A2| Wednesday, March 4, 2020 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
U.S. NEWS
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
(USPS 664-880) (Eastern Edition ISSN 0099-9660)
(Central Edition ISSN 1092-0935) (Western Edition ISSN 0193-2241)
Editorial and publication headquarters:1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036
Published daily except Sundays and general legal holidays.
Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and other mailing offices.
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Wall Street Journal,
200 Burnett Rd., Chicopee, MA 01020.
All Advertising published in The Wall Street Journal is subject to the applicable rate card,
copies of which are available from the Advertising Services Department, Dow Jones & Co. Inc.,
1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036. The Journal reserves the right not to
accept an advertiser’s order. Only publication of an advertisement shall constitute final
acceptance of the advertiser’s order.
Letters to the Editor:Fax: 212-416-2891; email: [email protected]
Need assistance with your subscription?
By web: customercenter.wsj.com; By email: [email protected]
By phone: 1-800-JOURNAL (1-800-568-7625)
Reprints & licensing:
By email: [email protected]
By phone: 1-800-843-
WSJ back issues and framed pages:wsjshop.com
Our newspapers are 100% sourced from sustainably certified mills.GOT A TIP FOR US? SUBMIT IT AT WSJ.COM/TIPSA chartthat accompanied
a Page One article Thursday
about China’s coronavirus epi-
demic showed that country’s
coal consumption by six ma-
jor power plants in thousands
of tons. The chart was misla-
beled as tons, and it failed to
say the data were for six
plants.The New England Patriots
were accused in 2015 of
cheating by deflating their
own footballs. Saturday’s
“Moving Targets” column in-correctly said the Patriots de-
flated the visiting team’s ball.Cristine Pirro Schwarzman,
a partner at a New York law
firm, didn’t argue that she had
earned the title of sommelier
the same way that a somme-
lier working in a restaurant
does. An Off Duty article Sat-
urday about sommeliers incor-
rectly implied that she had.
The article also incorrectly
said that working in a restau-
rant was Ms. Schwarzman’s
dream job.Readers can alert The Wall Street Journal to any errors in news articles by
[email protected] by calling 888-410-2667.CORRECTIONS AMPLIFICATIONS
U.S. WATCH
WHITE HOUSEPublisher Delays
Bolton Book Till MayThe publisher of former na-
tional security adviser John Bol-
ton’s coming book “The Room
Where It Happened” said it has
pushed back the release date be-
cause of the government’s ongo-
ing review of the manuscript.
The book is now scheduled to
be published on May 12 instead of
March 17, according to Simon &
Schuster, a unit of ViacomCBS Inc.
In January, the National Secu-
rity Council said the manuscript
couldn’t be published as submitted
because it contained “significant
amounts” of classified information.
The book includes Mr. Bol-
ton’s allegations that President
Trump said he wanted to keep
aid to Ukraine frozen until that
country’s leadership helped in-
vestigate Democrats including
presidential candidate Joe Biden
and his son.
The NSC didn’t respond to a
request for comment on the de-
layed publication date.
Mr. Trump has denied linking
foreign aid to an investigation
and has described Mr. Bolton’s
work as “a nasty & untrue book.”
Mr. Bolton, in his first public
remarks after the manuscript
was leaked, last month said he
hoped the book would be pub-
lished and “not suppressed.”
—Jeffrey A. TrachtenbergMISSISSIPPIBill Would Restrict
Reasons for AbortionMississippi’s Republican-led
Legislature is trying to restrict
the reasons women may seek
abortion, after federal courts
blocked time limitations that the
state tried to put on the proce-
dure the past two years.
Abortion would be prohibited
if a woman is seeking one be-
cause of the race, sex or genetic
abnormality of the fetus, under a
bill that passed a state House
committee Tuesday.
The only exception would be
in case of a medical emergency.
Other states have been suedover similar laws, and opponents
questioned whether Mississippi
is inviting another lawsuit over
abortion.
House Bill 1295 moves to the
full House for more debate.
“We have had a solid record
of supporting pro-life measures,
and we wanted to continue
that,” House Judiciary B Commit-
tee Chairman Nick Bain, a Re-
publican from Corinth, said in ex-
plaining why his committee
passed the bill.
Anyone who performs an
abortion because of race, sex or
genetic abnormality could face
one year to 10 years in prison.
The woman having the abortion
wouldn’t face penalties.
Democratic Rep. Sonya Wil-
liams-Barnes of Gulfport voted
against the bill.
“Women should have a right
to make a choice for themselves
whether they want to have a
child or not,” Rep. Williams-
Barnes said after the committee
meeting.
—Associated PressMICHIGANCar Crash Kills Three
Pro Frisbee PlayersThree professional Frisbee
players have died after they
were involved in car crash en
route to a team practice in De-
troit, authorities said.
