Update 430 — The States of Depression:Following the Economic Curves and Crashes As the coronavirus sweeps across the country, spawning hotspots and chaos, it leaves in its wake a trail of economic destruction and ripples out to the most remote places, as yet untouched by the virus. Now that the economic shutdown is national and …
Update 429: Legislating Against a Viral Target;Americans Watch as Congress Gropes for a Plan The raging coronavirus, vast economic contraction, enormous open-ended stimulus spending, botched relief rollouts, system crashes, and a cacophony of partridges in the pear tree combine to confirm Americans’ impression that those in charge do not have a comprehensive economic plan. Corona …
Update 428: Corona III Programs in Need of RxImplementation Snafus and Consequences Following the grim vital statistics wrought by the coronavirus are numbers revealing a secondary affliction reaching millions more. Every day brings news of another round of tens of thousands of layoffs, furloughs, shift cuts, even wage cuts. The federal fiscal responses to the …
Update 427: Corona 3 Implementation StartsMoney Out When? Stimulating a Dead Horse? The incredible shrinking and increasingly virtual U.S. economy is being transformed by the coronavirus into something we have never seen before and increasingly hard to spot. Ten million jobs have vanished in under two weeks and the famous flattening of the curve is …
Update 426: New Economic Misery Index;Weekly Initial Jobless Claims Out Tomorrow With the nation bracing for more bad news tomorrow, the sense in Congress is that the historic $2 trillion Corona III won’t be enough. Indeed, talks (over the phone) are already in progress on a fourth Corona bill. We hear some talk of a …
Update 425— Longest U.S. Expansion Ever in Jeopardy; 3.28 Million Newly Jobless Overnight The ink is now dry on the $2 trillion Corona III relief package, as the House has figured out how to conduct a voice vote on the massive bill today, with almost all members in their home districts, some opposed to it, …
Update 424 — America Starts Spring Broke;Senate Set to OK Biggest Spending Bill Ever The COVID epidemic is far from over, as are its economic repercussions and the policy responses to them. Today, the US Senate will adopt a third relief package (stimulus would be mostly misnomer), this one bigger than any federal spending measure …
Update 423 — Senate Poised to Vote Tonighton Largest Stimulus Bill in American History Befitting the worst economic and civic crisis confronting the nation in nearly a century, the GOP Senate leadership is preparing legislation in scope and scale that could spare vast material wreckage, or make it inevitable, or worse. What happens on the …
Senate Poised to Vote Tonight on Largest Stimulus Bill in American History Read More »
Update 422: Virus Stops Economy Cold;Congress in Search of Plan, Consensus Legislation to address the impact of the coronavirus is making its way through the Congressional mill. An initial $8 billion targeted relief package was enacted last week. This week, the House and Senate have taken a week to hammer out the finer points of …
Update 421 — COVID Response in Congress Stimulus: What Works, How Much is Enough? The President’s churlish, sententious address to the nation on Wednesday night regarding his efforts to combat and contain the COVID-19 crisis inspired little confidence and precipitated the worst one-day drop in the capital markets in 33 years on Thursday. Democrats in Congress …
