On the Post-Pandemic Horizon, Could That Be … a Boom?
Signs of economic life are picking up, and mounds of cash are waiting to be spent as the virus loosens its grip.
Credit…Maxime Mouysset
Ben Casselman
By Ben Casselman
Published Feb. 21, 2021Updated Feb. 22, 2021, 7:17 a.m. ET
The U.S. economy remains mired in a pandemic winter of shuttered storefronts, high unemployment and sluggish job growth. But on Wall Street and in Washington, attention is shifting to an intriguing if indistinct prospect: a post-Covid boom.
Forecasters have always expected the pandemic to be followed by a period of strong growth as businesses reopen and Americans resume their normal activities. But in recent weeks, economists have begun to talk of something stronger: a supercharged rebound that brings down unemployment, drives up wages and may foster years of stronger growth.
There are hints that the economy has turned a corner: Retail sales jumped last month as the latest round of government aid began showing up in consumers’ bank accounts. New unemployment claims have declined from early January, though they remain high. Measures of business investment have picked up, a sign of confidence from corporate leaders.
Economists surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia this month predicted that U.S. output will increase 4.5 percent this year, which would make it the best year since 1999. Some expect an even stronger bounce: Economists at Goldman Sachs forecast that the economy will grow 6.8 percent this year and that the unemployment rate will drop to 4.1 percent by December, a level that took eight years to achieve after the last recession.
“We’re extremely likely to get a very high growth rate,” said Jan Hatzius, Goldman’s chief economist. “Whether it’s a boom or not, I do think it’s a V-shaped recovery,” he added, referring to a steep drop followed by a sharp rebound.
The New York Times
Me: so if there is going to be a post pandemic, sometime soon, why would your Government invest 75 million Dollars in further vaccine research and with regards to Covid, which is constantly mutating into something else as it learns how to get around vaccines and the so called protection they are supposed to provide?
In a previous experts recommendation about first dose vaccines – there is no data to demonstrate that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days – By Zaria Gorvett 15th January 2021 – so it takes 14 days to give you protection for 7 days before that protection drops off considerably………so the experts have said