5/20/20: To be honest, Mr. Blogger has been hoping the president would run into trouble, to ensure that the American people would bounce him out of the White House in November. Trump is, after all, a grave threat to the rule of law and happily stirs hate in his base to serve his needs. He’s the political equivalent of a toxic waste dump. Rather than be afforded a second term in office he should be put on the Superfund cleanup list.
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| Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. Note tourists overlooking falls, top right. |
Unemployment likely to remain above 11%.
Anyway, I admit I have been praying Trump would run into problems and be denied a second term. But not this! (I was thinking more along the lines of, “President caught in Oval Office boinking a porn star.”)
Now, the Congressional Budget Office warns that the jobless rate will remain above 11% the rest of the year.
It will fall in 2021, but only to 9.3%.
These are catastrophic numbers and equate to great pain and suffering for millions of Americans, both Trump fans, and Trump detractors alike. No one could have wanted this.
Consider the economic damage: Even Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is offering dire predictions. If states delay reopening, he warns, there may be “permanent damage” to the economy. Even if they open quickly, he warns, “the worst is yet to come.”
Great Depression unemployment numbers?
The official unemployment rate, 14.4% in April, could surpass 25% when May stats are totaled. Those are numbers not seen since 1932, during the depths of the Great Depression.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell has been even more dour. He calls what we are seeing “the biggest shock” to the economy “in living memory.” Powell warns that failure to support state and local governments (a non-plan plan the president has floated – simply because he doesn’t want to help out any blue states) will weigh down any recovery.
Morgan Stanley experts believe the economy will shrink by 38% in
the second quarter of this year.
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THE REAL QUESTION is what happens next, as states and cities slowly open again? Do “We the People” shop like mad and travel with reckless abandon? Do bars and restaurants rebound? Does Major League baseball reboot? Do college students return in the fall?
And will idiots every wear masks?
Now that many of the gems of the U.S. National Park system have reopened, we known thousands of visitors descended on Yellowstone this week. A video analysis of crowds gathered to see Old Faithful erupt offered this summary: “Not much physical distancing happening and not a single mask in sight.”
This blogger is a huge fan of the parks; but this does not make him want to leap into his car and head for the woods.
The problem, then, is clear. According to the U.S. Travel Association, more than half of the 15.8 million travel-related jobs in the U.S. have been lost.
The carnage in that field, as of now, stands at 51%.
So, let’s hope for a speedy
economic recovery. And, please, don’t be an asshole. When you go out in public,
wear a mask. Don’t cough germs on others. Help the U.S. travel industry
rebound.
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ASKED THIS WEEK if he could have done anything different to address the COVID threat – you know, like not saying we were headed for zero cases in February – Trump didn’t blink before answering. He said his team had done “amazingly well.” He said the U.S. and Germany and a few other little countries had kept the death toll low if you adjusted for population.
The man is a liar or a fool.
Germany has done an excellent job, with only 99 deaths per million population. We stand at 291.
Other “small countries” doing better than the U.S.:
Australia: 4 per million; South Korea: 5; Japan: 6; Ukraine: 13; Canada: 163.
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