csmonitor--2020-06-03--Love of country: US ready for mandatory national service?

“ We ’ ve been prepared as a country for a terrorist attack or an overseas war , ” says Emma Moore , analyst at the Center for a New American Security .
“ But clearly we haven ’ t been prepared – culturally or institutionally – for something like this.
” It comes with hurdles , but advocates believe the pandemic has only underscored the importance of such mission-oriented work .
Despite high demand , service opportunities for young people through AmeriCorps , the Peace Corps , and other programs have long remained static and require a new level @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recommend that lawmakers increase federal funding to boost the number of young people working in national service jobs – from 80,000 today to 1 million by 2031 .
The impulse lies at the center of a highly anticipated “ grand strategy ” put forward in March by the National Commission on Military , National , and Public Service .
Created by Congress , the commission argues that national service – funded by the federal government – is central to improving Americans ’ quality of life , bolstering national security , and strengthening democracy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ James called for America to create a “ moral equivalent of war , ” programs that would rally the country to greatness and a shared sense of purpose .
The solution , he said , is mandatory national service .
When Xavier Jennings was a teenager , money was tight for his single mother , who had five children , and he felt a duty to help out .
He applied for jobs at Walmart and McDonald ’ s , but struggled to be what he calls in hindsight “ interview ready.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and escalated to selling marijuana on the street .
Still , he liked his high school classes and wanted to graduate , even as evictions and spates of homelessness for his family meant switching schools six times in four years .
He was devastated when he fell short of credits .
“ My idea of success was attached to finishing my education.
” He felt , he says , like a failure .
Mr. Jennings drifted further toward drug sales , but his older brother pulled him back when he saw him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ He told people he knew [ in gangs ] to stay away from me , ” Mr. Jennings says .
“ I owe a lot to him – he really saw goodness in me.
” To redirect him , his brother eventually took him to Mile High Youth Corps in Denver , a branch of YouthBuild , a national nonprofit that helps volunteers earn their GED diplomas and pays them minimum wage to work in construction and conservation .
As early as the first day on the job , he started to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ It was planting the seeds of ‘ I can make a difference.
’ ” Today Mr. Jennings has a full-time job as a YouthBuild program coordinator , mentoring young adults while coaching Little League and finishing up his college degree in nonprofit management .
Getting more Americans like Mr. Jennings to serve their country lies at the center of a highly anticipated “ grand strategy ” put forward in March by the National Commission on Military , National , and Public Service .
Created by Congress , the commission argues that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government – is central to improving Americans ’ quality of life , bolstering national security , and strengthening democracy .
While the commission made headlines this spring for recommending that women be required to register for the draft alongside men , it also stressed the need to elevate the status of national service – giving it the same prestige that military recruits enjoy .
To figure out how to do that , the commissioners took a yearlong Alexis de Tocqueville-like journey across the United States , gathering stories such as Mr. Jennings ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Their conclusions came with a warning : Despite high demand , service opportunities for young people through AmeriCorps , the Peace Corps , and other programs such as YouthBuild have long remained static and require a new level of investment .
The report recommends that lawmakers increase federal funding to boost the number of young people working in national service jobs from 80,000 today to 1 million by 2031 .
It comes with hurdles , but advocates believe the coronavirus pandemic has only underscored the importance of such mission-oriented work .
“ We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a terrorist attack or an overseas war , but clearly we haven ’ t been prepared – culturally or institutionally – for something like this , ” says Emma Moore , analyst for the military , veterans , and society program at the Center for a New American Security , a Washington think tank .
“ It highlights in my mind the greater need for national service.
” Adds retired Navy Capt .
Steven Barney , a commissioner and a former general counsel for the Senate Armed Services Committee : “ This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for something like a pandemic.
” Back in 1906 , the philosopher William James , brother of Henry , called for America to create a “ moral equivalent of war ” through programs of national service that would rally the country to greatness and a shared sense of purpose .
He admitted that it ’ s hard to beat battlefields for this .
“ Militarism is the great preserver of our ideals of hardihood , ” he wrote in a widely celebrated essay .
Those less martially inclined need to acknowledge the appeal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he advised , and come up with something able to compete with the “ dread hammer ” of militarism as the “ welder of men into cohesive states.
” The solution , he said , is mandatory national service .
“ To coal and iron mines , to freight trains , to fishing fleets in December , to dishwashing , clothes-washing , and window-washing , to road-building and tunnel-making , to foundries and stoke-holes , and to the frames of skyscrapers , would our gilded youths be drafted off , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knocked out of them , and to come back into society with healthier sympathies and soberer ideas , ” he wrote .
He also observed , “ The martial type of character can be bred without war.
” The idea of mandatory national service has been raised – and ultimately rejected – as a possibility throughout American history .
Just a couple of decades before James ’ treatise , in 1888 , Edward Bellamy published the wildly popular “ Looking Backward , ” a Utopian novel that was only outsold in its day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” and “ Ben-Hur : A Tale of the Christ.
” Written in the wake of the depression of 1873-79 and a series of recessions in the 1880s , the book called for mandatory service for men and women ages 21 to 45 .
Some 165 subsequent “ Bellamy clubs ” sprang up nationwide .
The Russian translation of the book was banned by czarist censors for its socialist leanings .
In later decades , philosophers , policy analysts , and politicians offered their own proposals for a “ moral equivalent of war.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Conservation Corps , which mobilized , with the leadership of a young George Marshall , 3 million unemployed Americans who planted some 3 billion trees and constructed 97,000 miles of fire roads , among other projects , between 1933 and 1942 , notes a November report by the Brookings Institution .
Following the success of the Peace Corps , Defense Secretary Robert McNamara pushed to tie civilian service to the draft in the early 1960s .
Anthropologist Margaret Mead advocated a service program that “ would replace for girls , even more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ away from the parental home , ” according to a 2019 report from the libertarian Cato Institute .
When he was governor of Arkansas and a member of the Democratic Leadership Council , Bill Clinton called for a national Citizen Corps of 800,000 young people .
During his presidency , his administration ultimately created the more modestly sized Corporation for National and Community Service and AmeriCorps .
Most recently , retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal , former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan , extolled the virtues of universal – though not mandatory – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which “ one full quarter of an age cohort , serving together to solve problems , will build attachment to community and country , understanding among people who might otherwise be skeptical of one another and a new generation of leaders who can get things done .
I saw these effects for 34 years in the U.S. Army , ” he wrote .
“ We need them in civilian life.
” The national commission on military and public service , too , set out to answer the question of whether national service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and ultimately declined to recommend taking this step .
Few leaders are fond of working with conscripts who might turn out to be surly , particularly when kicking them out is tough to do .
