The GOP has created much of the reluctance among workers to re-enter the job market with their stance against vaccines and mask wearing. When one is asked to place their life on the line without any reliable protection from a deadly pandemic even $15 seems woefully inadequate.

While there is no limit to how much Congress can appropriate for paying unemployed workers, the things that money can buy must be made available or prices will elevate. Giving people the money to purchase the more expensive goods is not inflationary and should be considered as part of the government's job in protecting the people.

If the pandemic had happened in the '40s when trust in government was higher we would have seen price freezes and subsidies of supply chains of critical goods. We have yet to see the total effect of the labor shortage on food and other critical goods and services. The shortage has hit imported good at the docks and railroads and little has been done to streamline the process. As that same effect shows up in our food supply chain we may be in for a shock that money can't fix.