Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
The Next Disaster Is Just a Few Days Away
Millions of unemployed Americans face imminent catastrophe.Some of us knew from the beginning that Donald Trump wasnt up to the job of being president, that he wouldnt be able to deal with a crisis that wasnt of his own making. Still, the magnitude of Americas coronavirus failure has shocked even the cynics.
At this point Florida alone has an average daily death toll roughly equal to that of the whole European Union, which has 20 times its population.
How did this happen? One key element in our deadly debacle has been extreme shortsightedness: At every stage of the crisis Trump and his allies refused to acknowledge or get ahead of disasters everyone paying attention clearly saw coming.
Blithe denials that Covid-19 posed a threat gave way to blithe denials that rapid reopening would lead to a new surge in infections; now that the surge is upon us, Republican governors are responding sluggishly and grudgingly, while the White House is doing nothing at all.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/opinion/coronavirus-economy-unemployment.html
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
6 replies, 1949 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (17)
ReplyReply to this post
6 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The Next Disaster Is Just a Few Days Away (Original Post)
Zorro
Jul 2020
OP
WH is doing something - sending armed agents into "troubled" cities to put down unrest.
Grasswire2
Jul 2020
#3
louis-t
(23,309 posts)1. Oh, the White House IS doing something.
Selling black beans.
Liberty Belle
(9,538 posts)2. And hiding COVID numbers on the CDC site.
Grasswire2
(13,571 posts)3. WH is doing something - sending armed agents into "troubled" cities to put down unrest.
Beware. This is the precursor to something very dark and bad.
stopbush
(24,397 posts)4. Krugman nails it again.
dalton99a
(81,637 posts)5. Sadistic assholes
Delusions about the state of the economic recovery, in turn, allow conservatives to indulge in one of their favorite zombie ideas that helping the unemployed in a depressed economy hurts job creation, by discouraging people from taking jobs.
Worrying about employment incentives in the midst of a pandemic is even crazier than worrying about those incentives in the aftermath of a financial crisis, but it seems to be at the core of White House thinking (or maybe thats thinking) about economic policy right now.
One last thing: My sense is that Republicans have a delusional view of their own bargaining position. They dont seem to realize that they, not the Democrats, will be blamed if millions are plunged into penury because relief is delayed; to the extent that theyre willing to act at all, they still imagine that they can extract concessions like a blanket exemption of businesses from pandemic liability.
Maybe the prospect of catastrophe will concentrate Republican minds, but it seems more likely that were heading for weeks if not months of extreme financial distress for millions of Americans, distress that will hobble the economy as a whole. This disaster didnt need to happen; but you can say the same thing about most of what has gone wrong in this country lately.
Worrying about employment incentives in the midst of a pandemic is even crazier than worrying about those incentives in the aftermath of a financial crisis, but it seems to be at the core of White House thinking (or maybe thats thinking) about economic policy right now.
One last thing: My sense is that Republicans have a delusional view of their own bargaining position. They dont seem to realize that they, not the Democrats, will be blamed if millions are plunged into penury because relief is delayed; to the extent that theyre willing to act at all, they still imagine that they can extract concessions like a blanket exemption of businesses from pandemic liability.
Maybe the prospect of catastrophe will concentrate Republican minds, but it seems more likely that were heading for weeks if not months of extreme financial distress for millions of Americans, distress that will hobble the economy as a whole. This disaster didnt need to happen; but you can say the same thing about most of what has gone wrong in this country lately.
RussBLib
(9,044 posts)6. GOP Senate will probably wait until the last minute
and then restore some of the aid. I think they can see that things have not gotten better and more stimulus will be required. I am trying to be reasonable about it, and I think that, eventually, the GOP Senate will do the right thing.
Am I out of my mind?