Coronavirus News (166)

The Second Great Depression At least four major factors are terrifying economists and weighing on the recovery. ........  In Texas, the bars are packed. And in Vermont, the stay-at-home order has been lifted. People are still frightened. Americans are still dying. ........  no one knows enough about consumer sentiment and government ordinances and business failures and stimulus packages and the spread of the disease to make solid predictions about the future ........  The Trump administration and some bullish financial forecasters are arguing that we will end up with a strong, V-shaped rebound, with economic activity surging right back to where it was in no time. Others are betting on a longer, slower, U-shaped turnaround, with the pain extending for a year or three. .........  absent dramatic policy action, a pandemic depression is possible ..........  the American economy will generate $8 trillion less in economic activity over the next decade than it projected just a few months ago, and that a full recovery might not take hold until the 2030s. ......... At least four major factors are terrifying economists and weighing on the recovery: the household fiscal cliff, the great business die-off, the state and local budget shortfall, and the lingering health crisis. ..........   Nearly 40 percent of low-wage workers lost their jobs in March. More than 40 million people lost their jobs in March, April, or May. .........  The bad: It left out roughly 15 million people in immigrant families, many of whom were working essential jobs stocking grocery shelves, delivering takeout, and drawing blood in hospitals. And the ugly: The big helicopter drop was a onetime thing, and the unemployment-insurance expansion was time-limited. ..........   The Paycheck Protection Program and other federal initiatives shoved an oxygen mask on many companies. But the PPP was scaled to help businesses through a short, intense disruption, though the economy is expected to remain sluggish for months and months. ..........   Students are not willing to pay as much for online learning as in-person instruction. .................    The federal government does not have to balance its ledger year to year, and perpetually spends more than it takes in. Yet every state but Vermont and most cities and towns are required to remain in the black. Right now, sales taxes, real-estate-transfer taxes, income taxes, fines and fees—they are all collapsing, leaving local governments with a budget gap expected to total $1 trillion next year. Without help from Washington, this will necessarily mean massive service cuts and job losses: namely, an estimated 5.3 million job losses. ..............    The shrinking of the government at the state and local level has already started ...........  A fiscal cliff for families. Rolling business failures. A budget crisis for state and local governments. Each is bad enough. Each might be a big-enough headwind to tip the economy into recession alone. But the last element is the true alpha and omega of our worst-case scenario: the catastrophe of the American government’s management of the novel-coronavirus pandemic. ............    it wasted the time these extreme measures bought, because the government failed to set up a strong test-and-trace regime. ........  Countries including South Korea and New Zealand crushed the coronavirus. The United States merely patted it down. The country is reopening with the disease still spreading and maiming and killing, as several states experience a dramatic surge in caseloads. ............   Never getting the pandemic under control means never unleashing the economy. Just look at the casinos in Las Vegas: open, yet half-empty. ........    localities might end up having to return to extreme social-distancing measures over the summer and fall. And it means fear and mistrust: depressed consumer confidence, ruined faith in government, and concerns about the economy’s ability to recover. ........... Ending the pandemic would have been the single best thing the federal government could have done to preserve the country’s wealth, health, and economic functioning. The Trump administration, in its hubris, obstinacy, and incompetence, failed to do it. .............  Congress could extend unemployment insurance, offer new help to flailing businesses, send monthly cash grants to poor families, offer fiscal relief to the states, and implement a nationwide test-and-trace program.

Trump’s response to Bolton: No, you’re the threat The coordinated attack is ultimately an attempt to counteract Bolton’s central thesis as he promotes his book: Trump poses a threat to the country. 

OPINION/RACISM If Black Americans were to seek asylum, they could qualify I have evaluated countless refugee cases. The oppression Black Americans face in the US would qualify as persecution. ........  people become refugees because they are oppressed. Their rights are violated because of discrimination. ........  A searing report from The Sentencing Project to the UN found the US in violation of Article 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights for pursuing policies that allow racial disparities in its criminal justice system. ...........  Black people are nearly twice as likely to be imprisoned as Hispanic people and five times more likely than white people. One in 10 Black children spends part of their childhood with one parent behind bars. ...........  What accounts for mistaken links between race and crime is more an outcome of urban poverty and racialised policing, which forces individuals into a vicious cycle of crime and incarceration. At the same time, racial bias - implicit and explicit - causes white Americans to overestimate crime committed by Black people, contributing to racial profiling. The fact that African Americans are victims of crime disproportionately more than other groups is usually overlooked. ............   Redlining - policies which limit access to means of upward mobility such as banking, insurance, better schools and housing, through the practice of districting neighbourhoods - although banned, still affects Black communities. ..........   Systemic income inequality has made white Americans 20 times richer than Black Americans. Black communities face stark inequalities in both healthcare and education. Implicit bias and racial disparities cause Black Americans to receive lower-quality healthcare than white Americans. In schools in minority and Black communities that are chronically underfunded, Black students are suspended and expelled from school at a rate three times higher than white students and school policing makes Black students more vulnerable to the criminal justice system and higher dropout rates. ............. "the historical, cultural and human depth of racism still permeates all dimensions of life of American society". .........  The US may pride itself on being a bastion of human rights, but it is clear Black Americans are not receiving their fair treatment, access or share. The country needs to undertake major policy reforms immediately if it is to wipe this shameful stain from its democratic reputation.  

NY Democrats brace for primary night stunners  “The sum total is that if turnout is high you could see incumbents losing their seats.”  .......   The progressive star has spent more than $6 million defending her seat this cycle and has one of the largest campaign operations of any House member.   

Coronavirus cases surging in Florida and Texas as states barrel ahead with reopening plans "When young people get infected, they go home and they infect their parents," said Dr. Charles Lockwood. "They will kill people by giving vulnerable people the virus."   

Amazon is launching a $2 billion fund to invest in climate technologies

Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah roast Trump's Tulsa rally