The sky isn’t falling: it’s a nonstandard, intentional recession. @MichaelDFarren
Image: Title page of The Remarkable Story of Chicken Little. Public domain. Michael Farren, Mercatus Center, George Mason University, & TheHill; in re: Skyrocketing unemployment claims: 6.6 million this week. The national economy has seized. It’ll get worse before it gets better; it does mean that social distancing is working, diminishing the transmission of the disease. We’re trading off a short financial crisis—a recession—in favor of a recovery sooner. Won’t see needed relief till mid-April or later. Unemployment insurance in no way can sustain a family; it’s designed to have people continue looking for work, but here we specifically don't want people out looking for work. This is not a standard recession—the sky isn't falling—this is not the result of deep structural problems; rather, it's a government-induced recession to [avoid something worse]. Canada and Denmark: don't want people to leave employment and have to file for UE, so he economy can leap out on the other side; Denmark is subsidizing employers for up to 75% of salaries/expense. Down the road, we need to revamp our plans for such crises.