I think it will be a good day for all tomorrow. Dow is > +800 point pre-market. Trump floating the idea of stimulus package. Hope it sticks.
Coronavirus: Donald Trump pushes economic stimulus as disease spreads
Republicans already floated the idea 3 days ago:
The latest 'stimulus' talk from the White House:
White House points fingers as it plots coronavirus stimulus
"WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is considering an economic stimulus designed to help businesses hurt by the coronavirus, a senior White House economic aide said Friday,
though aides tamped down expectations about the scope of any plan."
"Some of the sectors might need some temporary assistance,” Trump senior economic adviser Larry Kudlow told Fox Business on Friday. "I look at it as targeted and timely and I think that would be the most effective response, but we don’t want to act prematurely because today’s numbers show that the U.S. economy is in very good shape."
...
White House officials said they are kicking around ways to help businesses that may been most affected by the coronavirus scare, including possible tax relief for the airline, cruise, and travel industries. They spoke on condition of anonymity because, they stressed, no decisions have been made and lots of options are being discussed.
But Kudlow and other White House officials signaled that talks were preliminary and no plans were set.
Note the "we don't actually need any stimulus, because the economy is so beautiful" messaging, which is somewhat self-defeating.
Also note the cool reception by even the Republican Senate:
Trump floats payroll tax cut, other financial relief amid coronavirus outbreak
President Donald Trump on Monday said he will be meeting with Senate and House Republicans on Tuesday to discuss “a possible tax relief measure” to provide “a timely and effective response to the coronavirus.”
“We are to be meeting with House Republicans, Mitch McConnell, and discussing a possible payroll tax cut or relief, substantial relief, very substantial relief,” Trump said at a press briefing with coronavirus task force members.
Senate GOP cool to new economic stimulus measures - CNNPolitics
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will meet with her committee chairs Monday night to talk through potential options, and the California Democrat and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer laid down a marker Sunday night for what any package should include, including paid sick leave, enhanced unemployment insurance and widespread, free coronavirus testing.
But it was clear from Senate Republicans coming out of the meeting that there is little appetite to tackle wide-scale economic stimulus at the moment and there is concern that some of the proposals that have been floated by White House officials in recent days, from the payroll tax cuts to more direct spending measures, represent potential problems for the conference in the weeks ahead.
"I think it's premature," Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, responded when asked if he could support either spending plans proposed by Democrats or tax cuts suggested by Republicans to boost the economy in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. "I usually love tax cuts, but I think it's a little bit premature again."
One member said that there was a real discussion about the option the White House may lay out Tuesday, but Republicans in the leadership meeting were "not really excited about some of the options on the table. We would have to sort through it. We have to sort through what the implications would be."
Part of the concern deals with the economic troubles as they currently stand. Stimulative spending at a time of sharply declining demand may not have the intended effect, another GOP senator told CNN. Tax cuts or incentives, traditionally the preferred economic policy lever for Republicans to pull amid economic slow downs, may, in turn, take too long to take hold given the current market conditions.
"What I don't want to do is just borrow a bunch of money and throw it out in the street to stimulate spending," said Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican.
"Maybe some tax cuts or tax deferral would be in order," Cramer said, insisting he would be open to hearing the administration's proposals. "But I'm not sure the market's looking for stimulation into the economy. The market is looking for the coronavirus to be solved."
Note a 100% lack of any mention of a key component to any new legislation: the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democratic Party, which they won in a landslide in 2018. The White House doesn't even give it a fig leaf of bipartisanship in their messaging: it's House Republicans (a minority) and Senate Republicans they are meeting, and the answer is the usual Republican mantra: a tax cut.
And the conditions of House Democrats are pretty clear:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will meet with her committee chairs Monday night to talk through potential options, and the California Democrat and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer laid down a marker Sunday night for what any package should include, including paid sick leave, enhanced unemployment insurance and widespread, free coronavirus testing.
The Trump administration doesn't want
any of that:
- Paid sick leave, standard in every European country, is for some reason anathema to U.S. conservative mantra.
- Unemployment insurance, standard in every European country, is socialism pure.
- Widespread, free coronavirus testing would just expose the real infection numbers.
So I don't think these tax measures have much chance to go through the House - and any new legislation has to be introduced there first. My best guess is that Republicans want to pin this crisis on Democrats.
Good luck with that: Democrats don't have to do
anything but passive-aggressively provide a few plausible excuses for why the Republican measures are not fast enough for this great crisis and that Republicans should stop playing election year politics and should start supporting common-sense measures to stop the virus, such as widespread and free virus testing, paid sick leave to keep the sick at home, and unemployment insurance for those laid off due to the coronavirus slump, ASAP.
