The coronavirus economic shutdown has taken its toll on businesses and workers all over the country, but those at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder have been hit the worst. To better understand how to help those facing unemployment and economic uncertainty, the Washington Examiner spoke with Robert Doar, president of the American Enterprise Institute and one of the nation’s leading voices on poverty alleviation.
AEI is one of the country’s oldest and most respected public policy think tanks and, although nonpartisan, is rooted in the traditionally conservative values of free enterprise, individual liberty, and revitalizing the foundations of American defense.
Doar joined AEI in 2014 to create a new body of work on poverty studies after serving for more than 20 years in leadership positions in the social service programs of New York state and New York City under Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He has served also as a co-chair of the National Commission on Hunger and as a lead member of the AEI-Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity. He graduated from Princeton University, where he studied history. Doar, 59, lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Sara.
Washington Examiner: What has your take been on the economic response to the coronavirus pandemic?
Doar: First, let me say what my role is, which is focused on people who have the lowest income in the United States. That’s what I have devoted my career to, and there, the tragedy of the virus and the response to the virus is pretty severe. People that will be most harmed by the economic consequences of what we have had to do, and have done, are going to be people who struggle a lot economically in the United States. And prior to this, they were doing pretty well, relatively speaking, compared to previous periods.
I’ve watched the poverty rate very closely, and properly measured, that takes into account all the benefits we provide to working, low-income Americans. And we were at historic lows, properly measured, in the end of 2019. And that was because we had a very strong, tight labor market and growing economy, and wages were rising at the bottom. But they’re doing a lot better than they were prior to that period. A lot better than they were at any time during, for instance, the eight years of the recovery under President Obama. So, you know, if you’re fair and you look at it, honestly, you’d have to say, that was a great period, 2019.
And so, the tragedy of what’s happened now is that the key ingredients to that, getting people above the poverty line, is employment and earnings. And frankly, it always will be and always has been. The fact that that has now disintegrated is just a tragedy. And how we find a way to get us back to where we were is the task ahead. And we want to do it as fast as we can.
Washington Examiner: How do we tackle the rising poverty in the coming months?
Doar: My view is that the next thing we need to do is get back to a combination of work plus government assistance. And that is consistent with our American values that believe in employment and also consistently with our American values that believe that people who’ve struggled should be provided some assistance. Because the assistance will never replace the benefits that come from earnings sufficiently, just won’t happen. And that’s because not all the benefits of work are related to money. They’re also related to behavior and quality of life, flourishing, and human dignity.
That combination of work plus assistance has been successful. And the sooner we do that, the better, the more likely we’ll get back to poverty levels for people in the United States that look like they did in 2019. If we don’t do that, we will not get back to those levels for a long time. And that will be a tragedy. And the people that push policies that don’t take us back in that direction will be held accountable for not putting forth ideas that really reduce poverty, but instead putting forth ideas that increased poverty.
I’m hopeful that we don’t have long periods of prolonged unemployment. And I don’t think we will. And we won’t, I think, if we follow the right policy to get us back to full employment, and that’s what I’m focusing on.
Washington Examiner: I’m curious, if the economy remains shut down for three months or six months more, then how does this work-plus-assistance approach of yours function, because there’s no possibility for all the benefits of work to play out?
Doar: That’s a very good question. And that’s why it’s so important to get the economy going again as rapidly as possible. The unemployment insurance provision that we talked about plays a role there, too. So do various other forms of assistance that don’t depend on work, like food stamp benefits, public health insurance, and certain forms of housing assistance.
Washington Examiner: What are your thoughts on President Trump’s response to the pandemic and the concern some have had with Trump’s approach to possibly opening up the economy too soon? Do you think there is too much of a focus on the economy at the expense of public health, because he wants to be able to get back to normalcy and improve his political standing?
Doar: I think it’s up and down, good days and bad days. I think it is important to communicate a lot when you’re in the middle of a crisis, and so, I think that’s generally been good. I think Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci are exemplary public servants. And I think Vice President Pence has done a good job in coordinating with the governors.
Regarding Trump’s rhetoric and aspiration that we get our economy back to strength, I don’t really begrudge that. Because I work in the poverty space, and in the poverty space, I know the impact of this widespread unemployment is really serious. And so, saying we’d like to get back to normal as fast as possible, hopefully get back to child poverty rates like we had in 2019, is a good goal. So, what matters, sometimes, you know, what a president says is dicta, what matters is what they do, and so, on this point, I’m expressing aspirations for getting us back to focusing on what leaders actually do, and there, I think, frankly, I think he may not like this, but as you may know, there are some aspects of public dialogue that are concerned about the consequences of all this.
Washington Examiner: Anything else that you’d like to see the administration or the president move towards or change in rhetoric?
Doar: Well, I’m not going to get into this, you know, second-guessing his daily Twittersphere or his rhetoric. His rhetoric is not my style, and I think it’s been problematic, without question. But you asked me a specific question, so during his press appearances, I think he would help himself if he didn’t engage in unnecessary back and forth with certain reporters. But these are, this is a tough time we’re going through, and we’re not through it yet. We got a lot of hard work still to do.
