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Dems are gleefully signing on to Trump's demand for $2000 checks, hoping to embarrass Rs; fair enough. And it would do no harm, since debt is not a problem given negative real interest rates. But the way this is playing out is still bad news for the future 1/
Where we are now is that a minority of American have suffered a catastrophic loss of income, which is likely to last at least 6 months, while many have suffered no loss at all. Sending everyone a check is not a good response 2/
For someone who won't have earnings until we have mass vaccination, even a $2000 check isn't remotely enough to compensate for the loss of that $300 a week extra unemployment benefit starting in mid-March 3/
So we're short-changing people in desperate straits, while handing out checks to people who don't need them. This may be good politics, but it isn't good policy 4/
But couldn't you say the same thing about Universal Basic Income? Indeed you could. The math on UBI has never made sense. Either it won't be enough to live on or it will be impossibly expensive. Unfortunately, it sounds good and has hijacked energy better spent elsewhere 5/
To be honest, it's kind of a relief to be criticizing bad analysis rather than raw, malevolent dishonesty. And I don't blame Ds for going with the flow. But this really isn't the right answer to our current situation 6/
