Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday that the economic recovery following the COVID-19 coronavirus-induced shutdown “can be robust.”
Powell spoke during a webinar for the Brookings Institution the same morning that the Fed announced a new $2.3 trillion financing initiative directed at small and larger businesses as well as households and state and local governments. “At the Fed, we are doing all we can to help shepherd the economy through this difficult time,” he said in prepared remarks. “When the spread of the virus is under control, businesses will reopen, and people will come back to work. There is every reason to believe that the economic rebound, when it comes, can be robust.”
Powell pointed out that the economy has been strong before prevention efforts aimed at halting the coronavirus spread put a large share of the U.S. productive capacity offline.
President Donald Trump is planning to launch a second coronavirus task force that focuses on his administration’s response to the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. The second task force will include Trump’s new chief of staff Mark Meadows, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, NBC reported.
Kevin Breuninger and Christina Wilkie for CNBC:
Trump could announce the second task force as soon as this week.
The new group would be formed alongside the existing COVID-19 task force, which is led by Vice President Mike Pence and includes health experts such as National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci and response coordinator Deborah Birx.
Earlier this week, conservative economist Stephen Moore gave CNBC further details on a commission or task force he said was being envisioned by the White House, focused on re-opening the economy. “The idea would be getting leading authorities, world renowned business people, economists, experts to come up with ideas about steps that could be taken to reopen the economy.” Moore added, “I think what’s being envisioned is a totally independent group that wouldn’t be funded and organized like a presidential commission, but instead would be more informal, and able to work more quickly and efficiently.”
Moore suggested that conservative economist Art Laffer, who recently received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump, be tapped to lead the commission.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is right and we’re in for a robust recovery ASAP!