, Columnist
Covid-19 Gives America a Chance to Fix Its Welfare State
Maybe such fat checks wouldn't have been as necessary if the country had a more robust support system for its people.
Less welfare = more relief needed.
Photographer: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
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Americans are strongly in favor of a very large Covid-19 relief bill. It seems likely that this enthusiasm reflects more than just anxiety over the pandemic; many Americans are fed up with decades of a stingy welfare state, and in this crisis they finally see an opportunity to make back some lost ground.
A recent report by McKinsey & Co. found that countries that generally spend less on social welfare ended up increasing their government spending by more during the pandemic. A look at the data shows this relationship fairly clearly: