Give people a say in where bailout cash should go

Letter to the Editor of the Financial Times, published 12 May 2020

Another global shock to the system and, once again, we hear the sound of big business and its lobbyists tuning their strings before they go to government appealing for a bailout. The titans of industry and their pals in government are probably already drafting the terms. I think we can foresee the result: more industry concentration, and a further widening of the gap between the rich and well connected on one side, and small businesses and ordinary people on the other.  

Here’s another idea. If we want to keep competitive markets going, give people rather than politicians the opportunity to choose who stays in business. Instead of lavishing enormous sums on favoured businesses, let people have some say in where this cash should go. Take the total national expenditure on things like aviation, hospitality, and personal services, divide it by the number of people in the country, and issue coupons worth that much to each adult, to be spent on that service or product. So, if the average sum spent by an adult on air travel was £200 last year, give each adult a coupon worth that sum, with the stipulation that it be spent on air travel over the next two years. Make the coupons tradeable, so that those of us who don’t want to fly can exchange them for cash or swap them for a couple of sessions at a body piercing salon, or a few weeks’ high street cappuccinos. We should know by now that central planning means inefficient, bloated, corrupt industries and cynicism. What we need now are competition and consumer power.

Ronnie Horesh

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