The scramble is on to try to save the economy from entering a deep depression. There are reports that several plans have been floated at the White House. The Washington Post writes:
White House officials are working with congressional Republicans on an emergency stimulus package that could send two $1,000 checks to many Americans and also devote $300 billion towards helping small businesses avoid mass layoffs, according to two senior administration officials and a Treasury Department fact sheet.
“We need to pay people to stay at home,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think-tank. The group predicted that without a huge stimulus package, the U.S. economy could lose three million jobs by this summer.
Whatever the White House does, it needs to act quickly. The market is still on a roller coaster ride and today is another down day, with the Dow dropping under 20,000, shedding more than 7%.
Financial experts and political leaders are offering some additional ideas.