Economy and Government

COVID-19–the highly contagious respiratory illness–has rapidly become a global pandemic, with countries closing borders, restricting domestic and international travel, closing businesses, and even enforcing national quarantines. While the top priority of every country is to treat the ill, develop a cure, and ultimately distribute a vaccine for the virus, the U.S. government is also taking action to address the economic crisis caused by the Coronavirus.  In a short period, the pandemic is already having a devastating effect on the U.S. economy. Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, has predicted an unprecedented 34% decrease in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter of 2020. Furthermore, between the period of February 23rd to March 23rd the Dow Jones Indus...

For years, many have talked about the inevitability of a recession. Throughout my time at Vanderbilt, discussions regarding how it will be difficult to find a job when we graduate always came up. In this unprecedented time, it seems as if the global economy is on the verge of collapsing. From sports’ leagues shutting down for an undetermined amount of time to the demand for gasoline falling to the Dow Jones industrial average tumbling, nothing seems to be going right economically. There are not many people, or companies, who are profiting right now. Of course, money should be the least of anyone’s concerns right now. However, a burning question permeates my mind: will we be able to recover when this is all over? At the moment, the United States is technically not going through a re...