Tag Archives: Unemployment

“People Are Fed Up”: California Out Of Excuses As Coronavirus Defies Militant Lockdowns, by Tyler Durden

Posted on December 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

People might not be quite as angry if all the lockdowns and masking had done any good, but they haven’t. The hypocrisy hasn’t helped, either. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

California’s response to COVID-19 ranks slightly below China welding people inside apartment buildings in terms of militancy, yet the for all the measures taken by the Golden State, it’s become one of the nation’s worst epicenters for the pandemic, according to Politico.

Registered Nurse Allison Shiftar puts on protective glasses as she gets ready to go into one of the triage rooms to care for a Covid-19 positive patient in the emergency department at Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Roseville, Calif. | Renee C. Byer/The Sacramento Bee via AP, Pool)

And if Politico is calling out California, whose Democratic governor deems himself above his own rules, you know it’s bad.

America’s most populous state has become one of the nation’s worst epicenters for the disease, setting new records for cases, hospitalizations and deaths almost every day. Things are so bad in Southern California that some patients are being treated in hospital tents, while doctors have begun discussing whether they need to ration care.

The turnabout has confounded leaders and health experts. They can point to any number of reasons that contributed to California’s surge over the past several weeks. But it is hard to pinpoint one single factor — and equally hard to find a silver bullet. –Politico

The state of nearly 40 million residents has seen almost 2 million cases and 22,000 deaths despite strict mask mandates, school and playground closures, and restrictions on dining that are destroying small businesses across the state.

“Nationally, there has been a kaleidoscopic application of every imaginable type of lockdown order with California being the most restrictive and inflicting the most devastation on small businesses and the most economically vulnerable service workers. And still, we are none the better as far as COVID is concerned,” said California Restaurant Association President and CEO Jot Condie, adding “In fact in L.A. where indoor and outdoor dining are completely shut down, with indoor dining [closed] since July, the virus rages on.”

Meanwhile, the state – like many others, is suffering from spikes in crime, mental illness and suicide.

At more than 100 new daily cases per 100,000 residents, California’s case rate is second only to that in Tennessee, according to the nonprofit tracking site Covid Act Now — though it’s a state that does not mandate mask wearing and allows indoor gatherings of up to 10 people. The website Covid Exit Strategy shows a 97 percent rise in Covid throughout California, which has gone in the opposite direction from its West Coast counterparts, Oregon and Washington. -Politico

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Government, Not Coronavirus, Is Killing Small Businesses, by Ron Paul

Posted on December 21, 2020 | Leave a comment

Increasingly, small business is starting to fight back, a fight in which they should be supported. From Ron Paul at ronpaulinstitute.org:

A video of a confrontation between Ventura County, California health officials and restaurant owner Anton Van Happen has gone viral. The health officials were ordering Mr. Van Happen to close his business because he allegedly violated California’s ban on outdoor dining. Mr. Van Happen asked the health officials if the government will pay his employees and his rent while his business is indefinitely closed.

Mr. Van Happen is hardly the only small business owner worried about how to pay bills during the lockdowns. Many small businesses operate on a narrow profit margin, so being forced to “temporarily” shut down or limit the number of customers they can serve is a virtual death sentence.

The lockdowns have already caused as many as 200,000 small businesses to permanently close. Lockdowns, by shrinking the number of employers, lead to long-term unemployment or lower wages for many workers.

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What About The Economy? by the Zman

Posted on December 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

The legacy media won’t be able to ignore the economy for much longer. From the Zman at theburningplatform.com:

Depending upon your age, two standard items in the news for most of your life, if not all of it, have been economic data and the stock market. The economic stagnation starting in the late 1960’s lasting into the 1980’s made the economy the top priority on everyone’s mind. Every election, it was one of the top issues. In the 80’s, Baby Boomers got into the financial markets, so the stock market and your 401K became a strange proxy for general happiness.

