A US Today poll was out today stating a majority of Americans are now worried about their finances over Coronavirus. We've spent a lot of time discussing the inequality gap and a good chance this may now get worse. Certainly the Coronavirus needs to be taken serious but at what cost? The handling of this crisis has been poor at best. We've had a response that has been slow and misinformed. We've created paranoia and panic. We've implemented several containment procedures and they all sound good. yet as ProPublica reported today in an article entitled "Should I Quarantine Because of Coronavirus? It Depends on who you ask" some are not working. We keep adding containment policies without perfecting any. You'd think this would be the most important one. We do know they are having major effects on the economy. I hope our concern for the well being of everyone carries over after this crisis. I hope to see maps on the cable channels detailing every death by guns, by climate change or the elderly. Check out the article in the NYT on March 10 entitled ""Nursing Homes Becoming Isolation Amid Shocking Mortality Rates." Maybe after the crisis we can put the same effort into our well being in other areas. I have a warning for everyone. If this economy collapses the government and institutions better hope they got this crisis correct. If not there is going to be a backlash like we've never seen. It won't be everyone but most likely those who can't work from home.
9
I love that there’s an immediate $1.5 T available for markets and banks, but test kits and ventilators, nope, not enough money left for that, sorry not sorry.
Too bad people won’t be advised that this is government Socialism with a capital S. So that when we talk again about Socialism and Healthcare, people will be familiar and comfortable with the term.
17
Keep in mind that Mitch McConnell is the primary reason that the Trump is still in the White House.
14
So tired of winning! All this intelligence, compassion, smart decisions about the environment and international relations. And now, he’s saved the best for last — a near Depression! Nice going, Trump! You’ve managed to be terrible at... Everything!
14
"Stocks continued their plunge on Thursday, as President Trump’s latest effort to address the coronavirus outbreak — a ban on the entry from most European countries to the United States — disappointed investors who have been waiting for Washington to take steps to bolster the economy."
Well that is a polite way of saying that the Presidents address to the nation last night was truly terrible...he is out of his depth
9
Pastor Pence to the rescue! Who needs science and public health when you have magic and superstition?
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/photo-of-mike-pence-praying-with-us-coronavirus-taskforce-fuels-criticism
6
Perhaps the Republicans will think differently when their friends and family start to die. Trump and Fox News can’t use their reality distortion field then.
7
They should not trade tomorrow at all just to slow things down a bit.
2
If this was a parliamentary system, the Prime Minister would have been kicked out and an election called. Prime Minister Biden would take his place.
7
Unbelievable that as recently as Monday, Trump was calling out the "fake news media" for "inflaming" coronavirus news and it's only been 3 weeks since he said case volumes were trending from 15 down to zero. Case volumes in US have increased 1000% since then.
I hope people remember this in November.
15
The response of the Trump Administration to the Coronavirus Virus has been a complete and utter failure. testing is nonexistent, lies continue to be told by the administration. The President’s speech last night was full of errors and he read it as if the English language was something new to him.
Put bluntly the President is unleashing havoc on the country through his ignorance and stupidity and he is being aided and abetted by a Republican Party that has lost all sense of morality.
I was born during the Truman Presidency and while I have very little memory of that time I can say that this is the worst presidency that I have ever lived through. I hated President Nixon but I would gladly endure that administration instead of the complete chaos of the Trump Presidency.
11
A man who lies because he has no bearing on facts, is running the USA into the ground. He was quick to claim responsibility for the recovery shepherded by the fiscal and social policies of Obama; now that he has forced sound policies and agencies to be dismantled, he has nothing to replace them with, except "Jared" and his despotic buddies that he launders money for in the hope of new hotel brandings. It doesn't get more shallow nor incompetent that this. Why is this despicable abuser not already safely ensconced in the cell next to Harvey Weinstein?
Now America must eat the toxic refuse left by its "apprentice" (acting) president.
10
And if this wasn't enough, the Post now reports that Trump is bombing people in Iraq. I bet the bombing was done without consulting with the government in Iraq. Just another reason the banks (and the rest of us) should be terrified.
6
I wonder if the Virus can distinguish between A Very Stable Genius and the Reverend Pence and the rest of us Heathen Little People?
6
@T. Lum
The question is, does coronavirus conversion therapy work?
6
All of this resembles 2008 in more than one way. Then, the Republicans were busy trying to heal the banks that had taken on billions in bad real-estate loans. The Treasury bailed out some investment banks and refused to save others. So what happens in this crisis? The Republicans are still trying to bail out big business. Why? No one knows.
2
Over at the Washington Post:
"Trump’s obsession with numbers — both publicly and privately — has dominated and shaped the administration’s response to the coronavirus, as advisers and public health experts try to placate a leader who largely views the global pandemic through the political lens of how the statistics reflect on his presidency and hopes for reelection. This account is based on interviews with more than a dozen administration officials and other observers, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations."
"Asked Tuesday by reporters at the Capitol if he had been briefed that up to 100 million Americans could ultimately be exposed to the virus, Trump again returned to the numbers.
“I’ve been briefed on every contingency you can possibly imagine, many contingencies,” the president said. “A lot of positive. Different numbers. All different numbers. Very large numbers. And some small numbers too, by the way.”
We are in so much trouble.
9
Iran should not receive $5 billion in loan guarantees. We have no way of knowing how that money will be used. And I’m sure it’s not for the virus.
4
@DK
We're in the middle of a pandemic and you're worried about a pittance going to Iran? Good grief.
7
So it was the Trump economy when it was booming, it should still be the Trump economy now that it's busting, am I right?
18
This is Katrina moment of Mr. Trump's presidency. He has vividly displayed
his incompetency along with Mr. Pence.
Hope we can get over the epidemic safely
and oust the incumbent in November.
14
The S&P 500 is up 9% since Trump took office over three years ago.
On average, the S&P 500 was up over 8% every year Obama was in office. For eight years.
I’ll take Obama over the Stable Genius.
15
@kkseattle
God, just think if we could get Obama back right now...
8
Omg I miss him everyday
6
No bailouts for the "too big to fail" crowd! Any stimulus package should go to the American people this time around. Remember 2/3rds of the American economy is generated by consumer spending.
This is the 3rd time in my working life I'm seeing my money in the paper, and it never comes back!!! I just have to keep adding to it.
8
Why is a republican always in office when this happens?
15
Then after a democrat comes in & cleans it up, people get complacent and put them back in office.
Ad nauseam.
2
Is it too early to declare this our century's Black Thursday?
2
Dow at 19,827. Keep that number in mind. That is the value of the DOW when the stable genius took over. Just 15% further drop will do it.
6
@Jac
check your math. It's less than 15
1
Lesson for the future:
If someone says they are a very stable genius they certainly are not.
If someone says they have unmatched wisdom they certainly do not.
If they say I alone can fix it they cannot.
When someone is so blatantly preposterous start worrying.
11
I have a modest proposal: let's kill all the rich and use them as a food source... it will save agricultural greenhouse gas emissions; provide a vast supply of stem cells for research; and it will disperse vast accumulated wealth to the world's population. On further thought, let's kill all the rich simply on general principles.
2
As long as you’re willing to go with them.
Are you trying to be funny or just showing your true self?
2
Trump was, from the beginning, not competent to be the Present of the United States. In order to compensate, he has brought the entire administrative level of the government down to his level. And now we are looking for a competent response to a health epidemic that is global and catastrophic? Short of the Cabinet exerting their rights to declare him incompetent, we are stuck with captain Trump as the ship goes down.
9
@common cause- the “best people” Trump has left in his administration are the C average students from college, that you hoped were either sobered up from partying the night before the big test, or were going to bomb out on academic probation.
I have no faith at all in this administration, unless they are holdovers from Obama. That guy knew excellence and A .
I can’t wait until November.
2
Two things to help
Suspend ira and 401k withdrawals for 2020
Tax future withdrawals at capital gains rate
1
Thank goodness the travel ban will exempt Scotland so the military can continue to line trump's pockets by lodging at his overrated, over-priced Scottish resort. It would be a shame if the trump clan were deprived of their ability to feed off the American taxpayers.
9
It seems that the Trump organization believe that viruses have passport.
2
Trump told his base he would undo everything Obama had built in his 8 years as President. He certainly is trying with the stock market.
Look, the market will respond when we know who has the virus in our communties and who does not. Therefore, if Trump wants to bring back the market, he needs to estabish a Manhattan project for testing kits. Goal: 10MM by March 25, 60MM by April 10 and 300MM kits by May 1.
Payroll tax cuts do not help people who have been laid off due to nobody going to a restaurant, a movie, taking a vacation etc, etc.
#MoreTestKits!!!
4
As a left leaning person I am still a capitalist. I have lost a lot of money because the morally and financially bankrupt bigot failed to respond properly to a challenge all leaders should expect.
More important are the coming deaths and as part of the risk group it could be mine. Meanwhile Hannity is actually saying we are all going to die some time anyway.
So its gone from Democrat hoax to just accept death quietly; presumably to save his buddy Donald from embarrassment.
11
Trump sat back and took credit for the Obama recovery and rebounding stock market. Now who is he going to blame for the current set of circumstances and his totally inept response to the crisis. I realize that he did not cause the pandemic but he did destroy the scientific mechanism to deal with it. He also went into denial about the extent and danger of the virus to human life and the economy. And here we sit and it is mid March and the CDC is telling us we are still not near having test kits available. There are no plans for setting up temporary hospitals and treatment centers. What is your excuse president trump, that Obama made you do it or a Democrat deep state conspiracy. Your bad karma has caught up with you.
5
So we find 1.5 trillion without even flinching. No questions of how we will pay for it?
I understand there are reasons for it but no one asks how we will pay for it except when it comes to helping Americans.
That safety net progressives are fighting for would have mitigate a lot of the fear and harm on Wall Street.
We can do this together but anytime we try and help Americans we are blocked and demonized. Can we work together to help Americans? It’s obvious we will pull out all the strings for Wall Street.
Start doing it for all of us.
3
@Mathias
My theory of why other countries' citizens aren't panicking the way Americans are is that they haven't been walking the high wire without a safety net.
1
Everyone loves a free market when stocks are rising. Not so much when they’re tanking. Now stock investors are crying for a bailout, which The Donald will surely provide.
3
"The problem is that we all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor. That’s the problem." - Dr. Martin Luther King.
8
@Tim. Wow. How true that is. Look for more interventions from the Federal Reserve Bank and oval office in the coming days and weeks to soften the blow to financial investors. The poor and middle class will get window dressing.
3
But, it's not a 'Europe' travel ban. It's 22 of the 27 EU countries (Ireland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus are NOT on the ban list), two European countries NOT in the EU (Switzerland and Norway) and gives a pass to vast tracts of eastern Europe (including Albania, Turkey and Serbia - who are also NOT on the list) as well as the UK - which has far more Covid cases than many EU countries.
What is he playing at? Guess his understanding of 'Yoorup' really is as poor as people say.
4
@nolongeradoc. He has golf courses in the UK. That’s what the UK exclusion is likely all about. We were so much better off in this country when the Village Idiot and POTUS were two different people.
2
Republicans are less worried than Democrats, but I wonder how much of that has to do with geographic location rather than simply how much they believe Trump's assurances. I would be interested to see a state-by-state breakdown of the reactions of Democrats and Republicans to the pandemic. If I were living in almost any red state (based on the 2016 election) I'd be much more sanguine than I am living in Manhattan, and also more sanguine than if I were living elsewhere in the Bosnywash corridor.
1
@Kenny Becker
Unfortunately this little Geography also says a lot about distribution of literacy !
1
@Kenny Becker
Given that 165 rural hospitals have closed in the last 10 years (most in states that refused to expand Medicaid under the ACA), you'd be much better off in just about any blue state.
Same reason more cases have been found in blue states - better medical systems.
If he's truly concerned, a timely resignation on his part would definitely restore confidence in government and, in turn, the markets.
6
@Greg
He is scared of jail. Perhaps an amnesty could be extended if he goes quietly now. Its asking a lot of all those women though.
3
All I can hope for is that all those Republicans that voted against impeachment are losing their shirts in the market. Since it is crystal clear that they care for only themselves, perhaps a bit of personal suffering will do them some good. It would at the least put a smile on MY face.
11
"Bear market?" More like a bear trap.
5
The sad zombie Donnie address hurt but as this piece well outlines it's multifactorial.
I bet the Donnie double down on ignorance and casual lies over the past 6 weeks has given the markets the yips supported by congressional piddling.
Also a market living on cocaine economics is already on a hair trigger just a bug away from major withdrawal.
Poor Mitch, worried sick that excessive financial aid to the adversely effected working class might be too much for the little people to handle and that they would just waste it on ice cold beer and quantum theory research.
Republican congressmen better find Jesus and get generous or by November will need to line up a think tank to pay their freight.
In the mean time let's hope science is fully supported and can blunt this virus.
3
Gosh, Republicans, you'd better hurry up and Privatize Social Security before Wall Street becomes a dead end road.
Your billionaire buddies
are all counting on You.
5
Nobody credible is calling bottom yet.
1
Don't worry, Trump has it all under control.
1
Please someone convince President Trump to withdraw from crisis management for coronavirus. At least keep him off of TV. (He can't hurt us on Twitter because no one pays attention to him there anymore.) He is killing us, both literally and financially. The dude is a stone cold loser.
3
The worst sin is the desire to take credit for President Barack Obama’s economy and then trash his very thoughtful socially beneficial environmentally friendly legislations .,,, who are these mean spirited Elected Corrupted Republicans ? Are these guys really Americans ? Who are these evangelicals ganging up with these Elected Corrupted Republicans ?
When did Jesus say to these evangelicals to gang up with corrupted family valueless Elected Corrupted Politicians and make the spiritual homes into sinful institutions ?
4
You break it, you own it.
3
It's TrumpThursday.
3
It is frankly despicable, NYT, that at a time like this, the online front page, highest-priority, top-billing article ALL DAY has been the stock market. On the other hand, it really shows where this country's priorities lie, including for the "paper of record."
2
@Brett B. pass me your valium please.
@leslie in Amherst Your question require answers. Too bad we're not going to get them.
Trump executive orders finally kill another great Obama accomplishment, officially ending the great Obama Bull Market.
Now the Trump Bear Market is upon us.
3
It doesn't help that Trump is trying to accuse and lay blame everywhere else instead of taking responsibility, doing the right thing and leading. It is astonishing that he is trying to lame blame on Obama for a lack of testing kits. If he had acted from the beginning, instead of with holding information, minimizing the risk, overriding concern about PR and his paranoid accusations of Democrats of politicizing this, we would be more prepared.
3
Providing liquidity to the banking system is sound during stressed capital market conditions.
But this will not address the economic fall out of Trump’s ill fated decision to cut CDC and NIH funding while ramping up fiscal and monetary stimulus.
Trump undermined the nation’s ability to prevent the spread of what is now a global pandemic, and imprudently used up enormous fiscal and monetary stimulus to gin up the stock market and the economy.
There is a different way to address the economic fallout of the pandemic than policy makers are used to.
Provide ample liquidity to corporations, small businesses and individuals in the form of low rate government loans. Businesses that receive government loans must pay for sick leave and not lay-off workers.
Liquidity for individuals and businesses is key to viability and preventing a domino effect of economic destruction.
This will not materially add to the fiscal deficits and is not another corporate bailout. It will address the economic fallout and a medical protocol seems to be working.
3
This is an overreaction. But I see the same type of panic here in Massachusetts as people literally push others to empty the shelves of toilet paper, household cleaners and all sorts of food stuffs. You’d think it was 1943 and we were rationing food.
In the absence of trustworthy communication and a well thought out plan, people expect the worse.
This emergence of this virus is certainly serious. But it is not catastrophic. There are well known mechanisms to mitigate its effects, chief among them social distancing and basic hygiene measures.
Can we please put the adults back in charge? But of course, we have to wait until November and then January for that.
2
Why the exchanges haven’t suspended high frequency trading is not a surprise. It would do a lot to stabilize the markets.
1
If the Fed can magic up $1.5 trillion to prop up 'the markets' for an hour can't they find a measly $128 billion to provide $1000 to each household in the US. That money we be used to purchase provisions enough for everyone to stay home for a month and simply shut the country down. That will stop the spread of COVID-19.
You would also need to tell all lenders to not take a payment in the during that time period, and add one extra payment on to the end of all loans.
5
"The result has been a pullback by venture capital firms that once showered start-up dollars on the likes of BuzzFeed, Vice, Vox, Business Insider and other digi-news ingenues. There’s also been shrinkage within: Over a few days in January last year, BuzzFeed, AOL, Yahoo and HuffPost — the latter three all owned by Verizon Media — collectively laid off more than a thousand employees."
Unlike the above left-wing losers, sites like the Daily Wire, Prager U and the Rubin Report are thriving.
Interesting. Never heard of any of those thriving organizations.
16
@DH
These are misinformation spreaders.
Follow @Devincow on twitter.
He exposed PragerU . And they blocked her for doing so.
Of course red-state Republicans are less worried. They don’t travel, and no one who travels, travels there. Blue state Democrats and Independents live in the cities and travel the world.
10
This is NOT due to the Virus. This is entirely due to the incompetence of the very stable genius. Thanks, GOP.
NOVEMBER.
12
And where is the small business help, too? I know my small business has already had one layoff because clients have held up on their projects and what looked like a great pipeline for 2020 is now as empty as a dry well. In case Trump didn't know (he should since he's stiffed enough of them), small businesses make up about half the economy and will be the most affected by down turn but who always gets the bailouts? The Big corporations who caused the system problems in the first place -- the ones who lead it least. Typical of the GOP Kleoptocrats like Trump.
6
Trump runs around like Chicken Little from rally to rally and Fox interview to Twitter crying the Coronavirus pandemic is a Chinese Hoax. The sky isn't falling. And we all believe that our great leader Donald the Magnificent will of course do everything right to prevent the American economy from going into free-fall. And lo and behold after he read his magnificent fireside teleprompter chat to calm our fears the stock markets all swung back in the upward direction this morning and the crash never happened. All the news reports of the markets continuing their decline are a hoax instigated by the main-stream media who don't like Trump and are making all this up to make sure he doesn't get re-elected.
4
Your investments tanking?
Your retirement savings disappearing?
Your country swirling down a drain that appears to be directly connected to a third world environment?
Next time you happen to run into a know nothing, science denying, Trump worshiping, Republican politician thank him or her for their service.
54
@interested party
And yet, astonishingly, 40 % of Americans still support this man.
I just for the life of me cannot understand this.
Nor will I ever understand this.
31
@BikeDad
...Freaky huh?
They can ponder their choice as they watch our economy disintegrate.
But it probably won't bother them one bit...
5
The folks at the top of the pyramid are making money this way. The ones at the bottom can't lose anything more than they already have. So stiffing the guy in the middle is either gleeful or no big deal.
3
I find it weird that the Chinese stock market is doing well. Wonder if they sold off large blocks of shares on Wall Street prior to the coronavirus being announced. Just like the Saudis did prior to 9/11.
This is the type of war China is good at, as they are a peaceful nation and great at manipulation. I think that's why Trump put the tariffs on China but looks like it is now back firing; just before the Presidential election as well. Very well timed by China. Not PC to say but surely people are wondering if this wasn't a man made virus with a political motive to bring down Trump.