“ Policymakers should make every effort to promote voluntary approaches to service , reserving mandatory service as a last resort only in response to national emergencies and to ensure common defense , ” the commission concluded .
Yet a growing number of countries have been adopting mandatory national service for young people .
France last year launched a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will ultimately train some 800,000 teenagers a year .
The aim is to strengthen social cohesion in a country that abolished mandatory military service more than 20 years ago , in 1997 , and give young people “ causes to defend and battles to fight in the social , environmental , and cultural domains , ” Mr. Macron said .
For one month , 16-year-olds will live communally and give up their cellphones to learn first aid , map reading , and emergency response .
After dinner each evening , they ’ ll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as gender discrimination and the roots of radicalization .
Then they ’ ll have the chance to use their skills in volunteer jobs .
The program will soon be written into the constitution and become mandatory over the next seven years .
It is expected to cost $ 1.8 billion a year to run .
After abolishing a year of compulsory military service for men in 2011 , Germany is now mulling the idea of bringing back a year of mandatory national service as well , in part to address chronic staff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It would also be required for all adult asylum-seekers , as a way to better integrate migrants , say officials who point to an increasingly polarized society .
In the U.S. , demand for government-sponsored volunteer jobs consistently outpaces the number of open slots .
After 9/11 , there were more than 150,000 requests for applications to the Peace Corps , for example , but only 7,000 positions available , notes the Brookings Institution report .
That trend has continued , with the Peace Corps estimating that , on average , there are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as slots available .
These trends have been mirrored in AmeriCorps applications over the past decade , with three to five applicants for every one open position .
The programs seem to have a good effect on those who do get in .
AmeriCorps surveys indicate that more than 80 % of the program ’ s national service alumni credit their experience with making them more likely to attain a college degree , vote , volunteer , care about community issues , and fashion practical solutions to problems , the Brookings report says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Convincing Congress to fund them , particularly given the cost of stimulus programs in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic , will likely prove difficult .
While the call to “ serve your country ” still means joining the military in the minds of many Americans , some 70 % of 18- to 24-year-olds don ’ t meet eligibility standards .
Sharell Harmon , for her part , longed to enlist in the Air Force .
But when she didn ’ t qualify , she applied to YouthBuild in Elkins , West @ @ @ @ @ @ @ heavy on trust-building exercises .
A black woman in a predominantly white rural area , she wasn ’ t surprised that her teammates were mostly “ guys who wear hunting gear on the back roads , living their best life.
” What she didn ’ t foresee was that they ’ d become her “ brothers ” – the sort of battle buddies she ’ d once hoped to find in the armed forces .
“ They ’ re in my everyday , ” she says .
“ We check in .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re family .
I didn ’ t qualify for the military , but it ’ s important to keep that structure , that support for folks , that possibility of service.
” The commissioners agreed , concluding that the concept of service must not only be “ demilitarized , ” but also better linked to government .
Their recommendations include , among other things , creating a position on the National Security Council to coordinate military and civilian service , and adding slots in U.S. military academies for those interested in civilian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the commission notes , could improve “ whole of government ” approaches to crises like the current coronavirus .
These steps could also spur the creation of a national database of volunteers that can be cross-referenced with the skills they bring to any crisis , “ rather than just calling for them on Twitter , ” Ms. Moore adds .
Prior to his time on Capitol Hill , serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee and as a staffer for the late Sen. John McCain , Mr. Barney was a Navy lawyer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aware of national service , he still didn ’ t fully understand what it was , he says .
To help remedy this , he and his fellow commissioners traveled to 22 states to ask : Why do or don ’ t you serve , and what are the obstacles to serving ?
In many cases , the answer to that last query , they discovered , was financial .
While military service comes with a salary as well as free health care and college tuition , government-backed volunteer programs such as AmeriCorps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be intentionally modest , living allowances are often so low that “ members can not sustain themselves without outside assistance , ” the commission ’ s report notes .
When Mr. Barney spoke at a kickoff event last spring for AmeriCorps in Boston , he was surprised to learn that the group ’ s initial training included a tutorial on how to register for food stamps .
Many volunteers who skipped this step acknowledged that the only reason they could participate in the program is that they had family willing to support them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ living allowance for full-time AmeriCorps volunteers was $ 15,370 .
If volunteers can manage to make ends meet , however , they often come away with valuable skills .
Before Maya Gonzalez discovered Mile High Youth Corps in Denver , she wasn ’ t earning enough working in construction to support her wife and stepchildren .
But there were opportunities in energy conservation , program coordinators told her .
“ I didn ’ t know or care much about energy efficiency , ” she says .
“ But they said , ‘ You @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did , and through the program became an expert in LED lightbulbs and water-efficient toilets .
“ I didn ’ t know toilets mattered , ” but by replacing an old model using upward of 1.6 gallons per flush with a new one using half that amount , “ You can only imagine how much that saved on water bills , ” she says .
What Ms. Gonzalez particularly loved was working with low-income residents .
“ I ’ m this Hispanic girl with tattoos – I grew up in the projects – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I come from a certain background , ” she says .
“ One client told me , ‘ I love that it ’ s you walking in .
You feel my pain.
’ And , OK , that ’ s kind of stereotypical , but I ’ m glad they know they ’ re not getting judged .
All of a sudden they ’ re making you breakfast while you change a lightbulb.
” Keeping volunteers in their own communities is ideal , says Mr. Barney , who , along with fellow commissioners @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Under these , people interested in national service would be given a card they could take to any organization and say , “ I ’ m here to help you , and this gives you everything you need to bring me on board.
” This might help locals pinpoint sources of need in their neighborhoods .
Better civics education is key , too , the report stresses , since it teaches students how Americans have worked in the past for positive , fundamental change – and overcome efforts to thwart it .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly every conversation included a passionate call to improve civic education , ” the report points out , noting that the federal government spends more than $ 3.2 billion for science , technology , engineering , and math programs , versus about $ 5 million annually on civics .
A handful of states has revamped these courses in ways that could serve as a model for the country .
Illinois now requires classroom discussions of “ current and controversial events , ” and also encourages some volunteering .
Florida law mandates that all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Massachusetts calls for its high schoolers to take part in at least one “ nonpartisan ” civics project .
“ You need to have service learning opportunities , starting in kindergarten , ” Mr. Barney says .
“ Our vision is that by the time a person graduates , someone will ask , ‘ What is your plan to serve ?
’ and they ’ ll have a ready answer.
” As a mentor , Mr. Jennings helps his students think through such questions .
Hearing their stories helps him point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right for them .
He still aches , though , for the friends and family who didn ’ t qualify , or weren ’ t chosen , for programs that have altered the course of his life .
“ My story isn ’ t unique – a lot of folks face adversity at a young age .
Opportunity , ” he adds , “ is the fork in the road .
”

