Countdown 47 Day Election

California 17 days until early voting

THE ECONOMY AND THE VIRUS                           

The upcoming chaos as a result of the economic challenges in an economy that is slowly recovering and will only be ½ way back by year end. From there the recovery economy will be very, very slow.  Will the economy next year become a full blown depression?  Normalcy will be elusive until the virus is contained and a viable vaccine is available. 

The PPP  loans, the $600 add on to unemployment, and the $1,200 checks that everyone has burned through is leaving a mark.  There are 5.4 million families that are facing eviction.  Prior to the pandemic over ½ the families in the US would scrape to gather $400 for an emergency.  There are 30 million workers that are receiving some kind of unemployment assistance.  Anyone counting on any additional assistance prior to the election will be waiting as there is no appetite in the Senate to pass anything prior to election break. The only chance is If Trump thinks it will help in the upcoming election only then will Mitch McConnell be motivated to act on the House bill.   Thanks Mitch!

Labor department last week showed 884,000 filed for unemployment, 800,000 requested unemployment assistance and that number has been rising for the last 4 weeks. 10% of adults reporting said they did not have enough to eat, and not having food to put on the table.  There is a reported 10% poverty rate and 22% poverty rate among African American families and rising. There are 29.9 million Americans are on unemployment assistance in total according to the BLS. That’s 20 times the amount that were on assistance in 2019 at this same time. 

The new president will come into office with a much weaker tool box to fix a weak economy.   When Obama took office during the depths of the republican recession there was a $760 billion annual deficit, when the president takes office in January there will be a $3 Trillion deficit.  When Obama took office the debt to GDP ratio was close to 35% Next year it will be closer to 100%.  Hospital trust funds for Medicare that are starting to run out of money as are other government managed trust funds.  There will be both fiscal and public health challenges next year.

There will be no recovery before the virus is conquered by someone that will tell the truth about the virus so that everyone can get on the same page. 

The following is an extract from a political action committee message published by “The committee to protect Medicare:

“Trump has been lying to the American people about the severity of the coronavirus pandemic since day one. The proof is in the difference between his public statements on COVID-19 and the newly unearthed private statements he made to Bob Woodward as early as February on the coronavirus:

TRUMP’S PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON COVID-19:

FEB. 2 – “We’ve pretty much shut it [the coronavirus] down.

FEB. 26 – “The risk to the American people remains very low.

FEB. 26 – “We view this the same as the flu.”

FEB. 28 – “Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. It’s their new hoax.

TRUMP’S PRIVATE STATEMENTS ON COVID-19:

FEB. 7 – “It’s more deadly than even your most strenuous flus.”

FEB. 7 – “This is more deadly. This is 5% deaths versus 1% or less than 1%.

MARCH 13 – “It’s not just old people, it’s young people too… it’s a plague”

MARCH 19 – “I always wanted to play it down. I still like to play it down.”

The March 19^th quote above follows the market crash as a result of the news of the virus.  That is why he said he wanted to play it down because he saw what the impact had on the market.  That is the only concern he had, the market usually drops with bad news Trump knows that.  That’s the only reason he wants to downplay the pandemic.  Hay Donald what about humanity?

Donald Trump is a liar, and his failure to disclose the seriousness of the coronavirus crisis to the American people early on has caused nearly 200,000 people to die. It never had to be this bad, and Trump is responsible for every one of these senseless deaths. But he will never take responsibility for this, and it’s going to be up to us to hold him accountable at the ballot box.”

While at a super spreader rally event when Trump was asked if he thought he could get the virus he said: “I’m very safe I’m on the stage”.  That’s nice what about the crowd, you have no care?  Trump does not care about you, yes those that support him are nothing but props to Trump. He is willing to dispose of any of them if it serves his ego.

Trump’s latest answer to the Covid-19 virus was “herd mentality” or “Herd development”  This was said when he described the elimination of the virus.  Did he mean “herd immunity?  He did not say “herd immunity”  which without a vaccine or other life saving mitigation would kill between 2 and 4 million Americans. 

Or did he really mean “herd mentality”  a propaganda tool that is the phenomenon whereas a group of followers is fed information or propaganda which is then believed by the entire group .  An example is the run up to the Iraq war.  Another example could be his false narrative about the state of the pandemic the value of the rushed vaccine or that the virus will magically disappear.  Basically a propaganda tool.  This position for herd immunity is being pushed by the new spokesperson accompanying Trump as a health professional in Trump’s briefings replacing Dr.’s Fauci and Brix, a gentleman with a degree in radiology is pushing this absurd idea that could jeopardize the lives of millions.  Where dos he get these clowns?

Trump is a performance patriot dealing in false narratives, lies, blame, shirking basic responsibilities and denigrating everyone who disagrees or has a contrary opinion.  He labels facts as fake news if it is contrary to his narrative.  All for the show ignoring the crisis engulfing him.  Like the Orchestra on the deck of the Titanic still putting on a show.

My take on the above is that it’s a laser flashlight from Trump; look over here!

I’m sure when his aids tell him what “herd immunity” could mean in death count he will deny he said that and, what was said, and what he really meant was the development of a “herd mentality” such as using masks, social distancing and avoid large groups, testing and contact tracing — and once the herd mentality kicks in the virus will magically disappear.  (SURE).  This sounds more like Biden.

PS a new Pew poll just released shows the image of the United States to the rest of the world in weakening under President Trump.