May 28, 2020
NERO’S CORONA VIRUS TIMELINE
Below is excerpts from the Morning Joe show timeline aired on May 27Th and 28Th 2020 with my comments.
December 31, 2019: the CDC reported on a cluster of an unknown virus in China to HHS.
January 3, 2020: China tells the CDC of the outbreak and both Alex Azar HHS secretary and the National Security advisors warned the White House. Peter Navarro also made 2 stern warnings in writing to the White House, and the Presidents Daily briefs (reported to be as many as 12 times) also warned him of impending outbreak during this period, between the 3rd and the 22nd.
January 22, 2020: Trump on the coronavirus “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine”. Ok let’s see.
Peter Navarro trade representative, warned Trump of the potential of 500,000 deaths near this time.
Joe Biden, on January 27 wrote an OP-ED on the lack of preparedness this administration and said that Donald Trump has made it so we are not ready for a pandemic. By this time, the President’s Daily Briefings began raising a red flag, however it did not have pictures so he could understand and he ignored the warnings.
January 30, 2020: The President said, “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment —5— and those people are recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us…that I can assure you”
February 10, 2020: Trump said, ”Now, the virus we’re talking about having to do—-you know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat—-as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April. We’re in good shape though. We have just 12 case—-11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now”.
February 14, 2020: Donald again, with certainty claims, “There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm—-Historically, that has been able to kill the virus. So we don’t know yet; we’re not sure yet. But that’s around the corner”. He then wants Easter April 12th to open up places of worship.
February 23, 2020: Trump says, “We have it very much under control in this country”. He engages in his mystical, wishful, in the bubble thinking. It’s just a virus like the flu. No problem.
February 24, 2020: He again says, ”The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries, the CDC and World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock market looking very good to me”.
February 26, 2020: Trump on the virus “So we’re at the low level. As they get better, we take them off the list, so that we are going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck”. I would have replaced stupidity for the word luck. He also said “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s pretty good job we’ve done”. When asked if schools should be preparing for coronavirus spreading he said, “I think every aspect of our society should be prepared. I don’t think it’s going to come to that, especially with the fact that we’re going very substantially down, not up”. I had no idea his bubble has zero gravity and he is seeing things upside down.
February 27, 2020: “It’s going to disappear. One day–it’s like a miracle–it will disappear”. Ok whose drinking the grape Kool Aid.
February 29, 2020: “And I’ve gotten to know these professionals. They’re incredible. And everything is under control. I mean, they’re very cool. They’ve done it, and they’ve done it well. Everything is under control”. Repetition to Trump make things true. Say it three times it’s the real news, not the fake stuff.
March 4, 2020: “We have a small number of people in this country [infected]. We have a big country. The biggest impact we had, was when we took the 40-plus people [from the cruise ship]….We brought them back. We immediately quarantined them. But you add that to the numbers. But if you don’t add that to the numbers we’re talking about very small numbers in the United States.”
March 7, 2020: Again, when the president was asked about the coronavirus he said, “No I’m not concerned at all. No, we’ve done a great job”. My take on the last sentence should have been “we’ve not done a great job.”
March 9, 2020: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down. Life and the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of Corona Virus, with 22 deaths. Think about that”. I have, and the blankets we traded to the Native –American’s, with a gift of small pox, comes to mind. The pandemic is a novel virus and no one has antibodies.
March 10, 2020: Trump states, “And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it [with the virus]. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away”. This to calm the markets, due to its impending downturn spoiling of Trump’s stock market, 401K, election year gambit.
The above is the 8 weeks of Nero-type dithering I keep referring in my prior text. This inaction does not come without the self-congratulatory “mission accomplished” moments, when Jerrod Kushner “this has been a great success story” Trump said “we have prevailed on testing, we did it, we won” in reference to the availability of having the ability to test the test kits, however the re-agents and the swabs required were lacking rendering the kits useless. “We have had great reviews”, he said. All of this, only to attempt to spin the 100,000 deaths as a great success story.
Is the Trump administration responsible for all 100,000 deaths? No. It is, however, responsible for a slow and erratic and chaotic response and being more and more political the closer it is to November, to the detriment of public health and safety.
The swifter and more aggressive the response, the better the outcome. Take South Korea, It had its first case reported on the same day as the US. Look at the outcomes to date. The United States with 307 deaths per million of the population and South Korea with 5 per million. The difference is attention to the potential and swift action. South Korea knew the risk due to their experience with SARS, and MERS infections. Its measures were to immediately lock down, test, isolate, trace spreading, social distancing and masks. All of these measures saved thousands of lives.
Conversely, the slower the response, the greater the death toll. Take Boris Johnson Prime minister of England. His initial response was similar to that of Trump and ignored warnings and initially favored heard immunity, as it was thought to be flu like with similar death rates. The United States and England have now the 1st and 2nd in total deaths. Like Trump always wanted to be #1, his leadership has the United States guaranteed to be the #1 country in coronavirus deaths. Great job my ass!
AN ELUSIVE RECOVERY
The way countries of continental Europe used to minimize the economic impact was to do what any sane economist would have done. I have previously stated my distain for socialistic capitalism, which is engendered in my previous understanding of what capitalism should be. How do you have winners and losers in a free market and then pay off the losers? I have done my pontification on this subject in my previous daily writings.
The Trump mantra is, if you fool them once with the “look over there” trick, and when you look, he pulls off his biggest scam ever perpetrated on the American public. The first scam came in 2017 where he gave away 2 trillion dollars in tax cuts, which 83% of the value went to the top 1% ($1T/year). With advisors like Steve Mnuchin who, has a reported net worth of over $400 million and Wilbur Ross Commerce Secretary, with a net worth north of $2.8 billion, what would you expect. Of course the opening of the economy outweighs the public health for these individuals. Are they the ones that convinced Trump that it was wise to push for reopening?
The second scam involves a tiny baby carrot and a giant transfer of wealth, again to benefit the highest income brackets, with actions that should have reduced the income disparity, but instead it has exacerbated its width. The dollar amounts are mind boggling how about the 2 trillion in immediate relief, which payroll protection amounted to $500 million. One more trillion in this year’s tax bill for the 2017 legislation. In addition, there is a slush fund of an additional 4 trillion dollars in 0% interest loans and grants to corporations and business entities. The $4 trillion is tantamount to printing out $12,000 for each man, woman, and child in the United States. The total for the scam counting only the two trillion dollars was $6,000 bill for every person and with the annual $1 trillion, it’s a $9,000 bill, yet the maximum an individual got was $1,200. Yeah equity? This bill will not be paid by the corporations, but will be paid by individuals?
Back to Europe and to the point of having a smooth vs chaotic recovery. The European philosophy was giving all the aid to the individual and giving up to 85+% of their incomes during the lockdown. No monies to the corporations. The only loss was the potential profits, which normally insure to the highest income levels. This Darwinian attitude is the epitome of the capitalistic win/loss philosophy, without the state providing the profit. Profit that was/then is used to purchase shares to enhance the stock price and dividends all to satisfy the Donald’s obsession with the market value. What about the employees? Will they still have jobs??.
Someone should tell Donald’s tribe the Dow Jones Industrial average only measures the value of the 30 largest companies, and the S&P is only a gauge of 500 companies, this out of the over 500,000 new entities registered each year. Trump’s obsession with the DOW is his ruse that the market adjusted to its current price, as a result of assets and stock buybacks reducing the numbers of shares. With many of the DOW and S&P companies, the virus impact is only them not making a profit. Loans are granted, with companies paying executives and stock buybacks.
It’s in the name, “capital”. This is the base of capitalism. When a pandemic hits, what becomes of the capital? Nothing! As for plant and equipment it goes idol, for land and houses they may not sell. Hotel rooms, airplanes, bars and theatres they don’t disappear, as in a natural disaster. These are all assets that are not earning a profit. Profit is the gamble the individual took on when investing your capital in the investment. This may sound cold; however it makes more sense when you consider the alternative.
As I have previously noted, the stock market is not a true gauge of the economy! Only dupes think that! Trump thinks that! It’s all for show the market can easily be manipulated with money for 0% interest. Is printing cash is next? Business failures and unemployment are key.