When in 1972 Democrat George McGovern was running for president he advocated sending every man, woman and child $1000 courtesy of the Fed and the U.S. Treasury. Most people thought it was outrageously silly and downright communistic. It convinced millions that McGovern was a socialist kook.
Now comes Donald Trump in 2020 proposing to do the exact same thing, to give all “Americans” a check. Unlike McGovern who only promised to buy votes for his own election and re-election with this Keynesian scheme, Trump is an incumbent, not a first-time candidate, and is about to do it. They call it “walkin’-around money” in Chicago when the small-time pols literally hand out cash in the street in return for votes on election day. As with most things, however, Trump is “going big,” as he said today, and is about to hand out (but not literally) billions.
UPDATE: Murray Sabrin writes to point out that, adjusting for inflation, McGovern’s $1,000 would be the equivalent of about $7,000 today. “What a cheapskate!,” Sabrin says of Trump.
3:34 pm on March 17, 2020