Kevin Coulter, Drew Piet and
Michael Cannon died after their
vehicle was rear-ended Saturday
evening on Interstate 96 in Ionia
County, roughly 100 miles west
of Detroit.
Mr. Cannon died at a hospital,
where he had been on life sup-
port until his organs could be
donated, hospital officials con-
firmed on Tuesday.
The men played for the
American Ultimate Disc League
team the Detroit Mechanix.
Family members, friends and
others from the Grand Rapids
Ultimate club lined the halls of a
Lansing hospital Monday to pay
their respects to Mr. Piet, who
also was taken off life support
and moved past them to an-
other room for organ donation.
—Associated Presswere damaged or destroyed.
“It’s hard to take in the se-
verity of it,” Mr. Niehoff said.
Schools were closed Tues-
day due to damage, and state
offices were shut in at least
eight counties, TEMA said.
The extreme weather came
as Tennessee was one of 14
states holding primaries on Su-
per Tuesday. Voting still took
place, but some polling loca-
tions in affected counties were
closed or delayed in opening,
Secretary of State Tre Hargett
said. His office, as well as the
Tennessee Democratic Party,
were directing voters to alter-
nate locations.
After the state party sued to
extend voting hours, a state
judge in Davidson County or-
dered elections officials to keep
all polling locations in the
county open until 8 p.m. local
time and five large stations
open until 10 p.m. Mr. Lee said
the state deployed generators to
some polling stations without
power. “We’re going to make it
possible for as many folks as wecan to vote,” he said.
Josh Westerhold, a 39-year-
old East Nashville resident,
said his regular polling station
was closed because of the
storm. As a result, he went to
cast a ballot at a communitycenter that was taking in voters
from several other precincts.
On Tuesday afternoon, he was
still waiting in a snaking line
that he estimated would take
as much as two hours.
President Trump promised
support to rebuild in remarks
at the National Association of
Counties Legislative Confer-
ence. The president said he
would visit the state Friday.
In Putnam County, emer-
gency responders were going
house to house to assess dam-
age in the hardest-hit neigh-
borhoods.
Sixty-five people were
treated at a regional hospital
for injuries, said Mr. Porter, the
mayor. He said he had taken a
helicopter flight in the morning
to survey the area and that
many homes were completely
destroyed.
“It’s a pretty wide path of
damage,” Mr. Porter said.stroyed, he said. About 73,
people were without power in
several counties, according to
the Tennessee Emergency
Management Agency.
Residents described a rav-
aged landscape of downed
power lines, collapsed homes
and businesses and debris
strewn across the streets. Local
officials warned residents to
stay off the roads as emergency
crews assessed the damage.
“Nashville is hurting, and
our community has been dev-
astated,” Nashville Mayor
John Cooper said. “Together,
we will get through this and
come out stronger.”
In East Nashville, Matt Nie-
hoff said he woke up a little
before 1 a.m. local time Tues-
day to what sounded like a
low-flying jet, then heard glass
shattering in his house and
the wind whipping as the tor-
nado tore through. The twister
blew in a front window and
ripped the roofs off the front
porch and garage.
Outside, thick old trees that
lined his street toppled and
snapped, one landing on a
neighbor’s roof, said Mr. Nie-
hoff, 36 years old. Blocks away,
in the bustling Five Points area,
a main street was littered with
debris. Some prized businesses,
including a burger place, a tea
house and a concert venue,ContinuedfromPageOneAt Least
25 Killed
In Twisters
Epidemics historically ha-
ven’t been disruptive enough
to affect gross domestic
product much.T
hat probably won’t be
true this time. Supply-
side disruptions of
pandemics have been com-
pounded by demand-side ef-
fects: precautionary mea-
sures by the authorities,
employers and individuals to
avoid infection.
These behavioral effects
account for 80% to 90% of
the economic hit from epi-
demics, according to work
by Warwick McKibbin, aneconomist at Australian Na-
tional University. As with a
biological or other terrorism
threat, “A large number of
people would feel at risk at
the onset of a pandemic,
even if their actual risk of
dying from the disease is
low,” he and a co-author
wrote in a report for the
Brookings Institution this
week.
Goldman Sachs estimates
10% to 15% of U.S. GDP con-
sists of services such as en-
tertainment, restaurants,
church services and public
transportation that would
suffer if people limit interac-CAPITAL ACCOUNT|By Greg Ip
Fiscal Policy, Not Fed, Is Best Virus Remedy
Wall Street
and President
Trump have
begged, ad-
monished and
tweeted for
the Federal Reserve to come
to the economy’s res-
cue. Tuesday morning, the
Fed obliged.
