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Joe Biden has selected Jared Bernstein to serve on his Council of Economic Advisers, according to Fox Business.
Bernstein says that the U.S. economy will need to be reinvented.
Bernstein said, “The coronavirus, too, demands a thorough restructuring of the relationship between government and markets — one that leaves us much better prepared for a set of challenges that tend to recur but that somehow always surprise us. We need to restructure the role of government in the economy to avoid, at best, being back here again in a few years — and, at worst, the implosion of a capitalist society that large swaths of the public have every right to question.”
Restructure could include more involvement with federal aid for businesses and a “comprehensive system of social insurance, from cradle to grave.”
Bernstein said that the most important thing for the economy’s jumpstart to recovery is getting the coronavirus under control.
“By forcefully taking charge of the public health aspects of the crisis and by ensuring that fiscal relief will be there as long and as deeply as people need it, Congress can help reduce the American people’s uncertainty and economic insecurity.”
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The latter would include federalized unemployment insurance, as well as a different form of retirement security.
Bernstein, who previously served as chief economist and economic adviser to Biden during the Obama administration, said the globalized economy and inequality are driving the need for changes.
He also argued for policy responses including uninterrupted, enhanced unemployment insurance benefits, increased nutritional support, state and local fiscal relief and help for small businesses.
On Tuesday, when speaking of the President-elect’s agenda, Bernstein advocated for the need to build back an economy that’s more resilient and inclusive.
