Who gets through this crisis more or less whole, and who does not, is almost entirely a political decision. If we feel like wiping out the shareholders in the airline industry, we can just let the market work its magic. The same would be true for the shareholders in the major hotel chains, the restaurant chains, and the cruise ship industry. We can also bid farewell to the high rollers in the financial sector who thought it was clever to speculate in junk bonds. Perhaps some major banks would also be in this category.
All of this could be accomplished by letting the market run its course through the shutdown period. As a practical matter, we are not likely to see wealthy shareholders or big actors in the financial markets among the losers in this crisis, for a simple reason: They have the political power to protect themselves. Donald Trump and the Republicans make little effort to hide their primary allegiance to the wealthy. The Democrats will feel a need to protect the interests of ordinary workers, but they too are mostly happy to ensure the wealthy are not harmed, since the rich contribute to politicians in both parties.
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