Forget the $2000 checks and help unemployed people instead

I know it's awkward politically, but a Democratic Senate majority now makes better policy possible.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning that unemployment remained 6.7 percent in December, same as November. We can argue about whether the economy remains technically in recession—Gross Domestic Product rose in 2020’s final quarter slightly higher than it fell in the second—but nonfarm payroll dropped 140,000, and about 10 million fewer people have jobs today than before the pandemic hit.

The Democrats won back the Senate promising to send $2000 checks to everyone. It was good politics and it made the Republicans look stupid, but let’s be honest: It was a dumb idea. The pain is not distributed evenly throughout the population. Nor should the remedy.

The best thing Donald Trump did as president—and yes, it’s a short list—was sign a bill last March that increased weekly unemployment benefits by $600. That sweetener expired in July. The Covid stimulus passed last month restored it, but only to $300, and a badly-needed extension of unemployment benefits was limited to a miserly 11 weeks.

In my latest New Republic column, I argue that the Democrats should forget the $2000 checks and focus instead on resurrecting the $600 unemployment insurance sweetener and further extension of unemployment benefits’ duration. If there’s money left over, it should go to the states, which got stiffed on the last bill. They’re still hurting; state and local government lost 52,000 jobs in December. People pretend that government employment doesn’t matter, but the reluctance of state and local governments to restore jobs after the 2007-2009 recession seriously slowed the recovery. Let’s don’t make that mistake again.

Anyway, read my column.