This contagion has nothing to do with coronavirus.

NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE B ailing out the Illinois state pension system is the worst idea from a week in which we were discussing the health benefits of mainlining Lysol.

(Please do not mainline Lysol. It will kill you.)

Irresponsible state and local governments are attempting to exploit the fear and disruption of the coronavirus epidemic to push off the consequences of their decades of reckless and culpably dishonest policies onto the federal government. This will inspire a great deal of conversation about “moral hazard” and “fairness,” but the fundamental problem is something else: Such a bailout would not work because it would not actually solve the …