The Economic Risks of Coronavirus

Matt Stoller: “The coronavirus is going to introduce economic conditions with which few people in modern America are familiar: the prospect of shortages. After 25 years of offshoring and consolidation, we now rely on overseas production for just about everything. Now in the wake of the coronavirus, China has shut down much of its production; South Korea and Italy will shut down as well.”

“Once the final imports from these countries have worked their way through the supply chains and hit our shores, it could be a while before we get more. This coronavirus will reveal, in other words, a crisis of production—and one that’s coming just in time for a presidential election.”

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: “Central banks have met their match. They cannot counter the economic havoc caused to global supply chains from the coronavirus.”

“Nor can tax cuts or a blast of government spending plug the gap when crumbling confidence and emergency anti-virus measures are blocking the transmission channels.”