FEATURING CHUCK COLLINS – It has been months since the CARES Act expired, leaving millions of Americans relying on pandemic-related financial aid without a safety net. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made clear that Republicans will not take up an aid bill until after the election so that he can either reward voters for reelecting Donald Trump or punish them for electing Joe Biden as President. 

Last week’s Presidential debate tackling the paltry federal minimum wage highlighted the dire straits that even those who are employed are facing. Meanwhile, billionaires continue to make money hand over fist at a time of national economic crisis.

Still, no amount of wishing away the coronavirus will stabilize a volatile stock market and as the nation enters yet another wave of infections – possibly the worst phase of the pandemic—the economy will not fix itself until both the pandemic is in control and financial aid in place. 

Chuck Collins, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies where he directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good. He has written a number of books including 99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It, and Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good.