Why can't corporations meet their payrolls for a few weeks with some of the excess

[lees1975]

they would pay out of profits in dividends?

They've got it. It's not up to the government to guarantee their profit in a crisis, especially when they have the money to do it themselves.

http://nuntiatum.home.blog/2020/03/25/2-trillion-to-bail-out-the-economy/

[exboyfil]

1. Or as someone pointed out

They can sell more stock. I saw that Goldman Sucks is talking about stock buybacks. Let that one sink in. They are the first hands at the Fed window getting that tasty 0.25% borrowing rate. The other banks are showing a little shame and have agreed to stop doing this until June.

[Hoyt]

2. So you believe we'll "reopen" as normal in a few weeks, by Easter?

I’m sorry. At this point, I’m willing to help small businesses and big ones, even if a few might not need it. Plus, most of the bailout is through loans, and workers and families are getting help too. Might not be perfect, but we can increase taxes, etc., when we get through this.

Wish we could remove trump and GOPers, but that’s what we are stuck with right now.

[still_one]

3. Exactly Hoyt. Airlines and retailers like Macy's will go bankrupt if they did what the

article in the OP is suggesting

[Hoyt]

4. I don't want to be like this, but I'm getting really ticked at some of the BS

I’m reading the past few days.

I want people to get and stay well, those laid off to get help, and jobs waiting when we get through this.

Until at least November, we are stuck with trump, and need to do the best we can to meet those goals, even if some A-holes get something they don’t really deserve. We can tax them later, if they got too much.

[still_one]

5. I agree.

[Igel]

6. They're not going to be paying dividends.

Not happening.

That'll hurt the wealthy, as the stock market decline did.

It'll hurt pensions, as the stock market decline did.

Imagine you're a middle class person. Sort of like a company. You have income, you have expenses, you have savings, and you have something you're investing in--perhaps a house, perhaps a 401k.

Suddenly your pay is cut for a couple of weeks, then you're unemployed for a month. Obviously you still have a lot of money, since you're middle class with that income, all those savings, and your investment--whether your house or your 401k. In fact, since you're middle class obviously you're still putting money into those investments.

You know, after two months of being laid off, you're still middle class. That means you still have that income, your savings, and you're still putting money in investments. Right?

For a corporation, it's going to be income, expenses, cash reserves, real assets ("house&quot , and dividends ("401k&quot . Just because you're a billion-dollar company, a name that refers to *gross* revenues, doesn't mean that you were even profitable. And the name sticks when your income drops and your expenses don't. They're burning through cash, and while they're not mostly strapped for cash yet, give it a month or more (depends on the corporation, they're not all the same any more than every individual's financial status is the same). To extend that time, they'll lay off people, just like we'd reduce expenses and stop hiring people to do things like do nails or wash our cars or upgrade our kitchens. And the stimulus is intended to both extend the time before the corporations go broke and keep them from laying off people.

Just as the money to individuals is intended to keep them from running out of cash, reducing expenses quite so much, and losing real assets.