Virus Relief, Good and Bad. The goal is to relieve hardship, not expand the welfare state.

Wall Street Journal ^ | March 11, 2020 | WSJ Editorial Board

[karpov]

The coronavirus has had the bad judgment to arrive in an election year, so Congress will inevitably respond with what it does best—spend money. As the ideas spill out, it’s worth laying out some principles to sort the good from the bad and the ugly.

• Target the real hardship. Americans who need the most help will be those who lose their jobs because they or their family members are sick, especially low-income workers who are paid hourly rather than by salary. Federal grants could help make up for lost wages, sick leave, or special health-care costs.

The precedents here are unemployment insurance and disaster relief. The former is targeted at individuals who had been working and lose their jobs, and both programs are limited. Jobless benefits expire after a time, with a goal of encouraging recipients to get back into the job market when the economy improves.

Disaster relief addresses the immediate harm to personal property and businesses, and recipients have to meet certain criteria to qualify. Relief can be in the form of grants or loans, especially to small business. Congress recently passed $1 billion in small-business loan subsidies as part of its $8.3 billion virus relief package, and on Wednesday night President Trump asked for another $50 billion more that we hope has virus-damage requirements attached.

• Make the relief immediate. People who lose their jobs or are sick need the money now, not months down the road. One problem, among many, with the Obama 2009 stimulus program is that its spending was spread over years. So-called shovel-ready projects weren’t close to ready. The worst idea we’ve heard in response to the coronavirus is for a big new public-works bill.

[karpov]

Further points from the editorial:
• Target individuals, not bureaucracies.
• Avoid new mandates on business. (such as mandatory paid sick leave)
• Beware new or expanded entitlements disguised as emergency relief.

[CivilWarBrewing]

BTW, how can a Governor BAN gatherings of people? Quite an exercise in Tyranny we are witnessing.

[facedown]

This is either naivete or taqiyya.

[Bayan]

That is definitely not the Democrat goal. Everything Trump tries to do they lard down with Democrat pork.

[metmom]

Exactly and what I read about the dems proposal would expand the welfare state.

[sauropod]

.