We gave out a bunch of free money during the pandemic. What was the result of that?

One small part of the complicated answer to that question - a huge portion of that free money went to businesses in the form of PPP loans in a top-down kind of approach, which resulted in a dramatically high amount of fraud and misdirected public funds that will take tens of years to unravel.

To ask another question: (presuming our hands were to be tied to give out that free money) Had we instead given that money directly to teachers and other low income individuals, essentially doubling or tripling the proportion we actually gave them, would we have seen the same level of fraud or waste? I can't imagine so. Would the economy have been better off? I feel like probably, but I'm no economist. It's a supply side argument and I have a hard time believing those based on the results of 'corporate socialism' experiments.

"Had we instead given that money directly to teachers"

You mean the people who went to great lengths to be considered non-essential, so they could work remotely? We know the result of that was historic learning loss for American children. They don't deserve another dime.

I sense a polarity in our opinions regarding responses to the pandemic that indicates we're unlikely to come to an agreement on much with regard to adjacent topics, which is okay with me. Trying to put myself in your shoes, my heart breaks for the things you probably saw and experiences you probably had during the pandemic that I presume contributed to this harsh perspective on the public education system in Chicago. The next generations are so important and I think we agree we should strive to serve them as best we can. Wishing the best for you and yours.

Thank you for your comment. It's not often someone tries to empathize with someone on the opposite side of an argument. Especially on the internet. Indeed, I saw things I hope to never see again.

We didn’t have a fucking depression.

Also, there was some inflation.

Well, aren't you lucky that the rising cost of basic and essential goods isn't a strain on your personal finances.

It can be possible that two things are true at the same time: the current situation is bad, and the alternative was worse.

The actual correct alternative would have been to not freak out about COVID. I can understand the first 3-6 months of restrictions. The rest was a total own-goal. A politicized circus. At least we didn't own ourselves for almost 3 years like China.

And taxpayers usually burn money?

Generally tax structures should be set up to tax the most wealthy entities first, and the poorest last, by my understanding. The wealthiest entities are going to be corporations and their leaders and they don't live where the teachers do.

So, from the perspective of businesses and individuals that live where the teachers do, yes, the largest taxpayers do usually burn money.

(Quite literally, in the form of things like very expensive-to-operate private planes, such as to attend the recent 'super bowl')