Joe Biden’s stimulus is a high-stakes gamble for America and the world

WHEN THE pandemic struck it was natural to fear that the world economy would stay in the doldrums for years. America is defying such pessimism. Having outrun gloomy growth forecasts from last summer, it is adding fiscal rocket fuel to an already fiery economic-policy mix. President Joe Biden’s $1.9trn stimulus bill, which he was poised to sign into law after The Economist went to press, takes to nearly $3trn (14% of pre-crisis GDP) the amount of pandemic-related spending passed since December, and to about $6trn the total paid out since the start of the crisis. On current plans the Federal Reserve and Treasury will also pour some $2.5trn into the banking system this year, and interest rates will stay near zero. For a decade after the global financial crisis of 2007-09 America’s economic policymakers were too timid. Today they are letting rip.