AUGUST

**11, 2020**

Meyerson on TAP

Trump's Modesty

We already know what a complete scam President Trump's announcement of
his initiatives to provide financial aid through the next pandemic
months truly is. To cite just one scammish particular-the $400 weekly
unemployment insurance boost he proclaimed-David Dayen in
yesterday's "Unsanitized
"
documented how the FEMA funds Trump is proposing to devote to that sum
will soon run out, and David as well as everyone else has noted that the
federal contribution actually comes to $300 per week, with states
required to come up with the additional $100 to qualify for the federal
funds-a requirement that governors of both parties have said they
can't meet. (A recent study of state government finances has said that
the revenues those governments depend on have declined by $200 billion
since the onset of the pandemic, and states, unlike the federal
government, can't run deficits.)

This is hardly the first time that Trump has put a headline on a program
he's announced that touts a dollar figure which, it then turns out,
isn't really coming from the federal government. He's only putting
up $300 for the UI supplement? Well, his annual announcements of his
administration's big, beautiful $2 trillion infrastructure programs
actually require the states to come up with $1.8 trillion of that sum,
with the feds kicking in just $200 billion. Of course, if the states had
$1.8 trillion lying around to fix their roads, build new rail lines, and
the like, they would long since have done that.

But here's the question: Since Trump likes to advertise programs with
headline dollar amounts for which he has no intention of actually
providing, why doesn't he make his headline dollar amounts even
higher? Since he's only committing $200 billion, why not announce a $5
trillion infrastructure program, which is what most infrastructure
engineers believe is the amount the nation requires? Since he's only
coming up with $300 of the UI supplement, why announce the figure is
only $400? Why not $600, which is what the unemployed had been
receiving?

Why such modesty, Mr. President? You're a fabulist. Shoot the moon!

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter

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The Costs of Trump's Debacle on COVID Testing

The needless failure to make available universal quick-response testing
is the worst single cause of the renewed spread of the virus. BY ROBERT
KUTTNER

Which Side Are 'Liberal' Lawyers On
?
Many public-interest attorneys also represent corporations against their
workers. BY LEO GERTNER

Nebraska Meatpacking Workers Continue to Struggle During the Pandemic

Workers testified in the state legislature, supporting an amendment to
set protective standards at plants across the state. BY CONNOR GOODWIN

Unsanitized: More Evidence That the Postal Service Means to Make Voting
Harder

A letter encourages states to pay more to get ballots to voters. This is
The COVID-19 Daily Report for August 11, 2020. BY DAVID DAYEN

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