Misplaced Priorities in a Crisis: GOP Edition

I've written that the extreme measures that are being taken by the federal and local governments were a mistake and still believe that. That being said, if you are going to lockdown much of the economy and give out huge bailouts to giant corporations, you have to give people enough money to live off in the interim.

The best way to do that given the huge number of people now unemployed is unemployment insurance. Yet Lindsey Graham seems to think this is a line in the sand that cannot be crossed. As if someone told him there was a war out there somewhere that the United States wasn't currently fighting, he got quite animated about this.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday Congress would extend the additional $600 unemployment benefit provided in the coronavirus relief package past July only "over our dead bodies."
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...Under regular circumstances in South Carolina, unemployment insurance lasts up to 20 weeks, and the average weekly benefit amount is $236. The maximum benefit is $326. In South Carolina, people who lost their jobs because of the coronavirus through no fault of their own are eligible for all three types expanded unemployment benefits under the relief package...

...But Graham and Scott said these additional unemployment benefits would incentivize people to stay at home rather than return to work, to the detriment of small business owners.

Under normal circumstances, this would be true. Even liberal economist Paul Krugman himself has talked about this, noting "If unemployment becomes more attractive because of the unemployment benefit, some unemployed workers may no longer try to find a job, or may not try to find one as quickly as they would without the benefit."

Indeed, it's a terrible idea to simply pay people not to work (instead of paying them while between jobs so they can get by) as it's 1) unproductive and 2) idle hands are the Devil's playground.

But these are not normal circumstances. There are millions of Americans who want to work but cannot because of the virus and the economic lockdown. These people need money to survive and should certainly be prioritized over giant corporations.

Quite the hill to die Senator Graham.