4
@CK
Now is not the time for conspiracy theories.
There is no 'man-made' virus. It came from a wet market in China. A bat, specifically.
The Chinese aren't going to sicken their people and create a health catastrophe on their shores just to get Trump.
There's plenty of other things they could do to bring down Trump without a single cough.
And if *anybody* has been politicizing this, it's been Trump himself.
13
@CK
But Trump told us trade wars are easy to win.
What happened?
1
My thanks to the media and the hysterical public as you've created another once in a decade buying opportunity for the market.
I've been plowing every available cent into stocks over the last few days including today. I don't know where the bottom is, nor do I care. What I do know is this situation is so over blown and when sanity finally does return, which it will, along with the markets, I'll have done well.
4
@Mark,
Correct.
Trump started all this by disparaging scientists and calling the virus a hoax.
We should all be saying thanks to Trump for this recession.
9
@Opinioned! No doubt that Trump has contributed for sure, he's clueless, but man has the media so whipped this into something that you'd think was the plague. Either way I'll take full advantage of the opportunity.
1
I think scientists and doctors are closely observing what has happened in Italy so quickly and trying to mitigate the effect of the virus here.
2
As of 10:15, the Dow has only 2,000 more points to drop to reach the close at the end of President Obama’s 2nd term.
If it came with the return of President Obama and his highly competent administration, I’d be more than happy to revisit those levels again.
I say this as someone who has an IRA portfolio a little too heavy on the equities to boot. Having Obama at the helm and his team at the oars would be the wisest investment I can think of.
102
Agreed, but this isn’t Russia and we’re not going to suspend our constitution and draft Obama. A return to normalcy in the Oval Office this November would be nice though.
13
@DH
Of course I was engaging in a bit of nostalgia but you did prompt an idea:
If Trump was truly concerned about the well being of America & all its citizens, the smartest thing he could do is appoint members of Obama’s administration as czars with all the authority they’d need. They’d step in like the “Pros from Dover” — referencing Hawkeye etc from the M*A*S*H the movie
There I go again with silly things — using words like “concern” and “smart” in the context of this administration.
6
@DH
Obama could still act in a non presidential capacity as a Recovery Tsar for example. He did a great job last time.
2
This article along with Donald Trump is focused on the wrong thing: the stock market, investments and the economic impact of the corona virus.
The focus of everyone's efforts should be on containing and ending the spread of the corona virus in this country including doing whatever it takes to get the testing off the ground, preparing hospitals and so on. The CDC's efforts on testing have been an appalling failure to date.
If people had confidence that this administration could consult the right experts, bear down and get the pandemic under control then economic confidence would be restored.
8
In spite of the lack of leadership from this president, these companies have demonstrated common sense and patriotism by doing the right thing. As citizens, we need to follow their lead and be vigilant in our respect for one another by heeding the hygiene rules of clean hands, fist and elbow bumps, and social distancing. Now that it appears we have three presidents, two of which can be trusted, we may be okay. But in spite of our best efforts, I fear this economy will look like Bush Country circa 2008 just in time for the Democrats to clean up this Republican mess.
4
Thanks Donny!
3
Nice going Trump. Where is your economics and business administration degree and knowledge? You gotta go buddy, you are not up for this challenge at all. Be the ultimate patriot and resign and take that yes man with you. Which one? All of them.
9
Our leader is tired of flushing toilets !
1
I don't ever want to hear one Republican complain about 'free stuff' again. They won't even fund 2 weeks of paid sick leave for coronavirus victims.
7
Beware of the Ides of March!
6
Remember when the Obama Administration's inept, politics-driven response to the Ebola and swine flu epidemics caused the market to crash?
Me neither.
21
The stable genius Donald can not handle the simpleton virus COVID-19 and the plunging stock markets which he brags about. Where are the other geniuses, Jared and Kudlow? Perhaps docking under the presidential table.
7
Lately, it seems every time Donny opens his mouth the market tanks and more people die
Perhaps more golf and less talk.
We’re literally sick of all the winning.
10
Put a carnival barker in the presidency and no one should be surprised that our government resembles a circus.
8
is it incompetence or malign intent?
it stikes me as odd...did Trump really think putting a travel ban on all of Europe would calm the markets?
who is Trump listening to?
4
@Mary Elizabeth Lease
Perhaps it was Dr. Anthony Fauci, the widely-respected director the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Source:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/government-response-coronavirus-fauci-backs-trump-travel-ban/story?id=69557417
Is it time for the grownups to take over again?
2
This is what results from electing an incompetent, corrupt individual to the Presidency and surround him with kowtowing sycophants. The Country and Wall Street are in flushable territory.
4
Would somebody please take always Trump’s car keys. He’s a rolling disaster.
2
Can they impeach the president for this before it gets any worse?
2
It appears that Trump has kept his promise. He said during his election campaign that the U.S. would become bored with winning. Actually, Trump appears to have become bored with his self-declared successes, and so he's apparently changed his strategy. As such, he's making as many bonehead moves as necessary to tank the markets and the economy, likely in the hope that he will receive credit for success once they bounce back prior to the November election.
Bad bet, Donald. Just ask Bush I, if he was still alive, or Bush II. "It's the economy, stupid." Bill Clinton wins, Barack Obama wins, and now Joe Biden wins.
5
I knew I would be impressed by how trump and his grovelling cabal would handle a crisis, and I have been. Not in any way which could be considered positive, though.
2
If this keeps up, Trump can start packing his bags for mar-a-lago. Given the economic mess we’ll be in, I certainly don’t look forward to Biden as the president to fix it.
Let’s hope he picks a VP with an expertise in the economy.
1
"Prosperity is just around the corner" -- Herbert Hoover 1930
"The markets are going to be just fine." - Trump, March 2020
6
The Fed is literally throwing handfuls of money at the banks. A week ago the banks were strutting their strength and confidence that they could ride out a major correction. After the 2300 point drop, I guess the Fed will actually start buying stocks tomorrow. Their hapless efforts to prop up the wealthy is symptomatic of the disgraceful state our country is in. Just let the markets straighten themselves out already.
10
Thanks, very stable genius. This is on YOU.
NOVEMBER.
3
The people can sense the pure sociopathy in President Trump. That’s the confidence-killer. No love, no kindness only coarse sarcasm, lies and insults. This is a time when we need to put winner-take-all-capitalism on the back burner and take care of our loved ones. The market will be back up if this pandemic is handled honestly and the experts are listened to. It’s time for “War Powers” style mobilizations. Get tests out there right away. People need to be self-quarantining if they are sick but they need to know what they are sick with first.
8
Where was the president last night in his overall office meeting with the American people on coronavirus 19 he missed 3 things on the virus and a day after the stock market plummeted his speechwriter streets over check his writing the merry the clarification and changes this could only help in a time of crisis?
The art of the deal cannot be done by Pres. Donald Trump but a ghostwriter has anybody asked him if he read it is questionable by now.
At no time do we need a president sarcastically act like a clown blaming the Democrats and fake news.
The Senate is going to stay back from vacation until they hammer out a deal about the coronavirus and the epidemic thank God they did the right thing this time but they need a pass the bill not shove it under desk Sen. Mitch McConnell's deaths. It is time for Pres. Donald Trump acts like a president not using his office as a political toy.
Yes, the Republicans will be blamed for this virus because CDC was a strip of their budget last year under Trump's budget plan.
As Republicans and Democrats in the Senate work out a deal for all the American people.
Pray for the people that were harmed by this virus and their family and let help protect all Americans people.
1
Trump has done to the USA what he did to all his companies, driven it into the ground. Trump needs to resign.
10
Witness what happens when a poorly equipped apprentice with an exaggerated opinion of his abilities takes over the shop.
This is certainly serious, but imagine the chaos if North Korea launched a missile that hit the West Coast? That's not impossible.
Or consider what would happen if their Dear Leader told our Dear Leader that unless all the sanctions were removed and US troops were pulled out of S. Korea, our Dear Leader could expect an attack.
If we're so poorly equipped to deal with health crisis, how can we possibly respond effectively to something else that's even more threatening?
For Putin and others of his ilk this is an open invitation to run havoc.
3
Surprised Trump hasn't called the stock market plunge "perfect."
5
When the optimism is proven wrong, will those drinking the Trump Kool-aid recognize that they have been conned? No. They won't even remember their prior beliefs, so poor is their ability to remember anything that goes against their feelings that Trump is not only their guy, but the greatest President since Lincoln.
5
President Trump has quit bragging about his actions influence stock market prices. He claims only good results
After bankrupting casinos, POTUS bankrupts USA. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
POTUS will cut payroll tax, and bankrupt Medicare and then he doesn't have to cut a non-existent Medicare. What an absolute genius?
2
How in the world can Trump not ban travel from the UK, and proclaim publicly that "they're doing a very good job???" How are "they doing a very good job" exactly???? Cases in the UK have more than doubled in the past 48 hours to over 500 and counting.
Trump is braindead. Get someone else in charge asap.
1
Expect martial law. Right wing militias deputized. Canceled elections. This is the crisis the Republicans have been waiting for.
3
Living the libertarian dream and the normal person's nightmare.
4
The problem is not fundamentally of liquidity - that is a misunderstanding. It is a justifiable lack of confidence in governance, especially in the United States. The country is now led by a totally unfit president spreading lies and misinformation. He is obsessed with his chances of reelection and riding his xenophobic and anti-Democrat hobby horses. His cabinet of cronies and incompetents does not shine by any demonstrated ability to address the economic consequences of a major pandemic at a moment when the market's bubble has been pierced and the air let out. The Republicans must bear the consequences of their failure to impeach Trump on the genuine charges presented a month ago. It will go badly for them.
3
From Patrick Tucker, Technology Editor of Defense One, moments ago:
A Canadian company says that it has produced a COVID-19 vaccine just 20 days after receiving the coronavirus’s genetic sequence, using a unique technology that they soon hope to submit for FDA approval.
Medicago CEO Bruce Clark said his company could produce as many as 10 million doses a month. If regulatory hurdles can be cleared, he said in a Thursday interview, the vaccine could start to become available in November.
An Israeli research lab has also claimed to have created a vaccine. But Clark says his company’s technique, which has already been proven effective in producing vaccines for seasonal flu, is more reliable and easier to scale.
“There are a couple of others who are claiming that they have — well, we will call them vaccine[s]” for COVID-19, he said. “But they’re different technologies. Some are RNA- or DNA-based vaccines that have not yet been proven in any indication yet, let alone this one. Hopefully, they’ll be successful.”
2
That is all well and good. However, the prospective VLP-based vaccine still needs to clear pre-clinical hurdles and beer shown effective in human clinical trials. Thus, a vaccine suitable for the general public would still likely be a year or more away. Nonetheless, it is potentially a good prospect for a vaccine, hopefully to be joined by others:
https://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/key-action/novel-coronavirus-landscape-ncov.pdf?ua=1.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/medicago-announces-production-viable-vaccine-113000915.html
1
Trump is doing exactly what some Manchurian candidate would do to destabilize us - but of course, that’s just what some reality TV host with a big ego would do.
1
I’m really amazed how quickly people forget. Wasn’t too long ago when Hollywood was making movies like “wolves of Wall Street”. For the last four years the wolves, let out of their cage by Trump, have been overactive, pumping up the market to unbearable heights.
A best case (or worst case, depending on whose side you are on) scenario would be that the virus will go dormant ( Not die out, it will return next winter) in the summer, the world will calm down, and the market will rebound, Trump will take all the credit , and get re-elected.
But no one can predict the future, unless you are a con artist like Trump.
3
The loot is safely in the pockets of the billionaires just like Madoff made off with investments from retirement funds and University endowments and not for profit foundations. Now we know how the legalized Ponzi scheme works and how we have the hedge fund mangers and mutual fund owners profiting and stuffing their pockets.
All I can say to Pelosi, Trump and McConnell, please don't give a single penny to the looters and the too big to fail. Let the crooks fail. Give further tax cuts to the average American tax payers earning less than 100,000 annually, who were the engine of growth in the past 3 years while the billionaires and multi billionaires were siphoning off the trillions in national wealth.
6
PANIC IN A CRISIS
People panic when their access to desperate human necessities is threatened by private-sector exposure. The safety net should not be supported by a private sector reliance on consumer spending. Consumer spending is 70% of the economy. FE is about the deprivatization of markets for desperate necessities. Your health care and pension benefits should be with the feds, not your employer. The stock market can't give you retirement security. Social Security can, and it should be expanded. Private health insurance from your employer can't give you security in a crash. A federal health service can. FE makes capitalism safer. FE is a simple rational reform. Please read about FE and pass the word. Free PDF. I can't use the link here. google the dot com use firewalleconomics
I am not sure whether there is a underlying reason, but it seems that economic crises mostly happened during republican administration. Black-Monday was during Reagan's administration, then there was great recession during Bush administration. Now Trump. While during recent Democratic administration, things seem be go better. Remember the budget surplus during Clinton's administration and growth during Obama's? Are the Republicans unlucky or there is some deeper reason?
8
Basically it is all due to sin factor, evangelists teaming up patronizing sinners..... moral decay ..... Thomas sitting in Supreme Court and his wife messing around in Republican politics, then there is Fox News and non-stop lies, and daily Supreme Court messing in politics comforting Putin and trump .... the dividends time for the sinners ... #MeToo !
3
@CM
Economic recessions/depressions have been concurrent with Republican administrations for 100 years. It's not a coincidence.
4
Glad we have our priorities in check, save the investor class to the tune of $1.5 trillion. Never mind paid sick leave, emergency medical supplies or testing kits.
We never want to hear "how are we going to pay for it" again. It's not a matter of paying. It's a matter of priorities. And in this nation, the priority has always been get rich at all cost and preserve that wealth at the expense of all else.
10
After a stock market crash, we need an FDR, not a Hoover. No more Trumps or Bidens. Biden and Bernie are nearly tied in delegates, with a huge number left to vote. We need to all stand behind Bernie, to pull us out of what may well be a Depression by January of next year.
2
@Observer Nothing about Bernie suggests that he knows how to fix a stock market crash. And, if you read your history, the New Deal didn't "fix" the Depression, though it did mitigate the damage for many people. What ended the Great Depression was U.S. entry into World War II.
3
@Stevem Biden is losing his marble and shouts at working class people that they are "full of s__" and should "vote for someone else". He is unelectable, a failed multiple-time candidate with no ideas and doesn't inspire anyone. His policies will resemble Hoover.
2
There is so much hatred that the Republicans have sown. That is all political fighting which the markets largely ignore. But they do not ignore the "almighty dollar". Business of all sorts are taking a bath. But, perhaps even more importantly, it could take the better part of a generation for the consumer landscape to recover. That really spooks the market.
What investors are looking for the government to insure the consumer pulls through this medical and financial disaster as intact as possible. Trump did not address the harm to individual Americans at all in his speech. For one of the few times, the interests of both groups are the same - protect workers.
That means extended unemployment insurance; fully funder Corona virus care for any who are not covered by health insurance; food for children who depend on school meals that might no longer be available and who otherwise might starve. Another area of support for workers who have lost their income and own a home might be to cancel interest payments on mortgages and defer principal payments. Right now we do not need another housing crises. A good work program (like the New Deal) might be to hire people to deliver food to the homes of the elderly or chronically ill so they might avoid exposure to Covid 19. Basically, we must help the people who are most affected.
I am completely against helping any company that has avoided paying its fair share of taxes in the past.
3
While the stock market collapse is likely worse because of the failure of leadership, the part that particularly bothers me is that we squandered a good economy on tax breaks and deficit spending. The levers to stabilize have all been pulled. Sure, we'll keep pulling, but repaying the new and necessary bigger deficit spending will hit hard.
8
Republican's decades of supply side economics is being accounted for.
money can be created with a key stroke and travels at the speed light.
the resources humans need today have a significant lag time to make given they aren't stockpiled.
in some cases the raw ingredients required are in short supply or unavailable.
The Piper will be paid one way or another.
1
University of Chicago MBA with focus in finance & economics.
Every story about market drops should begin with an explanation that the reasons stocks provide higher returns (meaning returns higher than lower-risk assets like bonds) are because they carry the risk of occasional sell-offs. But, for a long-term investor you should care exactly 0% about the current sell-off.
Those who are selling are market professionals whose business is to provide liquidity (meaning that, when you decide to sell your stock at retirement age you have a ready and willing buyer). In this market, they face higher risk since new information (such as Italy locking down there businesses) can come in unexpectedly. When you expect the unexpected, you demand a higher return for taking that risk.
The only way to achieve a higher return for a stock is to lower the current price.
5
@James
and do recall...
In the long run we are all dead.
and know that the sell off is the result of institutional investors, hedge funds and investment banks—professional investors— who look over the horizon so as to see what lies ahead and they aren't selling in a panic or as result of Covid-19 but they are selling.
if you haven't locked in your profits from the past 11 year bull run do it now, go to cash and come back when the markets have settled out.
It isn't like the markets won't be here in a year or two.
@James
In the long run, we're all dead. Keynes
We designed a system that favors money over people, so financial first responders have the priority access to resources.
5
@Hank
money can be created with a key stroke and travels at the speed light.
the resources humans need today have a significant lag time to make given they aren't stockpiled.
in some cases the raw ingredients required are in short supply or unavailable.
Republican's decades of supply side economics is being accounted for.
1
So what's Trump doing? He's in the process of discussing how to bail out the oil, cruise ship, and hotel industries such as his own.
9
The markets and the country are in large part reacting to the incredibly inadequate response to this public health crisis from our so-called President, who has been dishonest and incompetent at every turn.
We all wondered what would happen if Trump ever had to face a real crisis not of his own making, and prayed it wouldn’t happen. Now we’re seeing what the absence of leadership and decades of GOP “small government” mania - dismantling the global response unit intended to combat pandemics exactly like this one, and denying health coverage to tens of millions of Americans - really look like. It isn’t pretty, to say the least.
18
Come on, he is trying, now chewing tic tags.... ready to kiss Coronavirus or worse !
@ David San Jose
My prediction on Inauguration Day was: a public health crisis would occur (a pandemic) and the poor, the young, the uninsured and the needy, all across America would lack the treatment and care/recover needed from the Federally government (our taxes) and finally fully realize the oath the President swore, to protect to all Americans, was empty and worthless- he failed and he lacks empathy for any of the above unless he thinks he can acquire their vote.
And he’s allowed Val to encroach and taunt and threaten Eastern Europe border countries and settle in in Syria and Iran (Middle East debacle).
@LCF Well predicted. I made a similar prediction when he was acting unhinged at the GOP primaries. I did not think he would get the nomination; I did not think he would be untouched by Access Hollywood; but when he did get the Oval Office, I swear that I said to my wife "this is not going to end well".
2
trump, The Chosen One, the World's Greatest Financier, is giving the USA what The People want so badly - The Biggest Depression the country has ever seen. Bravo.
10
And those TRILLIONS spent on weapons, wars, prisons and police (and great big beautiful walls) are going to keep us safe exactly how?
6
Maybe the circuit breaker is just stalling the crash. All roads lead to Rome.
