When the largest bailout in human history isn’t enough.

Even if the bill passes, the story won’t be over:

• • We are likely to be in this same situation again, economists say — and soon.
  • Another stimulus bill will likely be necessary to get the economy running after the COVID-19 outbreak has been contained.
  • More immediately, it’s possible that a second massive spending bill will be needed just to stop further bleeding.

What it means: “This should not be thought of as a stimulus bill — this should be thought of as social insurance in a disaster state of the world for the most hard hit,” Jonathan Parker, professor of finance at MIT, told Axios during a virtual briefing with reporters Wednesday.

• • “The idea is to freeze time for a month or six weeks and let people emerge with not a huge amount of debt — not starving, not being evicted.”
  • This would ideally produce “a V-shaped recovery where people find themselves roughly where they were when we went in.”

This “V-shaped” idea is the craziest thing I’ve heard since they said a cold bug caused the depression. People entered into the V with a huge amount of debt – and no assets – and that is the problem. More free money, despite being what everyone says they want, is the opposite of the right answer.

What people do not want is any cumbersome freedom. There is no fear of losing civil liberties.

The orders seem prudent in the bid to thwart the spread of the novel coronavirus: Don’t go out, don’t gather with others and keep your stores closed. But growing segments of the U.S. population say state and federal governments are trampling on freedoms central to American life in the name of protecting public health.

The case is already being made. A church-goer in New Hampshire says prohibitions against large gatherings violate her religious rights. A Pennsylvania golf course owner argues that gubernatorial edicts shuttering his business amount to illegal seizure of his private property.

So, a few “nuts” care about freedom. What did Sallust say again? The majority couldn’t be happier to lock themselves down, so long as a little free cheddar is promised.

And, the lies. The past week and a half, I have watched or listened to more television bullshit than I have in the past ten years. Virtually everything I’ve heard has been a damned lie and an easily disproved damned lie. That so many people put faith in this foolishness says something unpleasant about the wreck of America.

This social distancing is starting to sound appealing. In fact, I’m investigating a way to make it permanent. I’d like to put as much distance between me and the social idiocy as possible.