Stephen Moore on economy: ‘We may have turned a corner’

Economist Stephen Moore said during an interview on Sunday that the U.S. economy “may have turned a corner” this week as governors begin to think about next steps to reopen their states. 

“Things look like we may have turned the corner,” the ally of President Trump said on John Catsimatidis’s Sunday radio show. “States should lead the way. One state can learn from another. I think you are going to see … an opening of the Western and Midwestern states. I think the East Coast states are going to be a little slower.” 

In the past month, over 20 million people have filed unemployment claims as social distancing measures put in place in almost every state in the country have shuttered businesses.

Earlier this week, however, Trump announced federal guidelines for reopening the economy, ultimately leaving the decision to reopen states up to their governors. One of the criteria required for states to return to work is a decrease in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. 

Prominent public health officials have also advised the federal government to ramp up widespread production of testing to determine who is less at risk to return to the workforce. However, it is unclear whether the government will help to increase testing efforts at this time. 

Moore, who was named to the White House task force on reopening the economy, predicted in the coming months more Americans will get back to work and rejuvenate the economy as states with declining coronavirus caseloads scale back social distancing guidelines. 

“Things are really looking brighter now .… In a month’s time we could really see the American economy up and running again,” Moore said. 

“If we don’t do something soon, we are going to see 80% of our domestic oil production …shut down,” Moore said. “That’s an industry that employs 5 million Americans.“

Moore’s comments come as many industries have seen record lows this year as a result of the pandemic.

U.S. crude oil prices slipped to a new 18-year low on Friday, ending the week on a decline. A group of major oil producing countries, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, known as OPEC+ have recently agreed to reduce their oil output by just shy of 10 million barrels a day for May and June. 

–This report was updated at 10:05 a.m.

John Catsimatidis is an investor in The Hill