1
The Trump attempt to fix the economy with more corporate and millionaire incentives has been given a D- grade by the Stock Market. If politicians were smart, they'd put money directly into the pockets of the poor and middle class. As people suffer, can't afford health care, can't afford to take days off work, politicians worry about interest rates, bond yields and the S&P. To me, these politicians seems totally out of touch with the average citizen.
9
Thanks, Donald. My 401K is cratering, I am going to have to work additional years into retirement, unless I catch COVID-19 and die due to complications. My kids are going to be strapped with debt and a miserable socioeconomic future.
And I put the entire blame on you. What exactly are you going to do when/if all of us come looking for you?
13
@Mtkailas
"Thanks, Donald. My 401K is cratering,"
Were you crying over the last 10 years when it was soaring out of control? Aren't you still up 70% since then? Anyone with half a brain should have been easing out even before the virus started spreading as the bubble was obviously about to burst. And then to just sit around the last month after watching what happened in China, well, genius.
But, if you stay in now (thinking this crisis is anywhere near over and hoping for the day trader's optimistic bounce) then, yeah, I agree, your kids are going to be strapped with debt and a miserable socioeconomic future.
1
@Glenn Thanks for your empathy.....
Donald Trump as President of the United States is now a bigger drag on the stock market than the coronavirus pandemic.
Donald Trump as President of the United States is now a larger threat to the lives of Americans than the coronavirus pandemic.
His actions and inactions are making matters worse on both fronts.
No one trusts him anymore or believes what he says anymore.
He cannot get that trust or credibility back.
For these reasons, he must resign for the good of the country.
15
Moved $25K from my bond fund to S&P 500 fund. Low prices are a forecast for higher future returns, while high prices are a forecast for low future returns.
1
@James
what ever rules you think markets are operating under, those rules are suspended until further notice...for now we are in uncharted water.
2
@James
Genius. Thanks for the tip.
1
@James in Chicago
Good deal slight risk for those not retiring this year
This is what we get with Trump and the GOP. Depleting all resources during the high times without any regard for the safety net for the tough times.
Huge tax cuts for the wealthy while economy booming.
Fed interest rate cuts despite lowest unemployment rate.
Severing ties with our allies losing our chances of coordinated economic measures.
Same with Bush and the Great Recession. Sick of cleaning up the mess GOP leaves for our country just because they can win the popularity for cutting taxes and hiking up the DOW for a while. So they can win re-election.
GOP supporters - LEARN!!
18
Let’s not forget the massive deficits we generated during a boom economy. Drunken sailors on shore leave had better fiscal responsibility than our elected leaders (and I apologize to the sailors),
4
After 9/11 the markets were closed for nearly a week. The spread of coronavirus has already disrupted commerce everywhere and likely will cause much greater harm to the economy than 9/11. So why is the NYSE open? If they don't want to close it for the investors, they should at least close it for the traders so they don't infect each other.
13
@Jay Orchard 98% of all trading is now electronic. You could eliminate the trading floor (NASDAQ never had a floor) and the markets wouldn't miss a beat.
Shutting the markets would be much worse. Markets are currently trading based on current information, but if they know that they won't be able to react when future new News comes in. So, they will assume the worst and sell-off much more than currently occurring.
hopefully this will convince Trump to curtail his efforts to "calm the markets"
11
It would be good for a moment to think about how much worse this would be if, going into this crisis, employment had been high instead of at record lows, and the general Main Street economy had been in tatters rather than being pretty solid.
2
It is good to think how we would be doing if Trump didn’t refund the CDC and had experts in their fields in his cabinet.
And had he and the GOP not decided that we needed a stimulus in the way of a tax cut during a boom , bringing our deficit to over 1 Trillion.
Basic economics calls for a stimulus during a recession. There will be no choice , despite the GOP hemming and hawing , but to have another stimulus , further increasing the deficit. Weren’t they the party of conservative fiscal restraint ? No, just when there’s a Democratic President
15
What Main Street do you live on? If it’s in Bezos’ then yeah. You’re good.
1
Indeed.... God Bless Obama! A pity Trump is busy wrecking things like he did Atlantic City....
2
Anybody know where I can buy a barrel and some suspenders?
16
@T. Rivers Sorry, they're sold out.
@T. Rivers
the Trump Campaign's merchandise web page
1
We desperately need someone with a brain in charge. Maybe someone who believes in science.
42
The only requirements to qualify to be President of the United States are to be 35 years of age, a natural born citizen, and been a resident of the US for at least 14 years. There is no mention of mental capacity, emotional stability, ethical conflicts of interest. I suggest these requirements be updated to reflect the needs in the 21st century.
4
The king of bankruptcy strikes again. It's not clear Trump ever ran a successful business. His father and his father's fortune first bailed him out. Then his US banks and contractors got stiffed. Finally he had to resort to money laundering by mobsters and corrupt offshore kleptocrats facilitated by a certain German bank, a bank that bankrolled the Nazi regime before moving on to its modern iteration with dubious Russian ties.
Anyway, it looks like Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats will have to be the adults in the room. Even so, it's unclear if our petulant and vindictive president will cooperate with Dems for the greater good. I doubt he has the capacity to do any better even if he temporarily put aside golfing, lie-fest rallies, and binge watching Fox Noise.
Senate Republicans, except for Mitt Romney, put Party ahead of country several months ago when they could easily and justifiably have removed this unfit man from office. Now they are every bit as responsible for this fiasco as is Trump himself.
35
Our only hope is that the President and Vice Presidents exposure to COVID-19 at Mar-a-Lago will require that Speaker Pelosi will have to assume the role of President during their infirmity.
10
"QE4 is here": yes, let's by all means attend to Wall Street's anxieties first; workers or the now wage-less be damned.
17
Does the central bank has $1.5 trillions ?
6
@Sam Sampanthan
the Fed has the printing press.
2
They tell people that they do and then it is magically there.
1
Bush took 7 years to destroy the economy. It has taken Trump only 3. Democrats will have to come in and fix things yet again. How many times do we have to go through this scenario before we learn?
68
@birdiesboy Destroy the economy? Please explain in what way the President’s policies have destroyed the economy. I am not being snnity, I really want to know.
1
By firing people who could have been proactive against the coronavirus outbreak in China and cutting budget (such as from the CDC), by refusing WHO test kits (possibly because he has invested in a company working on its own test) and by spreading disinformation, he has helped the virus spread exponentially.
12
@birdiesboy The markets are currently at levels not seen since....December 2018.
The horrors, the horrors. Most 401k & pensions holders have a small paper loss.
Same old same old. Over-leveraged fools getting into trouble and the Fed bailing them out. We actually cannot afford to let them crash the economy (and peoples retirements). Yet the GOP argue that we cannot interfere and block them from their greedy games. SAD.
24
When will the Cabinet dispose of the president? But what then, as most of them are also incompetent?
12
@Dave From Auckland
I am not sure and would like to know myself- but I read that they were only in acting positions and therefore do not have a vote in enacting the 25th Amendment.
Could someone wiser than me (there are a lot of you) please clarify if that is true,
And it's not even the 13th yet.
16
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
3
There has been a run on toilet paper, could there be a run on the banks and shutting down of stock market trading while Nancy Pelosi becomes president if Pence and Trump test positive for COVID19, as they sat next to the infected president of Brazil for dinner at Mara Largo last weekend, and everyone looks sick. Would think their test results would be known very soon.
19
Where is the money lost in the market going to?
Shorting should be illegal when the markets are in “tail” territory.
Some people are making fortune out of the misery of others.
What will Biden do about it?
We know what Bernie would.
Inform your readers on the real beneficiaries of the bailout coming. You have the data from 2008 and aftermath.
Ask Steve Mnuchin if you don’t. Ask him how much he made out of IndyMac.
You won’t? I guessed that much.
7
The market is value. If you are willing to pay 10 dollars for a stock its sale is registered as worth ten dollars. If the market drops and you can only sell it for five dollars it is registered as 5 dollars and the market values the company that much. That is why you really only can say what you gained or lost on the day you sell. Everything else is a paper gain or loss.
3
@Blunt Shorting is just as important as buying. No one complained when short sellers lost money in an up-market.
Give me a break. I spent twenty five years at the firm that produces treasury secretaries en messe including this current abomination. I ran a global risk managent advisory business there.
You are missing the irony in my comment. And the people who short the market in catastrophes like this one are not the same people that sell stock in regular markets.
As to the importance of shorting, it is highly exaggerated and used as a cover by speculators. The same way, “complete markets,” “rational expectations hypothesis” and the like are used. Ideological instruments of mega-capitalism.
People believe in big words, so intelligent opportunists use them.
1
Travel ban on non-residents is necessary until we will streamline the testing. Stop this biased attacks.
1
As I see it, this virus is like a train that can't be stopped. It has to pass through every part of the world, from east to west and from the first wagon to the last. Until it finishes its journey, we won't begin to recover, so the faster we let it go through, the faster we can all get back to living, working and studying. All these useless attempts at "contention" will just prolong the scenario and destroy the world economy.
4
Our country only has low 100s of thousands of ICU beds available, meanwhile if everyone got sick at once we would slam the healthcare system with millions of sick. Not to mention all the normal day to day demands on ICU beds (injuries, cancer, etc.). Even now there is a reason to try to slow the rate of infection so as not to overwhelm our healthcare system. But don't take word for it, listen every major expert on this.
4
You should look at the graphs in the Times that shows if you slow the spread of the virus you may not overwhelm the medical capacity to handle it. If you let it run unabated, you will end up like Italy with a hospital system that can’t handle it, a higher mortality rate and eventually more economic impact.
5
I predict there will be very valuable information gathered after this debacle passes. Climate change is real. And for all the doubters, those who read or pay attention will learn the impact of reduced carbon in our atmosphere as travel and other things screech to a halt for a period of time.
7
This country can afford to do anything EXCEPT manage social programs so that people are protected when this happens, invest in public health, put people first, or accomplish anything that is in the public interest. When you gut your country, this is what happens.
22
Another excellent example of socialism for the rich. Good luck finding this type of relief when YOU experience a series of misfortunes, but the bean-counters on Wall Street get spooked and the immediate response? 1.5 trillion dollars! Truly incredible how these glorified gamblers are the same people that admonish handouts for the working class.
29
@William Yandell ...Yikes!...where, exactly, did that 1.5 trillion dollars come from?...and can I have some?
6
Look in your pocket. It used to be there.
The millions of EU country tourists to the US spend annually an estimated $22bn whilst visiting.
It's not a cost-neutral decision.
I'm also unclear why banning travel from Europe would cause European economies to collapse. The ban is on people, not goods. Anyone?
3
Bernie is right! How can one lose 30-40% of lifetime saving in a week and think that is a mechanism for "the people" to invest.
Corporate Earnings are Private, but Corporate Losses are Social and require a tax payer bail out. Huh -- sounds a lot like socialism to me!
38
@Jon Ham So, the solutions is to only let rich people invest in stocks. That would make wealth inequality even worse.
In Puerto Rico, middle class people people lost a lot more money buying Puerto Rico government bonds (many Puerto Rican's were proud to support their government and happy to take the 7% coupon payments) than lost in the stock market.
Sadly, despite attending the University of Chicago, Bernie has no idea of how markets work. As a member of the UoC alumni, I feel shame that we failed him so badly.
@Jon Ham ...no, people didn't lose 30-40% of lifetime savings in a week...it was never there to begin with...any and all increases in your initial investment are not real money...it's all pretend...it doesn't exist until you take it out of the market...so, you can't lose what did not exist (you just pretended it exists) in the first place...
2
@Jon Ham, Spot on! socialism = communism in America but corporate socialism = capitalism
3
What a calamitous 24 hours we have seen. Our President makes a disastrous announcement that puts intense pressure on European economies, Markets tank and liquidity problems surface in the government bond market. The Fed reacts quickly but the real fallout here is the European and especially the Italian banking system. On fragile ground before the pandemic, The situation is now even worse and managing through it will be the sternest test of EU resolve we have yet seen.
13
@Ericka D
I don't know how many at bats Trump will get, but so far he is 0 for how every many he already has had.
Keep your powder dry.
The Dow will break 20K within a week, maybe hitting 18K.
And if Trump and/or Pence are diagnosed, we're looking at 14K or less.
This is a once-in-a-decade buying opportunity.
Keep calm and make large profits.
8
@John
Where did it go in 2008? 7000
The irony of it all.
The very people who have been badmouthing, shrinking and dismantling functional government for years have finally destroyed the very reasons that markets functioned and businesses grew. And now those very people have no serious solutions and moreover no leadership abilities to lead the country and yes, the world out of this predicament when we need it.
The stability offered by the United States provided the leadership and protection that often blanketed the world. Yes there was a cost associated with this leadership. Yes, that leadership had to be supported by taxes and expertise - but that expertise, while an expense, was priceless. We had dedicated professionals who diligently worked behind the scenes of government for the payback of a job well done. Deep State indeed.
The people who have been downsizing our government to fit their market based philosophies are not the cause of COVID-19, but they are responsible for the response and lack of leadership exhibited by what is left of the Executive branch of our government.
The old saying rings true today: "They know the cost of everything and the value of nothing."
34
As an old guy with no pension but a small, well-balanced portfolio that is now down 20% I'm sad. But here's my question: why aren't Republicans in the U.S. marching on the White House and chanting "Ger out! Get out! Leave now! Do us a favor, though, and Get OUT! Resign! You're hopeless!"
26
....because they have no spine, have put party and power over anything else like the welfare of all living here. Shame to those who haven’t the courage to act when the cause of the chaos is clear to many of us.
This is Wall Street saying “Bye, Felicia.”
Trump is done.
And he knows it.
The deer in the headlights look says it all.
26
From your lips to the flying spaghetti monster's ears!
“Chinese groups were sending out coronavirus-themed documents loaded with malware.”
Could NYT please clarify? Which “Chinese groups”?
2
@BlueBird
What is a corona virus themed document?
@Moehoward
"What is a corona virus themed document?"
Something appearing to address something relevant about the virus, but either has fake or incorrect information and/or carries malware that will infect anyone clicking on the information.
I'd just like to inform the NY Times that Australia is a Continent and I find it rather irritating that you refer to us as the Asian Markets or don't refer to Australia or NZ at all. When you want to include Australia and NZ in the Asian sharemarket we get referred to as being in the Asian/Pacific sharemarkets.
6
Those vulture capitalists, the banks, investment brokerages, and mega investment companies are probably shorting stocks, and making a killing!
138
@Majortrout I'm pretty sure that's what Trump did last night.
18
@Majortrout You mean the way they and Bush officials profited from the Iraq war? Or the way trump administration officials have made killings from the trade wars? Nahh...so cynical!
24
@Majortrout I would hope so and I would also assume they are buying up all of the now tremendously undervalued stocks out there. Adults know we will survive this and bounce back. Children run in circles and scream and shout.
9
1.5 trillion to the banks. But whenever a program is proposed to address the welfare of regular Americans - such as healthcare for all, or paid sick leave, which are especially relevant today - all we get is HoW aRe YoU gOnNa PaY fOr It.
This country is terminal.
35
These daily market drops are showing us just how stupid the people who control the markets are. It is wonderful how they are using the Chinese water torture methodology to crash the markets. It must be an inside joke.
2
To alleviate the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, an immediate cut to the payroll tax is essential. One can then add targeted benefits such as free Covid-19 testing and healthcare.
3
The Fed should immediately offer 1.5 trillion in guaranteed loans to all Americans and non-Americans in US soil via their credit cards.
The Fed is doing the same for American banks and non-American banks operating in US soil.
If we are doing 1% Socialism and Corporate Welfare, let's do it for the 99% too!
12
@Yoandel
"The Fed should immediately offer 1.5 trillion in guaranteed loans to all Americans and non-Americans in US soil via their credit cards."
And at the same interest rate: 0%.
The Trump administration is treated COVID-19 as a purely financial issue. At the rate of infection the US healthcare systems will lock up in around 2 to 3 weeks. When that happens will just one Republican be able to say the word “healthcare”, much less deal with it?
9
When the president comes on TV and declares that all travel from the EU is stopped for 30 days, panic sets in. Couple that with no mention at all on the State Department page and you wonder which planet you're on.
All the measures the world is now taking to detect and control the virus are extremely short-sighted, as if this is a one-of event. What will the world do next year when there's either a new virus or the corona mutates into a new strain? Shut down the economy?
We (again) need democrats in charge to clean up this mess and use science and technology as our guide for the future.
9
@RonRich
He's not even right. There are FIVE EU counries to which the ban does NOT apply - Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Cyprus and two 'banned' countriea, Switzerland and Norway which are not even in the EU!
And, it's not a 'Europe' ban either. Turkey, Albania, Serbia and a host of other, smaller, eastern European countries have no US travel restrictions.
If it was anything to do with number of Covid cases, the ban wouldn't make sense, either. Some EU countries have hardly any infections at all. Lithuania has THREE!
A crazy, irrational policy announced by a crazy, irrational man.
10
"The Fed said it would offer at least $1.5 trillion worth of short-term loans to banks today and tomorrow"
All the wealthy hypocrites who label Sanders a "socialist" are leading the cheers on this free market intervention.
So much for small government...and letting the "private sector" take care of itself.
Healthcare and wage increases for the working class?
No way......that is "communism".
A $1.5 trillion free market intervention on behalf of Wall Street?
Perfectly acceptable...and more evidence that this country is indeed a socialist society of "Socialism For The Rich".
10
The senate probably wishes the trial had been now so they’ve an excuse to rid us of the real virus - Trump. Please, someone lock this man up, take away his phone and allow people to bring in professionals as this country is in crisis and the act is over. The reality TV is cancelled. We are losing Trillions and we are losing lives. And we’re losing our future.
10
Loans? Who wants to go into debt because the republican government completely botched its response to the outbreak? Where are the test?!
6
The business sector that lived in fear of the Socialist Sanders and what his giving working class people healthcare and education would cost is now waiting with both hands out for trillions of dollars in bailouts. LET THEM FAIL!
10
The Canadian Prime Minister is in quarantine; you'd think Trump would also be in quarantine after coming into contact with people who have tested positive.
9
Trumpeters in my office are moaning that everyone is overreacting to the virus. I point out that what everyone is reacting to is the realization we have an incompetent administration, who can’t handle the virus. Time for Trump to declare presidential bankruptcy, resign, lawyer-up even more, and seek protection from the courts for his behavior.
15
Now the stock market is back to where it was when Obama left office....Will trump take credit for that as well?
10
Obviously, the generators of what Tannenbaum would consider "an intelligent and decisive" action grounded in sound fiscal policy, namely, the president, Chief Economic Adviser Kudlow & Secretary Mnuchin have their collective heads in the sand, and follow the mantra of "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil."
2
Has he paid for the pianos yet?
Where are his taxes?
Why did the senate hold his trial without witnesses?
Should the accusations from women be revisited?
11
I find it rather suspect that China is not buying our exports considering people need to eat, as China is our biggest buyer of our exports. You'd think China would be clamouring for our exports considering we have very few cases of the people who have reported positive for the virus. I don't intend to shut up about this until China starts resuming our export orders to their nation. You'd think the rich in China would take on the government as they need our healthy virus free food. China has no reason to cancel export orders and I think they've done it out of spite because they got angry when this virus was announced and our PM banned travel from China immediately because of the contagious effect. China's sharemarket is doing well.
