Citizens' concerns
- I don’t understand how the financial system works 🤔
- My savings are losing their value 💸
- I’m worried about my pension 💰
- The gap between rich and poor is growing 📈
- Housing prices are too high 🏘️
- Banks are corrupt and self-serving 🐺
- Local businesses will go bankrupt (once support is withdrawn) 🧾
- Prices are going up 🛒
- Unemployment levels are too high 🤖
- The economy is fuelling the climate crisis ⛽
- We will never pay off the public debt 💶
- Bankers have too much power 🕴️
Local businesses will go bankrupt (once support is withdrawn) 🧾
Many small, non-financial, businesses are going bankrupt because of the economic crisis brought about by Covid-19. These businesses are not getting the support that they need from private banks or governments.
→ Ⓓ The European Central Bank should support the economy and citizens more directly The ECB relies on private banks and other financial institutions to transmit its policies. These financial institutions, in turn, lend money to non-financial businesses, and the ECB does not determine who gets loans. This approach urges a debate on whether the ECB should interact more directly with non-financial businesses.
→ Ⓔ The ECB can’t do everything, governments must fully use their budgetary powers This approach discusses the differences between the ECB’s monetary policies and governments’ fiscal policies, and the ECB’s role in stimulating the latter. It invites you to reflect on whether governments should increase their spending during times of crisis, thereby helping the local economy.
