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RM> ...the gov't has passed out a huge amount of money trying
RM> to support as many people as they can and they can't keep
RM> doing it forever.

AA>The same gov't has made it difficult for many small businesses
  >to qualify for particular handouts too. Instead, a lot of those
  >businesses decided to close permanently out of frustration.

I know you speak from your own experience, and not everyone was
able to get access to help, but I would be willing to bet that
Canada passed out more money to businesses for Not working than
almost any other country. They tried to 'purchase' the most
protection for the economy without totally bankrupting the
country for the next 100 years.

Of course ANY concessions from financial institutions is
always a surprise if you ask me.. And the only way the gov't
could control what banks charge would be to take them over.
The only time the gov't ever had any control over banks was back
during the mortgage meltdown a few years back, controling things
like the bonuses the higher ups gave themselves, but the banks
sure paid those gov't loans back fast to get control over that
stuff back.

It should maybe be noted that the number of business bankruptcies
per year during the pandemic was LOWER than in the 2 years before
the pandemic started.

The situation sucks for a huge number of people, some a Lot worse
off than others, but this thing was thrust upon us and there's
really no way to prepare for something that only happens about
every 100 years or so. Honestly I was amazed the gov't did as much
as they did. Maybe moreso since we have a Conservative Premier in
Ontario and I really expected him to err WAY on the side of keeping
people at work rather than protecting their health..

The system was far from perfect, no question. Not nearly enough
monitoring of things. They wanted to get help to people Fast rather
than controled. A friend of mine who owns an Automotive place
almost went bankrupt because the gov't made it so easy to get the
CERB payments. He lost his 3 mechanics because all they had to say
was they found it 'safer' to stay home than go to work, and he was
blocked from replacing them, their jobs were protected as long as
the place didn't declare bankruptcy. Meanwhile, you could go into
one of those 50% capacity bars in town and find those mechanics
there getting drunk with their friends on their 'paid vacation'.
I'd say that a mechaninc who doesn't even have to talk to customers
and each having their own garage bay shouldn't be too terrified of
getting Covid at work.

I doubt you could find anyone who hasn't lost something through
this thing, even if it's just shortages of things and higher bills
but I don't feel the powers that be totally blew things, regardless
of choices made that excluded some people from more help.

It could have been a lot worse for a lot more people.

---
 * SLMR Rob  * Be naughty--save Santa the trip!
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