1
Instead of captaining this ship thru troubled waters, the bridge is concerned with stealing the good silver and sneaking away in first class life boats.
I'd rather the Captain of the Costa Concordia be released and put in charge steering the ship of state.
Eric Idle couldn't have imagined this scenario, as it be beyond the belief of comedy and farce.
I can't wait until we bumble into a war partly to increase the value of defense stocks. It may kill less than Covid 19, civilians in Iran excluded. Hi Ho.
And that is why the market continues to sink.
I want the Kenyan back, No Drama Obama.
As does the market, a no drama steady intelligent hand.
5
The newest is that the Fed is releasing $1.5 TRILLION in short-term loans to BANKS to try to shore up the Stock Market.
Where is the money for COVID-19 testing kits and distribution centers? Where is the money to build temporary hospitals? Where is the money to manufacture more respirators? Where is the money to provide personal protection equipment to doctors and health care workers? Where is the money to provide paid sick leave? Where is the money to provide student debt relief? Where is the money to help people who have no money for rent to stay in their homes? Where is the money to provide home delivery of meals to the sick, the elderly, and school children? Where is the money for extended unemployment benefits for both traditional and gig economy workers? Where is the guarantee that no American will have to pay for any aspect of testing and treatment of COVID-19? Where is the sturdy, unfettered public guidance of professional health experts? Where are the daily running totals of virus victims, virus deaths, and virus recoveries? Where is the warm, steady, empathic, truthful, capable leadership needed to guide us through this?
Where is the humanity in a president, a Republican Party, a right-wing media machine, and a faux-Christianity that far prefer money and power over human health and wellbeing?
551
@Leslie
If the banks fail, then the FDIC may also fail, and people's savings will disappear.
11
@Alan J. Shaw
As much as I would hate to lose my savings, I would prefer that to losing my life or the life of a loved one.
23
@Leslie
Oh, the Irony. The markets are ignoring the golden goose that has been filling the trough for them the last three years. They hear Trump but they know he doesn't know what he is talking about.
President Trump- Testing is going well, anyone can be tested.
Vice President is asked "How many people have been tested? " I will leave that to the experts"
The expert before congress this morning. "As far as testing we are failing."
Guess who the markets are listening to. The expert, not Trump.
42
The difference between this and 1929 is that then only one person, "Sunshine Charley" Mitchell, President of National City Bank (now CITI) went physically on the floor of the NYSE, waving 'buy orders', and shouting "from the syndicate" (as Galbraith recounts in "The Great Crash").
But today in 2020, after many manipulations, via Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), and AI, the markets can be manipulated via 'front-running' on the Futures Market at light speed.
IMHO, the EFT market, which includes outfits like FirstCrypto ETF, are igniting explosive opportunities for the ETF market becoming First-Krytron ETFs (EFI slapper nuclear triggers) to the larger market.
One thing that won't change in this unwinding Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire's markets is that the jagged teeth of the big two-man buck saw, will cut both-ways through softwood old-growth giant sequoias along with bones and flesh on each market-ratchet up and down --- up and down --- until the last faux-profits are acquired and hoarded, if only for a microsecond by that one GINI Coefficient of Wealth Inequality 1.0 "last man standing".
40
@Alan MacDonald
You took the words right out of my mouth.
14
@Alan MacDonald - well, whatever it is, it sure -sounds- impressive. I am struggling, probably financially as well, because I can't quite see what any of that marvelous capability has to do with actually making anything; or with actually providing jobs; or with actually creating lasting value (not wealth, value). Can you enlighten me on just how micro-second trading opportunities build business capital, create jobs, or advance the security and future of our country and the world? Or is this just a 'faster, better' parasite, weakening everything to skim off a bit of profit? And what good, pray tell, does all that profit do for defeating the virus? And what good does all the wealth do when your health fails, perhaps terminally. Your "explosive opportunities" are great, if you live to enjoy the fruits of those explosions. Good luck, and wash your hands often.
3
@Alan MacDonald
What?
Seriously, I don't understand. What are you talking about?
6
Loans for what? How on earth is this supposed to fix a low demand problem? Are Americans suddenly going to decide to open travel agencies?
6
These good cheap loans are probably from the same small banks that the government exempted from the Frank-Dodd Act in 2018. What a set up for bankruptcy. Public with shares in the bank pay when they loose their money and the government looses nothing.
4
The stock market continued to fall after two major Fed actions. First the 50 bp cut in Fed Fund Rates. Then the market intervention today.
That the Fed could not stem the losses should make it painfully clear that financial intervention can not solve what is at its a core a health and medical threat.
Resources in various forms should be allocated to health workers and hospitals. The stock market is not the primary concern.
10
I do not understand what good cheap loans are supposed to accomplish. I was not aware that a tight credit market was the problem. How was the FED proposal supposed to help? They just had to do something so they would not be accused of doing nothing. and I doubt there is a finiacial policy solution to the current crisis. Wall street is just going to have to take its medicine.
10
We have two key risks: 1) Businesses that collapse due to business disruption, think airlines and hotels; and 2) People that work even though they are sick, spreading the disease.
Businesses should be able to borrow at 2% from their banks to handle any business disruption provided they keep paying their employees, furloughed or otherwise; the banks should be funded by the Fed as necessary for these loans and Uncle Sam should guarantee them.
Companies should be able to file for reimbursement from Uncle Sam for expanded sick pay when there is a declared pandemic, as now.
I hope that those in charge will finally understand that to save the economy they have invest money into developing treatments and a vaccine for this virus. Basically stop worrying about your money and force big Pharma to step it up IMMEDIATELY, whether it’s profitable or not. Also create enough new labs for testing like the Koreans are doing. This should be the priority and not our fixation with the DOW!
8
Suggestion - Put money into people's hands, or at least free up some of their concerns about losing a job or being unable to work and collecting no pay. You can't do that with payroll tax reductions or loans to banks. You can only do that by real, direct subsidies (NOT by taking money out of the pockets of retirees to give it to others). If Trump had any guts at all, he would work to repeal the 2017 tax "cut" and put us back where we were, when the money didn't all flow uphill to the very rich and corporations but was spread out among the consumers, too. But that won't happen. His donors would get mad, and they count a lot more than we do.
10
@Brookhawk The single most effective measure would be to establish a rent freeze for working Americans and that could be done by giving landlords a tax break.
@Brookhawk It’s the same old story, over snd over again. Republicans pass huge tax cut giveaway for the rich, ballooning the deficit. A crisis occurs, recession, financial, virus, whatever. We’re too broke to deal with it. Insanity much?
2
So these same investors who have zero confidence in Trump's ability to handle a crisis are the ones who voted him into office. Am I right?
12
@Kristin
Access Hollywood should have immediately disqualified him.
Why was he voted in after accusing the father ofTed Cruz of being part of the JFK assassination?
America had plenty of warning yet still fell for "I alone can fix it".
2
Businesses like Trump Inc make money on cons. Markets run on reliable data effectively delivered. (Probably why while Trump is a more adept politician, Bloomberg is the billionaire.)
We need to do some social distancing from Trump and leave his lies to the amplifiers of his delusions and the echo chambers of his true believers.
Basically, we need to restore the fact based institutions and constitutional foundations of government. A Biden administration's executive branch appointees and judicial nominees would start repairs on day one. Getting to that day is our job.
3
When trump has 'his' fed intervene to steady the market and they continue their slide , it scares the markets even more. If he does nothing it scares the market.
May I suggest that what the market is scared of is lack of consumer spending. trump has done NOTHING to calm the public except to provide 'happy talk' as if we're all 4 year olds. Actually we're adults who know 'happy talk' is for 4 year olds. So being talked down to by some one not capable of fomenting a strategy to combat this and thereby easing the publics fears he scares the public more. So then the market gets scared more. We are stuck with a tv personality in a time of war who is paralyzed and has surrounded himself with men who are afraid to challenge his illogical ideas. We are adrift in a terrible storm and the captain is in his quarters quivering with indecision and fear.
16
The action by the Fed to inject $1.5 Trillion into the economy is a panic signal of the first order.
We can only watch as this administration self destructs as a consequence of their inexperience and criminal mismanagement of the government.
After the dust settles we can only hope that no person remotely connected to Trump and the GOP comes within a country mile of holding office or crafting business policy.
They cost us too much.
19
I don't know much about Trump's Casino, Airline or Football league failures, but i imagine as we are now witnessing with his Presidency, past is prologue. Good time Trump hype hype hype, tweeting insults that come back and haunt him, and kiting checks he wont be able to pay (like interest rate cuts that are now too low to be useful). And then it all hits the fan, again, and DT is flooded out by his own inability for reality testing or future planning. As DT himself would say: "Sad".
15
@PH All chickens are gonna home to roost for trump. Karma will be a huge factor in the rest of his life. His horrible policies, his horrible personality, his lack of empathy and intelligence are what he is and now, for the entire world to see.
This miraculous economy was already fragile as a result of mounting debt and deficit caused in part by the tax giveaways to the rich, and the manufactured trade wars. which, not surprisingly, benefited trump insiders.
But the trump party remains faithful to their savior. I'm reminded of the end of the movie, The Dead Zone. Only here, if this charlatan were to hold a baby in front of him to save his own life, his base would cheer, and find cause to blame the baby (or Obama, or Hilary, or liberals....).
11
The exemption of the UK from travel restrictions means the ban is useless as they are EU members. Anyone can book a flight from London or transit there freely.
Moreover, precisely zero screenings are occurring at Ports of Entry in the US.
As far as we can see, the CPAC meeting may be the "super spreader" we are all worried about.
10
@MarkinPS
No, the UK left the EU on 31 Jan 2020. The UK is however effectively an EU member until the end of 'transition period' (December 2020 at the earliest).
There are no US travel restrictions for Ireland, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Croatia which ARE members of the European Union.
Switzerland and Norway, against whom a US travel restriction was declared. are not even EU members.
The policy makes NO sense. And, yes, there is no way to prevent EU citizens from travelling to America through Britain, any of the five non-banned EU countries or from European countries (Serbia, Albania, Turkey and others). Very few, if any European countries have 'stamped' passports for decades, now.
2
The boost to the markets by the Fed’s action was short lived. It is obvious to the whole world at this point that we have a man sitting in the White House incapable of true leadership and responsible decision making at a time when we need both. The reality show host and multiple bankruptcy filer is manifestly clueless as to what to do. No wonder the markets are tanking. Election Day cannot come soon enough.
12
The buying market for bonds and Treasuries is pretty easy to explain ---> those holding them do not want to sell them right now, as they see them as a safe haven.
Big institutions are selling off equities and looking for places to park their cash until they can hop back into the markets. The bond and treasury markets drying up may actually slow some of the other equity sell-offs.
1
Speaking on his administrations actions, the President couldn't stay on a rehearsed script. That is eyebrow raising.
Cancelling travel to Europe ( and not the UK) was not informed by clear logic. Also not informed were any governments in Europe. That is witheringly disrespectful.
I can't think of any action discussed that successfully raised popular confidence. That is unfathomable.
15
@Robin trump is the worst person to be in charge of anything at a time like this. We all knew this day would come. There are consequences to elections when you elect unqualified people followed by low-information, dumbed down fox fake news watchers. Voting is the only way out and restoring decency to government.
4
I believe it was FDR that said, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”. He could have been talking about this. While a real, serious issue, it is, at the end of the day, a new strain of flu virus. We already have flu vaccines for previous strains, but fewer than 50% of people get flu shots now, and tens of thousands die needlessly each year. But the fear and hype from news outlets, governors, the president, and even the NBA is shutting down the economy. For example, the NBA claims to have stopped the season because they’re concerned about their players and fans. But every year, they let players play through the flu and colds, and don’t require their players to get vaccinated. Who are they kidding? They are running scared now because they are afraid to be portrayed as heartless cretins. Meanwhile, as just one small example, those arena workers who are living paycheck to paycheck are losing their jobs, and are now dealing with that stress, and that fear and stress will probably cause much more grief than the virus itself. This event will be studied by sociologists years from now. I hope we learn from it.
1
@Greg Often fear is irrational, but sometimes it is completely rational. The virus has fatality rate, at least, 25 times that of flu. Applied to 2019 flu deaths, it will kill 2 million Americans. 20 million plus will require intervention, which the health system, in fact any health system, will fail to cope and drive up the deaths even further. At the moment this is the likely scenario, and that’s what the markets are responding too.
5
@Greg
And you studied immunology how long ago, and at which medical school?
@John The CDC has stated that there is not nearly enough information yet to make any realistic statements on the mortality rate. You do need a large number of cases to really get a solid idea. Early cases appeared in very poor areas of China, and in a nursing home, for example. The mortality rates there would of course be higher, as they are for the flu, so not a good predictor. Add to that the large number of mild cases that will probably go unreported; many will likely never even know they had it. My point, again, is perspective. Caution is great, but irrational, knee-jerk emotional reactions often create bad unintended consequences.
Instead of actually doing something about testing, which can inform both citizens and medical staff, and providing more medical care and support (it turns out insurance will only pay for tests, should they even be available, not treatment)
Trump and the GOP will do everything to deny deny while finding ways to turn this debacle into an advantage by blaming yet more foreigners (well, unless certain golf courses are there), and removing what’s left of the safety net, ie the taxpayers’ ,not the businesses’, common wealth.
China tried to deny for a while, which is how we got here.
Today I got alerts from CA medical friends who say the situation is a LOT worse than those artificially-lowered numbers would indicate, due to lack of testing.
8
To everyone besides the invincibly stupid, it has been painfully obvious for years that Trump is a uniformed, truth-challenged fraud. Yet many have chosen to defend this manifestly incompetent charlatan because they expected to profit in some way from Trump's looting of our public wealth and demolition of our democratic institutions.
Now a real crisis besets us and we find that we have a government that we cannot trust, a government that concerns itself only with appearances and never to the actual welfare its citizens, and a government that has arrogantly shed itself of experts who could even now be sparing us the worst-case scenarios. This is a leadership that refuses to lead by making hard choices, by putting the needs of the nation before its own, and above all by telling the truth.
America will cast this parasitical charade of a government into the gutter where it will remain forever as a grim warning about what happens when a corrupt cabal of carnival barkers is given the reigns of government. Our pitiful, shameful example could be our most valuable legacy to the future.
36
If you elect a clown, expect a circus.
Stay safe and well, all!
30
Not to worry investors, the Fed I just committed a trillion dollars to the repo market to support the wildly inflated prices it helped create. The government can’t find money for anything from education to infrastructure for the rank and file but big banks and billionaires who once again launched a ponzi scheme and made billions over the last few years in bonds and stocks have a problem, this one being a correction in the market that is long overdue and kept afloat only thru tax cuts for the rich and a fed starving small savers as they lower interest rates so companies can load up and buy back their own shares: This is our “ free market” at work, well I call this socialism for the investor class, where is the anger, or all all Times readers now in the 10% that own everything. A trillion today and they let it be known they will do “ anything” to keep the market rigged. BTW this is not a Republican thing Obama did the same thing in 2008, not trillions for infrastructure but trillions for Goldman Sachs, AIG and their ilk. Come on Biden supporters tell me why this is not the “ socialism “ you are so terrified of. More of the same socialize the debt privatize the profit, this country needs a change and Biden isn’t it any more than Trump was it. Wake up.
18
The virus doesn't trickle down. It floats up.
3
Not the end of the world, please stop reporting news that create mass hysteria. Everything will be back to normal before the end of April. Think positive, feel positive.
And it’s not even Friday 13th yet.
4
So now we know what trump’s 7th bankruptcy will be.
28
Please consider adding a line to show the actual variation for the stocks rather than only the percentage like:
S&P 500
2,520.49
-201.30
- 8.06%
Dow
21,445.75
-2130.50
-9.10%
2
Stock market is trying to settle back to the real gains gained during President Barack Obama’s smart 8 years, after that the monkey economy got a lot of fake boost by Putin - trump manipulators,
Let us not be convinced by a smart virus !
2
The mortgage rate is 3.47% not 3.74%
1
Trump managed in trademark fashion to meld viciousness with stupidity with incompetence. Merkel and Macron have infuriated Trump by failing to be toadies (and worse) apparently mocking the Great Man. Airbus is eating Boeing's lunch. So, launch what is effectively a second front in Trump's war against the EU. Brexit and trade sanctions haven't destroyed it, but a kick in the teeth when its down from an epidemic might. But of course exempt England (home of EU wreckers and led by the world's only other complete buffoon, and buddy of Trump) & Ireland and Scotland (home of Trump's resorts, which would go out of business if flights were cancelled). Trump should go to prison for that alone. But there's more. He falsely alleges the virus is being imported by European travellers when for some time it has been home grown, with a likely number of infected now reaching 10s of thousands. He dodges the issues of the chaotic non-response of his administration and the fact that America is still unable to test the same proportion of citizens as any other country. He falsely claims Italy was architect of its own problems by allowing flights from China. Italy was the first to ban them. And on it goes. He's finally doing real damage -- destroying the world economy, upending the EU and Nato, making every country outside the US hate its guts, and putting hundreds of thousands of American lives at risk. What do you expect when you elect a vicious, narcissistic, demented old man?
18
This is the "Trump-Hover" Recession!!!
(important: the government should no nothing important that might actually affect "individual" efforts)
1
Until now, Trump’s supporters didn’t mind that he’s a dimwit, because they were getting what they wanted despite his incompetence. The pandemic totally changes the equation. Now everybody will suffer from his chaotic, blathering and incoherent handling of a massive public health crisis. Millions will die. He’s toast.
10
Trump: The economy is doing great! They can’t remove me when the economy is the best ever in all of human history!
COVID-19: Hold my virus. And then touch your face.
7
This is from the Atlantic ;
“ The coronavirus pandemic represents, among other things, a lesson about the importance of competent government leadership.
But we’ve learned this lesson before.
Last year, Vann R. Newkirk II, one of our staff writers, and Katherine Wells, our podcast chief, came to me with an idea for a thorough reassessment of Hurricane Katrina, 15 years later. “
What they are saying is Elected Republicans don’t learn from their mistakes ! So, what we have to do is not elect anymore Republicans ! Just look at their top dog ! Answer is obvious !
3
Trump want to stop people paying into Social Security and Medicaid for the rest of the year so he can say they are broke and need to be cut drastically.
8
Families without healthcare and pay checks will not be saved by any Federal Reserve Bank intervention. And the GOP Senate just failed the American people again by refusing to help those families, just as they did in the no witnesses, no documents, phony impeachment "trial'. They will be held to account this year.
9
Literally everything our very stable genius does makes things worse. God help us.
9
When thinks go up HE takes credit. But seriously, the Fed is helping the banks at the cost of the poor. Any support should come with requirement to lower consumer interest rates.
1
Time for a Democratic government to clean up the mess the Republicans left us. Again.
14
“The markets reacted with dismay...”
I think “dismay” is perhaps too polite a word to describe what is going on in US and global equity markets.
Try “fear” or even “terror” upon realizing the depth and breadth of the incompetence of the current US government.
8
Why isn’t anyone asking Trump why he hasn’t called his BFF Saudi King Salman yet to wheel his Art of the Deal- talents to convince him to lay off his slashing of oil prices that will bankrupt AMERICAN companies? Aren’t the Saudis just dear, good people and their leader a great friend of Trump’s, who could step up to protect American jobs? Instead, Trump s acting as if this is a gas tax holiday for all Americans, hurray, at a time when no one wants to travel!
