$1 trillion deficits and near-zero rates. "You're supposed to have dry powder for the next crisis"

[Demovictory9]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/18/business/recession-deficit-federal-reserve-coronavirus/index.html

$1 trillion deficits and near-zero rates. The worst way to enter a recession


Worse, Congress and the White House borrowed heavily to pay for spending surges and tax cuts to juice growth. None of it lived up to the hype.


Now the bill is still coming due. The federal deficit topped $1 trillion in 2019, long before the coronavirus outbreak struck.

"You're supposed to have dry powder for the next crisis," said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco. "When the history books are written, the government will certainly be faulted for taking on too much debt. The Fed will be faulted for maintaining ultra-accommodative rates."


-----

The Congressional Budget Office recently predicted the annual budget deficit would top $1 trillion in 2020. And that estimate now looks low given that Wall Street, Main Street and Corporate America are all turning to the federal government to revive the battered economy.

"Instead of taking advantage of our strong economic growth to get our fiscal house in order, we let it continue to fall apart by passing unpaid for tax cuts and spending increases," Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement last week. "That leaves us less prepared for what could be a sustained economic slowdown."

And critics say the fiscal stimulus of recent years failed to deliver the intended boost.

Flush with cash from the tax cuts, Corporate America binged on share buybacks. Yet the promised business spending boom never really materialized, perhaps in part because of the unprecedented trade uncertainty.

[alwaysinasnit]

1. Yup. Blow up the deficit then say we have to eliminate the safety nets and privatize the commons.

I do agree that we need a stimulus package but it is likely to include a whole lot of unnecessary pork for the fat cats.

[Dustlawyer]

3. Beat me to it!

That is exactly what they plan to do.

[alwaysinasnit]

6. GMTA. Have you read Naomi Klein's book "Shock Doctrine?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine

[Frasier Balzov]

2. Free money to the banks

who lend to us at a marked-up rate and pocket the difference.

[napi21]

4. Let the Democratic President reverse the usless tax cut DT gave to all his Buds so the rest of us

can survive the next several years. HE & They knew it was fiscally a bad move, but they all got richer so they kept backing their bud DT! They already know this will happen if a Dem gets elected. I'm inclined to suggest boosting their rates higher than what DT gave away because #1. They can afford it. #2 it will help a little to reduce the wealth gap.

[flibbitygiblets]

5. Republicans claimed to be the fiscally responsible party.

They're so afraid one dime will go to undeserving brown skinned people (including all those babies they INSIST need to be born).

Never let them forget this. NEVER.