What could be a response for my writing? Do you agree or disagree?

1. What measures did and is the U.S. government implementing to support the people and the economy (consumers and producers)? Do you think mistakes were made? Do you think another country had a better response when faced with the the pandemic?

In addition to the adverse effect on the overall health of the population in the United States, the Coronavirus pandemic caused the US economy to contract. President signed the American rescue plan in 2021 which was estimated at $1.884bn and focused on health response, providing financial aid to communities to enable them to acquire basic needs and businesses to enable them to pay their employees. On August 8, 2021, president trump had signed to maintain legislations that provide relief from payment of social security taxes, student loans and provided renters and landlords with options to prevent evictions. The paid sick leave was expanded to cover a wider section of the population. The state limited its spending and focused it on healthcare and revamping the economy. The cushion provided by the Federal reserve is mostly likely to be insufficient because most businesses stopped operating at the same time (Hurtgen, 2020). Although the expanded unemployment insurance and provision of upkeep for those with limited resources was commendable, the government could have done better. In Albania for instance, the government adopted measures for tax deferral which allowed large companies apart from banks and telecommunication companies to pay their profit tax for 2020 (2nd and 3rd quarter) in 2021.

1. How did the Federal Reserve Bank support the economy when faced with the pandemic and the economy heading towards a recession?

The rate of Federal funds was decreased to 0 to 0.25 bp. Agency and treasury securities were purchased as required. Facilities to support credit flow were also introduced by the Federal Reserve and supported by the treasury through the allocation of funds through the CARES act. The facilities included Commercial Paper Funding which enabled the municipal issuers and companies to issue Commercial paper. Primary Dealer Credit Facility enables primary dealers to be financed while using investment securities as collateral (Clarida et al., 2020). MMLF policy enabled depository institutions to access loans and the Primary Market Corporate Credit Facility provided for the purchase of news bonds from companies. The Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility enabled any existing corporate bonds to be liquid. The Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility provided small businesses with incentives to maintain their staff on payroll. Municipal Liquidity enables direct purchasing of notes from the state. Supervisors from the federal bank encouraged the use of liquidity and capital buffers in lending by depository institutions and assured them that modification to loans provided during the pandemic would not be classified as restructuring of troubled debt.

1. How do you think fiscal policy differs now under Democratic President Biden versus a Republican President? (Include economic theories, such as Keynesian Economic view and Classical Economic view. You can also refer to the appendix of chapter 13 that describes different Economic Schools of Thought).

To cushion the economy from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic president Trump signed four bills on emergency spending. The first was the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act signed on March 6, 2020, then Families First Coronavirus Response Act on March 18, the CARES act on March 27, 2020, and Phase 3.5 on April 24 the same year. The money signed off by the US government amounted to $1.8 trillion and included a $1200 rebate check for every eligible adult $1000 for each dependent child and $400 weekly as an unemployment bonus. 0n 28th December 2021, the president signed $868 billion to provide relief from the effects of the coronavirus which was part of the Consolidations Appropriations Act of 2021 which provided funds for testing and vaccines, and employment benefits. In August 2021, President Trump had ordered that the expired reliefs offered by previous legislation be extended.

As the pandemic stretches, the dynamics for addressing the economic crisis arising from the Covid-19 pandemic have changed. Under president Joe Biden, the Heroes act was passed in April 2021 to expand benefits of unemployed insurance, issue more rebate checks, provide support to small businesses, enable retention of employees, and enactment of tax breaks and spending on housing and health care. Biden has also proposed plans similar to the Heroes act policies. The cost of Biden's covid-19 policy implementation is estimated at $2-$4.2 trillion.