Something that has gone unremarked during the Trump era has been the fact that these paramount issues have dropped in priority with the media. On the Left the only thing that has mattered is hating Donald Trump and white people. On the Right, the only thing that matters is the various internal battles over what it means to be on the Right and where Trump fits into it. No one has noticed that the stock market has just about doubled in value during his presidency, despite it all.

Many on this side of the great divide mock public concern for the economy, but that is often just a pose. A primary goal of any human society is the prosperity of the people, as that is the point of human organization. Humans came together in larger and larger groups, in part, because it increased material prosperity. Even the communists were primarily focused on material prosperity. Read the book Red Plenty and you will see that no one is more materialist than a communist.

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Where Is The Compassion… by Bill Rice, Jr.

Posted on October 10, 2020 | 1 comment

It’s long past time to quit giving people who claim they’re compassionate a free pass (“but his intentions were good”) when the results of their programs turn out to be anything but compassionate. From Bill Rice, Jr. at zerohedge.com:

Where is compassion for the millions who’ve suffered harm from lockdowns?

Like myself, I’m sure many Americans are starting to grow tired of being labeled “insensitive” or “uncaring” or lacking compassion because we are perceived as not caring about “at-risk” people who might contract the coronavirus.

Let’s talk about “compassion for our fellow man.”

…Where’s the compassion for the single mom who is increasingly struggling to purchase diapers or baby formula for her children? Where’s the compassion for the victims of child abuse, which is no doubt spiking due to the collapse of the economy?

…Where’s the compassion for those who have already committed suicide, or attempted suicide or will do either in coming months and years?

…Where’s the compassion for the tens of thousands of business owners who have permanently closed their businesses, or for the tens of millions of unemployed former employees? Where’s the compassion for those who have been forced to declare bankruptcy, or are agonizing over doing this?

…Where’s the compassion for the millions of college students who are experiencing increased levels of anxiety and depression over draconian campus policies that keep them isolated and prevents them from receiving a real education?

…Where’s the compassion for the younger school children who are unnecessarily living in fear? Where’s the compassion for the same children who can’t even play or socialize with other children anymore?

…Where’s the compassion for the hundreds of millions of people in impoverished nations who will suffer famine, misery or death because food logistic systems are falling apart?

…Where’s the compassion for those who spent weeks or months in a hospital – for every health reason – and could not spend a minute with their loved ones, many dying alone by themselves?

…Where’s the compassion for family members who received no comfort from neighbors and friends after their loved one died because these people were not allowed to attend their funeral?

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The High Price of COVID-19 Lockdowns, by Bill Bonner

Posted on October 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

We may be repeating ourselves here, but the cure for Covid-19 has been far, far worse than the disease. From Bill Bonner at rogueeconomics.com:

SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA – We begin today with a new study by the RAND Corporation.

It tallies a little more of the hidden cost of House Arrest.

ABC News reports:

Now, new data shows that during the COVID-19 crisis, American adults have sharply increased their consumption of alcohol, drinking on more days per month, and to greater excess. Heavy drinking among women especially has soared. […]

“The magnitude of these increases is striking,” Michael Pollard, lead author of the study and a sociologist at RAND, told ABC. “People’s depression increases, anxiety increases, [and] alcohol use is often a way to cope with these feelings. But depression and anxiety are also the outcome of drinking; it’s this feedback loop where it just exacerbates the problem that it’s trying to address.”

The bills will continue to trickle in for years. Jobs lost. Companies bankrupted. Careers and families stifled and stunted.

Job Cuts

Yesterday came more news of job cuts. Here’s Bloomberg:

American Airlines Group Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. will start laying off thousands of employees as scheduled, spurning Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s appeal for a delay as he negotiates with Congress over an economic relief plan that includes payroll support for U.S. carriers.

American is furloughing 19,000, while United is laying off about 13,000.

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The 21st Century Is Marked By Crisis and Political Division, by Bill Bonner

Posted on September 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

We’re twenty percent into the 21st century and it hasn’t been a great start. From Bill Bonner at rogueeconomics.com:

Week 26 of the Quarantine

In this bright future, you can’t forget your past.

