The Fed’s surprise rate cut last week didn’t reassure financial markets. Nor, apparently, did the Bank of England’s similar move this morning. So what would work? In today's New York Times , I looked at the steps that policymakers could take to prevent a #coronavirus -driven recession. One big lesson from the last crisis: Act aggressively, and act now. So far, at least, the Trump administration doesn’t seem to be heeding that advice. Mr. Trump is weighing a temporary elimination of the payroll tax, a measure with a big dollar figure (it could cost nearly $700 billion) but that would provide only a trickle of extra cash into workers’ bank accounts. For people who lose their jobs as a result of the outbreak, a payroll tax cut wouldn’t help at all. To learn more about what might work, see my story in today's Times: #recession #economy #covid19 …see more