Category Archives: bailout
Phase Four of the Virus War Coming
Phase four of the virus war could include another 2 trillion to bail out states and build infrastructure.
Virus War
But John Kass thinks that’s not what people want or need right now:
Nobody in politics has been laid off.
And what of the small-business owner who doesn’t build roads? She risked everything to open her business. She went into debt. But there are no customers now, and the landlord wants the rent and the taxman is always waiting.
She doesn’t see herself as someone who Just Wants People to Die.She wants to work. She wants to live.
-John Kass, Chicago Tribune
Race Against Time, Virus vs. Savings
It’s a race against time. Can the virus be spent before your savings?
701,000 American jobs were lost in March and the unemployment rate rose from 3.5% to 4.4% in one month according to the WSJ.
Meanwhile, The Guardian says about 35 companies are working on a vaccine and Moderna is about to begin human testing. And “many many‘ groups are working on immunity-giving antibody tests that provide results in minutes.
Two Trillion Dollar Stimulus Brings Back Bull, For Now
The Senate passed a two trillion dollar stimulus bill Wednesday night. And the Dow lurched forward 6.4% on Thursday. And that followed an 11% bump from the day before. But the 401k party was over by Friday and it was still down over 20% for the year.
Cure Worse than Disease?
Is the cure worse than the disease? The war against the Covid-19 virus is destroying businesses and jobs. The Wall Street Journal in an editorial titled Rethinking the Coronavirus Shutdown thinks maybe so:
In a normal recession the U.S. loses about 5% of national output over the course of a year or so. In this case we may lose that much, or twice as much, in a month.
Our friend Ed Hyman, the Wall Street economist, on Thursday adjusted his estimate for the second quarter to an annual rate loss in GDP of minus-20%. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s assertion on Fox Business Thursday that the economy will power through all this is happy talk if this continues for much longer…
And David Katz, the founding director of the Yale- Griffin prevention research Center, wrote in the New York Times
I am deeply concerned that the social, economic and public health consequences of this near total meltdown of normal life — schools and businesses closed, gatherings banned — will be long lasting and calamitous, possibly graver than the direct toll of the virus itself.
…A pivot right now from trying to protect all people to focusing on the most vulnerable remains entirely plausible. With each passing day, however, it becomes more difficult. The path we are on may well lead to uncontained viral contagion and monumental collateral damage to our society and economy. A more surgical approach is what we need.
