Trump Orders an Anti-Stimulus Plan for Struggling States
Making governors kick in extra unemployment payments is political grandstanding.
Toying with the states.
Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
President Donald Trump and his advisers have said repeatedly that they don’t want to “bail out” some U.S. states. It seems they’re willing to risk inflicting lasting damage on all 50 of them — and, by extension, the entire American economy — to prove their commitment to this cause.
As part of the president’s orders during the weekend to provide economic relief without Congress, he called for additional unemployment payments to restart at $400 a week, down from the previous $600. That sounds mostly fine on its face, given that this insurance most likely cushioned the economy from an even bigger decline in the past few months. But that headline figure includes $100 that states would have to contribute themselves.