Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”
Republicans were right to worry that lavish Covid unemployment insurance could slow the recovery. But now they’re rewarding people who lose jobs for defying employer vaccine mandates.
Luminaries like Marco Rubio are repudiating free markets and big business. Defenders like Nikki Haley are retaliating, in a clash that looks back at Trump and forward to 2024.
Yes, employers are desperate right now. But the longer workers sit it out, the more likely businesses will have permanently adapted to the labor shortage.
A policy agenda based on populist programs to help working- and middle-class voters would be a political winner. A personality cult based on grievance wouldn’t.
Plans to ban foreigners from buying homes for two years and impose surtaxes on big banks and insurers aren’t going to help the country’s economic performance.
From one conservative to another: Give businesses and localities freedom to respond to Covid-19. That’s what personal responsibility and limited government are all about.
Remote learning inflicted educational, psychological and economic damage last year. If classrooms slam shut every time there’s a positive test now, the result will be just as dire.
