. our efforts to further bolster the operational effectiveness of the federal reserve and the strength of the financial infrastructure continue today. each generation of policymakers has had to grapple with a changing portfolio of problems. so while we importantly draw on the experiences of our predecessors, we can be sure that we will confront different problems in the future. the federal reserve has been fortunate to have worked in a particularly favorable structural and political environment over the past quarter - century. but we trust that monetary policy has contributed meaningfully to the impressive performance of our economy in those years. i have been extraordinarily privileged to serve my country at the federal reserve during most of these years and would be honored if the senate saw fit to enable me to continue this service.

three months, we would see a fall of six percentage points. these are fairly reliable calculations. what do you think of the government ’ s “ i order, you foot the bill ” approach? meaning that employers cannot lay anyone off but have to keep paying ; maintain their expenditure while receiving no income. could this result in the destruction of spain ’ s, and possibly other countries ’, business infrastructure? 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches i mustn ’ t get into analysing specific policies. the spanish government has taken a decision to introduce stricter lockdown measures in the hope that this will in fact help to shorten the pandemic ’ s life cycle and break the chain of infection. ultimately, although this will come at a certain cost, hopefully it will be outweighed by the benefits. this public health crisis will lead to a very severe recession. the assumption is that businesses will stop billing. and what we must do is try to keep as many of our businesses as possible afloat so that, after a certain period, economic activity can bounce back again. when companies stop billing, measures should be taken to try and keep their expenditure to a minimum. if their expenditure is fixed at a certain level, the only way out is for businesses to go bust. and that is what we must avoid. the spanish government – i don ’ t know about other european governments – is providing guarantees for loans to continue paying, but it ’ s not helping businesses with a moratorium on labour costs or on certain taxes. the issue of guarantees is a crucial one. the ecb has provided lots of liquidity to the banks. the banks have to pass this liquidity on to customers, namely smes and the self - employed. so guarantees are important. we also need to allow tax liabilities, social security payments and the like to be deferred. what ’ s important is that businesses that were entirely profitable before the start of the pandemic survive it and become profitable again once it ’ s over. that goes for spain and for all the countries in the euro area. are the €120 billion of debt purchases kind of like the coronabonds that people are calling for? or is this something different? no, this is completely different. it ’ s direct intervention by the ecb. i ’ m in favour of coronabonds ; i think they show solidarity. what would coronabonds involve? coronabonds would be mutualised debt issuance