Paul Krugman in NYT on pandemic response...
More important, the economy is clearly in free-fall. So what should we do now?
I’ll leave health policy to the experts.
On economic policy, I’d suggest three principles. First, focus on hardship, not G.D.P. Second, stop worrying about incentives to work. Third, don’t trust Trump.
But this is where the history of the Trump pandemic — all those wasted weeks when we did nothing ...
because Donald Trump didn’t want to hear anything that might hurt him politically — becomes relevant. It shows that even when American lives are at risk, this administration’s policy is all about Trump, about what he thinks will make him look good, never mind the national interest.
What this means is that as Congress allocates money to reduce the economic pain from Covid-19, it shouldn’t give Trump any discretion over how the money is spent.