“We’ve been prepared as a country for a terrorist attack or an overseas war,” says Emma Moore, analyst at the Center for a New American Security. “But clearly we haven’t been prepared – culturally or institutionally – for something like this.”
It comes with hurdles, but advocates believe the pandemic has only underscored the importance of such mission-oriented work.
Despite high demand, service opportunities for young people through AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, and other programs have long remained static and require a new level of investment, commissioners concluded. They recommend that lawmakers increase federal funding to boost the number of young people working in national service jobs – from 80,000 today to 1 million by 2031.
Mandatory national service has been raised – and rejected – throughout American history. Now a commission wants to expand such non-military service in the U.S. as a civic-inspired way to improve lives.
The impulse lies at the center of a highly anticipated “grand strategy” put forward in March by the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service. Created by Congress, the commission argues that national service – funded by the federal government – is central to improving Americans’ quality of life, bolstering national security, and strengthening democracy.
In 1906, the philosopher William James called for America to create a “moral equivalent of war,” programs that would rally the country to greatness and a shared sense of purpose. The solution, he said, is mandatory national service.
When Xavier Jennings was a teenager, money was tight for his single mother, who had five children, and he felt a duty to help out. He applied for jobs at Walmart and McDonald’s, but struggled to be what he calls in hindsight “interview ready.” He started stealing food from a supermarket, and escalated to selling marijuana on the street.
Still, he liked his high school classes and wanted to graduate, even as evictions and spates of homelessness for his family meant switching schools six times in four years. He was devastated when he fell short of credits. “My idea of success was attached to finishing my education.” He felt, he says, like a failure.
Mr. Jennings drifted further toward drug sales, but his older brother pulled him back when he saw him hanging out with the wrong crowd. “He told people he knew [in gangs] to stay away from me,” Mr. Jennings says. “I owe a lot to him – he really saw goodness in me.”
Why We Wrote This Mandatory national service has been raised – and rejected – throughout American history. Now a commission wants to expand such non-military service in the U.S. as a civic-inspired way to improve lives.
To redirect him, his brother eventually took him to Mile High Youth Corps in Denver, a branch of YouthBuild, a national nonprofit that helps volunteers earn their GED diplomas and pays them minimum wage to work in construction and conservation. As early as the first day on the job, he started to feel differently about himself, he says. “It was planting the seeds of ‘I can make a difference.’”
Today Mr. Jennings has a full-time job as a YouthBuild program coordinator, mentoring young adults while coaching Little League and finishing up his college degree in nonprofit management.
Getting more Americans like Mr. Jennings to serve their country lies at the center of a highly anticipated “grand strategy” put forward in March by the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service. Created by Congress, the commission argues that national service – funded by the federal government – is central to improving Americans’ quality of life, bolstering national security, and strengthening democracy.
While the commission made headlines this spring for recommending that women be required to register for the draft alongside men, it also stressed the need to elevate the status of national service – giving it the same prestige that military recruits enjoy.
To figure out how to do that, the commissioners took a yearlong Alexis de Tocqueville-like journey across the United States, gathering stories such as Mr. Jennings’ in hundreds of hours of testimony. Their conclusions came with a warning: Despite high demand, service opportunities for young people through AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, and other programs such as YouthBuild have long remained static and require a new level of investment. The report recommends that lawmakers increase federal funding to boost the number of young people working in national service jobs from 80,000 today to 1 million by 2031.
Alfredo Sosa/Staff/File View caption Hide caption Members of City Year AmeriCorps greet students as they enter Gilbert Stuart Middle School in Providence, Rhode Island. Mentors embedded in the school work to boost class attendance.
It comes with hurdles, but advocates believe the coronavirus pandemic has only underscored the importance of such mission-oriented work.
“We’ve been prepared as a country for a terrorist attack or an overseas war, but clearly we haven’t been prepared – culturally or institutionally – for something like this,” says Emma Moore, analyst for the military, veterans, and society program at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank. “It highlights in my mind the greater need for national service.”
Adds retired Navy Capt. Steven Barney, a commissioner and a former general counsel for the Senate Armed Services Committee: “This is the answer to how we mobilize for something like a pandemic.”
“Healthier sympathies”
Back in 1906, the philosopher William James, brother of Henry, called for America to create a “moral equivalent of war” through programs of national service that would rally the country to greatness and a shared sense of purpose.
He admitted that it’s hard to beat battlefields for this. “Militarism is the great preserver of our ideals of hardihood,” he wrote in a widely celebrated essay. Those less martially inclined need to acknowledge the appeal of self-sacrifice and camaraderie forged in combat, he advised, and come up with something able to compete with the “dread hammer” of militarism as the “welder of men into cohesive states.”
The solution, he said, is mandatory national service. “To coal and iron mines, to freight trains, to fishing fleets in December, to dishwashing, clothes-washing, and window-washing, to road-building and tunnel-making, to foundries and stoke-holes, and to the frames of skyscrapers, would our gilded youths be drafted off, according to their choice, to get the childishness knocked out of them, and to come back into society with healthier sympathies and soberer ideas,” he wrote. He also observed, “The martial type of character can be bred without war.”
The idea of mandatory national service has been raised – and ultimately rejected – as a possibility throughout American history. Just a couple of decades before James’ treatise, in 1888, Edward Bellamy published the wildly popular “Looking Backward,” a Utopian novel that was only outsold in its day by “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.” Written in the wake of the depression of 1873-79 and a series of recessions in the 1880s, the book called for mandatory service for men and women ages 21 to 45. Some 165 subsequent “Bellamy clubs” sprang up nationwide. The Russian translation of the book was banned by czarist censors for its socialist leanings.
In later decades, philosophers, policy analysts, and politicians offered their own proposals for a “moral equivalent of war.” The New Deal yielded the Civilian Conservation Corps, which mobilized, with the leadership of a young George Marshall, 3 million unemployed Americans who planted some 3 billion trees and constructed 97,000 miles of fire roads, among other projects, between 1933 and 1942, notes a November report by the Brookings Institution.
Courtesy of Sharell Harmon View caption Hide caption “They’re in my everyday. We check in. They’re having kids now – we’re family. I didn’t qualify for the military, but it’s important to keep that structure, that support for folks, that possibility of service.” – Sharell Harmon, who made close friends while participating in a YouthBuild program in West Virginia
Following the success of the Peace Corps, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara pushed to tie civilian service to the draft in the early 1960s. Anthropologist Margaret Mead advocated a service program that “would replace for girls, even more than for boys, marriage as the route away from the parental home,” according to a 2019 report from the libertarian Cato Institute. When he was governor of Arkansas and a member of the Democratic Leadership Council, Bill Clinton called for a national Citizen Corps of 800,000 young people. During his presidency, his administration ultimately created the more modestly sized Corporation for National and Community Service and AmeriCorps.
Most recently, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, extolled the virtues of universal – though not mandatory – national service. He imagined an America in which “one full quarter of an age cohort, serving together to solve problems, will build attachment to community and country, understanding among people who might otherwise be skeptical of one another and a new generation of leaders who can get things done. I saw these effects for 34 years in the U.S. Army,” he wrote. “We need them in civilian life.”
Social cohesion
