Title: Should the $600 in extra unemployment continue? - The San Diego Union-Tribune
Headings: Should the $600 in extra unemployment continue?
Should the $600 in extra unemployment continue?
The federal government has been giving unemployed workers an extra $600 a week in benefits. It expires in July.
Q: Should the $600 in extra unemployment benefits be extended past July?
Gary London, London Moeder Advisors
Phil Blair, Manpower
Alan Gin, University of San Diego
Reginald Jones, Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation
Lynn Reaser, Point Loma Nazarene University
Austin Neudecker, Weave Growth
Bob Rauch, R.A. Rauch & Associates
Norm Miller, University of San Diego
James Hamilton, UC San Diego
David Ely, San Diego State University
Ray Major, SANDAG
Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health
Kelly Cunningham, San Diego Institute for Economic Research
Jamie Moraga, IntelliSolutions
Phillip Molnar

Content: Benefits for those who worked in industries that are ready to open but having difficulty rehiring employees should be reduced or eliminated. Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health
YES: An abrupt end to the expanded benefit would be catastrophic to both the unemployed and to an economy that is on a federally funded life support of monetary and fiscal policy. However, while vital, these programs are not sustainable for the long term. Congress must focus its efforts on initiatives to contain the pandemic, treat the afflicted and develop an effective vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the underlying cause of our economic and personal suffering. Advertisement
Kelly Cunningham, San Diego Institute for Economic Research
NO: Applies a Band-Aid to hemorrhaging wound. If unemployment benefits were provided from surplus government revenue saved for just such emergency, there are justifications to extend UI benefits. But continually spending nonexistent money has devastating lasting effects. Legal plundering and fabricating money from thin air while producing no goods or services is immensely inflationary.