Agreed, good point. The Feds should not set up a "whole new system", but also not expect much from state UI, which wasn't designed for this crisis. So what should the Federal response be?

To start with, the Feds should identify existing agencies with the capacity to administer payments. Like the IRS: one coarse-but-quick approach is for the Feds to instruct the IRS to eliminate SSI withholding. That makes it cheaper for every business to employ workers. Beyond that I don't know; this is where Federal leadership should step in.

The Feds do have a system to funnel billions of dollars out of small companies once a year, so in theory that pipe could go the opposite direction.

Why use the same old pipe when you can make more jobs laying new ones?