people in need. Call your congressional representative and both of your senators and tell them now is the time to help the economy.

This is, in fact, the reason we have a federal government. There are times like this when the states on their own cannot fix the situation.