stimulus package

The $2 trillion plan to prop up a pandemic-reeling United States, amid the news that there were 3.3 million unemployment claims lodged in the previous week, is expected to pass the House on March 27. An array of Washington University in St. Louis experts offer perspectives on the plan.

The U.S. Senate, with significant prodding from the Trump administration, is working on a plan to directly provide cash assistance to millions of Americans amid the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts in economics and finance from Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School weigh in on how it could help housing and households and maybe pay some bills — but still not answer the problems at hand.

Boldrin In a full-page ad published in major newspapers Jan. 29, more than 200 economists — including two from Washington University in St. Louis — politely reject President Obama’s stimulus package calling for increased government action to jumpstart the economy.

Locking up toxic assets in a “bad bank” may sound childish, but banking expert Stuart Greenbaum says, “by isolating impaired assets and preventing them from contaminating other bank assets, banks can concentrate on the business of making new loans.”

While consumer spending once helped keep the economy healthy, rising consumer debt is the reason it’s getting sick. The root cause of the current economic slowdown in the U.S. goes back several decades, according to an economics professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Stuart GreenbaumFormer dean of the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, Stuart Greenbaum, is available for comment on the wisdom behind the stimulus package proposals under consideration in Congress. Greenbaum is skeptical that a stimulus package will be effective and proposes several other strategies that could improve the economy.