Welcome back to the pro rata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the

culture of tech, business, and politics.

Sponsored by Bridge Bank. Be bold. Venture wisely. I'm Dan Permac. On today's show,

more bad news for WeWork and what one pizza shop is doing for hungry kids. But first, helicopter

money. That's the term being thrown around for federal government proposals to send checks to individual

Americans.

Some proposals are that the checks should be for $1,000, some say $3,000.

Some say it's a one-time thing, while others believe it should be a monthly stipend so

long as the coronavirus outbreak keeps much of America

on lockdown. The basic idea, let people keep paying the rent, the mortgage, and keep the lights on.

This is a bit reminiscent of Andrew Yang's universal basic income concept, except that it's a virus

this time that stopped many Americans from working, not technological automation. And it came very suddenly,

not gradually. Anyway, here's what U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said yesterday in terms of

stimulus. This is not like a normal economic situation. The government has requested that parts

of this economy shut down and the president is determined. You can think of this as business

interruption money. The president is determined, you can think of this as business interruption money.

The president is determined we will put money back into this economy to protect hardworking Americans and small businesses.

The bottom line is that America and the world is facing an unprecedented financial crisis,

much broader based than what we experienced in 2008.

The federal government has finally, maybe belatedly, realized that it needs to act with urgency,

even if it can't be sure that its solutions will work.

In 20 seconds, we'll dig deeper, including how individual bailouts could affect the food supply chain,

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