> First, we pause all fixed financial obligations, which are what’s crushing our economy right now. Right now, we’re in a crunch: people can’t work, and so they can’t make payments on mortgages and rents.
Totally agree, it is insane that some families are under the threat of eviction because they live paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford to pay rent now. Same for small businesses who cannot afford to pay rent.
I'm sure some landlords will do the right thing, but we can't trust all landlords to do the right thing. Something has to be done at the federal level, and it's now or never.
It isn't about landlords doing the "right thing". Landlords have debt to pay, generally aren't sitting on mountains of free cash, and foreclosure of the property you are renting is functionally similar to eviction.
This is why the article discusses "pausing" these types of payments for everyone from the average person to fortune 500s. If the Landlords are in a similar position (i.e. their "rent" and other debt payments are paused as well), then they have the power to pause rent payments for their residents.
Keyword: all. That includes landlords' financial obligation to their landlords. And their landlords. And their landlords. And their landlords. Ad infinitum.
It is pausing a lot of revenue, but it's also pausing the need for that revenue.
It's also not pausing all revenue. If I order something from Amazon, everyone gets revenue. And if Google decides not to furlough employees but get a 3-month lead in R&D, it's not pausing employee revenue.
> We should pause the payment terms on all contracts by 90 days (and more later if needed). This plan, in effect, extends the Fed’s zero percent interest bailout to everyone and not just the banks.
This sounds like a very interesting solution. Although from a technical point of view, it seems impossible to implement.
We can shelter-in-place as long as needed. And no businesses go under, and no one loses their home.