Sid Mittra
Ph.D., Economics
Emeritus Professor, OU, Michigan

Date: January 20, 2021. Time: 10:43 a.m. CST. Occasion: Inauguration of Joe Biden.

I am sitting in front of two laptops: one on which I am watching this historic moment in Washington, D.C., and the other on which I am typing this blog.

By design, this blog will not go through the usual rigorous review process, and hence it may be subject to criticism. I still plan to publish it because it captures a historical moment.

Emotions of the Moment

A quick check reveals that today all the major news media—New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal included—have already published articles covering this occasion. My purpose is neither to duplicate them nor to present a summary of these articles. Rather, I wish to express my personal views on how President Biden should approach the monumental tasks ahead of him.

Importance of Various Tasks

In order to systematically approach this complex challenge, it is best to classify the tasks into a set of priorities:

Priority One:     The Pandemic

Priority Two:    The U.S. Economy

Priority Three: Climate Change, Racial Equality

Priority Four:   Immigration, Foreign Policy Challenges, Other Pressing Problems

I will now briefly comment only on the broad aspects of these priorities. Clearly, this discussion will suffer from the limitations of a discussion such as this that ignores the important details. But I do so in order to post this blog in a timely fashion.

PRIORITY ONE: THE PANDEMIC

The problems associated with the pandemic are unequivocally related to our current economic problems. Hence, any plan that considers only the pandemic as the priority one problem might seem shortsighted.  I counter that argument by saying that our pandemic-induced economic problems are short-term and hence are diminished by our long-term economic problems.

Here are solutions to our pandemic problems, based on numerous published and unpublished sources:

1. Produce vaccines in quantities exceeding the current demand. Several choices are now available to increase the vaccine supply.
2. Ramp up both the conventional and unconventional means of putting the vaccine in the arms of Americans.
3. Intensify research to develop a vaccine for the “new” strains of the virus now showing up across America.
4. Establish priorities for the administration of vaccines, based upon sound logic and fairness.
5. Make sure that pandemic news is accurate and honest so the public can be reasonably assured of when life will return to normal. 

PRIORITY TWO: THE U.S. ECONOMY

Our economic problems today are of a nature vastly different from those we have faced during past recessions. A recession is typically associated with a lack of consumer demand and a shortage of liquidity. Hence, the solution takes the form of concerted efforts to accelerate consumer demand and pump massive doses of liquidity into the economy.

In our pandemic-affected economy, these traditional problems are non-existent. Currently, consumer demand is at a high level and the economy is flush with liquidity. Based on this observation, here is a sensible strategy for solving our economic problems:

1. Develop short-term solutions to address the pandemic-related economic problems.  Once the pandemic problem is solved, or even the end of the pandemic is confidently predicted, small businesses will begin opening up to their full capacity, and consumer demand will accelerate to its full potential.
2. Provide funds for reopening hundreds of small businesses that were forced to close because of the pandemic.
3. Encourage research and development to support new businesses that have the best chance of succeeding in this new era.
4. Develop fairer tax plans that are acceptable to corporations and the wealthy.
5. Put the economy on a path to a robust and sustainable comeback.

PRIORITY THREE: CLIMATE CHANGE, RACIAL EQUALITY

These are mega problems that require national dialog in order to make substantive changes. Here are steps that should be taken as soon as convenient:

1. Start a bipartisan national dialog so there is more harmony and less divisiveness.
2. Address climate change first because of its urgency.
3. Divide the action plan as follows:
4. Identify and implement the changes that can be instituted by executive order.
5. Identify aspects of this problem that have large bipartisan support and pass the laws required to implement necessary changes.
6. Continue a dialog around the remaining issues.

Use the same approach to solve other problems like racial equality.

  PRIORITY FOUR: IMMIGRATION, FOREIGN POLICY CHALLENGES, OTHER PRESSING PROBLEMS

1. Since this category includes the toughest problems we face, it is best to begin a dialog around problems like immigration that require immediate attention. Then, implement solutions through executive order and legislative action. 
2. Address foreign policy challenges by engaging the services of foreign policy experts.

BOTTOM LINE

As I mentioned in the beginning, I am writing this blog while watching the inauguration of President Biden. By now he has already been sworn in and has left the podium. Now that everyone can breathe easier, daylong celebrations will begin in anticipation of the day when normalcy can be taken for granted.

That brings me to the end of the blog. It is just a snapshot of my current thinking and hopefully will set the stage for healthier and more productive discussions.

That being said, I end the blog with the classic quote by Paul Muni in The Good Earth:

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Charles Gauck professionally edited this blog and made valuable suggestions for improvement. Roger Wingelaar, formerly associated with Oakland Press, is in charge of selecting our titles. However, the author takes full responsibility for the contents of this blog.

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