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The Extremely Boring Idea That Could Save the Economy — Jordan Weissmann

Summary:
Automatic stabilizers.  Automatic stabilizers won’t entirely eliminate the need for Congress to act when the economy tanks, since each recession has its own unique root causes that usually need to be addressed. In 2008, there was a housing crash and financial crisis; today, there’s a pandemic that’s shut down normal life. Lawmakers will still have to come up with solutions to tomorrow’s calamities as they arise. What stablizers would do is spare our elected officials the need to reinvent the wheel every time a crisis comes up, by making the basic, well-established steps for fighting a recession an automatic routine that doesn’t require a massive partisan fight to enact. The MMT JG is also an automatic stabilizer, but the article doesn't mention it. Spending is not the only tool,

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Automatic stabilizers.
 Automatic stabilizers won’t entirely eliminate the need for Congress to act when the economy tanks, since each recession has its own unique root causes that usually need to be addressed. In 2008, there was a housing crash and financial crisis; today, there’s a pandemic that’s shut down normal life. Lawmakers will still have to come up with solutions to tomorrow’s calamities as they arise.
What stablizers would do is spare our elected officials the need to reinvent the wheel every time a crisis comes up, by making the basic, well-established steps for fighting a recession an automatic routine that doesn’t require a massive partisan fight to enact.
The MMT JG is also an automatic stabilizer, but the article doesn't mention it.

Spending is not the only tool, either. Another automatic stabilizer that is often not considered in the tax rate. Targeted variable tax rates could be employed along with flexible spending to moderate cyclical swings, although secular issues might have to be addressed with specific legislation to target particular emergent challenges.
Mike Norman
Mike Norman is an economist and veteran trader whose career has spanned over 30 years on Wall Street. He is a former member and trader on the CME, NYMEX, COMEX and NYFE and he managed money for one of the largest hedge funds and ran a prop trading desk for Credit Suisse.

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