The national commission on military and public service, too, set out to answer the question of whether national service should be mandatory for young adults, and ultimately declined to recommend taking this step. Few leaders are fond of working with conscripts who might turn out to be surly, particularly when kicking them out is tough to do.
“Policymakers should make every effort to promote voluntary approaches to service, reserving mandatory service as a last resort only in response to national emergencies and to ensure common defense,” the commission concluded.
Yet a growing number of countries have been adopting mandatory national service for young people. France last year launched a program championed by President Emmanuel Macron that will ultimately train some 800,000 teenagers a year. The aim is to strengthen social cohesion in a country that abolished mandatory military service more than 20 years ago, in 1997, and give young people “causes to defend and battles to fight in the social, environmental, and cultural domains,” Mr. Macron said.
For one month, 16-year-olds will live communally and give up their cellphones to learn first aid, map reading, and emergency response. After dinner each evening, they’ll be encouraged to debate social issues, such as gender discrimination and the roots of radicalization. Then they’ll have the chance to use their skills in volunteer jobs. The program will soon be written into the constitution and become mandatory over the next seven years. It is expected to cost $1.8 billion a year to run.
After abolishing a year of compulsory military service for men in 2011, Germany is now mulling the idea of bringing back a year of mandatory national service as well, in part to address chronic staff shortages in nursing homes and hospices. It would also be required for all adult asylum-seekers, as a way to better integrate migrants, say officials who point to an increasingly polarized society.
Corey Williams/AP/File View caption Hide caption Nicholas Thomas (left) and Joe Wright make school safety signs as part of an AmeriCorps project at Wayne State University in Detroit.
In the U.S., demand for government-sponsored volunteer jobs consistently outpaces the number of open slots. After 9/11, there were more than 150,000 requests for applications to the Peace Corps, for example, but only 7,000 positions available, notes the Brookings Institution report. That trend has continued, with the Peace Corps estimating that, on average, there are three to five times as many applications as slots available. These trends have been mirrored in AmeriCorps applications over the past decade, with three to five applicants for every one open position.
The programs seem to have a good effect on those who do get in. AmeriCorps surveys indicate that more than 80% of the program’s national service alumni credit their experience with making them more likely to attain a college degree, vote, volunteer, care about community issues, and fashion practical solutions to problems, the Brookings report says.
Yet expanding such programs is expensive. Convincing Congress to fund them, particularly given the cost of stimulus programs in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic, will likely prove difficult.
While the call to “serve your country” still means joining the military in the minds of many Americans, some 70% of 18- to 24-year-olds don’t meet eligibility standards. Sharell Harmon, for her part, longed to enlist in the Air Force. But when she didn’t qualify, she applied to YouthBuild in Elkins, West Virginia, instead.
The orientation was heavy on trust-building exercises. A black woman in a predominantly white rural area, she wasn’t surprised that her teammates were mostly “guys who wear hunting gear on the back roads, living their best life.” What she didn’t foresee was that they’d become her “brothers” – the sort of battle buddies she’d once hoped to find in the armed forces. “They’re in my everyday,” she says. “We check in. They’re having kids now – we’re family. I didn’t qualify for the military, but it’s important to keep that structure, that support for folks, that possibility of service.”
The commissioners agreed, concluding that the concept of service must not only be “demilitarized,” but also better linked to government. Their recommendations include, among other things, creating a position on the National Security Council to coordinate military and civilian service, and adding slots in U.S. military academies for those interested in civilian government work. Studying and training together, the commission notes, could improve “whole of government” approaches to crises like the current coronavirus.
These steps could also spur the creation of a national database of volunteers that can be cross-referenced with the skills they bring to any crisis, “rather than just calling for them on Twitter,” Ms. Moore adds.
Revamping civics education
Prior to his time on Capitol Hill, serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee and as a staffer for the late Sen. John McCain, Mr. Barney was a Navy lawyer for 22 years. Though he was aware of national service, he still didn’t fully understand what it was, he says. To help remedy this, he and his fellow commissioners traveled to 22 states to ask: Why do or don’t you serve, and what are the obstacles to serving?
In many cases, the answer to that last query, they discovered, was financial. While military service comes with a salary as well as free health care and college tuition, government-backed volunteer programs such as AmeriCorps are less financially liberal. Designed to be intentionally modest, living allowances are often so low that “members cannot sustain themselves without outside assistance,” the commission’s report notes.
Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer/AP/File View caption Hide caption Doug Getty (left) and Leon Hsi install flooring with Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, a nonprofit that uses volunteers to revitalize homes, in a house on the city’s west side.
When Mr. Barney spoke at a kickoff event last spring for AmeriCorps in Boston, he was surprised to learn that the group’s initial training included a tutorial on how to register for food stamps. Many volunteers who skipped this step acknowledged that the only reason they could participate in the program is that they had family willing to support them. In 2018, the average budgeted living allowance for full-time AmeriCorps volunteers was $15,370.
If volunteers can manage to make ends meet, however, they often come away with valuable skills. Before Maya Gonzalez discovered Mile High Youth Corps in Denver, she wasn’t earning enough working in construction to support her wife and stepchildren. But there were opportunities in energy conservation, program coordinators told her.
“I didn’t know or care much about energy efficiency,” she says. “But they said, ‘You should look into it.’” She did, and through the program became an expert in LED lightbulbs and water-efficient toilets. “I didn’t know toilets mattered,” but by replacing an old model using upward of 1.6 gallons per flush with a new one using half that amount, “You can only imagine how much that saved on water bills,” she says.
What Ms. Gonzalez particularly loved was working with low-income residents. “I’m this Hispanic girl with tattoos – I grew up in the projects – and right away they get the sense I come from a certain background,” she says. “One client told me, ‘I love that it’s you walking in. You feel my pain.’ And, OK, that’s kind of stereotypical, but I’m glad they know they’re not getting judged. All of a sudden they’re making you breakfast while you change a lightbulb.”
Keeping volunteers in their own communities is ideal, says Mr. Barney, who, along with fellow commissioners, recommends creating federally funded fellowships. Under these, people interested in national service would be given a card they could take to any organization and say, “I’m here to help you, and this gives you everything you need to bring me on board.” This might help locals pinpoint sources of need in their neighborhoods.
Better civics education is key, too, the report stresses, since it teaches students how Americans have worked in the past for positive, fundamental change – and overcome efforts to thwart it. As the commissioners traveled the country, “nearly every conversation included a passionate call to improve civic education,” the report points out, noting that the federal government spends more than $3.2 billion for science, technology, engineering, and math programs, versus about $5 million annually on civics.
A handful of states has revamped these courses in ways that could serve as a model for the country. Illinois now requires classroom discussions of “current and controversial events,” and also encourages some volunteering. Florida law mandates that all middle schoolers get one semester of civics, and Massachusetts calls for its high schoolers to take part in at least one “nonpartisan” civics project.
“You need to have service learning opportunities, starting in kindergarten,” Mr. Barney says. “Our vision is that by the time a person graduates, someone will ask, ‘What is your plan to serve?’ and they’ll have a ready answer.”
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As a mentor, Mr. Jennings helps his students think through such questions. Hearing their stories helps him point them toward a path that’s right for them. He still aches, though, for the friends and family who didn’t qualify, or weren’t chosen, for programs that have altered the course of his life.
“My story isn’t unique – a lot of folks face adversity at a young age. Opportunity,” he adds, “is the fork in the road.”


