Fed: Unemployment Rate Could Reach 32%
March 30th, 2020Via: CNBC:
Millions of Americans already have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus crisis and the worst of the damage is yet to come, according to a Federal Reserve estimate.
Economists at the Fed’s St. Louis district project total employment reductions of 47 million, which would translate to a 32.1% unemployment rate, according to a recent analysis of how bad things could get.
Trump Authorizes DoD to Bring Reservists and Some Former Troops on Active Duty for COVID-19 Response
March 30th, 2020Up to one million.
Via: Military.com:
President Donald Trump signed an order Friday allowing the U.S. military to bring members of the selected reserve and some former service members on active duty to support the government’s response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard can now order units and individual members of the Ready Reserve back on active duty for up to two years, according to the executive order. The order said a recall, if issued, could not result in having more than 1,000,000 members on active duty at any one time.
The order seems to apply mainly to members of the selected reserve, primarily comprised of service members who serve in a part-time capacity one weekend per month and two weeks per year.
Still, it also applies to those in the individual ready reserve, made up mainly of service members who served on active-duty and were discharged but still have a contractual obligation that subjects them to involuntary recall during a national emergency.
German State Finance Minister Found Dead
March 29th, 2020Via: DW:
The body of a man identified as Thomas Schäfer, the finance minister of the German state of Hesse, was found on a high-speed train line in the town of Hochheim between Frankfurt and Mainz, police confirmed Saturday.
The presence of a body on the tracks was first reported by witnesses to paramedics, who were unable to initially identify the remains due to the extent of the injuries.
Investigators said an investigation on the scene confirmed the identity of the man as Schäfer and that the death was likely a suicide. Police did not immediately release further details of the case.
The politician apparently left a note before taking his own life, German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported, citing sources close to the investigation. The note, according to the report, referenced Schäfer’s reasons for taking the step.
…
Schäfer had been widely expected to succeed state premier, Volker Bouffier, if he decided not to stand for re-election in 2023.
In a statement, Bouffier said that the state’s leadership has received the news with “sadness and disbelief.”
Bouffier also said that Schäfer had been living under considerable worry and stress because of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
ICU Doctor on Covid-19
March 28th, 2020The person who posted this doesn’t allow embedding. To see it, click through to Vimeo.
South Africa Begins ‘Unprecedented’ Military-Patrolled Lockdown
March 28th, 2020Via: AFP:
South Africa came under a nationwide military-patrolled lockdown on Friday, joining other African countries imposing strict curfews and shutdowns in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus across the continent.
Some 57 million people are to be restricted to their homes during South Africa’s three-week total lockdown which began at midnight.
Coronavirus: A New 9/11? The Propaganda of Terror and Fear, A Lesson from Recent History
March 28th, 2020Via: Off Guardian:
The ongoing and unfolding reactions to the Corona Virus look set to have wide-ranging and long-lasting effect on politics, society and economics. The drive to close down all activities is extraordinary as are the measures being promoted to isolate people from each other.
The deep-rooted fear of contagious disease, hardwired into the collective consciousness by historical events such as the ‘Black/Bubonic Plague’ and maintained through popular culture (e.g. the Hollywood movies Outbreak and Contagion), means that people are without question highly susceptible to accepting extreme emergency measures whether or not such measures are rational or justified. The New York Times called for America to be put on a war footing in order to deal with Corona whilst former Army General Stanley McChrystal has been invoking his 9/11 experience in order to prescribe lessons for today’s leaders.
At the same time, political actors are fully aware that these conditions of fear and panic provide a critical opportunity that can be exploited in order to pursue political, economic and societal objectives. It is very likely, however, that the dangers posed by the potential exploitation of Corona for broader political, economic and societal objectives latter far outweigh the immediate threat to life and health from the virus. A lesson from recent history is instructive here.
“If Getting Us Into $6 Trillion More Debt Doesn’t Matter, Then Why Not $350 Trillion?”
March 28th, 2020Via: ZeroHedge:
…out of the $2 trillion, only $290 billion is meant for direct payments to families, which as a reminder was the whole point of the bill.
…
If getting us into $6 trillion more debt doesn’t matter, then why are we not getting $350 trillion more in debt so that we can give a check of $1 million to every person in the country?
…
This stimulus should go straight to the people rather than being funneled through banks and corporations like this bill is doing. 2 trillion divided by 150 million workers is about $13,333.00 per person. That’s much more than the $1,200 per person check authorized by this bill.
SpaceX Competitor OneWeb Goes Bankrupt
March 28th, 2020Via: BBC:
OneWeb, the high-profile London-based satellite start-up, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.
The firm, which has been building a network to deliver broadband across the globe, blamed the Covid-19 crisis for its inability to secure new investment.
OneWeb issued a statement saying it was laying off most of its staff while it seeks a buyer for the company.
The start-up recently launched the 74th satellite in a constellation planned to total at least 648 spacecraft.
SpaceX Has Won a Big NASA Contract to Fly Cargo to the Moon
March 28th, 2020Via: Ars Technica:
Last summer, NASA put out a call for companies who would be willing to deliver cargo to a proposed station in orbit around the Moon, called the Lunar Gateway. On Friday, NASA announced that the first award under this “Gateway Logistics” contract would go to SpaceX.
The company has proposed using its Falcon Heavy rocket to deliver a modified version of its Dragon spacecraft, called Dragon XL, to the Lunar Gateway. After delivering cargo, experiments and other supplies, the spacecraft would be required to remain docked at the Gateway for a year before “autonomous” disposal.
“This contract award is another critical piece of our plan to return to the Moon sustainably,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a news release. “The Gateway is the cornerstone of the long-term Artemis architecture, and this deep space commercial cargo capability integrates yet another American industry partner into our plans for human exploration at the Moon in preparation for a future mission to Mars.”
Current Estimates About Covid-19 Fatality Rate Orders of Magnitude Too High
March 27th, 2020Via: Stanford:
Stanford Health Policy’s Eran Bendavid and Jay Bhattacharya write in this Wall Street Journal editorial that current estimates about the COVID-19 fatality rate may be too high by orders of magnitude.
“If it’s true that the novel coronavirus would kill millions without shelter-in-place orders and quarantines, then the extraordinary measures being carried out in cities and states around the country are surely justified. But there’s little evidence to confirm that premise—and projections of the death toll could plausibly be orders of magnitude too high.
“Fear of Covid-19 is based on its high estimated case fatality rate — 2% to 4% of people with confirmed Covid-19 have died, according to the World Health Organization and others. So if 100 million Americans ultimately get the disease, 2 million to 4 million could die. We believe that estimate is deeply flawed. The true fatality rate is the portion of those infected who die, not the deaths from identified positive cases.”
“The latter rate is misleading because of selection bias in testing. The degree of bias is uncertain because available data are limited. But it could make the difference between an epidemic that kills 20,000 and one that kills 2 million. If the number of actual infections is much larger than the number of cases—orders of magnitude larger—then the true fatality rate is much lower as well. That’s not only plausible but likely based on what we know so far.”
