The people who made out in the Great Depression were those who could buy assets when others had to sell theirs. I wonder who will come out on top here? Unless all of society collapses, there will be plenty of people with means to pick up the pieces, and a slew of folks who will be subject to it all.
There are a lot of people scrambling for jobs now. They're willing to do things they once wouldn't do. $1,000 from the government isn't going to make much difference for them. It's a one month rent check plus some gas. Then what happens the next month?
It's hard to know what the right thing to do here is. This is one of the most important functions of government- to step in and keep our civilization together when the poo hits the fan. However, where can the money even come from if most the of the economy is at a dead stop? I'm pretty sure there's no federal rainy day account in the amount of several trillion. The situation is unsustainable and all I can think to do is hope that people who know better and work harder than me can figure out a solution we can all support.
While no one should be "excited" about the prospect, it is time to take out some equity lines of credit.
The Covid-19 outbreak is a strong argument against uncontrolled capitalism, where wealth is concentrated on a few at the top while the rest of society scrambles from month-to-month. Notice that the vaunted defenders of capitalism are crying out for socialistic remedies like universal income and universal healthcare. But the haters of "big government" are supporting these measures so their system won't collapse completely--so that the people won't demand change. The emergency methods being deployed are meant to be temporary so the status quo can be restored. It's hard to exploit dead people.
If by "vaunted defenders of capitalism" you somehow mean Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans, they wouldn't know a free market if it came up and pat them on the head. So all I'm really noticing is the same thing as usual, that the word "capitalism" means too many different things to too many different people to be useful.
It's really not that dire. It's a term that is quite commonly understood. There is ambiguity only in those who seek it.
But that's not true. Its detractors are typically referring to the crony corporatism of which a strong state is a component. Its proponents are typically referring to an actual free market wherein the less state the better. The two are not alike. Similarly, when people use "socialism" to mean everything from social democracy to communism, that leaves the word without very much utility since those two are also not alike.
Here is a story about a college that is helping public safety workers https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/north-central-college-offers-dorms-to-first-responders-needing-to-isolate/2249103/
Here's another, similar story https://www.wowt.com/content/news/Nebraska-COVID-19-response-update-for-April-02-2020-569322161.html