UPDATE: 5/28/22
In the “nothing new under the sun” department, President Biden has been arguing since last summer that his multi-trillion-dollar spending proposals will reduce inflation and budget deficits. See Biden Argues Massive Government Spending Will Help Fend Off Inflation, Not Exacerbate It (July 19, 2021); and Biden Emphasizes Deficit Reduction in Bid to Pass Economic Agenda (March 18, 2022).
It has always been this way, and it always will be. Though we usually manage to ignore the chaos or repress awareness of it … these days, not so much.
It seems like only yesterday that I was posting links to the financial crisis legislation of 2008-9. Here we go again.
So far, we’ve had three bills to deal with the coronavirus epidemic and its economic consequences:
Careful printing the CARES Act—it’s over 300 pages.
And then there were four:
Great observation from economist Robert Shiller:
Economists who adhere to rational-expectations models of the world will never admit it, but a lot of what happens in markets is driven by pure stupidity—or, rather, inattention, misinformation about fundamentals, and an exaggerated focus on currently circulating stories.
Here are links to the official version of the financial reform bill—which is officially titled the “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act”—as signed into law on July 21, 2010:
Economist Robert Shiller argues that a worldwide “social epidemic” of ideas is driving renewed confidence in the economy, just as it drove the crisis of confidence that seems to have bottomed in March:
Economic analysts often turn to indicators like employment, housing starts or retail sales as causes of a recovery, when in fact they are merely symptoms. For a fuller explanation, look beyond the traditional economic links and think of the world economy as driven by social epidemics, contagion of ideas and huge feedback loops that gradually change world views. These social epidemics can travel as swiftly as swine flu: both spread from person to person and can reach every corner of the world in short order.
See Economic View – An Echo Chamber of Boom and Bust – NYTimes.com
Here are links to the official versions of the bailout and stimulus bills, as signed into law:
Robert A. Fortuno, P.C. 