But their faith is likely to
prove misplaced. The Fed
cannot save the U.S. econ-
omy from the coronavirus,
for two reasons.
First, it can’t restart fac-
tories that are missing parts
as the virus disrupts supply
chains, nor can it persuade
worried vacationers to fly.
Second, and potentially more
important, central banks are
losing their grip on the busi-
ness cycle.
The Fed had little inter-
est-rate ammunition with
which to boost growth even
before Tuesday’s cut; the Eu-
ropean Central Bank and the
Bank of Japan effectively
have none. The world is fac-
ing its first big shock in an
era when central banks are
no longer omnipotent.
The good news is that the
same factors that make mon-
etary policy less potent
make fiscal policy even more
so. With investors rushing to
buy government bonds and
driving yields down, the U.S.
and other rich governments
can borrow all they need tofight the risk of both pan-
demic and recession risk.
U.S. recessions have his-
torically been precipitated
by rising inflation and inter-
est rates, collapsing asset
prices, or both. Central
banks responded by lowering
interest rates and, if neces-
sary, buying assets such as
bonds or making direct loans
to impaired banks, as they
did during the global finan-
cial crisis in 2008 to 2009.
Since that crisis, struc-
tural factors such as low
productivity growth, aging
populations and risk aver-
sion kept economic growth
and inflation low around the
world, making it difficult if
not impossible for central
banks to raise rates. The ECB
and Bank of Japan cut theirs
below zero. The Fed raised
its short-term interest rate
target to between 2.25% and
2.5% in 2018, then had to cut
it three times last year, to
between 1.5% and 1.75%, be-
cause of a global slowdown
and trade war.
On Tuesday, it cut its
benchmark rate by a half
percentage point.
Central banks hoped that
with time, inflation and
growth would firm enough
for interest rates to return to
some normal, positive level.
The risk was always that
some shock would come along
to short-circuit that process.tion and avoid large gather-
ings. Goldman also estimates
the disease will knock
roughly 3 percentage points
off annualized growth in the
next quarter, with these de-
mand-side effects accounting
for almost half.
The Fed can’t offset these
effects, said Jan Hatzius,
Goldman’s chief economist.
He said the Fed can help
cushion the hit to demand
when employees lose their
jobs because of supply dis-
ruptions or consumers stay-
ing home, or spending and
investment retreat due to
lower stock prices and un-
certainty. Lower mortgage
rates, for example, could add
some construction jobs, “but
it’s all pretty small.”
Another risk: If the Fed
lowers interest rates close to
zero to deal with the current
crisis it will, like the ECB
and Bank of Japan now, have
no rate ammunition to deal
with the next one.N
ellie Liang, a former
Fed economist now at
Brookings, said the
central bank can take other
actions, such as reminding
banks they can borrow from
the Fed’s discount window if
they need funds to help their
customers, and dissuade
them from foreclosing on
customers who miss a pay-
ment because of the virus.But the real firepower lies
with fiscal policy. Congress
is working on a $7 billion to
$8 billion package to combat
the virus. The U.S. could eas-
ily borrow more: Congress
authorized $65 billion in re-
covery spending after the
9/11 attacks, $100 billion af-
ter Hurricane Katrina in
2005 and $51 billion after
Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
President Trump has sug-
gested a payroll-tax cut. On
Monday, Sen. Elizabeth War-
ren proposed $400 billion of
stimulus—roughly 2% of
GDP.
Whether that much is
needed is unclear. But
Ms. Warren is targeting fis-
cal firepower in a way mone-
tary policy cannot: the Mas-
sachusetts Democrat, who is
running for president, would
cover the bills of patients
being tested or treated for
the virus and increase
health-center capacity.
Some service-sector work-
ers might stay on the job
even if they are infected, be-
cause they can’t afford to
stay home. Ms. Warren pro-
poses paying emergency sick
leave to anyone with symp-
toms, or who has a depen-
dent with symptoms, so they
can stay home.
That is a twofer: It offers
protection against recession
and epidemic at the same
time.ProjectedeffectsofthecoronavirusonU.S.GDPgrowth*Source: Goldman Sachs*Change from previous quarter, annualized rate201percentage points1Q 2020 2Q 3Q 4QU.S.goodsexports
toChinaTravelbyChinese
residentstotheU.S.Supplychain
disruptionsfor
U.S.retailersSupplychain
disruptionsfor
U.S.producersEffectondemand
ofcommunity
spreadintheU.S.Damage from the tornado was strewn across Cookeville, Tenn. Below, a man was rescued from his collapsed home in Mt. Juliet.FROM TOP: WADE PAYNE/ASSOCIATED PRESS; LARRY MCCORMACK/THE TENNESSEAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS