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welcome to reality trivia
reality is the state of things as they actually exist
march 31, 2020
Real News Today
*‘Pelosi’s terrible idea’: Critics denounce proposal to give wealthy a tax cut in next stimulus package(Sellouts)
*Fox 'News' Panel Doubts Shortage Of Beds In Hospitals, Because Twitter Says So
(Worthless Media)
*america's fool: Trump to roll back Obama-era clean car rules in huge blow to climate fight(Environment)
*society's assholes: The coronavirus crisis has exposed the ugly truth about celebrity culture and capitalism(Real People)
*‘THE GREATEST RISK FACTOR OF DISEASE AND DEATH IS DONALD TRUMP’: FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST(Commentary)
(for previous day's articles see "what's inside" below)
comment/tweet of the day
Trump's murder math: 150K dead? NP! BOB CESCA
Yet our badly demented and criminally incompetent chief executive believes we should chalk up 100,000 to 200,000 deaths as being "a very good job." So in other words, if around 150,000 Americans die painful and lonely deaths, due in part to Trump's colossally irresponsible minimizing of the pandemic for weeks on end, then Trump will presumably get to declare victory and insist that the "fake news" should congratulate him for it. Either Trump doesn't understand the definition of the phrase "a very good job," or he genuinely believes he deserves a standing ovation if 150,000 of his fellow Americans succumb to a "hoax."
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Maxine Waters✔
@RepMaxineWaters
Trump, you incompetent idiot! You sent 18 tons of PPE to China early but ignored warnings & called COVID19 concerns a hoax. You've endangered doctors, nurses, aids, orderlies, & janitors - all risking their lives to save ours. Pray 4 forgiveness for the harm that you're causing!
2:05 PM - Mar 30, 2020
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NanceGreggs: Plea to Trump-Humpers
Please wear your MAGA hats and/or other identifying insignia when out in public.
Given that you dumbasses are ignoring shelter-at-home and social-distancing guidelines, you are the most likely spreaders of the coronavirus. As such, warning those you might come in contact with in public could save lives.
If you are still attending packed church services, pinning a cross on your MAGA T-shirt would serve as additional warning that you are a likely disease-carrier who needs to be avoided at all costs.
We used to view you MAGA-hat wearers merely as brain-dead idiots. We now view you as probable deliverers of disease and death.
So get those red hats on your heads! It’s time to proudly display your solidarity with a “pResident” who doesn’t care who sickens and dies as a result of his own lies, misinformation, and abject stupidity.
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lex: my thoughts and prayers to all you republican voters who elected unfit, ignorant, and just plain stupid governors to fuck up your state in this pandemic.
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lex: a company in italy makes VENTILATORs for $11,000 a piece. A scientist in italy using 3d technology manufactured one for $1. why do they cost $25,000 in the u.s.? (Currents)
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Covid-19: beware online tests and cures, experts say
The Food and Drug Administration has not authorized any online tests for the virus, while experts warn of scams selling fake cures and masks
Victoria Knight of Kaiser Health News
the guardian
Tue 31 Mar 2020 05.22 EDT
Companies with experience in the “at-home” testing market began announcing in mid-March that they would be offering direct-to-consumer test kits for Covid-19.
With panic running high and tests at hospitals and doctors’ offices hard to come by, the appeal was obvious.
The kits were touted as a way for consumers to manage this difficult situation themselves: there would be no struggle to see the doctor, or calls to the health department, or waiting in line at a drive-thru test site.
Instead, consumers could collect their own samples, by either swabbing the throat or cheek or spitting into a cup. The samples would then be mailed back to the companies’ partner laboratories, which would test for coronavirus. Prices ranged from $135 to $181.
But criticism was swift. Questions were asked about whether at-home tests could be skimming the resources needed for lab-based tests. There was also the possibility of people collecting their samples incorrectly and questions about follow-up care.
Not to mention the risk of inaccurate results.
The Food and Drug Administration responded with a 20 March press release, which stated that the FDA had not authorized any test “that is available to purchase for testing yourself at home for Covid-19”.
At least four companies, Nurx, EverlyWell, Forward and Carbon Health, have since said they halted sales – though two of the companies still had information about the tests on their websites as of Monday afternoon.
While these companies are legitimate and have a track record for at-home testing and providing medical care, there may be others out there hawking products that do not.
“Some are coming from reputable places and some are not, and that’s hard for the average consumer to tell,” said Eric Topol, director and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute.
‘A lot of bunk, junk and crank stuff’
For example, a number of questionable internet reports related to coronavirus tests, vaccines and “miracle” cures are already circulating on social media.
And for scared consumers, it may be difficult to tell the difference. “There’s a lot of bunk, junk and crank stuff out there,” said Arthur Caplan, founding head of the division of medical ethics at the New York University school of medicine in New York City.
The FDA said, for instance, in its 20 March release that it “is beginning to see unauthorized fraudulent test kits that are being marketed to test for Covid-19 in the home”.
One key sign that an at-home kit is a sham is that it will offer consumers an almost immediate test result. “That would not be possible,” said Topol.
Websites touting miracle cures and preventives – herbs, teas, essential oils, tinctures and colloidal silver – are prevalent.
QAnon conspiracy theorists on YouTube and Twitter have irresponsibly told viewers to buy and drink “Miracle Mineral Solution”, an industrial bleach product, to ward off coronavirus. Facebook and Instagram posts claim that marijuana, cocaine or vitamin C can kill or prevent the coronavirus. Salespeople have been offering fake N95 masks.
To be clear, the FDA said in 1999 that any products containing colloidal silver are not “safe or effective”, and the National Institutes of Health has said there are no known benefits to ingesting silver supplements and it can cause serious side-effects. The FDA also warned consumers in 2019 not to buy or ingest “Miracle Mineral Solution” because it can cause severe health effects.
The FDA and the Federal Trade Commission jointly issued warning letters on 9 March to seven companies for selling “products that fraudulently claim to prevent, treat or cure Covid-19”.
One of the warning letters was issued to Jim Bakker, a prominent televangelist who allowed a guest to promote colloidal silver as a cure for Covid-19, and then sold it during a 12 February broadcast of The Jim Bakker Show. The state of Missouri has since filed a lawsuit against Bakker for “falsely promising to consumers that Silver Solution can cure, eliminate, kill or deactivate coronavirus”.
The conservative radio host Alex Jones received a cease-and-desist letter on 12 March from the New York attorney general’s office for selling products on his website that contain colloidal silver and claim to treat or cure coronavirus infections.
“There is nothing homeopathic or nutritional that can help you with the virus,” said Caplan. “The idea that people are floating some kind of diagnostic solution or magic or therapy on the internet, it’s all total crap.”
There have also been reports of consumers buying up a fish tank cleaner on eBay that has the same active ingredient as the antimalarial drug chloroquine, which President Donald Trump touted as a possible treatment for Covid-19. An Arizona man recently died after ingesting the fish tank additive, thinking that it would prevent coronavirus.
In an update issued on 24 March, the FDA said it was aware of people buying the fish tank cleaning product and advised consumers: “Don’t take any form of chloroquine unless it has been prescribed for you by your health care provider and obtained from legitimate sources.”
On 20 March, the US Department of Justice announced that the attorney general, William Barr, had asked all US attorneys “to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of Coronavirus-related fraud schemes”.
The DoJ detailed its first enforcement action on 22 March for a Covid-19 fraud against one website that claimed to be selling coronavirus vaccine kits from the World Health Organization.
Despite all the false promises about these products, it’s important for consumers to remember that there is no FDA-approved treatment or vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
And the best way to prevent the spread of coronavirus is to practice physical distancing and wash your hands, public health experts say.
Regaining a sense of control is a motivator
Consumers may be motivated to buy these types of items because they are trying to regain control in an uncertain situation, explained April Thames, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
“People have this heightened anxiety and they are willing to try anything out there that’s a possible treatment or cure,” said Thames. It creates an opening for scam artists “to market products that sound like they are effective”.
But Caplan’s ultimate advice to consumers who see coronavirus-related products on the internet? “Anything online, ignore it.”
With panic running high and tests at hospitals and doctors’ offices hard to come by, the appeal was obvious.
The kits were touted as a way for consumers to manage this difficult situation themselves: there would be no struggle to see the doctor, or calls to the health department, or waiting in line at a drive-thru test site.
Instead, consumers could collect their own samples, by either swabbing the throat or cheek or spitting into a cup. The samples would then be mailed back to the companies’ partner laboratories, which would test for coronavirus. Prices ranged from $135 to $181.
But criticism was swift. Questions were asked about whether at-home tests could be skimming the resources needed for lab-based tests. There was also the possibility of people collecting their samples incorrectly and questions about follow-up care.
Not to mention the risk of inaccurate results.
The Food and Drug Administration responded with a 20 March press release, which stated that the FDA had not authorized any test “that is available to purchase for testing yourself at home for Covid-19”.
At least four companies, Nurx, EverlyWell, Forward and Carbon Health, have since said they halted sales – though two of the companies still had information about the tests on their websites as of Monday afternoon.
While these companies are legitimate and have a track record for at-home testing and providing medical care, there may be others out there hawking products that do not.
“Some are coming from reputable places and some are not, and that’s hard for the average consumer to tell,” said Eric Topol, director and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute.
‘A lot of bunk, junk and crank stuff’
For example, a number of questionable internet reports related to coronavirus tests, vaccines and “miracle” cures are already circulating on social media.
And for scared consumers, it may be difficult to tell the difference. “There’s a lot of bunk, junk and crank stuff out there,” said Arthur Caplan, founding head of the division of medical ethics at the New York University school of medicine in New York City.
The FDA said, for instance, in its 20 March release that it “is beginning to see unauthorized fraudulent test kits that are being marketed to test for Covid-19 in the home”.
One key sign that an at-home kit is a sham is that it will offer consumers an almost immediate test result. “That would not be possible,” said Topol.
Websites touting miracle cures and preventives – herbs, teas, essential oils, tinctures and colloidal silver – are prevalent.
QAnon conspiracy theorists on YouTube and Twitter have irresponsibly told viewers to buy and drink “Miracle Mineral Solution”, an industrial bleach product, to ward off coronavirus. Facebook and Instagram posts claim that marijuana, cocaine or vitamin C can kill or prevent the coronavirus. Salespeople have been offering fake N95 masks.
To be clear, the FDA said in 1999 that any products containing colloidal silver are not “safe or effective”, and the National Institutes of Health has said there are no known benefits to ingesting silver supplements and it can cause serious side-effects. The FDA also warned consumers in 2019 not to buy or ingest “Miracle Mineral Solution” because it can cause severe health effects.
The FDA and the Federal Trade Commission jointly issued warning letters on 9 March to seven companies for selling “products that fraudulently claim to prevent, treat or cure Covid-19”.
One of the warning letters was issued to Jim Bakker, a prominent televangelist who allowed a guest to promote colloidal silver as a cure for Covid-19, and then sold it during a 12 February broadcast of The Jim Bakker Show. The state of Missouri has since filed a lawsuit against Bakker for “falsely promising to consumers that Silver Solution can cure, eliminate, kill or deactivate coronavirus”.
The conservative radio host Alex Jones received a cease-and-desist letter on 12 March from the New York attorney general’s office for selling products on his website that contain colloidal silver and claim to treat or cure coronavirus infections.
“There is nothing homeopathic or nutritional that can help you with the virus,” said Caplan. “The idea that people are floating some kind of diagnostic solution or magic or therapy on the internet, it’s all total crap.”
There have also been reports of consumers buying up a fish tank cleaner on eBay that has the same active ingredient as the antimalarial drug chloroquine, which President Donald Trump touted as a possible treatment for Covid-19. An Arizona man recently died after ingesting the fish tank additive, thinking that it would prevent coronavirus.
In an update issued on 24 March, the FDA said it was aware of people buying the fish tank cleaning product and advised consumers: “Don’t take any form of chloroquine unless it has been prescribed for you by your health care provider and obtained from legitimate sources.”
On 20 March, the US Department of Justice announced that the attorney general, William Barr, had asked all US attorneys “to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of Coronavirus-related fraud schemes”.
The DoJ detailed its first enforcement action on 22 March for a Covid-19 fraud against one website that claimed to be selling coronavirus vaccine kits from the World Health Organization.
Despite all the false promises about these products, it’s important for consumers to remember that there is no FDA-approved treatment or vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
And the best way to prevent the spread of coronavirus is to practice physical distancing and wash your hands, public health experts say.
Regaining a sense of control is a motivator
Consumers may be motivated to buy these types of items because they are trying to regain control in an uncertain situation, explained April Thames, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
“People have this heightened anxiety and they are willing to try anything out there that’s a possible treatment or cure,” said Thames. It creates an opening for scam artists “to market products that sound like they are effective”.
But Caplan’s ultimate advice to consumers who see coronavirus-related products on the internet? “Anything online, ignore it.”
allow people to die/go bankrupt while putting fools on the fed bench!!!
McConnell shoots down additional coronavirus relief — but promises to confirm more Trump judges
March 31, 2020
By Travis Gettys - raw story
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refused to commit to another coronavirus relief package, but he promised to confirm more judicial nominations for President Donald Trump.
The Kentucky Republican appeared on conservative Hugh Hewitt’s radio program, where he offered a competing vision for plans offered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” reported Politico.
“I’m not going to allow this to be an opportunity for the Democrats to achieve unrelated policy items they wouldn’t otherwise be able to pass,” McConnell told Hewitt.
But the House speaker seemed to anticipate those remarks, telling MSNBC that Democrats want to focus on infrastructure projects, including broadband for those working from home during the outbreak, and sick leave and new stimulus spending programs.
“Imagine being concerned about being sick and just not even having any resources to address your family’s needs,” Pelosi said. “We have important work to do. Again, three bills, strongly bipartisan, and what we do next will be bipartisan as well.”
Trump, who called Pelosi a “sick puppy” in his Monday morning interview on “Fox & Friends,” watched Pelosi’s appearance and tweeted that “she wasn’t bad” on MSNBC, followed up a few minutes later by touting a “VERY BIG & BOLD” $2 trillion infrastructure bill.
Democratic lawmakers have proposed additional legislation will be needed to alleviate the economic suffering caused by the coronavirus and resulting statewide lockdowns, but McConnell signaled that his focus will be elsewhere for now.
“This bill was only signed into law last Friday, so it’s only been law for about four days and the speaker is already talking about another bill,” McConnell told Hewitt. “She hasn’t suggested the House would even come back into session until the 20th of April, and I’ve said the same thing, so let’s see how things are going and respond accordingly.”
McConnell then said that he would resume confirmations for Trump’s judicial nominees when recess ended.
“My motto for the rest of the year is to leave no vacancy behind.”
RELATED: ‘No more spending’: Trump and GOP cast doubt on new stimulus after securing $4.5 trillion corporate bailout
Having secured a multi-trillion-dollar bailout fund for large corporations and minimal relief for the public as the U.S. economy reels from the coronavirus crisis, the White House and Republican leaders in Congress are already throwing cold water on the prospect of a fourth stimulus bill that progressives say is necessary to address the deep flaws and gaping holes in the measure President Donald Trump signed into law last week.
The Kentucky Republican appeared on conservative Hugh Hewitt’s radio program, where he offered a competing vision for plans offered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” reported Politico.
“I’m not going to allow this to be an opportunity for the Democrats to achieve unrelated policy items they wouldn’t otherwise be able to pass,” McConnell told Hewitt.
But the House speaker seemed to anticipate those remarks, telling MSNBC that Democrats want to focus on infrastructure projects, including broadband for those working from home during the outbreak, and sick leave and new stimulus spending programs.
“Imagine being concerned about being sick and just not even having any resources to address your family’s needs,” Pelosi said. “We have important work to do. Again, three bills, strongly bipartisan, and what we do next will be bipartisan as well.”
Trump, who called Pelosi a “sick puppy” in his Monday morning interview on “Fox & Friends,” watched Pelosi’s appearance and tweeted that “she wasn’t bad” on MSNBC, followed up a few minutes later by touting a “VERY BIG & BOLD” $2 trillion infrastructure bill.
Democratic lawmakers have proposed additional legislation will be needed to alleviate the economic suffering caused by the coronavirus and resulting statewide lockdowns, but McConnell signaled that his focus will be elsewhere for now.
“This bill was only signed into law last Friday, so it’s only been law for about four days and the speaker is already talking about another bill,” McConnell told Hewitt. “She hasn’t suggested the House would even come back into session until the 20th of April, and I’ve said the same thing, so let’s see how things are going and respond accordingly.”
McConnell then said that he would resume confirmations for Trump’s judicial nominees when recess ended.
“My motto for the rest of the year is to leave no vacancy behind.”
RELATED: ‘No more spending’: Trump and GOP cast doubt on new stimulus after securing $4.5 trillion corporate bailout
Having secured a multi-trillion-dollar bailout fund for large corporations and minimal relief for the public as the U.S. economy reels from the coronavirus crisis, the White House and Republican leaders in Congress are already throwing cold water on the prospect of a fourth stimulus bill that progressives say is necessary to address the deep flaws and gaping holes in the measure President Donald Trump signed into law last week.
trump's best people!!!
Illinois governor: Federal government sent wrong type of masks
BY KYLE BALLUCK - the hill
03/31/20 07:33 AM EDT
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) on Monday said that his state received the wrong type of medical masks from the federal government in a shipment meant to equip medical professionals responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
"My team is sorting through the shipment of 300,000 N95 masks the White House personally told me would be sent to our state, and while we do not have a final count on this yet, I can say with certainty that what they sent were not the N95 masks that were promised but instead were surgical masks, which is not what we asked for," he said at a press conference, according to CNN, which noted that doctors wear the N95 masks when interacting with infected patients.
Pritzker added the he couldn’t “emphasize enough how much we need the federal government to step up and amplify the size of their PPE [personal protective equipment] deliveries to Illinois and, frankly, across the nation.”
Last week, Pritzker and President Trump clashed online after the president attacked governors who criticized the federal response to coronavirus.
"You wasted precious months when you could've taken action to protect Americans & Illinoisans. You should be leading a national response instead of throwing tantrums from the back seat,” Pritzker tweeted. “Where were the tests when we needed them? Where's the PPE? Get off Twitter & do your job.”
Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that Pritzker and “a very small group of certain other Governors, together with Fake News @CNN& Concast (MSDNC), shouldn’t be blaming the Federal Government for their own shortcomings.”
His tweet followed an appearance by Pritzker on CNN in which the Illinois governor said an inadequate federal response had forced states to compete for resources, telling host Jake Tapper it “should have been a coordinated effort by the federal government.”
Later in the week, Trump, who has repeatedly suggested that states should take the lead in acquiring needed materials to respond to the virus, singled out two governors who have been outspoken in calling on the federal government to do more to facilitate the response: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).
More than 160,000 people in the U.S. have been infected with the coronavirus as of Tuesday morning, and more than 3,000 people have died, according to data compiled by CNN.
"My team is sorting through the shipment of 300,000 N95 masks the White House personally told me would be sent to our state, and while we do not have a final count on this yet, I can say with certainty that what they sent were not the N95 masks that were promised but instead were surgical masks, which is not what we asked for," he said at a press conference, according to CNN, which noted that doctors wear the N95 masks when interacting with infected patients.
Pritzker added the he couldn’t “emphasize enough how much we need the federal government to step up and amplify the size of their PPE [personal protective equipment] deliveries to Illinois and, frankly, across the nation.”
Last week, Pritzker and President Trump clashed online after the president attacked governors who criticized the federal response to coronavirus.
"You wasted precious months when you could've taken action to protect Americans & Illinoisans. You should be leading a national response instead of throwing tantrums from the back seat,” Pritzker tweeted. “Where were the tests when we needed them? Where's the PPE? Get off Twitter & do your job.”
Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that Pritzker and “a very small group of certain other Governors, together with Fake News @CNN& Concast (MSDNC), shouldn’t be blaming the Federal Government for their own shortcomings.”
His tweet followed an appearance by Pritzker on CNN in which the Illinois governor said an inadequate federal response had forced states to compete for resources, telling host Jake Tapper it “should have been a coordinated effort by the federal government.”
Later in the week, Trump, who has repeatedly suggested that states should take the lead in acquiring needed materials to respond to the virus, singled out two governors who have been outspoken in calling on the federal government to do more to facilitate the response: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).
More than 160,000 people in the U.S. have been infected with the coronavirus as of Tuesday morning, and more than 3,000 people have died, according to data compiled by CNN.
looks shaky!!!
FDA authorizes use of new two-minute test kit for coronavirus
reuters
MARCH 31, 2020 / 5:24 AM
(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the emergency use of Bodysphere Inc’s test that can detect the coronavirus in nearly two minutes, the privately held company said on Tuesday.
The FDA has been rushing to approve tests on an emergency basis and last week approved Abbott Laboratories’ (ABT.N) test that can deliver results within minutes.
Bodysphere said it was working with the federal and state governments to deliver the test to the frontlines.
The test is administered like a glucose test but is designed for use strictly by medical professionals.
The FDA has been rushing to approve tests on an emergency basis and last week approved Abbott Laboratories’ (ABT.N) test that can deliver results within minutes.
Bodysphere said it was working with the federal and state governments to deliver the test to the frontlines.
The test is administered like a glucose test but is designed for use strictly by medical professionals.
Bites from Real News
*3/31/2020*
*New COVID-19 Forecasts: US Hospitals Could Be Overwhelmed in the Second Week of April by Demand for ICU Beds, and US Deaths Could Total 81,000 by July
*RIKERS ISLAND PRISONERS BEING OFFERED PPE AND $6 AN HOUR TO DIG MASS GRAVES
*The US’s Wave of Hospital Closures Left Us Ill-Equipped for COVID-19
...Compared to other wealthy nations, the United States stands out for lacking a universal health care system and for prioritizing corporate profits over health. This has led to a fragmented health care system that is ill-equipped for a coordinated response in a time of crisis, such as the current pandemic.
*NO MASKS AND UNCERTAIN SICK LEAVE: NEW YORK WHOLE FOODS DELIVERY WORKERS SAY AMAZON IS FAILING TO PROTECT THEM
DELIVERY WORKERS SAY THEY LACK CLEAR GUIDANCE AS TO WHAT TO DO IF THEY ARE EXPOSED TO THE CORONAVIRUS OR HOW THEY WILL BE COMPENSATED IF THEY GET SICK.
*Exclusive: Captain of aircraft carrier with growing coronavirus outbreak pleads for help from Navy
The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier with more than 100 sailors infected with the coronavirus pleaded Monday with U.S. Navy officials for resources to allow isolation of his entire crew and avoid possible deaths in a situation he described as qu ... (San Francisco Chronicle)
*bribery 101: Olympics Japan businessman admits giving gifts for successful Tokyo bid
Haruyuki Takahasi, who lobbied IOC members including Lamine Diack, was the single largest recipient of money from the Tokyo bid committee
*bloodsuckers: Taxpayers Paid Millions to Design a Low-Cost Ventilator for a Pandemic. Instead, the Company Is Selling Versions of It Overseas.
As coronavirus sweeps the globe, there is not a single Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator — developed with government funds — in the U.S. stockpile. Meanwhile, Royal Philips N.V. has sold higher-priced versions to clients around the world.
*greed galore!: Revealed Monsanto predicted crop system would damage US farms
Internal documents describe how to profit from farmer losses and desire to oppose some independent testing
*Women's History Month: Anna Julia Cooper, the founding mother of black feminism
When people hear the words “feminism” or “feminist movement,” far too often they visualize only the struggles of white women. For those who study feminism as a series of waves, there has been a strong push to make inroads on the erasure of black women and other women of color from earlier segments of feminist history.
*Charles Lindbergh's unapologetic bigotry: How he became the face of the America First Committee Lindbergh's celebrity status gave him a national platform on which to share his racist views
*Expired Respirators. Reused Masks. Nurses in the Nation’s Original Covid-19 Epicenter Offer Sobering Accounts of What Could Come.
When nurses at one Washington State hospital complained about having to use expired respirators, they allege that staff were ordered to remove stickers showing the equipment was years out of date.
*At last: Time to kill "useless eaters"
Trump's death cult finally says it: Time to kill the "useless eaters" for capitalism
Republicans say the quiet part out loud: Americans must die of the coronavirus in order to save capitalism
CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
*john hopkins covid - 19 worldwide analysis
*Can a face mask stop the virus? Covid-19 facts checked
scam exposed!!!
REVEALED: Kushner firm built coronavirus website Trump promised Google was building
March 31, 2020
By Bob Brigham - raw story
More details about Donald Trump administration’s haphazard response to the COVID-19 pandemic were revealed in a bombshell new report published by The Atlantic on Monday evening.
“On March 13, President Donald Trump promised Americans they would soon be able to access a new website that would ask them about their symptoms and direct them to nearby coronavirus testing sites. He said Google was helping. That wasn’t true,” The Atlantic reported.
“But in the following days, Oscar Health—a health-insurance company closely connected to Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner—developed a government website with the features the president had described. A team of Oscar engineers, project managers, and executives spent about five days building a stand-alone website at the government’s request, an Oscar spokesperson told The Atlantic. The company even dispatched two employees from New York to meet in person with federal officials in Washington, D.C., the spokesperson said. Then the website was suddenly and mysteriously scrapped,” the magazine reported.
“The full extent of Oscar’s work on the project has not been previously reported. The partnership between the administration and the firm suggests that Kushner may have mingled his family’s business interests with his political interests and his role in the administration’s coronavirus response,” The Atlantic noted. “The ad hoc nature of Kushner’s task force has already collided with federal laws. Oscar’s involvement deepens Kushner’s ethics and conflict-of-interest problems.”
“On March 13, President Donald Trump promised Americans they would soon be able to access a new website that would ask them about their symptoms and direct them to nearby coronavirus testing sites. He said Google was helping. That wasn’t true,” The Atlantic reported.
“But in the following days, Oscar Health—a health-insurance company closely connected to Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner—developed a government website with the features the president had described. A team of Oscar engineers, project managers, and executives spent about five days building a stand-alone website at the government’s request, an Oscar spokesperson told The Atlantic. The company even dispatched two employees from New York to meet in person with federal officials in Washington, D.C., the spokesperson said. Then the website was suddenly and mysteriously scrapped,” the magazine reported.
“The full extent of Oscar’s work on the project has not been previously reported. The partnership between the administration and the firm suggests that Kushner may have mingled his family’s business interests with his political interests and his role in the administration’s coronavirus response,” The Atlantic noted. “The ad hoc nature of Kushner’s task force has already collided with federal laws. Oscar’s involvement deepens Kushner’s ethics and conflict-of-interest problems.”
US appeals court says Texas can suspend abortions during pandemic
March 31, 2020
By Agence France-Presse
A US federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Texas could temporarily suspend abortions as part of its response to the coronavirus crisis, overturning a ruling by a lower court the day before.
The governor of the conservative-leaning Lone Star State, Greg Abbott, had decreed that elective procedures should be delayed to ensure readiness to treat virus patients — and to conserve protective gear for frontline workers.
About a week ago, state Attorney General Ken Paxton classified abortions as elective procedures, except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.
Violating the order is punishable by up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine, Paxton said.
Abortion rights activists cried foul, suing for an emergency injunction. Late Monday, a federal judge in the state capital Austin temporarily blocked Texas from enforcing the ban.
Paxton appealed on Tuesday, and quickly notched a victory — albeit a partial one.
The appeals court issued a temporary stay of the lower court ruling, “to allow this court sufficient time to consider” the motion from abortion rights activists in depth.
Paxton hailed the decision, saying in a statement that the appellate ruling “justly prioritizes supplies and personal protective equipment for the medical professionals in need.”
Several other conservative-leaning states besides Texas in the American South and Midwest have classified abortions as elective, non-essential procedures since the virus crisis erupted.
Court action has been initiated in five states. Beyond the initial Texas ruling, judges in Alabama and Ohio have also ruled that abortions cannot be suspended, citing the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe vs Wade that secures the right to an abortion.
The United States is now the country with the most coronavirus cases in the world, with more than 180,000. The death toll of more than 3,600 has surpassed the official Chinese count.
The governor of the conservative-leaning Lone Star State, Greg Abbott, had decreed that elective procedures should be delayed to ensure readiness to treat virus patients — and to conserve protective gear for frontline workers.
About a week ago, state Attorney General Ken Paxton classified abortions as elective procedures, except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.
Violating the order is punishable by up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine, Paxton said.
Abortion rights activists cried foul, suing for an emergency injunction. Late Monday, a federal judge in the state capital Austin temporarily blocked Texas from enforcing the ban.
Paxton appealed on Tuesday, and quickly notched a victory — albeit a partial one.
The appeals court issued a temporary stay of the lower court ruling, “to allow this court sufficient time to consider” the motion from abortion rights activists in depth.
Paxton hailed the decision, saying in a statement that the appellate ruling “justly prioritizes supplies and personal protective equipment for the medical professionals in need.”
Several other conservative-leaning states besides Texas in the American South and Midwest have classified abortions as elective, non-essential procedures since the virus crisis erupted.
Court action has been initiated in five states. Beyond the initial Texas ruling, judges in Alabama and Ohio have also ruled that abortions cannot be suspended, citing the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe vs Wade that secures the right to an abortion.
The United States is now the country with the most coronavirus cases in the world, with more than 180,000. The death toll of more than 3,600 has surpassed the official Chinese count.
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BUSTED: Cops fired for framing Stormy Daniels reportedly arrested on federal corruption charges
March 31, 2020
By Matthew Chapman - raw story
On Tuesday, the Scioto Valley Guardian reported that two former Columbus police officers for the vice unit have been arrested on a number of federal charges.
Ex-Officers Steven Rosser and Whitney Lancaster are the same officers who allegedly conspired to frame porn star Stormy Daniels, who became a national name after suing to get out of a nondisclosure agreement negotiated by President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen to bury the story of Trump’s sexual affair with her.
“Both men were fired in 2019 after an internal investigation said they set-up famed adult actress and best selling author Stormy Daniels,” wrote Derek Myers. “She was accused of touching undercover cops, against state law while on tour in Columbus. Her July 2018 arrest was dismissed 12 hours after she was booked. She later sued and settled for more than $400,000.” The entire vice unit was ultimately disbanded amid the scandal.
The new allegations are unrelated to the Daniels incident, but instead stem from a public corruption investigation into their conduct around strip clubs and hotels.
“According to the indictment, in March 2015, Rosser was involved in a physical fight with an individual at Nick’s Cabaret, a gentleman’s club on East Dublin Granville Road,” wrote Myers. “Rosser allegedly represented that he was acting in the course and scope of his employment as a police officer during the fight and in the days that followed. The indictment alleges that Rosser conspired with others to deprive the other participant in that fight of his civil rights by having him seized and searched without probable cause, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
“The indictment also alleges that in April 2018, Rosser, Lancaster, and others conspired to deprive one of the owner of the Dollhouse, a gentleman’s club on Karl Court, of his civil rights by seizing and searching him and his vehicle without probable cause, again in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” continued Myers. “Finally, the indictment alleges that both defendants conspired to commit wire fraud by routinely reporting false and fraudulent special duty hours,” by reporting special duty to a Fort Myers hotel that suffered sprinkler damage at the same time they were working their standard hours for the Columbus Police Department.
“The FBI and the Southern Ohio Public Corruption Task Force are committed to rooting out public corruption and working to ensure that those who abuse their law enforcement privileges are held accountable,” said FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Chris Hoffman in a statement. “We will continue to work with our partners to protect the citizens of this community and uphold their Constitutional rights.”
You can read more here.
Ex-Officers Steven Rosser and Whitney Lancaster are the same officers who allegedly conspired to frame porn star Stormy Daniels, who became a national name after suing to get out of a nondisclosure agreement negotiated by President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen to bury the story of Trump’s sexual affair with her.
“Both men were fired in 2019 after an internal investigation said they set-up famed adult actress and best selling author Stormy Daniels,” wrote Derek Myers. “She was accused of touching undercover cops, against state law while on tour in Columbus. Her July 2018 arrest was dismissed 12 hours after she was booked. She later sued and settled for more than $400,000.” The entire vice unit was ultimately disbanded amid the scandal.
The new allegations are unrelated to the Daniels incident, but instead stem from a public corruption investigation into their conduct around strip clubs and hotels.
“According to the indictment, in March 2015, Rosser was involved in a physical fight with an individual at Nick’s Cabaret, a gentleman’s club on East Dublin Granville Road,” wrote Myers. “Rosser allegedly represented that he was acting in the course and scope of his employment as a police officer during the fight and in the days that followed. The indictment alleges that Rosser conspired with others to deprive the other participant in that fight of his civil rights by having him seized and searched without probable cause, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
“The indictment also alleges that in April 2018, Rosser, Lancaster, and others conspired to deprive one of the owner of the Dollhouse, a gentleman’s club on Karl Court, of his civil rights by seizing and searching him and his vehicle without probable cause, again in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” continued Myers. “Finally, the indictment alleges that both defendants conspired to commit wire fraud by routinely reporting false and fraudulent special duty hours,” by reporting special duty to a Fort Myers hotel that suffered sprinkler damage at the same time they were working their standard hours for the Columbus Police Department.
“The FBI and the Southern Ohio Public Corruption Task Force are committed to rooting out public corruption and working to ensure that those who abuse their law enforcement privileges are held accountable,” said FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Chris Hoffman in a statement. “We will continue to work with our partners to protect the citizens of this community and uphold their Constitutional rights.”
You can read more here.
Elderly DUI suspect spits on officer after arrest — then claims to have coronavirus
March 30, 2020
By Sarah K. Burris - raw story
An elderly woman in Arvada, Colorado was arrested under the suspicion that she was driving while under the influence when she spat on the arresting officer. The woman then claimed to have COVID-19, Fox31 Denver reported.
The officer responded to the call early Sunday morning after reports of a driver colliding with four cars. Officers tracked the woman to a 7-Eleven in the area, where they identified her as Brenda Johnson. She was arrested for a DUI and other traffic charges.
It was later while she was being held in a local detoxification center that she began spitting on the arresting officer.
“There’s some Corona for you, now all you need is a lime,” Johnson shouted at him.
Johnson was then taken back to the police department and booked on second-degree assault of a peace officer, which is a felony.
The officer is now following health department guidelines to ensure he is safe if the woman did have the virus.
Read the full report from Fox31 Denver.
The officer responded to the call early Sunday morning after reports of a driver colliding with four cars. Officers tracked the woman to a 7-Eleven in the area, where they identified her as Brenda Johnson. She was arrested for a DUI and other traffic charges.
It was later while she was being held in a local detoxification center that she began spitting on the arresting officer.
“There’s some Corona for you, now all you need is a lime,” Johnson shouted at him.
Johnson was then taken back to the police department and booked on second-degree assault of a peace officer, which is a felony.
The officer is now following health department guidelines to ensure he is safe if the woman did have the virus.
Read the full report from Fox31 Denver.
U.S. Navy to Evacuate Aircraft Carrier With 100+ Virus-Infected Sailors
Spencer Ackerman - Senior Nat’l Security Correspondent
Emma Tucker
Updated Mar. 31, 2020 4:38PM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
The U.S. Navy said on Tuesday that it will evacuate the majority of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier’s crew after the ship’s captain wrote to senior Pentagon officials, pleading with them to provide “compliant quarantine rooms” for more than 100 sailors infected with the novel coronavirus. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said on Tuesday that the warship will be disinfected after more than 4,000 crew members disembark. “This will require a political solution but it is the right thing to do,” U.S. Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, who commands the USS Theodore Roosevelt, wrote in the letter earlier on Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset—our sailors.”
Crozier’s letter posed an extraordinary challenge to Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s approach to the coronavirus outbreak. Esper, during a month’s worth of briefings, has emphasized the need to maintain military readiness during the public-health emergency. Crozier, whose ship is a critical component of that global U.S. military readiness, is warning that unless the ship ceases its operations and attends to the immediate health needs of its sailors, lives will be lost.
“Keeping over 4,000 young men and women on board the TR is an unnecessary risk and breaks faith with those sailors entrusted to our care,” Crozier wrote. In effect, Crozier’s point is the military analogy to the warnings by epidemiologists against prematurely returning to work and social gatherings in the name of saving the economy. The aircraft carrier is docked in Guam.
Crozier’s letter posed an extraordinary challenge to Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s approach to the coronavirus outbreak. Esper, during a month’s worth of briefings, has emphasized the need to maintain military readiness during the public-health emergency. Crozier, whose ship is a critical component of that global U.S. military readiness, is warning that unless the ship ceases its operations and attends to the immediate health needs of its sailors, lives will be lost.
“Keeping over 4,000 young men and women on board the TR is an unnecessary risk and breaks faith with those sailors entrusted to our care,” Crozier wrote. In effect, Crozier’s point is the military analogy to the warnings by epidemiologists against prematurely returning to work and social gatherings in the name of saving the economy. The aircraft carrier is docked in Guam.
texans smarts!!
At Least 28 Texans Who Took Spring Break Trip to Mexico Test Positive for Coronavirus
Julia Arciga - Reporter
Published Mar. 31, 2020 3:43PM ET
daily beast cheat sheet
The Department of Health and Human Services has lodged a $1.8 million purchase order for monkeys and other primates to act as test subjects for coronavirus-related treatments, federal procurement records indicate. The contract, dated March 27, lists coronavirus as the “national interest action” at issue, and awards $1.8 million to the company Worldwide Primates, which bills itself as “a leading supplier of premium quality non-human primate models for research, including government, university, and pharmaceutical level facilities.” It appears to be the federal government’s first purchase of animal test subjects during the coronavirus outbreak. A number of pharmaceutical companies are currently developing vaccines for the virus, but human tests are not expected to begin until the fall. According to its website, Worldwide Primates “does not sell pet primates, only primate research models.” The site asks viewers not to “contact us for information about pet monkeys.”
more stupidity!!!
Man Lied About COVID-19 Symptoms to Visit Wife in Maternity Ward
Emma Tucker
Published Mar. 31, 2020 12:53PM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
A New York man who was exhibiting symptoms of the novel coronavirus lied about his condition to sneak into the maternity ward to join his wife, who was about to give birth, Rochester’s Democrat & Chronicle reported. His wife subsequently developed flu-like symptoms. UR Medicine in Rochester, New York implemented a policy two weeks ago that prohibited most visitors in order to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus in the hospital. Visitors were trusted to say whether they had been exposed to the virus or if they were exhibiting symptoms, however a spokesman for UR Medicine said that policy has now changed after the incident. “It was purely an honor system before,” said Chip Partner. “Now we’re adding the temperature check.” The man, who has not been identified, admitted to hiding his condition after his wife began showing symptoms of the virus shortly after she gave birth to their child.
*What's Inside*
mar 28 - mar 30
✔THE US SENT TONS OF MEDICAL SUPPLIES TO CHINA EVEN AS SENATORS WARNED OF VIRUS THREAT HERE(PAYBACK)
*ON STRIKE NOW FOR THREE YEARS, SPECTRUM WORKERS ARE DEMANDING PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
(SLAVERY 21ST CENTURY)
*TOM PEREZ PUT CORPORATE LOBBYISTS IN CHARGE OF THE DNC’S BUDGET
(DEMO POLITICS)
*U.S. TAXPAYERS ALREADY PAID FOR COVID-19 TREATMENTS — WE CANNOT LET BIG PHARMA MAKE US PAY AGAIN(CORPORATE CRIMINALS)
*OIL RIG CLOSURES RISING AS PRICES HIT 18-YEAR LOWS
(OIL)
*HOW FAR WILL THE $1,200 STIMULUS CHECKS GO FOR AVERAGE AMERICANS?
(REALITY)
✔REPUBLICAN: FREE COLLEGE PLANS SET AMERICA ON A ‘DANGEROUS PATH’ TO INTELLIGENT PEOPLE - BY JAMES SCHLARMANN(FUNNIES)
*REPUBLICAN: FREE COLLEGE PLANS SET AMERICA ON A ‘DANGEROUS PATH’ TO INTELLIGENT PEOPLE - BY JAMES SCHLARMANN(FUNNIES)
*TRUMP BRAGS THAT OBAMA ‘COULD NEVER HAVE AS MANY COVIDS’ AS HE HAS
- BY JAMES SCHLARMANN(FUNNIES)
*THE CORONAVIRUS IS THE WORST INTELLIGENCE FAILURE IN US HISTORY
(TALKERS)
✔JOSEPH LOWERY, AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER, DIES AT 98
(REAL PEOPLE)
*SCIENTISTS DISCOVER THREE NEW SPECIES OF PTEROSAURS IN THE SAHARA
(ANCIENT TIMES)
*MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN: WE WILL TAKE ACTION TO PREVENT THE LOSS OF OUR LAND
(FIRST AMERICANS)
*late news of interest*
with a fool in charge what do you expect!!!
The Pandemic Is Going To Cost Us $5 Trillion … Or More
We Ran the Numbers. They’re Devastating
By David Cay Johnston, DCReport Editor-in-Chief
3/23/2020
The $1 trillion coronavirus relief package Congress passed won’t come close to making up for the damage caused by COVID-19 and the Trump administration’s lethal dawdling.
We need the government to act or we could fall into a depression rivaling the 1930s.
An 18-month crisis is widely expected. The Trump administration plan is for 18 months. That implies $5 trillion based on my calculations.
The ultimate cost of this novel virus is likely to be north of $7 trillion, assuming this pandemic endures for two years, as German public health officials warn.
Even if we put the pandemic behind us in just 12 months by finding and distributing an effective vaccine, the economic damage will run about $3.3 trillion. My calculations from the official economic reports also show in one year about a 15% decline in the Gross Domestic Product.
My estimates are more conservative than those of Goldman Sachs economists, who project a terrifying 24% drop in the national economy in April through June. If that severe contraction persists it quickly would produce a nightmare right out of the 1930s because for the last four decades Congress has been gnawing at what remains of the New Deal era social safety net.
Goldman optimistically projects a sharp, brief, drop followed by a sharp economic upturn starting in July. I don’t see that as realistic because until we have a cure allowing people to gather at work or for fun will spread the virus.
My one-year cost estimate would mean increasing federal spending this year from an expected $4.8 trillion to $8 trillion. More than half that money would be borrowed, quadrupling the shortfall between tax revenues and spending, known as the annual budget deficit.
Why We’re Reporting These Numbers
Estimating the costs in broad strokes is not all that hard for anyone who understands the principles of accounting identities, economics, and public finance.
So why haven’t journalists at major publications provided anything as understandable as the numbers above? Journalists usually wait for someone in authority to make a declaration which they can quote. This administration hasn’t done that. Many finance journalists also don’t know about the accounting identities used to calculate national income or how to make calculations.
Last week, DCReport was the first to publish the numbers of infections and deaths expected by a wide range of public health experts. Two days later reports appeared confirming our reporting.
Much More Pain
It’s important to understand that if we don’t spend as much as it takes to make up for the loss of wages and profits, the result could be far worse economic harm. America could be in economic pain long after COVID-19 becomes history if Congress and Donald Trump act as cheapskates.
The Great Recession officially ended in June 2009, but for more than a decade the American labor market suffered along with growth in domestic capital investment, which is crucial to creating new jobs.
That was because stingy lawmakers, mostly Republicans but some Democrats, refused to enact the full stimulus package former President Barack Obama’s economic advisers sought using the same economic principles as I.
Then, at the behest of Republicans, 40% of the Obama stimulus was foolishly wasted on business tax cuts. These are inherently savings, instead of direct spending.
Trump Seeks Cuts in Food, Healthcare
The Trump administration and Congressional Republicans continue to seek cuts in food stamps and health care for children, as DCReport keeps advising readers.
The need for government spending to keep the economy from collapsing is much bigger now because this is not a self-inflicted wound in one area of the economy, unsound mortgages. It is a general collapse of economic activity as people are directed to stay home to prevent a 21st Century Black Death. In the worst case, it could kill eight million of us, in good part because Trump delayed for weeks increased production of medical safety equipment and ventilators.
$10,000 Per Each American
Trillions and billions are huge, virtually unimaginable numbers, so let’s give some perspective. Consider a $3.3 trillion coronavirus tab for a one-year pandemic. That’s more than $10,000 per American; $40,000 for a family of four.
That cost also would be more than twice the money our federal government plans to spend this budget year on the military, veterans, education, federal law enforcement, the Centers for Disease Control, NASA, all cabinet agencies and other federal operations considered discretionary because Congress can alter spending as it chooses.
Trump’s team projected $1.8 trillion in individual income taxes or about $5,400 per American. In addition, corporate profits taxes were expected to generate $265 billion.
Back when Trump was claiming the first 15 coronavirus cases would quickly fall to zero his administration projected revenues of all kinds would fall $1 trillion short of total federal spending. That shortfall is about $3,000 per American.
Record Job Losses
Income tax revenues are about to collapse as work disappears for perhaps 30 million Americans. Corporate profits overall are going to plunge, too. That means the actual shortfall in tax revenues will be much worse than Team Trump anticipated.
Already it’s clear that job losses will be several times worse than during the worst of the Great Recession. The weekly record for initial jobless benefits claims was set in March 2009 at just under 700,000.
Last week about three million people made initial claims for jobless benefits, according to Merrill Lynch economists. Goldman Sachs estimated 2.25 million claims. The data will be out Thursday, March 26, though the Trump administration has asked states to temporarily suppress this information.
As jobs vanish and business sales plummet it creates a vicious downward spiral in which the economy shrinks and shrinks again.
What would it mean if unemployment hits 20%, a widely discussed and perhaps conservative number?
One-in-Five Workers Fired
American workers earn more than $150 billion a week. If every fifth worker loses their paycheck it would mean about $30 billion a week in wages vanish. Were that split equally among all workers it would mean getting paid only for Monday through Thursday.
That’s more than $1.5 trillion of lost wages for a year, more than the entire discretionary federal budget for the military, FBI, etc.
Then there is the multiplier effect, so beloved by companies extracting corporate welfare from state and local governments. When workers spend, jobs are created for everyone from airline pilots and cooks to oil well roughnecks and hardware store clerks. But when spending falls those workers get laid off.
A loss of $1.5 trillion in wages implies at least $300 billion more in damage, a very conservative number. If the lost wages were in manufacturing the broader impact could mean the loss of other jobs paying perhaps seven times as much.
CEOs Panic
If you think these numbers are scaremongering, consider the behavior of top executives at America’s major corporations, who are well paid for their exquisite expertise in how to husband and deploy capital. Their behavior shows panic.
Every cent on credit lines of airlines, carmakers, lodging companies, and others has been drawn down, making the borrowing companies flush with cash. Fearing that they would be unable to fund this borrowing, all eight Too Big to Fail Banks last week stopped buybacks of their own shares.
Ford Motor borrowed $15.4 billion, the total available on its credit lines. It also canceled its dividend to shareholders to conserve cash and it shut down vehicle production.
Last week the Big Three U.S. automakers sent 150,000 workers home last week, partly at the urging of the United Auto Workers, which feared members would develop coronavirus.
Meager Unemployment Benefits
Jobless benefits, using up vacation and sick pay will blunt the overall economic damage from lost wages, but only for a short while. Unless Congress acts, jobless benefits will last no more than six months. And those benefits are meager, as little as $45 a week in Alabama.
People living paycheck-to-paycheck will face eviction unless our government steps in, as New York state has for 90 days. But what of landlords, many with properties burdened with mortgages that must be paid each month?
More troubling, a majority of workers don’t qualify for jobless benefits under existing law; in Florida only one in eight applicants collect unemployment checks, as we reported earlier. The reason: Employers lobbied for laws that limit their costs.
Economy Built on Leverage
Because we have built an economy that discourages savings and favors borrowing, also known as leverage, many firms are not prepared for a significant drop in revenue.
The airline industry is demanding an immediate $58 billion in welfare, half in cash, half in zero-interest loans. Otherwise, the airlines threaten “draconian measures.” United Airlines has suggested it will furlough more than 50,000 of its 88,000 employees unless Congress submits to its cash demands by next week.
So how does anyone have any idea how much stimulus is needed to keep our economy from collapse? The answer is accounting identities, the simple algebra of national income accounting.
Doing the GDP Math
Just as 2+2 must equal 4, the rules of accounting identities give us the Gross Domestic Product or GDP.
Our situation is as if we had an economy with two apples and two oranges, but then one orange soured. That means 2+1=3. And that means, assuming the population remains the same, that on average incomes must fall by 25%.
When wages and investment fall, then the economy, the Gross Domestic Product, must fall, leaving us overall worse off.
However, the government could offset this with increased spending to make up for the fall. Since our constitution gives our government a monopoly on the currency, it can create and spend all the money it wants and never go broke, though over time such spending could have very adverse consequences for us as individuals.
Trump Businesses Hit Hard
Income from wages and profits and interest on investments are all about to fall by 20% or more, I estimate. Some industries will see virtually all of their revenue dry up.
The golf, hotel and restaurant businesses of Donald Trump will be hard hit. As DCReport revealed last week, investors in Trump’s second-largest lender, Ladder Capital, have driven the value of that tiny firm’s shares down, now off 76%, more than double the overall decline in the market.
In such a troubled economy, total new business investment will fall by as much as a 33%, a $2 trillion decline. The Great Recession fall was about 25%.
And among people who keep their jobs, or can live off investments and benefits such as pensions and Social Security, spending will decline because people can’t engage in many activities that cost money. Also, many will hoard cash.
As I said, my calculations are conservative, assuming a 15% drop in economic activity over the next 12 months driven by the loss of 30 million jobs.
If the crisis continues for a second year, the situation would worsen somewhat. As more jobs are lost and many highly leveraged businesses, from smalltime landlords to airlines, are forced to seek refuge in federal bankruptcy court, lenders and vendors would take further losses.
But we can avoid that by sending cash to people through Congressional spending. Putting cash directly in individual pockets will, as our Constitution says, “promote the general welfare.”
In my next piece, I’ll show:
We need the government to act or we could fall into a depression rivaling the 1930s.
An 18-month crisis is widely expected. The Trump administration plan is for 18 months. That implies $5 trillion based on my calculations.
The ultimate cost of this novel virus is likely to be north of $7 trillion, assuming this pandemic endures for two years, as German public health officials warn.
Even if we put the pandemic behind us in just 12 months by finding and distributing an effective vaccine, the economic damage will run about $3.3 trillion. My calculations from the official economic reports also show in one year about a 15% decline in the Gross Domestic Product.
My estimates are more conservative than those of Goldman Sachs economists, who project a terrifying 24% drop in the national economy in April through June. If that severe contraction persists it quickly would produce a nightmare right out of the 1930s because for the last four decades Congress has been gnawing at what remains of the New Deal era social safety net.
Goldman optimistically projects a sharp, brief, drop followed by a sharp economic upturn starting in July. I don’t see that as realistic because until we have a cure allowing people to gather at work or for fun will spread the virus.
My one-year cost estimate would mean increasing federal spending this year from an expected $4.8 trillion to $8 trillion. More than half that money would be borrowed, quadrupling the shortfall between tax revenues and spending, known as the annual budget deficit.
Why We’re Reporting These Numbers
Estimating the costs in broad strokes is not all that hard for anyone who understands the principles of accounting identities, economics, and public finance.
So why haven’t journalists at major publications provided anything as understandable as the numbers above? Journalists usually wait for someone in authority to make a declaration which they can quote. This administration hasn’t done that. Many finance journalists also don’t know about the accounting identities used to calculate national income or how to make calculations.
Last week, DCReport was the first to publish the numbers of infections and deaths expected by a wide range of public health experts. Two days later reports appeared confirming our reporting.
Much More Pain
It’s important to understand that if we don’t spend as much as it takes to make up for the loss of wages and profits, the result could be far worse economic harm. America could be in economic pain long after COVID-19 becomes history if Congress and Donald Trump act as cheapskates.
The Great Recession officially ended in June 2009, but for more than a decade the American labor market suffered along with growth in domestic capital investment, which is crucial to creating new jobs.
That was because stingy lawmakers, mostly Republicans but some Democrats, refused to enact the full stimulus package former President Barack Obama’s economic advisers sought using the same economic principles as I.
Then, at the behest of Republicans, 40% of the Obama stimulus was foolishly wasted on business tax cuts. These are inherently savings, instead of direct spending.
Trump Seeks Cuts in Food, Healthcare
The Trump administration and Congressional Republicans continue to seek cuts in food stamps and health care for children, as DCReport keeps advising readers.
The need for government spending to keep the economy from collapsing is much bigger now because this is not a self-inflicted wound in one area of the economy, unsound mortgages. It is a general collapse of economic activity as people are directed to stay home to prevent a 21st Century Black Death. In the worst case, it could kill eight million of us, in good part because Trump delayed for weeks increased production of medical safety equipment and ventilators.
$10,000 Per Each American
Trillions and billions are huge, virtually unimaginable numbers, so let’s give some perspective. Consider a $3.3 trillion coronavirus tab for a one-year pandemic. That’s more than $10,000 per American; $40,000 for a family of four.
That cost also would be more than twice the money our federal government plans to spend this budget year on the military, veterans, education, federal law enforcement, the Centers for Disease Control, NASA, all cabinet agencies and other federal operations considered discretionary because Congress can alter spending as it chooses.
Trump’s team projected $1.8 trillion in individual income taxes or about $5,400 per American. In addition, corporate profits taxes were expected to generate $265 billion.
Back when Trump was claiming the first 15 coronavirus cases would quickly fall to zero his administration projected revenues of all kinds would fall $1 trillion short of total federal spending. That shortfall is about $3,000 per American.
Record Job Losses
Income tax revenues are about to collapse as work disappears for perhaps 30 million Americans. Corporate profits overall are going to plunge, too. That means the actual shortfall in tax revenues will be much worse than Team Trump anticipated.
Already it’s clear that job losses will be several times worse than during the worst of the Great Recession. The weekly record for initial jobless benefits claims was set in March 2009 at just under 700,000.
Last week about three million people made initial claims for jobless benefits, according to Merrill Lynch economists. Goldman Sachs estimated 2.25 million claims. The data will be out Thursday, March 26, though the Trump administration has asked states to temporarily suppress this information.
As jobs vanish and business sales plummet it creates a vicious downward spiral in which the economy shrinks and shrinks again.
What would it mean if unemployment hits 20%, a widely discussed and perhaps conservative number?
One-in-Five Workers Fired
American workers earn more than $150 billion a week. If every fifth worker loses their paycheck it would mean about $30 billion a week in wages vanish. Were that split equally among all workers it would mean getting paid only for Monday through Thursday.
That’s more than $1.5 trillion of lost wages for a year, more than the entire discretionary federal budget for the military, FBI, etc.
Then there is the multiplier effect, so beloved by companies extracting corporate welfare from state and local governments. When workers spend, jobs are created for everyone from airline pilots and cooks to oil well roughnecks and hardware store clerks. But when spending falls those workers get laid off.
A loss of $1.5 trillion in wages implies at least $300 billion more in damage, a very conservative number. If the lost wages were in manufacturing the broader impact could mean the loss of other jobs paying perhaps seven times as much.
CEOs Panic
If you think these numbers are scaremongering, consider the behavior of top executives at America’s major corporations, who are well paid for their exquisite expertise in how to husband and deploy capital. Their behavior shows panic.
Every cent on credit lines of airlines, carmakers, lodging companies, and others has been drawn down, making the borrowing companies flush with cash. Fearing that they would be unable to fund this borrowing, all eight Too Big to Fail Banks last week stopped buybacks of their own shares.
Ford Motor borrowed $15.4 billion, the total available on its credit lines. It also canceled its dividend to shareholders to conserve cash and it shut down vehicle production.
Last week the Big Three U.S. automakers sent 150,000 workers home last week, partly at the urging of the United Auto Workers, which feared members would develop coronavirus.
Meager Unemployment Benefits
Jobless benefits, using up vacation and sick pay will blunt the overall economic damage from lost wages, but only for a short while. Unless Congress acts, jobless benefits will last no more than six months. And those benefits are meager, as little as $45 a week in Alabama.
People living paycheck-to-paycheck will face eviction unless our government steps in, as New York state has for 90 days. But what of landlords, many with properties burdened with mortgages that must be paid each month?
More troubling, a majority of workers don’t qualify for jobless benefits under existing law; in Florida only one in eight applicants collect unemployment checks, as we reported earlier. The reason: Employers lobbied for laws that limit their costs.
Economy Built on Leverage
Because we have built an economy that discourages savings and favors borrowing, also known as leverage, many firms are not prepared for a significant drop in revenue.
The airline industry is demanding an immediate $58 billion in welfare, half in cash, half in zero-interest loans. Otherwise, the airlines threaten “draconian measures.” United Airlines has suggested it will furlough more than 50,000 of its 88,000 employees unless Congress submits to its cash demands by next week.
So how does anyone have any idea how much stimulus is needed to keep our economy from collapse? The answer is accounting identities, the simple algebra of national income accounting.
Doing the GDP Math
Just as 2+2 must equal 4, the rules of accounting identities give us the Gross Domestic Product or GDP.
Our situation is as if we had an economy with two apples and two oranges, but then one orange soured. That means 2+1=3. And that means, assuming the population remains the same, that on average incomes must fall by 25%.
When wages and investment fall, then the economy, the Gross Domestic Product, must fall, leaving us overall worse off.
However, the government could offset this with increased spending to make up for the fall. Since our constitution gives our government a monopoly on the currency, it can create and spend all the money it wants and never go broke, though over time such spending could have very adverse consequences for us as individuals.
Trump Businesses Hit Hard
Income from wages and profits and interest on investments are all about to fall by 20% or more, I estimate. Some industries will see virtually all of their revenue dry up.
The golf, hotel and restaurant businesses of Donald Trump will be hard hit. As DCReport revealed last week, investors in Trump’s second-largest lender, Ladder Capital, have driven the value of that tiny firm’s shares down, now off 76%, more than double the overall decline in the market.
In such a troubled economy, total new business investment will fall by as much as a 33%, a $2 trillion decline. The Great Recession fall was about 25%.
And among people who keep their jobs, or can live off investments and benefits such as pensions and Social Security, spending will decline because people can’t engage in many activities that cost money. Also, many will hoard cash.
As I said, my calculations are conservative, assuming a 15% drop in economic activity over the next 12 months driven by the loss of 30 million jobs.
If the crisis continues for a second year, the situation would worsen somewhat. As more jobs are lost and many highly leveraged businesses, from smalltime landlords to airlines, are forced to seek refuge in federal bankruptcy court, lenders and vendors would take further losses.
But we can avoid that by sending cash to people through Congressional spending. Putting cash directly in individual pockets will, as our Constitution says, “promote the general welfare.”
In my next piece, I’ll show:
- how Congress could help businesses retain workers
- what reasonable controls on use of this welfare might look like
Paul Krugman offers blunt advice on the coronavirus economic fallout: ‘Don’t trust Trump’
Alex Henderson - alternet
March 20, 2020
Liberal economist and veteran New York Times economist Paul Krugman was a frequent source of wisdom during the Great Recession of the late 2000s and 2010s. Now, in 2020, the U.S. finds itself confronting a major health crisis that is also a major economic crisis: coronavirus, which is forcing a wide range of brick-and-mortar businesses to close their doors. And Krugman, in his column, offers three economic tips for coping with the deadly pandemic: (1) “focus on hardship” rather than GDP, (2) “stop worrying about incentives to work,” and (3) “don’t trust Trump.”
Over the years in his column, Krugman has repeatedly stressed a core principle of New Deal/Great Society economics: helping those in need benefits the economy on the whole. Krugman asserts that helping those who inevitably suffer great “hardship” because of coronavirus is sound economic policy.
“What policy can do is reduce the hardship facing those who are temporarily out of work,” Krugman advises. “That means that we need to spend much more on programs like paid sick leave, unemployment benefits, food stamps and Medicaid that aid Americans in distress — who need far more help than they’ll get from an across-the-board cash drop. This spending would also provide stimulus, but that’s a secondary concern.”
Krugman doesn’t actually use the word “bootstraps” in his column. But with #2, he is essentially making a New Deal/Great Society type of argument and saying that it is ridiculous to expect those who are economically devastated by coronavirus to simply pull themselves up by the bootstraps.
“The usual suspects are already objecting that helping Americans in need reduces their incentive to work,” Krugman observes. “That’s a lousy argument even in good times, but it’s absurd in the face of a pandemic. And state governments that have been trying, with encouragement from the Trump administration, to reduce public assistance by imposing work requirements should suspend all such requirements immediately.”
With #3, Krugman is especially biting in his commentary — arguing that because Trump was painfully slow to acknowledge the severity of coronavirus, he simply cannot be trusted.
“The U.S. response to the threat has been catastrophically slow and inadequate,” Krugman asserts. “And the buck stops with Trump, who minimized the threat and discouraged action until just a few days ago.”
Krugman goes on to explain, “Over the past few days, state TV — I mean Fox News — and right-wing pundits have abruptly pivoted from dismissing COVID-19 as a liberal hoax to demanding an end to all criticism of the president in a time of national emergency. This should come as no surprise. But this is where the history of the Trump pandemic — all those wasted weeks when we did nothing because Donald Trump didn’t want to hear anything that might hurt him politically — becomes relevant. It shows that even when American lives are at risk, this administration’s policy is all about Trump, about what he thinks will make him look good. Never mind the national interest.”
Krugman stresses that when “Congress allocates money” for economic stimulus because of coronavirus, Trump shouldn’t have “any discretion over how the money is spent.”
“While it may be necessary to provide funds for some business bailouts,” Krugman notes, “Congress must specify the rules for who gets those funds and under what conditions. Otherwise, you know what will happen: Trump will abuse any discretion to reward his friends and punish his enemies. That’s just who he is.”
The economist wraps up his column by lamenting that during a devastating global pandemic, the United States has a president who is woefully unfit for the job.
“Dealing with the coronavirus would be hard in the best of circumstances,” Krugman writes. “It will be especially hard when we know that we can’t trust either the judgment or the motives of the man who should be leading the response. But you go into a pandemic with the president you have, not the president you wish you had.”
Over the years in his column, Krugman has repeatedly stressed a core principle of New Deal/Great Society economics: helping those in need benefits the economy on the whole. Krugman asserts that helping those who inevitably suffer great “hardship” because of coronavirus is sound economic policy.
“What policy can do is reduce the hardship facing those who are temporarily out of work,” Krugman advises. “That means that we need to spend much more on programs like paid sick leave, unemployment benefits, food stamps and Medicaid that aid Americans in distress — who need far more help than they’ll get from an across-the-board cash drop. This spending would also provide stimulus, but that’s a secondary concern.”
Krugman doesn’t actually use the word “bootstraps” in his column. But with #2, he is essentially making a New Deal/Great Society type of argument and saying that it is ridiculous to expect those who are economically devastated by coronavirus to simply pull themselves up by the bootstraps.
“The usual suspects are already objecting that helping Americans in need reduces their incentive to work,” Krugman observes. “That’s a lousy argument even in good times, but it’s absurd in the face of a pandemic. And state governments that have been trying, with encouragement from the Trump administration, to reduce public assistance by imposing work requirements should suspend all such requirements immediately.”
With #3, Krugman is especially biting in his commentary — arguing that because Trump was painfully slow to acknowledge the severity of coronavirus, he simply cannot be trusted.
“The U.S. response to the threat has been catastrophically slow and inadequate,” Krugman asserts. “And the buck stops with Trump, who minimized the threat and discouraged action until just a few days ago.”
Krugman goes on to explain, “Over the past few days, state TV — I mean Fox News — and right-wing pundits have abruptly pivoted from dismissing COVID-19 as a liberal hoax to demanding an end to all criticism of the president in a time of national emergency. This should come as no surprise. But this is where the history of the Trump pandemic — all those wasted weeks when we did nothing because Donald Trump didn’t want to hear anything that might hurt him politically — becomes relevant. It shows that even when American lives are at risk, this administration’s policy is all about Trump, about what he thinks will make him look good. Never mind the national interest.”
Krugman stresses that when “Congress allocates money” for economic stimulus because of coronavirus, Trump shouldn’t have “any discretion over how the money is spent.”
“While it may be necessary to provide funds for some business bailouts,” Krugman notes, “Congress must specify the rules for who gets those funds and under what conditions. Otherwise, you know what will happen: Trump will abuse any discretion to reward his friends and punish his enemies. That’s just who he is.”
The economist wraps up his column by lamenting that during a devastating global pandemic, the United States has a president who is woefully unfit for the job.
“Dealing with the coronavirus would be hard in the best of circumstances,” Krugman writes. “It will be especially hard when we know that we can’t trust either the judgment or the motives of the man who should be leading the response. But you go into a pandemic with the president you have, not the president you wish you had.”
