what is it that government shouldn t do? so four things that should happen now. first is the fed. they continue to inject $120 billion into the economy every single month. that made sense at the height of the emergency. it doesn t make sense now. so they should ease off the pedal to the metal monetary stimulus. two is we ve got to get productivity back up. that involves infrastructure. that involves human investments. three, we ve got to look very seriously at excess financial risk, because what s going to happen if we re not careful is the inflation as it persists will disrupt the financial markets that will then undermine the economy. and then, finally, we ve got to get more people into the labor force. chris, these things are feasible from an engineering perspective. what they require is political will to implement them.
what is it that government shouldn t do? so four things that should happen now. first is the fed. they continue to inject $120 billion into the economy every single month. that made sense at the height of the emergency. it doesn t make sense now. so they should ease off the pedal to the metal monetary stimulus. two is we ve got to get productivity back up. that involves infrastructure. that involves human investments. three, we ve got to look very seriously at excess financial risk, because what s going to happen if we re not careful is the inflation as it persists will disrupt the financial markets that will then undermine the economy. and then, finally, we ve got to get more people into the labor force. chris, these things are feasible from an engineering perspective. what they require is political will to implement them.
way that is productive. certainly the numbers are not good in this moment but again i think that is more of a narrative problem. but the reality is the build back better agenda is supported by the majority of american people they want us to address climate change they want to improve upon healthcare especially after the experience we have all been through in the last 18 months of the pandemic the majority of the american people want to see these investments made some parents can have the ability to get the paychecks they need we need to cover childcare we need the human investments the policies are strong and supported so the white house has to do a better job on their messaging hopefully the
the past 20 years? how do you see this does this correct itself? i mean what should the president do or the democratic party, or what should happen in order to correct this? well, you know, it is this crazy thing where the democrats have zero margin. they have to have every single senator, and so we re down to kind of, you know, analyzing the psychology of sinemanchin. that s what some of my friends call it. the idea forward is you get a deal as good as you can, but you definitely don t allow what the corporate wing of the party wants to do is just have steel and concrete and nothing else. that s just not acceptable. that s a total failure. in fact, it s the human investments that are the thing that will do the most good. and if it falls short, progressives originally wanted $6 trillion. if it ends up being less than
as some of my friends call it. you definitely don t what the corporate wing of the party wants to do is have steel and concrete and nothing else. and that s not acceptable. that s a total failure, because the fact is, it s the human investments that are the thing that will do the most good. and if it falls short, progressives originally wanted $6 trillion. if it ends up being less than 3.5, i ll be unhappy. but at least let it be significant. paul krugman, always a pleasure. thank you, sir. okay. take care. positive signs in the fight against covid. we on the other side of what could be the last major spike? dr. sanjay gupta joins me next.