It’s not very often you find yourself in a moment in which you can feel history unfolding around you. But that’s what we all felt in March 2020, when COVID-19 upended our lives and unemployment quickly skyrocketed to reach its second-highest level in recorded history.

The good news is, over the last 19 months, we’ve done so much to help Americans who are struggling to make ends meet. The Child Tax Credit provided a revolutionary, universal benefit to nearly every American family. Rent assistance and eviction moratoriums helped millions of low-income and unemployed Americans stay housed. Federal unemployment checks helped millions of Americans get back on their feet. And families received more food aid to end child hunger.

Poverty in the U.S. has fallen by nearly 45% over the last three years, which experts largely attribute to these pandemic programs – more specifically, child poverty would have risen to 30.1% this year, but it’s down to only 5.6% because of government assistance. On top of all of that, the economy is now bigger than it was pre-pandemic. 

I know all too well that this sounds too good to be true – and yes, that is what trickle-downers want you to believe, because they’d rather rip these benefits away from Americans than ensure that the safety net that we CAN provide to our citizenry stays put. But at the end of the day, these critical programs betrayed their whole lie: we can build a more prosperous economy from the bottom up and middle out, rather than just hoping that the uber-rich one-percenters' massive amount of wealth will trickle down to the rest of us.

Pandemic assistance programs have been successful at both keeping American families afloat and stimulating the economy. But now, pandemic benefits are expiring, and we’re forced to decide: Should we end these aid programs or keep these benefits for good?

To answer this important question, take the Great Recession of 2008 as an example. After the worst effects of the recession ended, most of the world's democracies went into austerity mode, cutting budgets and slashing programs that invested in citizens. This actually slowed economic recovery and expanded income inequality.

Even though history tells us cutting spending is the worst thing to do right now, trickle-downers will try to convince us over the next few months – and even the next few years – that we must slash pandemic benefits and safety nets to cut down on our budget. As pandemic benefits expire, we just can’t afford to make the same mistake that we did in 2008.

We have an opportunity right now to keep pandemic relief programs in place, expand the social safety net for good and change America as we know it. Just imagine living in a country where we could ensure that no child goes hungry. Imagine a society that helps keep every American housed. Imagine an America without a racial wealth gap and where everyone can participate fully in the economy. And imagine coming out of this pandemic with a stronger economy than ever before. 

If we expand the social safety net right now, we can achieve economic justice, equality, and dare we say it, happiness – but that’s a version of America that no trickle-downer wants us to have. So, John, we know what history tells us about ending federal aid – but we want to know what you think. Share your opinion with our team by answering our poll today:

How should the federal government respond to the rebounding economy? 

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Thanks for advocating for a better future for all Americans. We really appreciate your support.

Paul

Are you fired up to finally build an economy that works for all Americans? Ready to learn more from the world’s leading economic and political thinkers? Listen to the Pitchfork Economics podcast now!

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