This is what will take him down in the end, his own admission that he does not care about American jobs or businesses, but just about providing cover to a ruthless, murderous Saudi leader who doesn’t care one bit about wreaking havoc on the rest of the world.
5
@BettyK
Very, very well put. Viewing our crisis through international eyes let's us see a non-partisan, objective analysis.
So... thanks for contributing.
The best Trump can come up with is a partial travel ban?
This reminds me of the Georgetown Metro. To this day, Georgetown D.C. does not have a metro stop. Georgetown residents reportedly wanted to be able to take the metro -- they just didn't want anyone getting off in their neighborhood.
Or -- as noted by the Financial Times -- ideally a common threat requires a coordinated global response. Not Trump's.
https://www.ft.com/content/0be9b456-6414-11ea-a6cd-df28cc3c6a68
2
Don't believe the donald's economic promise of aid until the money is in your hand.
3
Pandemic, markets collapsing, entire business segments being decimated...I'm so reassured to have a sociopath with the emotional maturity of a 6-year-old in charge right now!
Special thanks to Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania for putting us here in the first place.
8
When someone dismisses a virus that has already killed thousands and proclaims that he knows a lot more than the scientists, that man is insane.
25 for 45.
And watch Wall Street rebound.
It’s all about leadership.
7
Reality Check this why usa must use resources to make what it consumes in usa .Amount energy wasted with imports is in trillions.Wake up call?
People are dying all around, and all Trump and his team care about is keeping the stock market up. This is a complete breakdown of governance in our country, and I hope everyone notices how irresponsible the republican party is to its core.
6
Are we looking at capitulation?
Or is the “bottom” still waaaay lower?
I doubt anybody knows. But it is scaring me. I have my social security. I have some money in cash. But the investments? The IRA RMD looms eventually. Whether there’s money in the account or not!
1
So the market is waiting for decisive and intelligent action from Trump? Don’t make me laugh.
3
It seems as if travel bans and tax cuts are the only two responses to any situation that Trump and his party of incompetents can imagine.
4
Who knew a pathological liar wouldn’t instill confidence in the face of a global pandemic ? A reality tv personality is not someone who will lead our country through a dangerous epidemic ... republicans this is all on you ! You and your families are now just as vulnerable to this virus .... tax cuts don’t stop the Coronavirus but more testing kits will help our medical experts get a handle on this. I think it’s time to close Wall Street for a few days, like we did after 9-11. Until those testing kits get out to America and we get a handle on the virus .... demand for most public things will be extremely down while trying to protecting ourselves. We need new, competent leadership NOW !
4
Fed just put One Trillions Dollars into the Stock Market. Amazing we didn’t invest properly in our Healthcare system or in infrared in our Country in general. This once again shows the priorities of this Administration, money , not people. Shameful.
4
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
NZ and Australian markets are taking bit hits as well, after Trump announced the travel ban without even consulting the EU, and they are not happy about this. Just heard Trump on radio news say he didn't inform the EU because he didn't have time, and had to move quickly.
Our NZ government is going to announce more travel bans today, (its 6.30am in NZ on Friday), I can't understand why our markets are down when we only have five cases that have tested positive, no deaths from the virus, and we export; you'd think with so few affected in NZ, and no cases in the South Island, that people would be clamouring for our exports. It's a mad world.
3
Seems to be a consistent message. Get everyone tested. I just am flabbergasted that this is so difficult to comprehend and implement.
9
Elected Republicans have a lot of problems dealing with emergencies, they can only sit on Obama’s Supreme Court nominations or his health care legislations, but Republicans are very efficient and very fast to give huge tax cuts to the very few top most rich families and corporations ! and also very fast to give themselves pay raises !
2
It's 10:00 a.m. where I am. Since 7:00 this morning I've received 11 calls, some from robots and others from actual humans, claiming to be offering health insurance. I've answered rather than ignored the calls because I became curious to see how many I get. There have also been several texts.
Whether or not this type of contact comes from scammers or real health insurers, the rush to capitalize on Covid-19 is a good reason for us take a very close look at Medicare for all.
19
Who would have predicted a man who bankrupted multiple casinos would not give investor confidence in time of crises?
60
@Brian He also didn't pay some of the contractors for those, now failed, casinos..go figure. The people who installed things never got paid.. This 'One-Term President", (if that he barley served!) ...is an embarrassment to the history of this country.
6
Funny, when billionaires’ trust funds are on the line, the government will move heaven and Earth to help them. When I am a couple days late on my rent one time because an emergency came up, those same billionaires hit my credit with a scarlet letter that will stay with me for 7 years.
And don’t take the wrong lesson from this. I am not arguing against compassionate governance. I am not saying people should be denied help. I’m saying, the judgement about who gets help shouldn’t depend on how many zeros they have in their bank accounts. I just want to see everyone get access to help when they need it.
40
Miners lost jobs in hordes before this Novel trump thing, farmers lost biggy by our own virus attack, it has been going on, but long before, as soon as the squatters moved in, trillions of dollars were unleashed for some kind of bonanza party, even some parnases were invited,
that was opulence and decadence on the back of all the poor MAGA boys and girls from the farm belt, rust belt and coal beds or call it coal belts !
While the president cannot be blamed for a pandemic, he can and should be blamed for a bungled response that makes everything worse. It seems that COVID-19 is a mild illness in most cases. It could in aggregate kill many people, sure, but the overwhelming majority will survive it. This is serious but does not warrant panic. The stock market should be expected to take a hit but not this kind of a hit - the market has now dropped more in percentage terms than it did in 1929. The announcement yesterday was an unmitigated disaster. Who, if anybody, went through all the details to anticipate the mess that the ill-advised travel ban would create? There was no advance notice to anybody. Why is that?
Trump's supporters claim that he is especially good at managing the economy. I always knew that the crash would come and that it would be deep. It is on the economy that this administration has been most incompetent and has the potential to create the most serious and lasting damage. Now they do not know what to do and that makes them even more dangerous. Missteps like the travel ban are now introduced as they panic. Screening passengers would have been the obvious first step and nobody would have thought that unreasonable.
11
@The Hawk
The reactions of the market has more to do with the fact that the only way to effectively limit the damage this virus will eventually cause is through social distancing, that is discouraging or even prohibiting larger gatherings of people for a long period of time. The implications of this are clear: closed schools and universitys, empty restaurants, resorts, hotels, theaters, airplanes and even empty outpatient, non emergent clinics. The knock-on effects on demand for oil, resources, output from factories, financing are huge and unpredictable. This is about a big a shock to the economy as we've had since the financial crisis.
6
Not to mention the fact that economists, excluding Larry Kudlow of course, have been predicting a market slump for months, and the economy has been slowing in many sectors even before the arrival of the virus. Another Republican President, another economic disaster.
3
@Mebschn
A democrat president will have to clean up the mess like last time; and be constantly blamed and obstructed while doing so.
Did anyone check Trump's address on the corona virus? Didn't anyone notice, other than after the address, that he included cargo from Europe in his ban? Why didn't he make it clear the the travel ban would affect European Schengen countries only (granted the word 'Schengen' sounds a bit Chinese so the poor man may be even more confused than usual)? I could go on. It was a dismal performance. The world would have been laughing once again if this wasn't so serious. Noticeable by its absence from his address was any comment on why the US has such a high mortality rate from the virus and why the US is so far behind other countries in testing and the capability for testing. What he should have been putting forward was a commitment to scientific cooperation with other countries to combat the virus. Science? Cooperation? From Trump? Dream on and good luck America.
19
@Garry Taylor
At this point, our fatality rate high due to a low denominator. That is, since we only test the very sickest, we only know about the cases that are most likely to die.
Can someone explain why Trump would exclude the UK from his travel ban? There are cases of the virus there also.
for those who think they've lost money in the market these past few weeks...you haven't...the "money" in the market isn't real...it's a phantom...it's real only when you sell (high or low)...advice to those in or near retirement: stay out of the stock market (unless you don't need the money in your lifetime)...at least do not put any new money in...
6
A two week lockdown is obviously the answer before it spreads exponentially. And you don’t need the president to do it. Business leaders can tell their employees to stay home , with two weeks extra vacation. Every business that is not necessary for the vital health of the community stops. Just keep emergency crews
In the case of municipal situations, unions can pull workers off the job, I am speaking to the teachers union,MTA, etc. if you are in direct contact with the public you stop now.
Broadway union, pulls workers.
Grocery stores are on full delivery system now, nobody in the stores, hire teenagers to do the deliveries. Nobody involved in these stores should be sick or this will defeat the purpose.
If teenagers are relatively immune this is their time to help their country.
The Governor could make this all simple by putting a quarantine in place around the whole state, one leads the way, one State does it and everybody follows suit.
After two weeks we will be better prepared, though we should have been prepared in the first place.
Many of us probably already had Corona without even knowing, who hasn’t had what seemed like an odd cold in the last couple of weeks.
Business leaders the ball is in your court, one does it and everybody must follow suit. Chase Bank , Verizon, Wall Street, sports leagues , malls. It’s up to you.
6
Ah, at long last, the full promise of financial deregulation emerges. We've had stock-buy-backs to game executive compensation, we've had corporate borrowing for yet more buybacks, and we've tapped the taxpayer for yet more buybacks.
And we've pushed the actual businesses to the bleeding edge with cost-cutting and wage suppression.
Boeing is the poster child for the current American economy - a zombie loaded with debt and crashing from the sky. Next up for Boeing: begging for taxpayer money.
Lesson learned: rich people don't create jobs or wealth. It's consumer demand, and meeting that demand, that grows GDP and creates real wealth. Now that we've given everything to the rich in the name of this neoliberal ideology, the entire economy is collapsing.
22
Growing up in the third world, rich or poor, you are likely to see riots, epidemics, disasters during your lifetime. It wires us to carry on the best we can and not worry too much about our houses being burnt, getting sick or dying in a terrorist attack.
Our default is not that our government will step in to protect us. Our default is wash your hands and hope for the best. (Although, yay for India! I may not be able to go home but essentially closing borders to protect us is astounding.)
This virus will sicken & kill people. In a novel situation like this, where nobody in the world has a ready solution, one would think a first world country would mobilize, prepare, throw huge amounts of money at administrative problems like AVAILABILITY of tests, equipment, cover all expenses and do everything they can to protect its citizens.
This is what was promised to the American people. Indeed, this is what every first world nation owes its people. Why?
Because you can. Because you have the money, the resources, the best medical expertise at your disposal. Because your citizens have worked hard, paid their taxes, sacrificed their lives to make your lands rich, powerful and free.
What have the American people gotten?
First, they must worry about getting sick.
But before that, they must worry about paying for being sick and staying home.
But before all that, they must now worry about being TESTED at all!
Americans have EARNED their government’s protection. Protect them NOW!
24
I love that the US is using the stock market to judge the severity of this health crisis. Maybe focus on the cause rather than the symptoms? Just sayin.
15
The markets have risen based not on economic fundamentals
3
Coronavirus will lay bare the economic realities and disintegration of the middle class that has transpired in the last 20 years (e.g. skyrocketing health care, over a trillion in student loan debt, over a trillion in car loan debt, lack of health care access, gig economy, lack of savings, increased outsourcing and independent contractor models, etc.).
There are few economic levers left for quick fixes and the market knows it. Corporations already had their taxes reduced (some paid zero taxes anyway), regulations reduced, 15 years of war and trillions spend for nothing, and already extremely low interests; there is just no juice left.
27
I am an RN and I have found myself totally slack-jawed when reviewing what and how the current administration presents health information. Their lack of knowledge and understanding of public health issues has been abysmal leading to the general public’s own responses and fears.
The politicizing of healthcare in general has had an effect what we do and the supplies we need to do our work. The healthcare community and the general public deserve better.
Many supplies and medications have now become “backordered” due to the fact that governmental tax policies have resulted in our dependence on supplies being manufactured elsewhere, predominantly in China. We would not be in this predicament if we had medical supply and pharmaceutical manufacturers having facilities in the US that could confront challenges such as COVID-19 without creating additional stress to the system. It’s a bizarre reality that the United States doesn’t have a healthcare system that is self-supporting as far as supplies.
The lack of testing kits and their limited distribution should not be an issue. Trump and Pence presenting filtered information, limiting what the CDC and NIH can present shows their ignorance of public health and the concerns seem more focused on political fallout rather than the education and health of the general public. Yielding the public platform and decision-making to unbiased healthcare professionals could prevent situations such as the current panic and fear.
62
There are 7.58 billion people on the planet.
With an infection rate of 50% (which virologists are now saying is within the realm of possibility) and a mortality of 3.5% (which if the currently known rate) we would be looking at over 132,000,000 deaths world wide. And close to 6,000,000 in the United States alone.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Then pray that Donald Trump stops congratulating himself, and, instead, starts to address this pandemic with the kind of urgency and decisive decision making it requires - because there are literally million of lives that may hang in the balance.
26
@Chicago Guy
Trump doesn’t know how to do anything but brag about how great and smart he is. At this point he has clearly demonstrated that he is neither. Rather than continue mismanaging the virus response and the economy, Trump should resign immediately and go away so that his obstruction can be stopped and a real response created. If Trump is gone, even Republicans in Congress might get serious about doing something to help people instead of talking about another tax cut. We all know who benefitted from the last one, and it wasn’t poor people. Oh, and Trump needs to take McConnell with him so that the 400 plus bills passed in the House can finally get a hearing.
17
@Chicago Guy I truly appreciate the points you make in your comment. People often look to the crude death counts or the mortality rate, but not at the case fatality rate in light of the potential number of cases. When viewing the potential deaths in such terms, this pandemic becomes far more serious than the swine flu pandemic of 2009 (1.8 billion cases, and a case fatality rate of no more than 0.08%).
1
Trump is playing Hoover all over again. The signs of an Economic Depression have been everywhere over the past year:
1) overpriced stock market,
2) homeless all over the USA,
3) inept president whose has little understanding of leadership and governing,
4) huge personal debt,
5) life saving medicines made in China and overseas,
6) obesity epidemic that will elevate chances of death from COVID-19,
7) broken medical system focused on profits in the USA,
8) too many big companies that theoretically cannot fail but will fail,
9) a Republcan Party that has sold out the citizens of the USA with focus on McConnell and Trump whose mission is power and greed.
We are now in a Recession that, in my opinion, will extend into a Depression within a year.
72
@David Michael
Good list but I hope yu are wrong about the Depression. There were historical factors at play then and less infrastructure. But then you might be right on that point. Better to be alive to the possibility than blithely ignore it.
The markets are in full rout as a result of the obvious lack of understanding or capability of the administration to understand the scope or nature of the problem.
It may have finally dawned on Wall St. that the bus is being driven by one who has never seen wheeled transport.
30
@MarkinPS
The virus is just the sneeze that made traders look up and think "Hey, maybe I made a mistake back there. When I heard the economy was in the hands of a bunch of protectionist nut cases I should have cut and run."
This is not an epidemic against a sound economy. It is the latest badly managed disaster in an administration run by reactionaries, grifters, and fools under the leadership of a President who is all three.
4
Other impacts of the pandemic : improved air quality, reduced fossil fuel emissions, reductions in unsustainable levels of resource consumption, and fewer annoying tourists trampling over fragile natural ecosystems.
With perfect timing, that virus has done more to rescue the planet in two months than all the white-saviors combined have achieved in two decades.
15
Until there is widespread testing and we all know what we are facing, the markets will continue to be extremely volatile and may crater far lower.
It's the uncertainty of what we all face that is killing the market. A half-baked economic pep talk from Trump wasn't helpful at all.
We all need accurate and transparent information - ASAP.
21
@John Adams ..."may crater far lower"?...two weeks ago I commented the Dow would drop to 18,000-24,000...it was just a guess (but based on the irrational exuberance of the market)...looks like I was far too optimistic...likely will retreat to the pre-2008 collapse high of 14,000...
2
Apparently Trump’s Billionaire friends are unable (unwilling?) to buy up enough stocks to prop up the markets and help Trump.
Meanwhile the Billionaires are likely moving into bunkers, stocked with food, medical supplies and even medical personnel. Maybe even the equivalent of ICU’s.
While the rest of us are left to worry and wonder. And seek every coping method - while maintaining social distancing - that we can manage.
OMG! We have reaped the curse: “May you live in interesting times.”
15
@TheraP
“May you live in interesting times.”
I was told by a coworker, who happens to be from Hong Kong, that the above is a gratuitous insult when you don't particularly like someone.
A question and a somewhat paranoid thought:
Question - I wonder if this particular "novel corona virus" could have any link to climate change (the science speaks often of new and evolved illnesses)?
Now for paranoia - if things go much further south over the next couple of months, and especially if covid-19 becomes resurgent or worsens in the fall, don't be surprised if Trump and his lackeys try to suspend the election...
6
@Bigg Wigg Climate change will affect many biological systems and allow pathogens and disease carrying organisms to move into new areas formerly too cold for them to thrive, but I suspect Covid-19 was just bound to happen. Pandemics have been happening for as long as human societies exist, especially in crowded places with poor hygiene such as cities, Chinese food markets or American highway overpasses.
Also, these are natural processes that fuel selection and change. We are in a constant fight with microorganisms trying to use us a hosts. Some will kill (not generally a "smart" approach to kill ones host), others become vital to our life (such as gut bacteria). The human body is over 50% foreign DNA and 10% of our genome comes from viruses.
1
Mr. Trump has now become a big part of the problem, a new decision maker is required, he should resign.
18
@JCA He should, but he won't. He knows that once he leaves office he will be open to all manner of investigations. Well deserved.
2
“Stocks plunged on Thursday, as President Trump’s latest effort to address the coronavirus outbreak — a ban on the entry of most Europeans to the United States — failed to address investors’ concerns about the global economy.”
Uhm ... right? “Failed to address” would usually be used to describe the failure of an action that conceivably could do the job. So, it might make sense to write “failed to address concerns about the spread of the virus” because at least a priori, a travel ban might address such concerns. But the economy? Trump just literally shut down a part of it.
1
Four years ago S&P was 2000, DJ 18000, NASDAQ 5000 and lot of people thought at the time that the market was very overvalued, and it still is.
16
"The current circuit breakers, which were established in 2013, were set off for the first time ever on Monday."
Chairman Trump is racking up so many "first time ever[s]".
15
So man wins!
Everything still seems to revolve around the betting behaviors of stock market gamblers (i.e., so-called "investors"). Persons and entities with multi-millions to gamble on the stock market sell-off their shares and the stock markets throughout the world go crazy once again. Let them go broke and jump out the windows like in 1929. The rich and the super-rich betting behaviors should not determine the economics of the world. Another standard should come into play. Their excitement is also perhaps about various types of derivatives in their betting behaviors. They need to lose and lose badly, especially on their mortgage swap default derivative bets in the housing market. Perhaps a new era will emerge when they lose it all and the republicans cause still yet another economic crisis dwarfing 2008. Where will the money come for another bailout since Trump already gave it all to them in huge tax breaks and republican brand law changing to "let the free markets roll" which caused the 2008 economic catastrophe.
5
The markets were closed for several days after the 9/11 attacks, and given the tremendous volatility we've seen over the past two weeks, why not close them now?
