Post-COVID Economic Challenges: Unemployment, Income inequality, Increasing Inflation, & National Debt. Paul H Carr summarized a webinar by the following: Eric Rosengren, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; Wendy Edelberg, Brookings Institution, and Philip Swagel, Director, Congressional Budget Office. Would less inflationary and debt increasing relief act have been better than President Biden’s $1.9 Trillion bill?

1. POST-COVID19 ECONOMIC CHALLLENGES
Unemployment, Inequality,
Increasing Inflation & National Debt
By Paul H Carr

2. WEBINAR
Fiscal, Monetary, and Economic
Challenges of the Post-Pandemic Economy
February 17,2021
Leaders of the
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,
the Brookings Institution, &
the Congressional Budget Office
spoke to nearly 200 people via webinar

3. OUTLINE
POST-COVID19 ECONOMIC CHALLLENGES
Increased COVID Unemployment,
Increasing inequality since 1980
President Biden’s 1.9 Trillion COVID Relief Act
Temporary Inflation
Increased Debt, National Problem since 1980

4. “I think we should do, what we need to do for fiscal and monetary policy, to get people back
to work,” Rosengren said. “Once we’re at full employment, we shouldn’t have the same kind
of expansionary fiscal policy.
As long as a lot of people are unemployed, inflation increase should not be a problem. ”

7. COVID19 has
increased
already existing
income
inequality.
The Biden relief bill will
increase the income of
the lowest 20 % by
20%.
Children will be lifted
out of poverty

8. Martha’s Vineyard,
MA, 2019
Our nephew Larry,
MBA, has left his
digital data mining
job at Amazon to
work for a small
company, based in
Boston.

9. Daughter Emily with Karin &
Sean, Palmetto, FL, 2019
Emily, MA Education, teaches
children with learning disabilities
at a Broach School in Bradenton,
FL
Lives in on a 30-foot sailboat that
is becoming too small for
daughter Karin.
They will get needed help from
the Biden stimulus bill.
Karin, French Horn, with Mother Emily, singing hymn.

10. The Biden COVID Relief Bill could cut child poverty in half
this year.
For 500,000 poor families with two or more children,
roughly $10,000 in aid will more than double their annual
income.
The bill accomplishes this in primarily two ways: a
significant increase in stimulus payments per child, and a
larger child tax credit that will benefit the lowest-income
families in particular.

11. Predictions are difficult,
especially about the future.

15. The Biden Package will overheat our GDP, could result in inflation.
Will it be temporary as shown?
Republican

16. Phillip Swagel, Director, Congressional Budget Office
“The good news, such as it is, is that the economy is doing better than we
expected,” Swagel said. “The challenge of the fiscal situation remains
daunting; it was daunting before the pandemic and it’s yet more daunting
because of the pandemic.”

18. Boost to Household Income Primes U.S. Economy for Stronger Growth (WSJ 2/26/2021)
Personal income grew 10% in January in second largest rise on record and spending rose 2.4%

19. A household income of $75,000/yr buys basic necessities, like food
and shelter.
Household over $75,000 does not increase happiness.
(Gallup survey of Americans published in PNAS).
THE RELIEF BILL $1400 CHECKS PHASE OUT FOR COUPLES OVER $150,000. Should it have been $75,000?

20. 1980 Inflation
out of control.

21. 1980 Uncontrolled rising inflation led investors to buy gold.

22. Declining gold prices indicated that inflation is not worrying investors

25. A TIPPING
POINT FOR
U.S. DEBT

26. Wendy Edelberg, Director, The Hamilton Project and
Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, the Brookings
Institution
“At the end of this decade, we do indeed start to see
debt-to-GDP rise, and rise without bound,” Edelberg
said. “That suggests to me that over the next handful
of years, we should be making some difficult decisions
to change that long-term trajectory.”

27. Corporate
Tax Cut
Tax
Increase
Tax Cut

28. 1980, 2017 TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH INCREASED OUR NATIONAL DEBT
1998 TAX INCREASES LOWERED OUR NATIONAL DEBT
2008 Keysian Economics: During a depression, governments should increase debt, then pay it down.

29. In the past, we followed Keynes’ economics to use our
strong economy to pay down our debt.
Reagan
Tax Cuts
70% to
28%
The Dec 2017 tax law is increasing US Debt to WWII Levels

31. CONCLUSIONS
POST-COVID19 ECONOMIC CHALLLENGES
Pres. Biden’s $1.9 Trillion relief act is crafted to:
Solve COVID Increased Unemployment & Inequality
Help to reduce systemic inequality since 1980
Inflation should be temporary.
Increased Debt: National Challenge since 1980
Increased taxes on those earning over $400,000

32. https://www.concordcoalition.org/blog-post/fiscal-
monetary-and-economic-challenges-post-pandemic-
economy?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=7249459c-
86da-4cac-b96c-15762250650a
Concord NH Coalition Webinar
February 25, 2021