If the goal of a short-term stimulus is to put money in people's hands, then we should put money in people's hands: just mail out checks. There is no reason to structure it as a payroll tax cut, which does nothing for those not getting paychecks 1/
There's also a powerful case for aid to state and local governments trying to cope with this crisis — which would also help sustain spending. So why a tax cut? 2/
The answer, I suspect, is that Trump and his party want to maintain the pretense that tax cuts are the answer to all problems, even when in practice they're being purely Keynesian right now 3/
There's no reason Dems should let this prejudice intrude on a rescue package Trump desperately wants. They can and should demand a package that makes sense. 4/
