Back in 2009, Nancy Pelosi infamously declared the best way to revive the economy was to dole out ever more generous food stamps and unemployment benefits. The more people are collecting welfare, the better. At the time, this notion seemed laughable. Now this economic illiteracy seems to have become a pearl of conventional wisdom.

The following was a headline in the New York Times recently: “End of $600 Unemployment Bonus Could Push Millions Past the Brink.”