Top Fed official says quick reopenings damaged recovery from coronavirus

[Mike 03]

The Hill
August 12, 2020 - 03:20 PM EDT

A top Federal Reserve official said Wednesday that the inability of the U.S. to control the coronavirus pandemic limited the benefit of trillions in fiscal stimulus approved by President Trump and Congress earlier this year.

Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said in a Wednesday interview with The Hill that the abrupt peel-back of restrictions imposed to slow the pandemic in the U.S. prevented record-breaking economic rescue efforts from fostering a quick recovery.

"Normally with the kind of stimulus that we've seen with both fiscal policy and monetary policy, you'd actually expect a V-shaped recovery," Rosengren said, referring to an immediate economic recovery from a downturn of similar speed and scale.

"The reason we're not seeing a V-shaped recovery and that we're seeing a pause right now is that it's very hard for fiscal or monetary policy to offset a public health concern," he continued.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/finance/511715-top-fed-official-says-quick-reopenings-damaged-recovery-from-coronavirus?amp

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. You can open bars to consumers but you can't make them drink there

Gotta make them feel safe first.

It was obvious to us on DU.

[SheltieLover]

2. Nut job will have tantrum

Fine time to speak up, btw! Better late than never, but you know what they say about qn ounce of prevention... 😏

[JHB]

5. Yep. I was thinking "welcome to March"

[SheltieLover]

6. 👍

[ResistantAmerican17]

3. $6 trillion down the shitter.

[DAMANgoldberg]

4. Here is where a UBI and healthcare not tied to employment...

would have made all the difference. If you truly compensated folks to stay home and eliminate the eviction and utility shut-offs, the public would mostly respond positively. Of course we know that didn't happen. In 2021 with the new leadership structure, back stimulus to April 2020 will be dispersed.

[SheltieLover]

7. Absolutely!

Bullshit tying ins to job. 🤬🤬🤬

[gratuitous]

8. Doesn't that seem rather obvious?

The administration completely squandered the first round of stimulus and the efforts of people to stop or slow the virus spread. Instead, we got weeks and weeks of pointless bickering over proven countermeasures and strutting around from the administration as if they had actually done something. Instead of using the time we bought for them, Republicans were consumed with downplaying the pandemic, questioning its reality, and trying to win the news cycle.

I hate to say it, but it's going to have to wait for the installation of the Biden administration in January for the federal government to do what only it can do: Provide leadership; shut down the country (really lock it down) for two months; provide financial assistance to workers, small businesses, renters, landlords, and the other stakeholders in our society; promulgate a real nation-wide recovery effort; and backstop the states. That means really closing things down, with real penalties for the selfish dumbasses who insist on endangering themselves and others. We need a national set of guidelines based in science and fact that people can understand and follow to protect themselves and to slow the spread of the virus to others. We need a program of testing, tracing, and isolating those infected. And we need political leadership committed to following the science instead of substituting its own ignorance as expertise.

If we started this program tomorrow, we'd be very close to back to "normal" by Halloween. We would need to continue taking precautions, of course, but the risks would be greatly reduced. Instead, we're going to have to wait for President Biden, and it will be April or so next year before we get to that point.

[underpants]

9. My response towards the guy from the Fed was going to be

Ever going to happen gratuitous I’m sorry to say.
This would signal that Trump was wrong and that doesn’t compute with him.
At this point too many people are past it. I had lunch with friends today who told me of several people who have been brainwashed by Fox News. We missed the chance and won’t come back.