csmonitor--2020-03-23--'Closing borders': US border crossings drop amid outbreak

A Trump administration official said Sunday that illegal border crossings have dropped by half as the strictest United States-Mexico border policies yet went into place amid the coronavirus pandemic , but there was confusion about how it was all working .
Anyone caught crossing the border illegally is to be immediately returned back to Mexico or Canada , according to the new restrictions based on an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Friday .
According to Mark Morgan , the acting head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection , the decision applies to all migrants .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ you into our custody , '' he said Saturday evening on Fox News .
`` We do n't know anything about you .
You have no documents , we 're not going to take you into our facilities and expose you to CBP personnel and the American people as well as immigrants , '' he said .
But Mexican officials have said they would only take people from Mexico and Central America and only those who are encountered straight away – not people already in custody .
Officials later said the elderly and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they expected to take in about 100 per day .
`` If people who are not Mexican or Central American are returned to us , Mexico would not accept them , '' Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Friday in Spanish .
`` The United States will take care of that . ''
The majority of people crossing the border are from Central America , but not all .
For example , there were some 6,000 Brazilians and nearly 1,200 Chinese who arrived between January and February this year , according to Customs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's not entirely clear what happens to those people .
Mr. Morgan said the migrants should be `` expeditiously '' returned to the country they came from .
CDC on Friday issued an order in effect for 30 days that bars anyone coming illegally in part because migrants are held in close quarters and there is n't enough proper staffing or space to keep them at a safe distance and to screen for the illness .
Plus , migrants who are suspected of having COVID-19 are sent to local hospitals , possibly further @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The borders remain open , according to Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf , but only to facilitate trade ; the U.S. has about $ 3 billion per day with Canada and Mexico .
Tourists and shoppers were asked to stay home .
Mr. Wolf said Sunday on Fox News ' `` Sunday Morning Futures '' that the number of migrants crossing illegally had plummeted , but it was important to `` keep supply chains open , '' but to do it in a careful and considerate way that would `` limit the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' Meanwhile , there was growing concern on the Mexican side of the border that the number of migrants stranded there would only increase , with shelters already at capacity .
`` We have 300 people in the shelter and we can no longer take it .
We have been a week without the United States asking for people and if they do n't ask , we are going to be overcrowded , '' said Héctor Joaquín Silva , director of the Senda de Reynosa shelter , which borders McAllen , Texas .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ more migrants and has kept the shelter in quarantine to avoid infections but that migrants continue to arrive in Reynosa .
Meanwhile , in the U.S. , immigrant advocates filed a lawsuit in Washington D.C. requesting the immediate release of migrant families from detention facilities over concerns of inadequate care and an environment ripe for an outbreak .
They say the country 's three detention centers where families are held – Berks in Pennsylvania , and Karnes and Dilley in Texas – have failed to take adequate measures to protect families from COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when to release migrants .
Earlier this year , Homeland Security officials said they would detain families as long as possible in an effort to discourage migrants from crossing the border .
Most families are held 20 days .
`` The families who are detained in these detention centers facilities have no criminal history and do not pose any threat whatsoever to public safety and are not a flight risk – they all came to the United States to seek asylum and are actively pursuing the right to remain in the United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ICE has said it is working to contain any spread of the virus in its detention facilities .
The agency did not comment on the lawsuit .
Immigration courts are still operating , but with scattered closures and delays in some hearings .
Curbing immigration has been a signature policy of Mr. Trump 's , and he 's tried to block asylum seekers before but failed after courts ruled against him .
On Sunday , a text from his re-election campaign read : `` Pres .
Trump is making your safety his # @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 're closing BORDERS to illegals . ''
This story was reported by The Associated Press .
Ms. Verza contributed to this report from Mexico City .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage .
It ’ s free .

