Letters to the Editor: We don’t need checks for $1,200. We need toilet paper and hospital beds

To the editor: Economist James K. Galbraith is dead-on right about a government bailout that benefits primarily corporate shareholders and gives cash mainly to employed Americans.

I am a 70-year-old man with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. I don’t want $1,200 from the government. I want toilet paper and Kleenex and a hospital bed when and if I need one.

Instead of throwing that money off the back of a campaign train, President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin should spend it on beefing up our medical infrastructure.

Bob Warnock, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Instead of a check for $1,200 to every American, why not send $2,500 to every person among the 4 in 10 that the Federal Reserve says would have trouble paying for a $400 emergency expense?

The total cost to the government would be about the same, and those who really need help would get twice as much money.

Glenn Shull, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The proposed bailouts for companies aren’t what is needed, will not be very effective and are very shortsighted. The $1 trillion that is to be spent should be directed exclusively at combating the coronavirus.

If you have a headache, you don’t go to the pharmacy and buy motor oil.

Fred Lakey, Los Angeles