8
@Maryland Chris My guess would be they're not closing them now because it would make no difference. 9/11 was a single event, this is a pandemic that will will continue to get worse for weeks to months.
8
@CritterDoc Good answer Doc!
No Trump Organization properties are in any of the European nations impacted by the Trump Administration travel ban.
Why didn't Donald Trump include Russia in the European travel ban?
Why didn't Donald Trump shutdown all Trump Organization properties in America?
20
@Blackmamba Why doesn't Trump set a good example and institute the CDC recommendations for himself, his family and others in his administration. Start with canceling his rallies with all the close encounters and hand-grasping on the line.
1
@Blackmamba Now I get why the UK, with more infections than 15 EU countries, is not part of the ban, unbelievable!
1
The US Constitution and the global environment can survive a recession, a market rout, and even a pandemic. What it can't survive is four more years of a president who governs as if he is king.
Every time my retirement account goes down, I consider it an investment in the future of Our Constitutional Republic. Fortunately, I moved most of my retirement money to Fixed when Trump got elected. I was almost beginning to wonder if I had made a mistake. Apparently, not.
The mega-rich think they can have capitalism without democracy (like China and Russia), and that Trump's constant attacks on the Government (which is Our Republic) and the Constitution would be good for business.
What they refuse to understand is that economic stability depends on actually administering the state.
The "Administrative State" that the Party of Trump keeps attacking is what holds the US economy, and much of the world economy, together (e.g., we NEED the CDC.)
The mega-rich keep demanding "free" markets (no regulations and OPEN BORDERS for the rich and their capital) because it is easier to manipulate and loot unregulated markets. They welcome Trump's chaos because it lets them rewrite the rules in their favor, and to loot the treasury, while everyone is talking about Trump's latest insult.
But the economy actually works better with FAIR trade, where small businesses and farms can compete with global corporations on a level playing field and countries can invest in workers and infrastructure.
38
Taking their cue from Trump, the congressional Republicans are now playing politics with the emergency coronavirus relief bill the House Democrats have put together. The Republicans won't pass it because Trump wants to eliminate payroll taxes solely to try to buy votes for his re-election -- it will do nothing to help stem the coronavirus or help those affected by it. And it would bankrupt the Social Security and Medicare programs, which depend on payroll taxes for funding. Trump is willing to bankrupt our country with his self-serving idea. Time for congressional Republicans to do what is right.
38
@RRM "...Time for congressional Republicans to do what is right."
Ha! Fat chance.
Getting rid of Social Security and Medicare is a long term goal of the right wing. Now’s their chance?
Derivatives dwarf the physical markets as bubbles envelop specks. The article on the front page, Troubles Percolate in the Plumbing of Wall Street, is giving us a hint of what’s coming next.
Soon the titans of Wall Street will dress in their best rags and hold out their begging bowls. It’s not that the lessons of the last financial crisis were not learned, they were learned, they liked it, they like free money, they demand it. It’s the new normal—cycles of financial crises and money showers, until the empire falls and China takes over.
7
Trump's pattern of behavior reminds me of the adage, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." He only knows three policies: tariffs, travel bans, and tax cuts. If one doesn't work, he tries another. And none of these will work against a highly contagious virus.
25
Trumponomics to rescue, Kristin !
Trump is doing for the USA what he did for his own businesses; drive them into deep debt, bankruptcy and ruin.
3
When restaurants, theaters, museums, shops, and stadiums are close to empty, and people start getting laid off, how would a payroll tax cut benefit them? It would make more sense to provide universal healthcare, paid sick leave, and unemployment compensation. And what are we going to do about the millions of freelancers and gig workers who don't have employers to provide insurance or sick leave, and whose incomes are cratering due to customers canceling or indefinitely postponing their projects? My son just texted from college in NYC and said his work-study job has been suspended, along with the jobs of his fellow students. How are they going to manage?
26
Bush's incompetency resulted in the great recession. Trump is much more incompetent and will quite possibly lead us into a depression.
31
We are all unwitting guinea pigs in the grand experiment of unlimited money in politics that was kicked off when the Supreme Court rendered their Citizens United decision. We now have a permanently dysfunctional Senate with a majority leader who's sole talent is fundraising and a President who panders to our basest instincts and relies on limitless pools of dark money to debase our democracy. Enter the coronavirus pandemic and we can all finally see in stark contrast how malicious incompetence dons its red hat and parades down Pennsylvania Avenue shouting complements to itself.
22
@Ericka D
You are spot on!!!
The Administration’s knee-jerk reaction is to close the border. Typical.
8
Chickens are coming home to roost and sitting next to pigs with varying shades of lipstick.
23
@CGR - Best comment of the day.
Interesting how quiet congressional Republicans are. The thing I hear from them is the stupid politically motivated Biden subpoena.
6
Trump imposing tavel bans with the coronavirus already established is ineffective, counterproductive and just plain stupid. It is satisfying to see it blow up in his face though.
3
@Omar Italy is under complete in-and-out ban. Wuhan is under the same ban. It seems to work.
2
@DL
Well, if it works, why is the ban limited to Europe - minus the UK?
Talk about shutting the barn door after the horses are out!
Trump is a one trick pony...
Just knows "build the wall" populist simpleton hot air rhetoric.
Please, Trump, listen to your medical and scientific advisors!
9
Welcome to the Trump bear market.
9
Neither a wall, more guns, prayer breakfasts, nor a bigger military can help with a bit of genetic material encased in a protein capsid.
No wonder Trump and his lackeys are fumbling and fuming. They’re entirely at sea.
23
ha !! trump doesn't like the EU countries anyway / open borders ?? bah !! countries that take care of their people ?? socialism !! what a knee jerk reaction by our president / the virus is already here i can't see how a travel ban is going to help much / a massive testing program would help and a way to compensate those hourly workers who may have to stay home would help / i hope the ineptitude and prejudice of this administration is clear to all now
6
We cannot blame Trump for bringing Covid 19 to our shores. But his leaderless portfolio of skills and knowledge have led to a free fall of confidence at a time when we need real skillful leadership. He had an opportunity last night. As I sat listening to his first statements on European travel I turned to my wife and said we will not be able to return from Paris after our trip in April (now canceled). Then he talked about about cargo shipping from Europe. I fell on the floor. He couldn't mean that and indeed a tweet from Trump corrected these misstatements. He did have a uncomfortable demeanor that "this is serious". But imagine a lower bar than praise for his not calling it a hoax and omitting blaming democrats. But what is becoming clear is that he is completely clueless and sadly his band of Trumphants cannot help. At least he may be starting to listen to health advisors. But watch out Xenophobia will be shouted at his next rally whenever that it!!! The Blame Game will surface again.
3
Time to let the grownups take over. Vote Blue.
11
So just about the time every citizen of the world think that DT could not be any more illogical, out of touch, and just basically clueless. He again surprises us with more illogic, out of touch, and clueless. Trump is not an administrator nor leader. The handling of this virus is one for the history books. It beats Bush fly over of NOLA and having “faith in old Brownie”. Trump cheats at golf and mocks governors who are trying to make a difference.
This was a foreseeable event. Not starting in January 2020. It started with the all out assault on life time government scientist and career government employees.
This should complete crisis should of been handled by CDC. Instead Trump laughs, quiet science, and jokes about how he is brilliant.
Where is his best people? Pense? The guy who does not believe in science? His temporary temporary cabinet, full of cronies and boot lickers.
In Dec 20, 2019 I have documented that that the Trump will usher in a black swain event. Due to his complete incompetence. His administration complete unprofessional approach to events and single decisions making.
Trump election has shown the citizens that he was a failed experiment in the populous vote.
Give me a real leader and let cancel this tweet reality show.

11
Heckuva job, Donald.
Financial ruin and bankruptcy really seem to be your area of expertise.
Too bad you decided to fire the White House pandemic expert response team in 2018 in exchange for Christmas gifts for billionaires.
"Let them eat coronavirus !"
49
Where are the test kits?!
11
Wharton, huh?
9
@DCBinNYC - Thank you for the only time I have laughed today.
Thanks, Donald. My 401K is cratering, I am going to have to work extra years, I may actually get sick and die, and I put all the blame on you.
Just leave, already. You've done enough to be immortalized. Like your soulmates Caligula and Nero.
26
Thanks Trumpism
How quickly "Make America Great Again {MAGA}," has turned into "You're on Your Own." Kevin McCarthy today voiced the Republican response to support for affected Americans... Basically, "YOYO."
11
The pointless politically motivated travel ban was certain to tank the markets while having no effect on the spread of a virus that's already here.
Who could have guessed that Trump's Fox Business host financial adviser, Larry Kudlow, would give him harebrained advice?
Well, maybe U. of Penn. political scientist Philip E. Tetlock of the Wharton School who noted in his book "Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction" that Kudlow's market predictions have been "consistently wrong." Or The Economist magazine, which noted that Larry had no formal qualifications for the job of chief financial adviser.
But it gets better.
While in a 12-Step program in the '90s for coke and booze addictions, Larry converted to Catholicism under Fr. John C. McCloskey III, a former director of a right-wing K Street lobby, The Catholic Information Center.
William Barr and Pat Cipollone are former CIS board members, and Leonard Leo, "Trump's judge-whisperer" who picked Gorsuch and Kavanaugh for Donald, is a current board member. That's four top men in Trump's orbit associated with the CIS.
It appears that this religious cabal inside the White House is primarily concerned with eliminating the separation of church and state and transforming the US into a crypto-theocracy. Pence and Pompeo represent the Evangelical wing.
"The best people," Trump promised.
Instead, this clueless government is being led by anti-Constitutional religious authoritarians, a right-wing Christian Taliban.
16
The real reason for the European travel ban is obvious: Trump is using the Covid-19 crisis as leverage to punish his "enemies" on the mainland, and to reward his friend Boris. He will no doubt continue to respond to this crisis by leveraging it to punish his enemies and consolidate his power. He has no interest in doing what needs to be done to stem the tide of the virus.
9
@Russell
I don’t really think Boris will appreciate his island being overrun by infectious Europeans, attempting to fly to the US from Heathrow.
1
It is evident that no Country was ready to deal this type of emergency, even though the ghost of a pandemic has been around for many years. Past and present governments should have planned for this scenario, they all failed together. Now Governments should act together, but there is no coordination, actually the opposite: just look at the unilateral travel ban for "most of Europe". Is now the virus contained by an invisible wall between the Schengen area and Britain, Ireland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania? “The ban does not apply to legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation”, WHY? I think that we are emitting the wrong signal: we do not really understand or believe the seriousness of this crisis, and we are playing politics. No wonder the stock markets are still collapsing, and they will until we have a coordinated, worldwide crisis management. We know that the US cannot show the way in this crisis, but who can, the UN? We should forget politics and put together the best technology, minds and available tools, apolitically, for all of us, as humans. The current old school approach of divide and conquer doesn’t sit very well with a virus. And with all the due respect: I would like to see young people holding key roles in our government and let me dream about a young US President!
87
@Mark Agreed on your points. I would like also like to add that as we move forward from this virus, we must view healthcare for all, as well as protections for middle-class and lower-income workers as vital to our national defense. It doesn't matter if everyone agrees on this, because the evidence is clear that any future outbreak, be it natural or through bio-warefare, will cripple us. We can no longer say that the cost is too high.
For anyone still blinded by the individualist, socialism is evil mentality that America prides itself on, this virus shows that the future of our national defense, and any country's national defense, is only as strong as the weakest links in the chain: healthcare and a safety net for the middle-class. Without those, we are someday doomed to repeat the mistakes of Pearl Harbor on a much more catastrophic scale
15
@Chris V I think that as a society we are not organized at all, not just for emergencies. Think how many could work from home and yet their Companies require a physical presence which means commuting, waste of time, pollution. Social costs could be decreased by a more efficient and human approach to work. Quality of life could improve for individuals and families at zero cost, just by better using today’s technology. While I don't support socialism, at the same time I don't believe in the “status quo”. And I don't think that we are living in a real free economy, considering the special treatment that large corporations are able to get... We could go on and on, but I think that we must change optics. We could debate forever about individualism, socialism and free economy, but remember that is probably what politicians want us to do. For me it is all about what we need, want and can share respecting our own identities and freedom. We should have an efficient and modern healthcare system, available to all at the same quality levels! So we probably need a mixed approach with both public and private options available. I want the same good level of healthcare for all, with socialized costs whenever necessary. Let’s not fight for one economic system over another, but keep at the center "the people". It wouldn’t be “socialism”: I would call it human fraternity, love for each other, our own Reinassance.
8
@Mark
"It is evident that no Country was ready to deal this type of emergency, even though the ghost of a pandemic has been around for many years."
That is not true. The evidence shows, for instance, that South Korea and even Taiwan had planned ahead.
Here in America, the Obama Biden administration had created a government office to coordinate emergency preparedness and response for exactly this sort of outbreak.
In his frenzy to destroy Obama's accomplishments, Pres. Trump closed that office two years ago.
America's lack of preparation and bungled response is due to the Republican party falling in line behind a willfully ignorant and entirely wrong headed con man for president. They wanted disruption and they've inflicted it on all of us.
Good government prevents disruptions from becoming total disasters. Good government is how we all do our share to help each other. We can get back to that by voting for the Democratic nominee in November.
21
ANY mitigation of the economic impact of the coronavirus HAS to start with mitigating the coronavirus itself. Nothing is going to boost the economy while the virus is spreading out of control.
Step 1 is widespread, low-barrier testing. So in the US we aren't at step 1 yet.
Literally nothing else we do will matter if we don't get a handle on the spread of the virus.
14
It is clear Wall Street has finally caught on to the gross incompetence of the president and his senior administration. I starred in disbelief last night at the president’s hypnotized, robot-like delivery as he struggled to read the teleprompter. His plan made no sense, and after listening to him, my wife turned to me and, shaking her head, just said “We’re all in deep trouble.”
15
I hope "the stable genius " gets himself and those around him tested for the virus, he sounded terrible last night. You think things are unstable now, just wait until Trump has the virus himself...If i were Nancy Pelosi, I would be preparing to take over, make sure she doesn't get around potential sick people .
9
Mexico has far fewer cases of coronavirus and has offered to pay for a height increase to the wall so they are not overrun by fleeing Americans.
36
How many more crises will it take before Americans realize that the current President is incompetent?
13
Instead of address real issues: public health and economy, the President rolled out a muddled travel band policy. He has lost the faith of the people and the markets. He needs to hand over the reigns to Pence. He may not be anyone's first choice as president but at least he isn't mentally handicapped by severe narcissism. Republics, save your skins and the Republic... force Trump to resign.
3
Having Trump settle jittery Wall Street nerves is like assigning Typhoid Mary to the contagious disease ward. With his trusted aide Stephen Miller, Trump's attack on Europe shook up our allies and gave Putin a chance to exchange high fives with his cronies. Wonder if any of the GOP senators are regretting the opportunity to rid this nation of its worst President when they had the chance.
8
The Trump-Slump will be big.
The biggest you have ever seen!
The numbers will be 'Tremendous'!
13
In his infinite wisdom, his Presidential speech last night and the bungling of the handling of the coronavirus, Trump has managed to instill even more fear in the Global markets and Wall street.....last time I checked, (3/12/2020 @ 10.27 am) the DOW was down 1700 points/ 7.4%.
4
Wall Street knows Trump is a patsy. Pay attention to who snaps up airlines’ stocks on the cheap.
2
A vote if “no confidence” in the president, if I’ve ever seen one
2
Trump is supposed to be a financial guy, he has been cohorting with Larry Kudlow, himself a financial guy. They both know that the market doesn't like insecurity, and yet Trump cuts travel and doesn't tell the airlines, he cuts payroll taxes that fund medicare and ssi knowing that nearly everyone is against that. Is he really that dumb or are we seeing market manipulation of the mob style kind? This is so confusing and out of the realm of normal.
6
When confronted with all of Trump's cruelty, corruption, ignorance, incompetence, bigotry, vindictiveness and impeachable offenses, I can't tell you how many right-wingers will immediately respond: "but my 401(k) is doing great!".
After 3+ years, how could so many not have seen this coming?
7
A travel ban at this point is about the closest thing he could do to nothing. I bet the senate GOP wish they could devote on impeachment right now.
4
The worst is yet to come.
1
As Powell said: “ You break it, you own it”.
4
Look over here! No, over HERE! Look over there! Over THERE! That can’t happen here. I KNOW. I JUST KNOW. That won’t happen here. This is America, so it won’t happen here. Look THIS way. No, this way. Everything is peachy and getting rosy. It’s all good. Look, I gotta go. There’s...uh...well, I just gotta go, sorry. Move, peasants. Jared, hold this for a minute, will ya? Mike, you got this, man? Great, great. FORE!
8
So what happens now to all those Norwegian refugees who were beating down the doors to get into trump's America?
1
@Gustav Aschenbach
They've been turned back. Oddly, Norway (along with Switzerland) is on the 'banned' list - even though neither is a member of the EU.
But, you can expect a flood of refugees from eastern Europe - places like Albania, Turkey and Serbia which, despite being 'Europe' are still free to travel to the US.
Making sense to anyone?
This smells like Putin. One more way to pit Europe and the U.S. against each other so that Putin can come in and reap the rewards. Wake me up. I am tired of this nightmare.
4
So Trump speaks from the Oval Office to the American public to supposedly assuage our fears and anxiety. But we all know that he is speaking to Wall Street. Yet, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq are not buying it, literally and figuratively. They are not only semi-panicking but also are the global markets. What do we expect as once again DJT disses our European allies? What do we expect from a man who has mismanaged his own businesses to the point of more than a few bankruptcies? Now we watch as he attempts to bankrupt both our personal and economic health.
6
It seems pretty clear now that Trump has been taking credit for Obama's economic recovery for three years. He just stood there on the sidelines and watched while Obama's policies did the work. Now, faced with the first economic challenge that was not of his own creation, Trump has continued to stand on the sidelines and watch as the economy self-destructs.
Resign, Mr. Trump. You obviously haven't got a clue what you're doing.
31
Why don’t they just close the markets? This situation isn’t good for anyone. Especially the poor and middle class folks who will be laid off as a result of these large companies losing a huge percentage of their value and not having the capital to retain their workforce’s. If they markets were closed that would also allow for more attention on dealing with the health impacts of the crisis and making sure that people can stay in their homes/feed their families, while their incomes are non existent. American’s need to stop being individualistic now and start demanding that our leaders/fellow citizens start taking care of each other.
8
Well, Donald sure calmed the markets. Imagine what's going on inside the White House right now. Reminds me of the old Laurel & Hardy films where everything goes wrong and Stan would say 'What do we do now, Ollie?"
14
The problem with only restricting travel from the EU and not the UK is layover trips. We have no way of knowing that someone hasn't simply laidover in UK after traveling from the EU. Besides, the UK has hundreds of cases too. Why the special treatment?
On stocks, all I can say is "Thus it begins."
5
@JustJeff Because Boris Johnson is a "special friend" of Dear Leader.
4
@JustJeff
But, it isn't just the UK - not only is most of eastern Europe free to travel, so are people from FIVE EU countries - Bulgaria, Crroatia, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania.
So, layovers from any of those. Doesn't make sense.
