when you are a member of the federal reserve system as charge plosser -- as charles plosser was at thehia fed, you are delicate even in retirement about the fed. we asked dr. plosser now not to be delicate. you invented real business cycle theory. long came up with the phrase and the theory. there's now a raging debate in your racket over the theoretical qualifications of miss shelton to join the fed as a governor. this theory has been criticized. theory?y shelton have a tom.losser: gee, i don't know. he is verys popular in some circles, not so popular in others. but i have to say that during the course of history, the board of governors has had many people of many different stripes and perspectives on economics and macroeconomics, so i think that if you think judy shelton is a great economist and going to be a great fed governor, that's fine. if you think that is not the case, my guess she will have little impact overall on the way policy proceeds. i think debate is not a bad thing. i tend to be a little more open-minded about the willingness of the institution to respond to these sor

--would be looking ahead to with charles plosser, the former fillet for fed president. ♪ francine: stimulus, take 2. republicans unveil a trillion-dollar aid package to bolster the u.s. economy. democrats give the harshest estimate of the plan, with nancy pelosi calling it "pathetic." the ecb's request -- the central bank asks european lenders to hold off on dividends and buybacks until next year to conserve fiscal strength. and precious metals shine at the cost of the dollar. gold futures touch $2000 for the first time ever. the fed's two-day meeting could be a catalyst for further gains. good morning, everyone, and good afternoon if you're watching from asia. this is "bloomberg surveillance." francine lacqua in london, tom keene in new york. the rally is fitting somewhat. stocks are up, but we look at the stimulus in the u.s. and the fed meeting to give us an indication of what the economy will or won't do. tom: the stimulus is front and center, and you go to the articles and late-night, the real effort, francine, for people here to talk -- i was really impressed that

the politics in my area, in plosser county -- in placer county, to reiterate what another caller saidy person that goes into the hospital, whether it is a pre-existing condition or not, and i have talked to nurses and people in health care, and they are recording them all as covid deaths. i understand that this is serious, but at the same time, i feel that some of the experts, they givedfield, information but not enough information, like wear a mask, but they don't tell you if the andon behind you has covid is not wearing a mask, that can be more harmful to you because it traps covid in the mask. masks were not asked to be used in the beginning of covid, because as we all know, we did not have the surprise -- supplies here. the emphasis on wearing masks was not given to us in the beginning, because it was political. host: i'm going to let dr. levin jump in because we have a minute or two left. guest: if you compare sovereign nations, we did not do well. korea and new zealand. we had a centralized source of scientific knowledge. they had trained up. they knew what was coming. h1n1 taug