– Bob Marley

SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA – What a colossal flop!

We’re talking about the 21st century. A failure in almost every way.

We now have 30 million people on unemployment – nearly 20% of the labor force.

We have a budget deficit of nearly 20% of GDP.

And, despite already spending $2 for every $1 they collect in taxes, the feds are planning to spend more.

We have phony “conservatives” waving the flag… and real radicals trying to tear it down. On both sides are more and more loonies, locked and loaded…

Even many of our own dear readers are ready to go to war with each other. This is from yesterday’s mailbag:

Hey Dude, we are at WAR! Trump leads the Win-the-War Party! The Neo Repubs are the “What? Me, worry?” Party. And you are like the pet dog nipping at the heels of the soldiers marching past!

No matter the cost, we must win the war against socialism and the Ds. There is time enough to purify ourselves after we win! If we lose, it will be a “thousand years” before our experiment is tried again… Meanwhile it is your obligation to support those who are fighting, regardless of technique and strategy… TRUMP!

Nasty Themes

It is hard to figure out how an administration that declares a moratorium on rent collection, stifles free trade, and runs a deficit of 20% of GDP could save us from socialism… But in this great 21st-century future, wonders never cease.

This week, in this “new normal,” we’ve been trying to remember what the “old normal” was like. And was it really better? Or is it just us?

We recalled what it must have been like when we were born. Of course, it was a very different world back then.

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COVID Financial Pain ‘Much, Much Worse’ Than Expected, Warns Harvard Study, by Tyler Durden

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

Some of us expected Covid’s financial pain to be very bad indeed, but that certainly wasn’t the mainstream media line. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

New findings from a survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, published by NPR News on Wednesday, reveal low-income minority households have experienced the most financial hardships in the virus-induced recession.

The pandemic heavily impacted Black and Latino households across America’s four largest cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston) with massive job loss or reduction in hourly wages or a decline in working hours.

The survey, conducted from July 1 through Aug. 3, found Latino households (77%) and Black households (81%) in the Greater Houston area incurred “serious” financial problems.

Houston

As for the three other major cities, the survey showed 73% of Latinos in New York City experienced severe financial hardships, 71% of Latinos in Los Angeles, and 63% in Chicago. Black households in New York City (62%), Los Angeles (52%), and Chicago (69%) also reported severe financial distress because of the downturn.

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17 Facts That Prove The U.S. Economy Is A Complete And Total Disaster Zone At This Point, by Michael Snyder

Posted on August 27, 2020 | Leave a comment

On the surface the US economy looks shaky, propped up with trillions of dollars in funny money. Beneath the surface, it’s far worse. From Michael Snyder at theeconomiccollapseblog.com:

If you know people that actually believe that the U.S. economy is moving in a positive direction, just show them this article.  In all the years that I have been writing about the economy, I have never seen anything that even comes close to what we are experiencing now.  More than 100,000 businesses have permanently failed, and tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs.  If you still have a good job you should cling to it with all of your might, because there are so many families that have no idea how they are going to pay the bills next month, or the month after that, or that month after that.  When it gets to the point where you can’t even pay the rent or the mortgage, financial worries can absolutely consume your life.  If you have been there, you know exactly what I am talking about.  And if you have children, that just makes things even worse.  How do you explain to them that “home” is no longer “home”?

Another group of people that I feel really badly for are all the business owners that have had their dreams absolutely shattered.  Starting a small business from nothing and building it into a success takes a massive amount of work, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for anyone that is able to do that.

Unfortunately, so many once thriving small businesses have now been destroyed by the events of 2020.  For a lot of those small business owners, it isn’t just time and energy that have been lost.  When you make your small business your passion, it becomes a part of who you are, and a lot of small business owners will never be the same again after this.

So please keep in mind that there are real people and real dreams behind each of the numbers that I am about to share with you.  The following are 17 facts that prove the U.S. economy is a complete and total disaster zone at this point…

#1 According to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, more than half of all the storefronts in the entire city of San Francisco are no longer in business.

