Some thoughts on post Coronavirus America: When the time comes to revert to a semblance of normalcy, we must be prepared to learn some of the lessons of Coronavirus and address the weaknesses it has exposed.

First, in keeping with Senators @HawleyMO and @SenTomCotton, the government needs to take steps to ensure that our pharmaceuticals are made in the USA.

Next, we must also focus on manufacturing and industrial policy. @wupton and @ToryAnarchist have made strong cases that industry is essential to national security. Nothing illustrates this more than our inability to make masks and ventilators in our time of need.

Further, we need to work to build a new balance between workers and businesses. The Coronavirus crisis has also shown the how powerless the worker is, while also showing that the government alone cannot solve the problem. Unemployment Insurance only goes so far.

With this in mind, a good case to look at is Germany and the Agenda 2010. @marcorubio and his Keeping American Workers Paid and Employed Act works along these same lines. In time of crisis, instead of businesses laying off employees, the government should subsidize wages to keep

...them employed. The German method takes things a step further. When these employees with government subsidized wages aren’t working, they are trained in technical school to build their skills when the crisis subsides. This is why Germany dodged the brunt of the Great Recession.

Further, our education system should heed the advice of @oren_cass, among others, who advocates for a shift in our schools toward technical skills or tracked education. Not everyone is going to attend or succeed in college. We shouldn’t delude ourselves otherwise.

A renewed emphasis on technical education would also help train people with the skills to be in high demand for the more technical jobs that will be created with an industrial policy in place. For more on this, check out Cass’a book, the Once and Future Worker.

Further, we must act on the advice of populists across the political spectrum and ban stock buybacks. This common sense move would help spur investment and increased wages for workers. This was a major flaw in the TCJA, which did not yield the desired results.

Finally, a robust infrastructure package will help put Americans back to work. @realDonaldTrump has endorsed this idea. Instead of just standard spending our roads and airports, which desperately need investment, we need to focus on building a 21st Century economy.

Many of the left behind and rural areas of our country still lack cellular coverage and internet access. This is unacceptable. We need to invest in 5G and broadband in order to compete with China in the future.

That’s all for now. Hopefully Coronavirus wakes America up to the dangers of overreliance on China and globalization.

Cc: @jakemerci @AmaliaHalikias @CurtMills @esaagar @krystalball @SenHawleyPress @gjpappin @robert_spalding @JDVance1 @DanielMKishi @wellscking @amconmag @theammind @jamespoulos @docMJP @RpwWilliams @AmerCompass @johnnyburtka @RyanGirdusky @JamesHitchcock @kjplotkin @EricTeetsel