A Trump administration official said Sunday that illegal border crossings have dropped by half as the strictest United States-Mexico border policies yet went into place amid the coronavirus pandemic, but there was confusion about how it was all working.
Anyone caught crossing the border illegally is to be immediately returned back to Mexico or Canada, according to the new restrictions based on an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Friday. According to Mark Morgan, the acting head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the decision applies to all migrants.
"We're not going to take you into our custody," he said Saturday evening on Fox News. "We don't know anything about you. You have no documents, we're not going to take you into our facilities and expose you to CBP personnel and the American people as well as immigrants," he said.
But Mexican officials have said they would only take people from Mexico and Central America and only those who are encountered straight away – not people already in custody. Officials later said the elderly and minors won't be taken back and that they expected to take in about 100 per day.
"If people who are not Mexican or Central American are returned to us, Mexico would not accept them," Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Friday in Spanish. "The United States will take care of that."
The majority of people crossing the border are from Central America, but not all. For example, there were some 6,000 Brazilians and nearly 1,200 Chinese who arrived between January and February this year, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
But it's not entirely clear what happens to those people. Mr. Morgan said the migrants should be "expeditiously" returned to the country they came from.
CDC on Friday issued an order in effect for 30 days that bars anyone coming illegally in part because migrants are held in close quarters and there isn't enough proper staffing or space to keep them at a safe distance and to screen for the illness. Plus, migrants who are suspected of having COVID-19 are sent to local hospitals, possibly further infecting others, the CDC warned.
The borders remain open, according to Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, but only to facilitate trade; the U.S. has about $3 billion per day with Canada and Mexico. Tourists and shoppers were asked to stay home.
Mr. Wolf said Sunday on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that the number of migrants crossing illegally had plummeted, but it was important to "keep supply chains open," but to do it in a careful and considerate way that would "limit the introduction and spread of the virus."
Meanwhile, there was growing concern on the Mexican side of the border that the number of migrants stranded there would only increase, with shelters already at capacity.
"We have 300 people in the shelter and we can no longer take it. We have been a week without the United States asking for people and if they don't ask, we are going to be overcrowded," said Héctor Joaquín Silva, director of the Senda de Reynosa shelter, which borders McAllen, Texas.
Mr. Silva said he hasn't accepted more migrants and has kept the shelter in quarantine to avoid infections but that migrants continue to arrive in Reynosa.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., immigrant advocates filed a lawsuit in Washington D.C. requesting the immediate release of migrant families from detention facilities over concerns of inadequate care and an environment ripe for an outbreak. They say the country's three detention centers where families are held – Berks in Pennsylvania, and Karnes and Dilley in Texas – have failed to take adequate measures to protect families from COVID-19.
Immigration enforcement has wide latitude on when to release migrants. Earlier this year, Homeland Security officials said they would detain families as long as possible in an effort to discourage migrants from crossing the border. Most families are held 20 days.
"The families who are detained in these detention centers facilities have no criminal history and do not pose any threat whatsoever to public safety and are not a flight risk – they all came to the United States to seek asylum and are actively pursuing the right to remain in the United States," the advocacy groups wrote.
ICE has said it is working to contain any spread of the virus in its detention facilities. The agency did not comment on the lawsuit.
Immigration courts are still operating, but with scattered closures and delays in some hearings.
Curbing immigration has been a signature policy of Mr. Trump's, and he's tried to block asylum seekers before but failed after courts ruled against him. On Sunday, a text from his re-election campaign read: "Pres. Trump is making your safety his #1 priority. That's why we're closing BORDERS to illegals."
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empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
This story was reported by The Associated Press. Ms. Verza contributed to this report from Mexico City.
Editor’s note: As a public service, the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage. It’s free.


csmonitor--2020-03-26--Daily for March 26, 2020

Daily for March 26, 2020

Some Americans are beginning to chafe under the coronavirus restrictions that authorities have put into place – not least of them President Donald Trump , who this week suggested lifting restrictions at least partially by Easter on April 12 to start revving up the economy .
It ’ s an ambitious timetable and , to many , a callous one .
How dare a president , or anyone , put the health of the economy ahead of the safety of citizens ?
But the president ’ s statement highlights another reality that conservatives especially have been grumbling about : The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have in place by the end of this week represent a blunt instrument , which may keep the virus from spreading but is also pounding the economy in unprecedented ways .
The latest evidence came Thursday , when the U.S. Labor Department reported that 3.3 million Americans filed initial jobless claims last week , a record in more than 50 years of data and more than four times the previous record .
A recession is likely , if not already underway .
The restrictions on the economy are so far-reaching that businesses have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of work , and keeping consumers , a mainstay of the economy , from shopping .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , all our coronavirus coverage is free .
No paywall .
Some analysts are predicting that economic activity could shrink by up to a quarter this spring , a terrifying drop that , were there no recovery the rest of the year , would mean economic dislocation on a scale that would outstrip any single year of the Great Depression .
To many experts , the question @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the restrictions , but when .
In theory , the sooner that happens , the less damage the economy will sustain .
But there ’ s a big caveat .
The recent focus on containing the spread of the COVID-19 disease could be key to both limiting the ultimate costs both to the economy and to human lives – including the risk of hospital systems becoming overwhelmed with patients .
For now , that focus on containment remains paramount , many say .
“ We will get to a moment where there will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have to be willing to take , but right now we ’ re not in that world , ” says Sherry Glied , a health economist and dean of New York University ’ s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service .
“ We have to stop the threat of this epidemic , ” she adds .
“ There ’ s no point rebuilding while the bombs are still dropping.
” In her view , it makes sense to wait for progress on the scientific front , and for the government to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the economy in the future , while also making sure basic needs like food and housing are met .
Already , nations including Denmark and Britain are trying to cap economic damage by covering a large chunk of worker salaries for businesses that have seen revenues plunge .
A $ 2 trillion relief package moving through Congress Thursday , similarly , throws a lifeline to businesses ( loans ) and workers ( cash payments and stepped-up jobless benefits ) .
In weighing how and when to reopen the economy , part of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quantified the risks posed by the virus .
“ We don ’ t have that data , ” says Howard Markel , a medical doctor and professor of the history of medicine at the University of Michigan ’ s School of Public Health .
The number of reported deaths has triggered alarm in the medical community and suggests that this virus is several times more deadly than a more typical seasonal flu .
But public health officials have not been able to establish a concrete fatality rate because testing limitations have made it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of individuals who have become infected and recovered .
When will health authorities have a handle on those numbers ?
“ My hope is two to four weeks , ” Dr. Markel says .
It ’ s such timetables that make Mr. Trump ’ s Easter deadline , just over two weeks away , look unrealistic .
Even with the data in hand , health authorities would have to determine the best ways to ease restrictions .
Should they target only hard-hit regions ?
Or is it better to focus on sheltering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diseases ?
According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center , the U.S. has become the global epicenter of the pandemic with nearly 86,000 confirmed cases , more than any other nation .
With the House of Representatives taking up the $ 2 trillion Senate-passed rescue bill , health authorities have some breathing room to determine the best ways to keep the population safe .
The economy can accept a certain amount of risk , and cost-benefit analyses are made routinely , points out Vivian Ho , an economics professor at Rice University @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Medicine , both in Houston .
“ It ’ s a tough exercise in this particular situation , but someone needs to put those numbers down .
We need to start thinking of maybe we should not shut everything down.
” “ You ’ re talking about real damage to people ’ s lives , to the 30 million small businesses in America , ” says Chris Edwards , director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute , a libertarian think tank in Washington .
“ People ’ s lives and dreams @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their careers .
And some of them could be ruined permanently.
” Already , some Americans are beginning to push back on the restrictions , such as by holding social gatherings .
A Louisiana pastor continues to defy Louisiana ’ s ban on gatherings of more than 50 by busing in attendees from five different parishes ( counties ) for Sunday services with what he claims are up to 1,000 people .
In Texas , public officials have begun to complain openly about the restrictions .
“ My message is : Let ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s get back to living , ” Lt. Gov .
Dan Patrick told Fox News in an interview Monday .
“ Let ’ s be smart about it … but don ’ t sacrifice the country .
Don ’ t do that .
Don ’ t sacrifice the American dream.
” In Harris County , home to Houston , Republican state Sen. Paul Bettencourt warned that a stay-at-home order restricting business would be “ economically calamitous.
” There ’ s no real precedent for the economic threat now facing the U.S .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a far different context .
The country was coming off a war footing .
Restrictions were limited to certain cities .
Even comparisons to sudden recent economic disasters like 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis are off base , says Jonathan Bydlak , director of the Fiscal and Budget Policy Project at the R Street Institute , a free-market think tank in Washington .
“ We ’ re dealing with a very unique situation , and there ’ s not a whole lot in economics books that teach you how to deal with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue to stress the importance of taming the virus first before tackling the economy .
“ I think the first order of business will be to get the spread of the virus under control , and then resume economic activity , ” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told NBC ’ s “ Today ” show Thursday .
While not opposing that sequence , two high-profile economists called on Monday for a timetable to avoid letting the economy die of neglect .
A quarter of all workers should be back on their jobs within @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers within four months , wrote Nobel Prize winner Paul Romer and Alan Garber , a physician and economist at Harvard University , in a New York Times opinion column .
The return to work would be coupled with ramped-up testing and widespread use of protective gear by workers , which they said should limit the spread of the virus .
Still , even from a strictly economic point of view , trying to reopen the economy before virus cases have spiked could lead to a longer disruption .
“ We ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ curve ” of infection , says Joe Brusuelas , chief economist of RSM US LLP , part of a global network of independent audit , tax , and consulting firms .
“ Should we move prematurely , it could risk the general spread of the disease that would require subsequent shutdowns.
” Editor ’ s note : This story has been updated to reflect the number of cases in the United States surpassing all other nations .
As a public service , all our coronavirus coverage is free .
No paywall .

