Fox Business guest opposes paid sick leave for coronavirus: Democrats will want permanent social program
Peter Morici: “We can't let that happen”
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From the March 9, 2020, edition of Fox Business’ Varney & Co.
STUART VARNEY: What do you make of this? Targeted stimulus, maybe an enhancement of paid leave, sick paid leave, deferred tax payments. Do you think this is a good idea? Because we had Art Laffer on the show saying earlier, saying, “No, get the government out of this, get the politicians out of it, we don't want them to do anything, let the market work.“ What say you?
PETER MORICI (FORMER USITC CHIEF ECONOMIST): I don't like “a” or “b.” The extension of paid sick leave opens the door. You know what's going to happen on the Democratic side. Schumer's going to want a permanent program.
VARNEY: Yeah.
MORICI: The old Rahm Emanuel approach, “Don't let any good crisis go unused.” They're going to try to get another social program out of this. We can't let that happen. My feeling is, you want to put cash directly in people's hands broadly. I think Mr. Kudlow is wrong on this one. I like Larry, we agree about a lot of stuff. This, I don't agree. I don't think it hurts to put a lot of cash out there right now, not with these borrowing rates. That would give people money to spend. You know, they might not be able to buy a Monopoly set from China, but they sure as heck can buy something else.