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The stimulus deal should be enough to avoid the immediate "cliff" that would have pushed millions into poverty and threatened to plunge the economy back into a recession. But it may not be enough to ensure a robust recovery.
With @jimtankersley: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/economy/stimulus-bill-congress.html
With @jimtankersley: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/economy/stimulus-bill-congress.html
The deal comes months too late for tens of thousands of small businesses that have already closed. And for families who have run down savings while negotiations bogged down, the damage may already be done.
But the deal includes most of the provisions economists considered most important for the short-term health of the economy:
- aid to the unemployed
- support for small businesses
- an eviction moratorium extension
- enhanced SNAP benefits
- aid to the unemployed
- support for small businesses
- an eviction moratorium extension
- enhanced SNAP benefits
The most glaring exception: No large-scale aid for state and local governments, which economists have consistently said was among their top priorities. That could come back to haunt the Biden administration: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/business/stimulus-state-local-aid.html
Is it enough? For the overall economy, maybe, especially if the vaccine rolls out smoothly. But it won't be enough for many of the groups hit hardest by the pandemic.
As @lizananat told me: “The best-case scenario is we look back on this and say, ‘Well, an ounce of prevention would have been worth a pound of cure.’ ... The more likely scenario is that we all spend the next 30 years documenting all the harm that was done because of this.”
For many low-income families — and especially low-income children — “I don’t think we can reverse the damage,” said @mlholder999. “The damage is done.”
