WASHINGTON, D.C. (Texas Insider Report) — "It doesn't matter how many of these relief checks the government sends out – if we don't have the economy functioning, we're not going to have anything to buy with all the money they're printing and handing out. We've got to get the economy up and running – President Trump is absolutely right about that," economist and White House advisor Steve Moore told Texas Insider Radio's Jim Cardle.
"Here's why. We have a $20 trillion dollar economic engine in this country that's the envy of the world, and Texas is a very big, big part of that. But you can't just shut down a $20 trillion dollar economic engine for two or three or four months and expect it to start right back up next time you turn the ignition. Obviously we need to be practicing social distancing in a practical way and as much as possible, but, we've got to 
get America back up and running. If you don't have customers and revenue, its hard to keep people on the payroll.
get America back up and running. If you don't have customers and revenue, its hard to keep people on the payroll."Now we're hearing about 3-or-4 months of economic shut down – that just can't happen. You can't keep the American economy down for that long and expect it to just be turned immediately back on. You just can't.
"I can't tell you how strongly I feel about this – the idea that we're going to have the economy shut down for 10, 12 weeks, that just cannot happen," Moore said.
"I can't tell you how strongly I feel about this – the idea that we're going to have the economy shut down for 10, 12 weeks, that just cannot happen," Moore said.
"Just think about it: four weeks ago we had one of the best employment reports ever – 350,000 jobs created, economic growth figures were being revised upwards, wages were rising, and we'd had the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years for month. It was a beautiful economic picture.
"Then all of a sudden we've been clobbered by this virus, which is an act of nature, but we've got to make sure that an act of nature doesn't lead to any more destruction than's necessary.
"One of the things that I favor – and would really like to see done actually – is, why don't we suspend the Payroll Tax for the rest of the year? That would mean that every Small Business in America could reduce their payroll tax costs by about 7.5%, which could be used to encourage more hiring, and it'd also allow every worker in America to also keep 7.5% more of their paycheck," said Moore.
"Most people don't realize, the FICA Tax takes this money out of your paycheck before you even see your paycheck. That's 7.5% from the employer, and 7.5% from the employee – or for those folks who're self-employed, they pay the entire 15%.
"That's a big, big, big tax – and you're paying it on your first and every dollar of income. I can't imagine why liberals would object to cutting it, because that'd help the lowest income people who're even on minimum wage. Obviously we have to take the strongest safety measures that we can, but I want to get America back to work.
"And I have to say... the president's been handling this incredibly well to date, I think. He's certainly doesn't get enough credit for it, but I'd give him somewhere around an A- for his response so far."And the media doesn't talk about this very much, but, we need to remember that the most important thing Donald Trump did – and its saved 10's of 1,000 of lives, if not 100's of 1,000 lives – was to make what was a very controversial decision back in late January to restrict incoming travel from China. Most of his advisors were advising him against it," Moore told Cardle during their wide-ranging interview.
"The left went crazy over this, called him a xenophobe and all the other names thy like to call him, but its turned out that that was one of the smartest things he could have done.
"And thank God he did it. Then he even cut off travel from Italy, and that's also saved many, many American lives.
"The left went crazy over this, called him a xenophobe and all the other names thy like to call him, but its turned out that that was one of the smartest things he could have done.
"And thank God he did it. Then he even cut off travel from Italy, and that's also saved many, many American lives.
"And now he's right, I think, to call himself a war-time president – this is going to be a Churchillian, an FDR or Ronald Reagan-type of moment – because the next 4-to-8 weeks is going to be critical for our economy, and he's really going to have to step up. But so far the public seems to think he's doing well, with his approval rating hitting 60% over how he's handling things.
"We need to balance things in terms of how we're handling the business needs of the country vs. the public health issues. But so far, people seem to like the way he's handling it."This is, and has been, extremely stressful for the entire nation," said Moore, "but we've got to get the economy up and running again, and as soon as is possible – President Trump is absolutely right about that."
