Where’s the Beef?

The rage of those hit hard by shutdowns is 100% justified. Not because of the shutdowns themselves, which are vital, but because of the Congressional failure to help them out. It’s cheaper to convince people to load up their assault rifles and shout “Liberate” outside city halls than it is to boost government stimulus money to make them whole. Along with too many people, we’re letting too many businesses die. I’ve said from the beginning that the best idea I’ve heard during the pandemic is having the government pay restaurants to feed health workers and the increasing number of families who have moved from assembly lines to bread lines. Programs that do just that have been created across the country, but by nonprofits. It should have been done by the federal government. Jose Andres, whose organization has done as much as anyone to help restaurants and the hungry, lays it out in WaPo: “Lawmakers don’t have to choose between helping restaurants and feeding the hungry: Restaurants can feed the hungry, with federal support. There’s also no need to choose between paying farmers to destroy crops or supporting food banks: Farmers can be paid to supply the food banks … We know this model works. The organization I founded, World Central Kitchen, has put $135 million back in the hands of local restaurants to feed their communities. But nonprofits relying on private donations cannot begin to ramp up a national effort the way Congress can.” Congress knows exactly where the pain is. Instead of serving food to America’s hunger problem, the federal government has been serving rage.

+ Also from WaPo, two headlines that expose the two Americas experiencing this one pandemic. Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic. And, Plastic surgeons say business is up, partly because clients don’t like how they look on Zoom. Maybe America just doesn’t like what it sees when it looks in the mirror.