#2 Just a few hours ago, New York City reported that it had an unemployment rate of almost 20 percent during the month of July.

#3 Speaking of New York, 83 percent of all restaurants in the city were unable to pay their full rent last month.

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Is Covid Coming For Your Job? by Adam Taggart

Posted on August 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

The flip side of coronavirus overreaction: an economy headed down the drain. From Adam Taggart at peakprosperity.com:

Laid off or fear you could be? Then read this.

Because despite the “Everything is Awesome!” mirage the financial markets are desperate to project, the real economy — you know, where people actually live their lives — is telling us a far darker story.

Tens of millions of US workers have lost their jobs since covid-19 arrived on America’s shores. Over 28 million people right now are currently filing to receive state & federal unemployment benefits:

Continued Claims chart

And despite extraordinary measures to aid these impacted households, many are slipping into hardship as the prospects only grow dimmer.

The $2.2 trillion CARES Act created the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program which added an additional $600 per week to those receiving unemployment benefits. It also sent a tax credit check of up to $1,200 ($2,400 for joint filers) to households making under a certain income threshold.

But the extra $600 payments have now expired, and Congress is deadlocked on what will follow. The current proposal is to re-start the extra benefit payment at the reduced sum of $400/week, with $300 paid out of the federal government’s Disaster Relief Fund and the rest funded by the individual states. Another $1,200 payment seems likely, as well.

This plan has it challenges, though. At $300/week, the Disaster Relief Fund will be drained after 5 weeks. And many states are claiming they can’t afford to foot the $100/week bill they’re being asked to.

So it’s little wonder, with tens of millions of jobs lost and over 3,500 businesses declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy so far this year, Americans are increasingly worried for the future:

POLL-Three of ten Americans laid off in coronavirus crisis worried about food, shelter (Reuters)

Three of 10 Americans who lost work during the coronavirus pandemic said they may have trouble paying for food or housing after a $600-per-week enhanced unemployment payment expired last month, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday(…)

(…) Three out of 10 people surveyed by Reuters/Ipsos reported that they will have “a very difficult time meeting basic needs,” which includes paying for rent or buying groceries. Half said they are under some stress “but we will be able to meet our basic needs.”

And it’s only going to get harder for these folks from here.

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We Are Experiencing Economic Devastation On A Scale That America Has Never Seen Before, by Michael Snyder

Posted on August 1, 2020 | 1 comment

Unfortunately, Michael Snyder is not exaggerating. From Snyder at themostimportantnews.com:

For a very long time we have been warned that a U.S. economic collapse was inevitably coming, and now it is here.  Fear of COVID-19 and unprecedented civil unrest in our major cities have combined to plunge us into a historic economic downturn, and nobody is exactly sure what is going to happen next.  On Thursday, we learned that U.S. GDP was down 32.9 percent on an annualized basis last quarter.  That officially makes last quarter the worst quarter in all of U.S. history, and many people believe that this new economic depression is just getting started.  But of course not all areas of the country are being affected equally.  According to USA Today, states such as Hawaii, Nevada, Michigan and New York were hit particularly hard last quarter…

Every state was walloped last quarter, though ones that rely heavily on travel and tourism, such as Hawaii and Nevada, were hit hardest by the downturn, according to employment figures analyzed by economist Adam Kamins of Moody’s Analytics. Michigan, the heart of the nation’s auto industry, was slammed as consumers put off car purchases. And densely populated Northeast states struck by the most severe virus outbreaks – like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts – absorbed among the heaviest economic losses as governors shut down earlier and residents stayed home.

Originally, the mainstream media was telling us that the U.S. economy would come surging back to life during the third quarter, but we continue to get more signs that indicate that the economy is starting to slow down again.

For example, the Labor Department just released some new numbers that were more than just a little bit startling.  If you can believe it, another 1.434 million Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week.  That was an increase over last week’s revised number, and it represents the second week in a row that initial claims have risen.

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