Donald Trump, after recovering from the virus, undermines the danger of the virus by saying that people don’t have to worry about it, but economists are not convinced.
After getting out of the hospital bed, he told the public that they should not be afraid of the virus and don’t let it “dominate them”.
However, economists are of the opinion that the recovery of the economy would heavily depend upon the pandemic and that the US is lagging far behind in terms of recovery.
On Monday, Trump was hopeful that the stocks went up and it would mean more jobs. But we have seen the downslope of the economy because of the Trump administration not taking the pandemic seriously and not implementing safety regulations.
The unemployment rate of the country has gone up to 8 percent whereas the GDP fell by a rate of 31% per year. The COVID-19 cases have also risen in around 24 states of the country which could be a great threat to an already weak economy.
As the elections are just around the corner, Donald Trump contracting the virus could affect the voters as they would think that the health policy of the government is not strong and the government can’t protect its people.
Maurice Obstfeld, the former Chief Economists of the International Monetary Fund, said that people would have to be careful as the economy won’t get any better unless precautionary measures are taken.
Trump’s decisions regarding the response to the pandemic have led to many consequences. The stocks of Wall Street have increased as $496 million in mergers and acquisitions have been the highlight of the market.
The number of deaths this virus has caused is around 211,000 people in the US alone. More than 7 million people have contracted the virus and this could be a major threat to the economy.
Sandra Black, a professor of Economics, said that these are desperate times in which people need help, so the government should step in to assist.
It has been observed that the upper-class consumers are spending more after the lockdown, but this has been negated by the lower class who are spending less due to the absence of unemployment benefits.
Obstfeld claims that unless a vaccine is introduced, a full recovery is not possible.
