welp, there you have it folks ... I’m not a “serious economist” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/opinion/coronavirus-economy.html guess I can go back to bed

many academic macroeconomists have a deep distrust of fiscal policy ... Congress and the President do not fit in a rational agent model and they prefer the “serious economists” at the Fed to handle the ups and downs in demand

Krugman doesn’t complain that the Federal Reserve is doing what it does in every recession. Fed is pushing a shit ton of money into the economy, it doesn’t ask: did you get sick? did you lose your job? before it buys assets or pumps liquidity in.

yes, current crisis is rooted in an unfamiliar source and public health crisis must be addressed, but once a recession starts many of its dynamics are similar. it’s so easy to see animal spirits taking hold, money directly to people can help calm nerves and give some buffer

if all your macro models say people are fully rational (no animal spirits, not afraid), can completely insure against shocks (always have a financial buffer), have access to liquidity (no one is underbanked) ... not my model. these assumptions are absolutely not good in a crisis

once again the “serious economists” are going to give Congress cover for stepping off the gas ... I thought this time would be different, that’d we’d have learned how bad high unemployment is for the entire economy and for a long time. ha

we could easily have 20% unemployment soon. we already have close to 10%; money for relief package is not getting out fast: its rollout is causing anxiety; and some in Congress want to wait and see. in a perfect world, target the money perfectly, we don’t live in a perfect world

cheer Federal Reserve actions, but they should not be going it alone. it’s not democratic, Jay Powell is awesome but the American people did not ask him to call the shots on the economy. when the shit hits the fan, who you think will get blamed and will want to end the Fed. srsly