America Will Save America from the Coronavirus – The New York Times

After arguing for the importance of the care economy for years, I was delighted to see, after only one day of kids staying home, three different men tweet versions of the following: First day of home schooling and I now firmly believe that teachers should be paid like C.E.O.s. Indeed they should, and after this crisis subsides, we may finally be able to build support for higher teacher pay and prestige.

All these transitions take money, of course, and above all the basic security that allows people to see opportunity rather than devastation, to feel hope rather than fear. We must mitigate the rising panic as we contemplate the possibility that millions of Americans will simply not have a paycheck as local economies shut down.

Here, too, we are seeing a fast forward, to a rudimentary Universal Basic Income. Congress is considering various versions of that, including one proposal that would provide initial direct cash payments of $2,000 per person for every adult and child in families making up to $180,000, beginning in April.

Once again, however, we dont have to wait for Washington. The nonprofit group Give Directly, which has been testing universal basic income in Kenya, is raising money to provide $1,000 to families in need across the United States. The group is working with Propel, a company that made an app for managing food stamp benefits, to identify families in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, typically single mothers. Payments will be made through debit cards that can be loaded remotely, or by setting recipients up with online wallets. Communities can adapt versions of this system, creating an informal tax that could become a formal one.

Finally, all of this innovation will require universal access to fast, affordable broadband. Our government has an obligation to provide public education; it must now provide the broadband to make that education possible. It can certainly be done, but the government will have to better regulate private internet service providers and move to more accountable municipally owned internet service utilities, like the one that offers the nations fastest broadband, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The future is here, whether we like it or not. Although a future dependent on the current federal government looks bleak, we can vote to change that in November. Right now, we can follow the lead of local and regional leaders and step up ourselves. Through the virus, we are rediscovering the dark side of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s famous inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. But we can also rediscover what is possible and what we are capable of as a nation. We can use this crisis to create a better America.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former director of policy planning for the State Department, is the chief executive of New America.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

Original post:

America Will Save America from the Coronavirus - The New York Times