As jobless numbers spike, a question rises: When can economy reopen? Collapse
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters View caption Hide caption Jesse Turner, a line cook of three years at Farley’s East cafe, which closed due to the financial crisis caused by the coronavirus, carries donated food items after being laid off from the cafe in Oakland, California, March 18, 2020.
Some Americans are beginning to chafe under the coronavirus restrictions that authorities have put into place – not least of them President Donald Trump, who this week suggested lifting restrictions at least partially by Easter on April 12 to start revving up the economy.
It’s an ambitious timetable and, to many, a callous one. How dare a president, or anyone, put the health of the economy ahead of the safety of citizens? But the president’s statement highlights another reality that conservatives especially have been grumbling about: The extraordinary stay-at-home orders that 21 states will have in place by the end of this week represent a blunt instrument, which may keep the virus from spreading but is also pounding the economy in unprecedented ways.
The latest evidence came Thursday, when the U.S. Labor Department reported that 3.3 million Americans filed initial jobless claims last week, a record in more than 50 years of data and more than four times the previous record.
A recession is likely, if not already underway. The restrictions on the economy are so far-reaching that businesses have been forced to close, throwing millions out of work, and keeping consumers, a mainstay of the economy, from shopping.
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.
Some analysts are predicting that economic activity could shrink by up to a quarter this spring, a terrifying drop that, were there no recovery the rest of the year, would mean economic dislocation on a scale that would outstrip any single year of the Great Depression.
To many experts, the question is not really if authorities will ease the restrictions, but when. In theory, the sooner that happens, the less damage the economy will sustain. But there’s a big caveat. The recent focus on containing the spread of the COVID-19 disease could be key to both limiting the ultimate costs both to the economy and to human lives – including the risk of hospital systems becoming overwhelmed with patients. For now, that focus on containment remains paramount, many say.
“We will get to a moment where there will be [only] so much risk we have to be willing to take, but right now we’re not in that world,” says Sherry Glied, a health economist and dean of New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. “We have to stop the threat of this epidemic,” she adds. “There’s no point rebuilding while the bombs are still dropping.”
In her view, it makes sense to wait for progress on the scientific front, and for the government to be planning now for how it will reopen the economy in the future, while also making sure basic needs like food and housing are met.
Already, nations including Denmark and Britain are trying to cap economic damage by covering a large chunk of worker salaries for businesses that have seen revenues plunge. A $2 trillion relief package moving through Congress Thursday, similarly, throws a lifeline to businesses (loans) and workers (cash payments and stepped-up jobless benefits).
SOURCE: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (with data from U.S. Department of Labor) | Jacob Turcotte/Staff
In weighing how and when to reopen the economy, part of the conundrum is that no one has fully quantified the risks posed by the virus.
“We don’t have that data,” says Howard Markel, a medical doctor and professor of the history of medicine at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. The number of reported deaths has triggered alarm in the medical community and suggests that this virus is several times more deadly than a more typical seasonal flu. But public health officials have not been able to establish a concrete fatality rate because testing limitations have made it difficult to get a handle on the number of individuals who have become infected and recovered. When will health authorities have a handle on those numbers? “My hope is two to four weeks,” Dr. Markel says.
It’s such timetables that make Mr. Trump’s Easter deadline, just over two weeks away, look unrealistic.
Even with the data in hand, health authorities would have to determine the best ways to ease restrictions. Should they target only hard-hit regions? Or is it better to focus on sheltering the elderly and those diagnosed with other diseases?
“Real damage to people’s lives”
According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the U.S. has become the global epicenter of the pandemic with nearly 86,000 confirmed cases, more than any other nation.
With the House of Representatives taking up the $2 trillion Senate-passed rescue bill, health authorities have some breathing room to determine the best ways to keep the population safe.
The economy can accept a certain amount of risk, and cost-benefit analyses are made routinely, points out Vivian Ho, an economics professor at Rice University and a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, both in Houston. “It’s a tough exercise in this particular situation, but someone needs to put those numbers down. We need to start thinking of maybe we should not shut everything down.”
“You’re talking about real damage to people’s lives, to the 30 million small businesses in America,” says Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. “People’s lives and dreams are in these small businesses and in their careers. And some of them could be ruined permanently.”
Already, some Americans are beginning to push back on the restrictions, such as by holding social gatherings. A Louisiana pastor continues to defy Louisiana’s ban on gatherings of more than 50 by busing in attendees from five different parishes (counties) for Sunday services with what he claims are up to 1,000 people.
In Texas, public officials have begun to complain openly about the restrictions.
“My message is: Let’s get back to work. Let’s get back to living,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Fox News in an interview Monday. “Let’s be smart about it … but don’t sacrifice the country. Don’t do that. Don’t sacrifice the American dream.”
In Harris County, home to Houston, Republican state Sen. Paul Bettencourt warned that a stay-at-home order restricting business would be “economically calamitous.”
There’s no real precedent for the economic threat now facing the U.S. The Spanish flu of 1918 occurred in a far different context. The country was coming off a war footing. Restrictions were limited to certain cities.
Even comparisons to sudden recent economic disasters like 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis are off base, says Jonathan Bydlak, director of the Fiscal and Budget Policy Project at the R Street Institute, a free-market think tank in Washington. “We’re dealing with a very unique situation, and there’s not a whole lot in economics books that teach you how to deal with these situations.”
Dangers in reopening too quickly
Nevertheless, many economists continue to stress the importance of taming the virus first before tackling the economy.
“I think the first order of business will be to get the spread of the virus under control, and then resume economic activity,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told NBC’s “Today” show Thursday.
While not opposing that sequence, two high-profile economists called on Monday for a timetable to avoid letting the economy die of neglect.
A quarter of all workers should be back on their jobs within two months, and 75% of workers within four months, wrote Nobel Prize winner Paul Romer and Alan Garber, a physician and economist at Harvard University, in a New York Times opinion column. The return to work would be coupled with ramped-up testing and widespread use of protective gear by workers, which they said should limit the spread of the virus.
Still, even from a strictly economic point of view, trying to reopen the economy before virus cases have spiked could lead to a longer disruption.
“We’re not anywhere near a flattening of the curve” of infection, says Joe Brusuelas, chief economist of RSM US LLP, part of a global network of independent audit, tax, and consulting firms. “Should we move prematurely, it could risk the general spread of the disease that would require subsequent shutdowns.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the number of cases in the United States surpassing all other nations.
As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.