Why would anyone ban travel from Europe and not Great Britain and South Korea at this time? The effectiveness of travel bans aside (they are not effective with C-19 here now), why the targeted countries and not others?
When did Corrupt Donnie last speak to Vlad?
16
Some suggestions:
Stop waiting for our private labs to produce and distribute tests. Get them from wherever we can, and deploy all available personnel (National Guard, etc.) to open and man testing facilities.
Immediately reverse the Europe travel ban and instead require that passengers be tested prior to embarking for our shores. Many European countries are testing aggressively. This change could save their economies, and in turn, our own.
Immediately suspend all unnecessary military operations and move the funds by executive action to stimulus support. For example, stop building that ridiculous wall, cancel funding for Space Force etc.
Immediately apply a wealth tax for people with net worth over 1 million scaled up for those worth over 10 million, 100 million etc. to help pay for the stimulus. We've given, through tax breaks etc., a large part of the county's wealth to these few people. It's time for them to pay something back.
Reassemble the pandemic response team that Obama created and staff it with people who have a good idea what they're doing.
Organize a meeting of the G7 and/or the U.N. council's and assemblies to develop a coordinated global approach to this crisis.
Tell Donald Trump to take a long golfing vacation and advise the public to dismiss anything he says about coronavirus as "unofficial".
32
Nancy Pelosi and the House have a bill that would bring some relief to those who need it the most. The measures include free testing, paid emergency sick leave, and increasing funds for food, security programs and Medicaid. This makes sense. Pass it. No one needs a payroll tax cut if they aren’t working.
61
@Debbie
Another thing to remember about payroll taxes is they fund Social Security and Medicare. It's kind of like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
17
If Trump's report last night was intended the calm the nation, it had the exact opposite effect. Virtually ever member of our trading desk came away with the idea that Trump is completely overwhelmed and has lost touch with reality. In contrast to Hong Kong and Singapore which were hit early with the virus but dealt effectively, the USA is floundering like a beached whale. Whereas Hong Kong and Singapore have fewer than 200 cases, the USA still doesn't have adequate test kits to EVEN KNOW the extent of our epidemic. These dramatic differences show how poorly we're being served by Trump & Pence.
I attend church regularly, but Hope and Prayer is not a strategy. If the Lord visited this plague upon us, He expects us to solve it and fortunately, we have the 25th Amendment to handle this vacuum of leadership. The 25th Amendment can be used to immediately remove Trump & Pence from office. Let the reigns of power shift to Speaker of the House Pelosi who has the wherewithal to organize and handle this crisis. We cannot not wait another day.
56
@Gold Trader
Sadly, not going to happen. The 24th Amendment requires majority of the Cabinet decide that removal is necessary (and would require a repeat process for both Trump and Pence), and each of them knows that if Pelosi eventually became President, their days robbing the national treasury would be numbered. (because she'd fire them immediately for their incompetance) Given Trump has assembled a team of self-centered opportunists (starting with himself) who are guaranteed to put their own interests ahead of the nation, I'd say the chances of that happening are somewhat slightly less than a snowball's in the Sahara.
2
@JustJeff
Worse than that. 'Acting' cabinet members cannot participate in a 25th action.
His entire cabinet is 'acting.'
1
@Kiska Ditto...I just echoed your thoughts without reading ahead.....oops....but, Right On K-
So the markets remain spooked. I guess Trump's hostage video last night isn't enough to calm investors' fears.
I know what might help. How about if Trump and his entire team resign, and then Obama brings in his people who dealt with the Great Recession to serve as a caretaker government until the next election.
50
The overall public response seems to indicate that they have lost all confidence in this administration, period! Nothing they say or do calms the fear of the public.
25
What do the three Republican Presidents Hoover, Bush Jr, and Trump have in common?
People should contemplate that.
39
@GI: Economic Depressions are a mark of pride to the republicans. They hate government and the oversight that governments have over them and their money lords. They preach openly about “shrinking the government until it’s small enough to drown in the bathtub”.
Sounds great to those who don’t think it through, but no budget and no oversight just means no services. No services leads to families torn apart at our borders, an administration unresponsive to domestic crises (Charlottesville, e.g.) or global pandemics.
GOP is owned and operated by monied and foreign influences, and Trump is just the guy for the job.
10
It's as if the Trump Team of "only the best" didn't consider this would happen.
As a result, even with expert advice all around them (but not part of the Team), they disregard it because it isn't their idea,
THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.
If you are in a crisis and do thing that have nothing to do with the crisis, you make it worse. That is what is happening.
29
@RLG
Everyone has a special talent, and making things worse seems to be the one for Team Trump — they’re naturals.
3
@RLG: They don't know what to do because all logical steps, such as implementing universal healthcare, requiring paid sick leave, and expanding the social safety net to help both the newly unemployed and the long-term unemployed are not in the Republican wheelhouse. They refuse to do these things because all of it relies upon a strong, centralized, functional government capable of passing legislation swiftly, as well as higher taxation rates on wealth. Both of these concepts are anathema to small-government, privatization-rabid Republicans, who prefer the chaos of individual states and private businesses making up their own policies willy-nilly, with no coordination and certainly no overarching effort to help those who most need it.
8
And all that trump can do is pat himself on the back for closing the barn door to China soon enough to accomplish nothing -- while insisting of his "great job" … which the decent and sentient among us accurately insist has been and is "steering us down the tubes."
18
Why are responsible business leaders, investors, and Members of Congress not calling for President Trump to immediately resign. As each day goes on, we are in greater jeopardy due to the failure of this Adminstration's confederacy of dunces to take appropriate action.
65
Many older investors with recommended allocations for their age and risk tolerance, will not have enough time left to recover from the COVID-19 fallout. Many will fall short on their financial needs for long-term care and basic living expenses. What entitlement program(s) will come to their rescue? A debtor nation with fragile social welfare safety net, crazy labyrinth of healthcare and tax breaks for the one percent. May you live in interesting times? You are. Buckle-up.
82
@bt365
And worse is Trump wants to cut payroll taxes which fund Social Security and Medicare.
I'm in that boat. Not yet retirement age but without sufficient time to recover financially. I still haven't recovered fully (despite trying; buying only essentials, no vacations or breaks, etc.) from the disaster of the Dot Com Bust in 2001, the Financial Crash of 2008, the Government Shutdown for Personal Republican Politician Picque in 2013, and the Covid-19 Crash of 2020. Unless you were born into the Middle Class and had all the startup costs in your life provided for you by your parents, you're pretty much toast at this point. So much for trying to lift oneself out of poverty. Seems the best you're allowed to do is to get just a taste of the Middle Class and see the potential reward (always just out of reach) only to have those lucky enough for a better start in life thumb their noses at you and say "Sucker!"
5
Of all the things to bring down our society- climate change, government debt, housing bubble, underfunded pensions, nuclear war, trade wars, internet failure, political division.... I wonder if anyone had "guy in China eats a raw bat" in the office pool.
Amazing how fragile it all is.
58
I hear you, but “guy in China” didn’t bring us down. It has been a failure of leadership and a systematic gutting of the institutions in place to protect from these threats and manage the fallout when they happen that’s done it.
121
also, no one “ate a raw bat.” Yes, it was an unsanitary wildlife market where blood and bodily fluids from animals mixed with humans. These markets are for the Chinese wealthy for various things, skincare, tonics, etc... Govt had tried to shut it down, but lobbyists kept it open. The rich are to blame for this entire mess.
7
@John Dyer - a pandemic like this has actually been near the top of the list for a long time. We've had multiple near misses and it was just a matter of time before we got a virus that spreads like the flu but with higher mortality and little to no immunity in the population.
6
With world financial markets in free fall this morning, one has to wonder whether the president blundered is way into his disastrous announcement or planned it to raise the stakes in his negotiations with congressional leaders. Of course he has shown himself to be impulsive, vindictive, and lacking in empathy throughout his tenure so take your pick...
23
@Jaysonrex31
No, she's not kidding.
If you were here, instead of South of the Equator, you might know different.
When President Obama took over for Bush the Dow hit a low of 7,000. By the end of Obama's terms it was about 17,000. Obama got us out of the Great Recession. Slowly but steadily upwards. Maybe Trump should call on Obama for help in dealing with this crisis.
231
@TomPA
Amen brother. Any functional adult can do a better job than Trump at this time.
29
@TomPA
Would love to be on the other end of that call!
If we were Britain, Parliament would pass a vote of no confidence in her current government and hold new elections to get new leadership.
We are not Britain.
President Trump must resign.
He must resign because he has lost the confidence of the American people, even the people that voted for him and won't say out loud that they have lost confidence in him out of fear or misguided loyalty.
He must resign because the people that make up business interests have lost confidence in his ability to handle the crisis at hand that is destroying our economy and threatens the lives of millions of Americans.
New leadership is needed immediately.
I'm unsure about Mike Pence's ability to do any better than Donald Trump, but the time has come for the reigns to be turned over to him.
People are dying. Our economy is disintegrating.
President Trump, please resign.
Now.
102
Once corporate America decides he has to go you’ll be amazed at how fast it will happen.
13
@Larry Fusco I sure do hope it's soon.
2
@S Butler Everything you wrote is correct, but really, what good would Trump's resignation do? That would put the moron currently in charge of the botched pandemic response in charge of everything.
Trump and his Republican cohorts have been taking credit for the stock markets' steady rise since 2009, although the market pricing was probably minimally, if at all,related to federal tax cuts and Trumpian fiscal activity. Will they now take credit for this crash, which they had little to do with?
16
I am truly puzzled as to why there are not stricter travel restrictions in place in the US.
8
And what do you think that would accomplish?
Americans returning from abroad brought most of the virus into the country months ago. This is not the result of foreigners bringing the virus into the country.
Since this administration saw/sees no value in health science or the monitoring of potential epidemics, it made its cutbacks in funding and expert personnel. Consequently, the US was slow to respond. The virus has, in the meantime, established itself in large segments of the American population. It is spreading nicely as it is helped along by the failures of the American healthcare system which only serves part of the population while leaving the unserved or underserved to act as reservoirs and vectors for its continued spread.
22
Out: Trump is not taking action to contain the virus because he only cares about the financial markets!
In: Trump’s actions to contain the virus are hurting the financial markets!
8
@Ambrose Rivers
Trump thinks everything is about him. He cannot make decisions based on an objective analysis of information. Second he does not trust scientists. Third he feels no responsibility towards the welfare of the American people. Fourth he has a compulsive need to blame someone else. He doesn’t have the right stuff. Nothing will calm people down like free, on demand tests. Hiding the truth will make things scarier.
3
@Ambrose Rivers Ah, finally I find a comment by a Trump cultist.
Well let's see. Trump was reluctant to do anything or even say much so as to not spook the stock market. That appears to be true.
So now he announces a travel ban on one region where the virus is spreading but not on other regions where it is also spreading, at a point when it is already spreading here.
Doesn't sound at all effective. And yes, it will harm financial markets. So that's also apparently true.
What was your point again?
2
This is what you get with authoritarianism in China, and incompetence here in the U.S. In both cases, leaders more concerned with image dallied and did not act swiftly enough to prevent catastrophe. The bleak Bear Market reflects the complete lack of confidence in Trump being able to deal with Coronavirus. The GOP Senate adds to misery by failing to pass legislation to help workers at this difficult time.
49
The markets are reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic, yes, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking this market correction can be attributed entirely to it.
The fact is our economy, and the markets, have been running on a sugar high of tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy, excessive government deregulation, and an irrational exuberance (to revive an old term) tied to having billionaires controlling the levers of government to their own benefit.
The conditions have been there for a big correction, and there have been plenty of economic indicators warning of such a correction.
COVID-19 is the hand that knocked down this house of cards, and separately, it is serious enough by itself that to take the cards and throw them about the room.
213
@DadInReston . Absolutely right, the tax cuts have been used by businesses not for any business expansion or wage increases for workers, but for stock buybacks. This artificially inflates the price of the stock and has created conditions ripe for the current meltdown in the markets.
30
@DadInReston
And what would be nice would be if the 2% who received 95% of the benefits from that rise would similarly suffer 95% of the losses from its fall too, but that won't happen.
13
@Will
Yes, and the current meltdown will shift more wealth from everyone else to the biggest shareholders, because they sold out of the market FIRST.
Look at a graph of the market over one year and see this extremely steep drop. That is all of the big investors selling out at the top, followed by institutional investors, then all of the smaller people panicking and getting out last.
As soon as the market stabilizes, the biggest investors will buy at rock bottom prices, while the smaller investors sold at rock bottom prices.
The market never goes up this fast, It only collapses like this when the global billionaires who own half of everything sell big to create a steep decline.
A wrench that only turns one way is called a ratchet. Those who have the market power to affect prices have turned the entire market system into a ratchet. For them it goes up until they sell out to crash it, then they buy and it goes up, until they crash it.
A wise democracy would put limits on their ability to do this, but they have spent trillions convincing us that any limits on their actions would hurt the rest of us. They have convinced far too many citizens that their markets are democracy and actual debate and voting and ADMINISTERING our state is anti-democratic.
Their ratchet is a racket, as are their definitions of democracy, and capitalism.
Democracy is 1 person, 1 vote.
Markets are $1, one vote.
Capitalism is 1 billion dollars, 1 billion votes, buying subsidies from government.
11
Trump has had a free ride for three years, riding a strong economy he did nothing to create while claiming full credit for its continued success. The crises he solved were entirely of his own making. Now we will see what his actual management skills look like. The market seems to be expressing a note of skepticism.
249
@woofer
Did you mean his lack of management skills?
13
@woofer
It indeed is an interesting expose in that this is the first time in his entire life he's facing a crisis he didn't create and didn't have access to a higher financial authority to bail him out.
22
@JustJeff he is waiting for the virus to tweet back at him so he can counter-punch the virus 10 times harder...on tweeter.
1
So now we're in an economic crisis, created in part by the Trump administration's epic incompetence and prioritization of politics over protection of the public. Our economy desperately needs help, and a stimulus package would be the logical approach. Unfortunately, such measures require deficit spending, and Trump's tax bill has already ballooned the deficit to over 1 trillion. Perhaps we should give Paul Ryan a call and ask him for advice. After all, he built his career on deficit hawkishness, but enthusiastically supported this tax bill. Perhaps he knows something we don't?
67
@Jon Gordon
Ryan's plan was always to run up the deficit in order to destroy (cut) Social Security and Medicare.
22
@wise42j
And that's exactly what a $1 Trillion payroll cut would do too, so this is just more of the same.
3
We can no longer look to the “president” for any help with either the economy or The coronavirus, let alone the stock market. Keep watching Trump as he does all he can to protect his investments in real estate and golf courses.
Americans are on their own to deal with multiple crises as a result of Trump’s dismal, ill advised, inadequate, self centered brand of “leadership”.
I am now looking to logical, reasonable leadership from state and local governments, as the Trump dominated Federal Government is worse than useless.
Let’s hope the governors and mayors take the ball and run with it, for all of our sakes.
135
@George--- Amen.
4
@George We and the world would be better off if he stayed golfing and let the adult professionals manage the crisis.
9
@George
It will really depend what state a person lives in. The rightwing leadership in states like Indiana and Wisconsin has done away with anything like planning for pandemic or saving for a rainy day. Some of them can't even manage to keep their K-12 schools open the full academic year.
1
Another golden opportunity for the obscenely wealthy to buy into the market at rock bottom prices and be perfectly positioned if the market recovers to double or triple their wealth.
America the beautiful - if you happen to be very rich. Your odds of getting richer expand endlessly.
31
Not only the insanely wealthy, there are some of us who thought the run for the last 2 years or so was too good to the true and we went into cash. And many of us are buying now and taking "advantage" of the prices not send in a long time.
7
@jube
"many of us are buying now and taking "advantage" of the prices not send in a long time."
A little early, Scottsdate. A lot of day traders licked their lips and tried to cash in on the 2007 crash after a few days. A couple months later they looked like dried cattle bones in the desert.
4
We need to give massive tax cuts to the wealth, today NOW. We need to open the doors of the Fed like in 2009-2015.
Let Wall Street and the Wealthy take zero interest loads and keep them in the Fed bank to receive 3% interest.
I know it would be easier to just give hundreds of billions to the rich directly but if you do it this way again it looks like we are trying to save the economy instead of just extracting tax money from the american people. Go Capitalism!!
21
Trump and his team dithered until the stock market started to drop through the floor. The fact that they have no plan is obvious. Instead of having doctors in the lead of dealing with this, we have Mike Pence. He promised all those on the cruise ship that docked in Oakland would be tested...tested with what? There are no tests. He unilaterally stops travel from Schengen countries, without consulting the countries themselves. He doesn't understand geography. Anyone can cross into Slovenia or Croatia and just fly out of there, or fly to London or Dublin. Besides, there are already cases in the country, this a useless exercise. While some countries responses have been better than others, what was important was a proper global response that had been planned out well in advance of becoming an emergency. The lack of preparedness has been pretty shocking and even though we've had months, we can't get ahead of this without tests. Korea has tested more than 200K, this is why their program has been so successful, their death rate is .7 %. We instead are set to be on par with Iran. Last week we had sunny Trump, saying this would go away in April. In addition to geography he also doesn't understand how a virus works, it spreads, it doesn't just go away because the weather gets warmer. This will send us into a massive global recession.
102
The quality of our leadership is on par with Iran. They are both in power for psychic comfort they give to evangelical religiously minded people. They both ignore or dismiss science. They both look to put on a show and punch down on perceived enemies.
It should be expected we get outcomes similar to Iran.
12
@thewriterstuff
Iran's death rate is now up to 25%. Since trump's plan to look like he's mounted an effective response is to ban counting, I guess we'll have to turn to casket sales or crematorium business to know, after the dust has settled, what actually happened here. It sure won't be Korea's enviable rate.
2
The USA is the least prepared. This is clear. In addition, the news and propaganda from the right will continue to mute the seriousness of the issue with 40 percent of the population. Our focus on economics first and our hatred for government aid will continue to hobble us. Our leadership team, incapacitated with incompetence, is clearly working from behind in full reactionary mode. Add our lousy education and medical infrastructure and America might become the “Sick Man of the World” while the rest of the world overcomes this virus with testing, educated populations, trust, robust health systems and competent leadership.
80
Hatred for government aid.......unless you’re a farmer. 17 billion and counting.
4
@Practical Thoughts - "The USA is the least prepared." Actually, the administration has been dis-preparing for the past couple years.
But 'Murrica is great again. However briefly.
4
Seems our president hates Europe now as much as he does the resisters and press here, treating it as second class world citizens as well. No forethought, makes no sense, totally confusing and mind boggling. The adults in the room...everyone else... are suffering the consequences. Our country is going the way of his other failures; doomed. I ask, seriously, does anyone recognize our country today? I’m waiting.....
52
Listening to the address live yesterday, Trump seemed to accuse the Europe of being responsible for the USA infections, which is not true. The ban sounded vindictive, not born out of any real reason. Excluding the UK only cemented that idea because of this administration's keen support of Brexit and Boris Johnson.
This is all political retribution on his perceived enemies.
Putin, soon to be the next czar of Russia, is surely laughing.
72
A president with the reading abilities of a third grade kid. No surprise the response of his administration to the crisis has been a mess.
82
@Frank Lopez
Did you notice how he looked like the proverbial deer in headlights last night?
