The coronavirus crisis will be considered one of the most important global events of the early decades of the 21st century. Like a pebble that is dropped in a pond of water from which a series of waves are sent out across its surface, the virus has created waves of hundreds of thousands of human victims in countries all around the world from its originating epicenter in Wuhan, China.

Among the questions facing the United States is not only how to immediately deal with this tragic pandemic, but what lessons should be learned from it concerning the future role of government in society and the types of economic policies that should be extended or introduced.

The editorial board of The New York Times (April 9, 2020) has proposed an expansive agenda, in what they say is "The America We Need."

The Times editorial board declares that there is "need for new ideas, and the revival of older ideas about what the government owes the nation's citizens, what corporations owe employees and what we owe one another." What they propose and call for, however, is merely more of the same paternalist ideas and bankrupt economic policies that have helped to create many of the social problems that they rail against; and which if instituted would make far worse over time the conditions of everyone in society, with a lot less freedom or prosperity for all.

Discounting the Private Sector, Calling for Much Bigger Government

Once more, individual initiative and private enterprise are either slighted or condemned. "Corporate action and philanthropy certainly have their places, particularly in the short term . . . But they are poor substitutes for stewardship by public institutions. What America needs is a just and activist government." The Times ridicules the "narrow conception of corporate responsibility" that sees the primary duty of private enterprises to be maximizing shareholder return.

No, instead, they insist that companies, whether producing and earning revenues or not in the midst of the coronavirus crisis should have kept most workers on the payroll with near to their full salaries; and they should institute paid leave, daycare facilities, and support for the unionization of their employees to bargain against them.