So much for that quick rebound. The Congressional Budget Office just issued updated projections that put federal budget deficit for 2020 to be $3.7 trillion; and the overall federal debt to be at 101 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.
Just in case that wasn’t enough to have you ordering hemlock from Amazon, the economic ripple effects from this outbreak are supposed to be lasting. The second quarter GDP is expected to be nearly 40 percent smaller than a year ago. “After a sharp contraction in the second quarter, economic growth is expected to average about 17 percent at an annual rate in the second half of calendar year 2020.” But the CBO projects that unemployment will top out at 16 percent in the third quarter, and still be at 10.1 percent in 2021.