NEW YORK (MaceNews) – The economy can see a rapid recovery in the second half after its abrupt slowing in the current quarter, but key is to ensure that people feel safe to resume normal activities, St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard said Tuesday.
The Fed’s emergency measures to steady financial markets, and fiscal measures, including enhanced unemployment benefits, are intended to help the economy, and jobless people in particular, weather the second quarter, Bullard said during a Zoom call sponsored by the St. Louis Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Requiring most people to stay home, which is needed to contain the virus now, is “crazy inefficient policy because you’ve got tens of millions of healthy people” sidelined, and it is costing the economy $25 billion per day, an unsustainable price, Bullard said.
“As you get the incidence of the disease down, you should be able to reopen,” Bullard said. “Reopening means taking account of the COVID-19 risk,” and conducting comprehensive testing, and related steps to prevent new waves of infection, and to help the public regain confidence, he said.
“What we have is, there’s been a shark in the water, and as long as the shark is in the water, people aren’t going to go back to the beach. What you have to do is demonstrate to people – we’ve caught the shark, it’s not there any more, and that is what is going to get people to resume daily life and normal activities,” he said.