Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/opinion/fed-inflation-markets.html
Excerpt:
That assistance should also be more concentrated on where the need exists. According to Bloomberg, California’s revenues for this fiscal year are roughly 10 percent greater than expected (partly a result of soaring technology company valuations), while general-fund revenue in New York is estimated to be 11.7 percent lower than prepandemic forecasts.
And we should take a fine-toothed comb to lesser-known wasteful provisions, like giveaways to the airlines and an indirect bailout (added by the House) of multiemployer pension funds. Some of the money that we save by trimming the American Rescue Plan Act can be reallocated to one of our most pressing needs: infrastructure. Those funds get spent more slowly (and because of that put less immediate pressure on prices) and have the critical effect of helping to improve our unimpressive productivity growth rate.
Wasting precious dollars that could be better spent can’t possibly be worth the risk of igniting high inflation again.
Author(s): Steven Rattner
Publication Date: 5 March 2021
Publication Site: New York Times