Michael R. Strain, Columnist

Pandemic Relief Is an Economic Leap of Faith

Can the U.S. economy safely absorb that $1.9 trillion stimulus? Economists don’t have a clue.

March 5, 2021 at 12:00 PM UTC

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

Shot in the dark.
Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Democrats are closing their eyes and throwing the dice. Congress is passing President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill with shockingly little information about whether the U.S. economy can safely absorb it.

The Federal Reserve isn’t helping. Its signals to markets, businesses and households have been surprisingly blasé about the possibility of the economy overheating and inflation accelerating.