“The government should do something!” This refrain goes up every time disaster strikes. Nobody is quite sure what the government should do, but there’s widespread consensus that something must be done. And as we’ve seen again and again over the last year, politicians are happy to oblige, regardless of whether the “something” they’ve thought of is unnecessary or even harmful.

President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief and stimulus bill is the latest example. The federal government has already spent about $4 trillion fighting COVID-19. But Biden’s advisers are still telling him that it’s better to go too big than too small. Economists such as Bruce Yandle and Veronique de Rugy have warned us of the likelihood that the stimulus checks won’t stimulate and of the long-term risks of recklessly running up debt, but that doesn’t seem to matter to the Democrats.