8
@Frank Lopez That is an insult to third graders
9
Things are swimming right along; the inability to separate reality from reality show ensures the lackeys president Soprano appointed are rich with political will to kneel and scrape, otherwise completely clueless. Sad.
17
I miss Obama’s steady hand, maturity and reasoned decisions. He would have organized a world wide response. Trump is a terrible leader that no one trusts for 16,000 reasons and thus there is no world wide coordinated response.
Trump’s blame/punishment of Europe is just spite (Thus the UK isn’t included) and makes no sense.
As part of trump’s “anything Obama housecleaning” he got rid of the White House office of pandemic response. Clearly part of his stable genius.
We don’t have enough tests and other countries led by more adept leaders (S Korea, Australia) are in far better situations handling this pandemic.
At this point any quality time is spent by Trump’s trying to figure out how he and his family can profit financially.
This is what happens when you elect a carnival barker as president. I hope as a country we’re learning a lesson.
385
No Obama didn’t back up his red line statement on Syria. I liked him up until then.
1
..., ahem, for 16,000 reasons - AND counting ...
19
@Mark
When the going gets tough, the Prez goes golfing!
34
The most terrifying thing about all of this was just watching trump deliver his message. The guy that is in charge can barely read. I haven’t heard such stilted speech since “see Sally run....”
148
@Hub Harrington
-Teleprompter Trump usually sounds like a zombie.
-Who believes this Wharton graduate (?) / "stable genius " has even the lowest level of comprehension.
11
@Hub Harrington It reminded me of the episode on "All In The Family" where Archie gets to go on TV to make his argument against gun control. That same dumb look as he haltingly reads a prepared speech that completely undermines everything he proposes.
12
@Hub Harrington The Prez was High. I've seen this before...During Sobriety tests for Driver Under the Influence of Unk Intoxicant.
2
Suspend Trump. He is accelerating the panic.
38
We have a 'very stable genius' and Pastor Pence 'praying it away'.
YIKES !
Remember in November.
410
@Socrates Recalling James Carville's recent paraphrasing of the quote, "Remember, remember! It's all about November!"
21
@Socrates we hired a clown so expected the circus. We got it.
5
@Socrates
Indeed, "Remember in November". I'm just too tired of "winning".............
4
This is the perfect crisis to get President Trump in a lather. It is virus, a particular phobia of his. It started in China, a classic “other” and a place he loves to bash. His initial travel ban proved ineffective, despite his assurances to the contrary at the time. It has spread to Europe and some cases here might be related to travel from there, giving him a chance to impose another travel ban, one of his favorite policies. It has blown up his pet bull stock market as people try to figure out how seriously it will hurt the economy despite a confusing combination of his bland and dismissive comments and his demands for action by the Fed. It has shined a spotlight on the need for a scientific, international approach to address the risks, but both teamwork and science are unimportant to him, or worse. And the administration’s feckless response to this challenge has pointed out the stupidity of his actions in the past that reduced our capacity to respond by cutting funding and staff in the NSC and the NIH who were specifically assigned to this issue.
He had no choice but to try to get in front of a problem that can no longer be ignored by even his ardent supporters. But even his belated speech was muddled and needed to clarified within minutes of his “God bless America”.
It was widely predicted that Trump’s incessant lying would make it impossible for him to address a true crisis, so lacking would be his credibility. Well, here we are. And Trump is on full display, naked.
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@Mike Iker
How long before Americans are banned from other countries? I imagine we've given more than we've got when it comes to transmitting the disease internationally.
Stock market caught the C-Virus? Small wonder; it's old and weak!
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I hopped over to Fox News after the Oval Office speech to see what the take was there.
Sean Hannity and a team of guest "doctors" were still spouting the same nonsense of how the panic for the virus is overblown, and somehow trying to frame it all as some kind of malicious Chinese conspiracy.
Fox News is well aware of the fact that its fan base is largely made up of older Americans in their 60's and 70's, the demographic most vulnerable to the effects of the virus.
The way Fox is spreading misinformation about the virus is not only irresponsible, but borderline criminal.
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They didn’t see that disinformation had a down side.
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@Caleb Engler
Well said. Fox - and other right wing outlets - are indeed complicit in the spread of this virus. How many sick or dying people are they willing to be responsible for just to make a buck? Despicable.
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@Caleb Engler Trump, like Jim Jones David Koresh, and other cult leaders before them, is willing to see his followers die rather than admit his fraud.
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I’m sure sooner rather than later, Trump and the GOP will blame Obama for this mess.
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@Mark I think they already tried that one, right around democrat hoax.
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I'm beginning to seriously suspect there are people "connected" with the government who are playing in the markets.
Either that or gross incompetence and shortsightedness of the worse kind.
Or maybe both.
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“The stock market is up!” “The economy is great!” “Trump is a good business man.” “We need a good business man [like Trump] as our president.” Maybe a few more people will reconsider the “wisdom” of electing a con-man and a fool to lead our country?
Trump didn’t create the virus, but he got rid of panels and experts Obama appointed to deal with pandemics. And he is leading the inadequate response.
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Maybe Trump should consider changing his catchphrase to “Make America Great Depression Again”
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We are so tired of winning.
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Republicans own this debacle. They propped up a corrupt incompetent who listens only to people who massage his ego. The wholesale dismantling of a pandemic response team at the CDC has deepened this crisis enormously.
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When will the finally pay a price for their corruption!
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We are assisting at the worst crisis humanity has faced yet.
Still the President of the United States is baffooning around with concepts far beyond him and his closest allies in the White House are disorganised and in full panic.
His terrible incompetence and all is lies, are now returning against him and making Americans lose billions of dollars in all sectors of the economy.
What a terrible shame. We are all worried around the world that some dictator tries to control the USA, and this man is Donald Trump.
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Everything tRump touches dies. And don’t give me the rah rah patriotic speech. If Hilary, Obama or any Democrat was in office you would see men marching with their rifles in Virginia. That speech was pitiful last night, it did not calm anyone’s fears except for his cult. Maybe god is alive, and she is punishing us for sloth, greed, lust, envy, pride, gluttony and lust. Every adjective to describe tRump. Evangelicals rejoice.
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First, he was (at least lightly) drugged-up last night.
Second, he should not give Wall Street more money.
Third, he and Pence should resign effective immediately.
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@MM Yes I also thought Trump was a bit "snowed" last night. And a monotone delivery lacking any indication of empathy.
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Repent ye Trump voters and enablers (Hillary fans who ran an identity/social engineering obsessed neo con against him), the end is near. Repent.
The virus only sped it up, the economic crash would have come sooner or later.
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Please stop lumping the Republic of Ireland in with Britain. It is a sovereign and independent nation and is not restricted under this travel ban. This ban only covers the Schengen Zone. I expect better and more accurate reporting from The New York Times.
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Time to invest!
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@Nathan I think I'd hold off a bit on following that advice. Something about trying to catch falling knives?
Trump can't even make a simple leadership decision without poisoning it with his xenophobia and bigotry. The UK literally has more cases of covid-19 than most EU countries but trump will allow them to come and infect Americans while banning travel from countries with less people infected. This is so illogical and yet par for the course with this administration.
I always say that whenever something is illogical it is usually driven by an "_ism", a "_phobia" or a "_phile". With trump we have the shortsighted narcissism of white supremacism and xenophobia on display.
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@LJP The UK is not even in the top 15 of countries with infections in Europe, and we have tested more than double the amount of people than the US has.
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@Fraser The point is there are ~500 cases in the UK. It makes absolutely no sense to enact a European travel ban and exclude the UK considering the UK already has infected people. If the UK did not have any infected people a travel ban excluding them could possibly make sense but that is not the case.
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@LJP with the US having ~1500 confirmed cases, maybe we should be banning you :-)
Seriously, due to the inadequate testing regime in the US. How many cases do you think you actually have? I reckon about 10k!
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Where are the test kits! How can the gov be so incompetent with this, it's insane.
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Another proof of rational economic stock market’s behavior vis-à-vis political international trade irrationality .
Ricardo should’ve approved...
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Paid sick leave and expanded unemployment benefits are both no-brainers in this scenario. This sort of stimulus is exactly what the economy needs, and it will help mitigate the spread of the virus. Yet our government moves at a snail's pace and is still bitterly divided, putting politics above effectiveness, and will probably pass some watered down thing in a month or so after the bottom has completely fallen out.
American exceptionalism.
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Why shouldn't the market crash? Nothing proposed so far is going to help the overall economy. Who thinks a cut in payroll taxes is going to convince me to go out to eat, let alone get on a plane, train, or boat? And don't even think about movies or concerts! Want to get me out spending again? Test enough people so I can logically determine the risk in my hometown, and make it seem like half the population around me has a job cleaning every inch of the public square.
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@Kathleen As long as 50% of people are your janitors you’re happy. Get COVID-19. You may not actually be aware you have it. And if you do, you only have a 99% chance of living...
I'm becoming a hermit for a month. Being over 80 w/diabetes, I'm at real risk, no matter what R.L. says. Time, folks, if you are over 60, to think about taking proactive measures. Get some cash in the house, 4-5 weeks worth of food and medicine, and some books. Don't believe the conservative radio stations.
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@BCP
Like your approach. Have been doing so since I recently became an “empty nester” which coincided with the Coronavirus outbreak in China. Occasionally go to local establishments but am “Home Alone” except when my children pop in. Just canceled my trip to NY for the Big East Tournament. A major disappointment for many I’m sure.
I’m 4 years younger than you but am happy to immerse myself with movies, tv sporting events, reading and catching up on much needed sleep and avoiding cable news networks. Hope our shared plan works
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The market today (Dow -1650 at the moment) clearly reflects investors’ lack of confidence that the Trump Administration’s response to this health emergency. Trump has been the divider in chief, has lied about everything, has repeatedly denied the validity of science, has criticized and undermined the civil service and has repeatedly underplayed the extent of the Coronavirus impact on the US.
Now suddenly he wants us all to suddenly believe every word he says, come together to deal with a serious threat , listen to the scientists and work with our government officials. He is exactly the wrong person to utter these words. Pence is no better. Their credibility is severely damaged. Until there is a new messenger the public will struggle to have any confidence.
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When will governments realize that the money printing and handing it to people who already hold assets (aka QE) won’t boost consumption but only redistributes wealth from bottom to top? They’ll save big companies once they fall. What would be required is for central banks to pay for everybody’s sick leave. This will keep companies (and their financials) healthy and incentivize people to stay home and not spread the virus
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@Philipp Enning
"redistributes wealth from bottom to top"
a feature, not a bug.
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Brilliant!!! Support the majority of the populace. What a novel idea.
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@Philipp Enning My suspicion is that they actually do in fact realize the actual result but 'sell' it as benefiting the societies at large. They know it is snake oil.
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It appears that the thought of delaying our 2019 tax returns and eliminating the payroll tax until the end of the year hasn’t impressed the market. And given that most jobs in the U.S. today are in the service industry, how will small business owners ever afford to pay back SBA loans on receipts that they will never recover?
Who thought up these “ solutions?” Doesn’t this administration know that people who have little or no money will not benefit from these ideas? And the rest, aren’t going out to spend except on necessities.
So...how will the economy improve if consumers are not purchasing?
Asking for the voting population of the U.S.
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@It’s About Time
Trump can't come up with better solutions because he's driven every competent person out of his administration, leaving only sycophants and yes men around him. He thinks he is the only one capable of solving any problem. And his solutions will always be money related, never based on facts, logic, or empathy. He is the definition of a poor leader.
7
I'm about to retire and have invested conservatively in my retirement accounts.
Nonetheless, I have lost $30,000 recently.
Our family business has been nearly ruined by Trump's tariffs and now we can't get imported materials we need.
I blame an incompetent Trump administration for most of this.
Of course, he would tell me to not worry and go bankrupt like he does.
My fear is not only for myself, but for my country and the global community.
Would this financial collapse have happened under another president's watch?
I'm not convinced of that.
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America wanted someone that could entertain, punch down, act religious and ensure the right to own military grade assault rifles.
Governance was never the concern. America has to do the best it can now. There was no planning so now all we can do is react.
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@Panthiest Serious question. Who did/do you support in the primary?
1
Did you vote for him?
5
The ban on EU traffic is a classic case of closing the barn door after the horse is gone. The epidemic is here already.
That said, does anyone have any idea why the UK was exempted? They have cases, just like everyone else.
Since this is clearly and simply a political stunt, what purpose does the UK exclusion server?
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@Biji Basi the reason the UK was exempt from the travel ban is because that’s where tRump has golf courses.
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@Biji Basi
I suspect it may have to do with Trump wanting to avoid any backlash or loss of business for his golf course in Scotland. Just my guess.
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I think your illustrious president actually said that he is banning travel for anyone who has been in mainland Europe (the bit with no passport controls) within 14 days of travel. With the exception of US nationals. So Europeans cannot sneak into the US via the UK!
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Trump's voice sounded hoarse and raspy during his most recent unreassuring address. When will he be tested for the Coronavirus? It has been about a week since he was shaking hands at the infectious CPAC gathering.
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The emperor had caught a cold walking around naked for 3 and a half years!
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The Revolution had started earlier and without much visibility, but thankfully it is now over, and 'we the American people' (and indirectly our 'citizens of the world') have won.
The choice was global democratic socialism or Global Empire --- and thanks most recently to Bernie, We WON.
5
I wish I understood your scoreboard?
4
@Alan MacDonald Even though we hate Trump. We have to thank him for getting the rest of the world to finally work together to take down the evil empire (us).
Now we need to the American people to finish the job and take the rest down from the inside.
1
I’m just exhausted. After 3 years of Trumpian lies and gaslighting, now we get front row seats to an impending recession, complete financial meltdown, and pandemic to which the USA is unprepared with less than a million hospital beds and no hampered virus testing.
If this is what makes America great again, please wake me from this nightmare.
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@Brett B Well said, Brett. You summarized this woeful state of affairs in but a few short paragraphs. I, too, am exhausted...and frightened.
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@Brett B
Trial by fire.
We'll come out stronger on the other side. . . no thanks to Trump.
Take care of your friends and family, help your community if able, and tap into that great American spirit that lies beneath the surface of partisan bickering and tribalism.
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@Brett B
Nothing like hitting the Trifecta, too bad it’s not at Aqueduct
3
Well we could--and I know this is a novel thought--provide support for citizens (free testing, guaranteed pay during quarantine,etc.) to calm consumers so they know this virus won't decimate them financially. Instead, we'll probably give another bailout for corporations and wall street.
I guess it's only socialism if anyone other than the rich benefit.
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Citizens don’t fool yourselves, America is already a (corporate) socialist country! But as in China and Russia the power is in the hands of too few citizens!
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@jane Technically, 'decimation' means to be reduced by a 10th. The stock market has lost more than 20% of its value, so we've already been more than decimated.
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@Justin And that's not the common usage of decimate even if its a part of etymology. More salient, she's talking about actual people being decimated, not the stock market.
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I can understand the concern for limiting travel. Someone could arrive in the United States with COVID19 and form a new cluster in an area with no previous cases. A short term shock to the economy is something we can handle. The markets will recover and come back stronger when this is all over.
I don’t like Trump, but if he didn’t enforce a travel ban people would be saying he didn’t do enough. We need to take extreme measures now even though it may be an inconvenience.
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@Adil - The problem is, this European travel ban should have been done at least 3 weeks ago. The problem now is local transmission, so a domestic travel ban is needed. Have you seen the videos of the crazy spring break partying going on right now in Florida?
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@Adil: There are more than a thousand cases already in the U.S. It is too late for foreign travel bans. If Trump really wanted to stop the virus, now would be the time to just shut everything down, except emergency services, and institute a countrywide travel ban.
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@Adil I agree. I am no fan of Trump, and this may be the first thing he's done I sort of agree with (though I would also be doing everything possible to encourage people to stay home for a couple weeks, since we don't know who has the virus). A little pain and inconvenience now will prevent a lot more later.
In my small business, the slowdown in work will mean that we can't meet our current payroll obligations. That will lead to layoffs to re-balance cash inflow and outflow. A payroll tax cut wouldn't factor into our thinking at all. An unemployment compensation program for those who are laid off might help.
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The CDC and NYC government approach remains appalling at basic levels. They are conducting a wait-and-see approach to testing and mitigation rather than being proactive. the policy is to close a school after someone connected tests positive, but testing is still essentially restricted to patients with severe symptoms who may need admission to a hospital. There is a fundamental disconnect between the needs of a hospital to triage limited testing for their patients most in need of a test for clinical, patient-specific reasons, and the need for broader testing for epidemiological and policy/mitigation purposes. the former is occuring slowly and the latter not at all. So the city has no good data to work with to enact good mitigation strategies. 62 cases in NYC ? every doctor and most rational citizens know that's a joke and the number may already be in the thousands. If we wait until the ICUs are stressed or overloaded to close Broadway and the schools, God help us.
27
There aren’t enough tests. It’s a national problem.
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@glorynine - Yes, we need to get ahead of this thing and we keep falling further and further behind.
10
@glorynine
Trump may not have created the virus but it is forcing more and more of us to recognize his ignorance, lying and clumsy attempts at denial for face saving. His utter lack of emotional intelligence was also blatantly evident in his wooden teleprompter reading last night from the Oval Office. That, combined with the misguided unilateral decision to suddenly block Europeans from the USA (without warning or discussion with European leaders!!!) is blasting the entire global economy further. As I watch my hard-earned retirement savings sink lower every day, along with those of my fellow citizens, I can find comfort only in the hope that this in-your face situation (both medical and financial) will eject from office the most unsuitable leader the US has ever suffered, with a landslide repudiation through higher voter turnout than we have ever achieved since our founding.
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Somebody should offer a derivative based on UK airports, which should experience a surge as people cancel nonstops in favor of one-stops between US and Europe.
5
Why are we limiting travel from Europe when the virus is already United States? it is hard to believe travel recommendations from the CDC warning and advising not to go to certain regions of the world if the same travel restrictions and advisories don't happen in the domestic United States. There should be travel warnings for all the places that the virus exists domestically. If it's not okay for US citizens to travel to areas with the virus abroad than the CDC should give the same advice for domestic locations. It should be based on evidence and science. If the CDC doesn't do this it's hard to trust them.
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@realist The virus is everywhere in the U.S. A lack of testing gives you the false impression that is not spreading everywhere. When hospital fill up everywhere, you will know.
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@realist - We haven't done anything to prevent the spring break partying in Florida. When the revelers return to their schools (or homes if their schools are closed), they'll spread the virus to every nook and cranny of the US. Not to mention how much spread will occur as they pass through airports. So, it's even too late now to impose a domestic travel ban. It's been too little, too late from day 1.
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@Freedean
Kids think they'll live forever. Why take any precautions, because things never happen to *them*, right?
However, when their parents and grandparents start dying off because of their thoughtless actions, they might think again. But by then, it'll be too late for the rest of us...
14
"With global growth on the line, investors have been looking for world leaders to step in to keep the economic gears turning"
why wouldn't the market just fix itself? that's the usual gop remedy, right?
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@Rick Socialize the losses, privatize the profits. They love socialism, just not for the masses.
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I guess it is “fixing itself” as we speak!
9
Yeah! Gummnt is the problem; we all want small gummnt, right?
19