George Soros supports a House proposal that would protect all American workers by covering their wages as the economy remains shut down.
The founder of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and chairman of the Open Society Foundations penned a letter with University of Oxford Professor Eric Beinhocker stating support for paying all workers as unemployment rates continue to rise.
“The federal government must immediately guarantee the paychecks of all Americans for the duration of the crisis,” the letter, which ran in the Los Angeles Times, states.
Soros and Beinhocker point to other countries like Germany, France, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Australia that are all providing direct funding to employers to cover worker paychecks and keep workers in their jobs during the lock downs.
The letter acknowledges the positive steps the CARES Act provides through its programs, but also points out its problems of being underfunded and slow moving.
“While the CARES Act provides for significantly expanded unemployment insurance, it is far better to spend money to keep people from becoming unemployed in the first place,” the letter states. “We need action that is fast, direct and at scale.”
The letter shows support for the “Paycheck Guarantee Act” proposed by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and several other lawmakers.
“The Paycheck Guarantee Act is so urgent and beneficial that it should be put forward by the House as a separate bill and not be delayed waiting for another big rescue package,” the letter states.
The act would support workers of all 152 million Americans in the workforce not just the 60 million who work for small businesses. The House proposal would cover wages up to $100,000 per employee and has provisions to encourage firms to quickly rehire any employees laid off since March 1. It also would cover healthcare benefits and includes provisions to ensure money is actually going toward covering worker paychecks by companies that would otherwise be forced to lay off workers.
And while the program will be costly, the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford estimates about $115 billion a month, the letter states, “Any funds spent preserving worker paychecks and healthcare now will save money that would otherwise have to be spent on unemployment benefits and public healthcare later.”