csmonitor--2020-05-15--The world's two-wheel future

The world's two-wheel future

You ’ ve heard of shortages of meat , toilet paper , and hand sanitizer ?
Add bicycles to the list .
Retailers are reporting that bikes are rolling out their doors at an unprecedented clip .
“ Every $ 400 bike in the universe has been sold , ” a manager at Landry ’ s Bicycles in Boston says .
The co-owner of McCully Bicycle and Sporting Goods in Honolulu , Hawaii , seems to agree .
“ We have never sold this many bikes so fast.
” Part of the shortage is because of trade difficulties between the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ producer of bicycles .
But the pandemic is a factor too .
As weather in the Northern Hemisphere warms , and lockdowns of various types wear on , people are looking to get outside and to exercise .
And with motor vehicle traffic way down , more people with bikes are willing to take to roads usually dominated by cars and trucks .
The boost in bike riding could be one change that will endure beyond the coronavirus .
Cities are planning more accommodations for cyclists , especially if commuters hesitate to squeeze @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more people give biking a try , many don ’ t want to turn back , especially with the ease of the new electric bicycles .
London is expecting a tenfold increase in bike traffic .
The British government has announced $ 2.5 billion in spending to encourage cycling and walking , including giving out vouchers to pay for bike repairs .
Rome is planning more than 90 miles of new bike lanes while Paris is creating about 400 miles .
What ’ s more , France is offering every citizen $ 55 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bike lanes on major streets .
Oakland , California , has closed off 10 % of its streets for bike use .
And so on .
Some merchants are concerned that less car traffic or fewer parking spaces will reduce business .
But one new study from Oregon ’ s Portland State University shows the opposite : Bike lanes actually bring more customers to city streets , especially to retail shops such as food vendors .
Along car-free streets in a half-dozen American cities , both employment and sales have grown .
City @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cars after enjoying the cleaner air of the past couple of months .
In Europe , air pollution from nitrogen dioxide and particulates has fallen dramatically .
Much still needs to be done to make sure biking is a safe activity .
Yet the economic , health , and environmental benefits are even more appealing than before this crisis .
As Janette Sadik-Kahn , former transportation commissioner of New York City , put it to the BBC : “ The pandemic challenges us , but it also offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ century of car-focused streets.
” It may be time to dust off that old bike , pump up the tires , and join the mass of pedal-pushers .

You’ve heard of shortages of meat, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer? Add bicycles to the list. Retailers are reporting that bikes are rolling out their doors at an unprecedented clip.
“Every $400 bike in the universe has been sold,” a manager at Landry’s Bicycles in Boston says. The co-owner of McCully Bicycle and Sporting Goods in Honolulu, Hawaii, seems to agree. “We have never sold this many bikes so fast.”
Part of the shortage is because of trade difficulties between the United States and China, a major producer of bicycles. But the pandemic is a factor too. As weather in the Northern Hemisphere warms, and lockdowns of various types wear on, people are looking to get outside and to exercise. And with motor vehicle traffic way down, more people with bikes are willing to take to roads usually dominated by cars and trucks.
The boost in bike riding could be one change that will endure beyond the coronavirus. Cities are planning more accommodations for cyclists, especially if commuters hesitate to squeeze back onto buses and trains. As more people give biking a try, many don’t want to turn back, especially with the ease of the new electric bicycles.
London is expecting a tenfold increase in bike traffic. The British government has announced $2.5 billion in spending to encourage cycling and walking, including giving out vouchers to pay for bike repairs.
Rome is planning more than 90 miles of new bike lanes while Paris is creating about 400 miles. What’s more, France is offering every citizen $55 toward bike repairs.
Budapest is installing bike lanes on major streets. Oakland, California, has closed off 10% of its streets for bike use. And so on.
Some merchants are concerned that less car traffic or fewer parking spaces will reduce business. But one new study from Oregon’s Portland State University shows the opposite: Bike lanes actually bring more customers to city streets, especially to retail shops such as food vendors. Along car-free streets in a half-dozen American cities, both employment and sales have grown.
City dwellers may welcome more bikes and fewer cars after enjoying the cleaner air of the past couple of months. In Europe, air pollution from nitrogen dioxide and particulates has fallen dramatically.
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empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
Much still needs to be done to make sure biking is a safe activity. Yet the economic, health, and environmental benefits are even more appealing than before this crisis. As Janette Sadik-Kahn, former transportation commissioner of New York City, put it to the BBC: “The pandemic challenges us, but it also offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change course and repair the damage from a century of car-focused streets.”
It may be time to dust off that old bike, pump up the tires, and join the mass of pedal-pushers.


csmonitor--2020-05-15--U.S. auto industry reopens, sparking hope in job crisis

Defying a wave of layoffs that has sent the U.S. job market into its worst catastrophe on record , at least one major industry is making a comeback : Tens of thousands of auto workers are returning to factories that have been shuttered since mid-March due to fears of spreading the coronavirus .
Until now , it was mostly hair salons , restaurants , tattoo parlors , and other small businesses reopening in some parts of the country .
The auto industry is among the first major sectors of the economy to restart its engine .
About 133,000 U.S. workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's workforce before the pandemic – are expected to pour back into auto plants that will open in the coming week , according to estimates by The Associated Press .
In addition , parts-making companies began cranking this week to get components flowing , adding thousands more workers .
Looming in the background is an economy decimated by the pandemic .
Nearly 3 million laid-off U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week , raising the total seeking aid in the past two months to about 36 million .
Although some states have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers are still reporting difficulty getting unemployment benefits .
Freelance , gig , and self-employed workers are struggling .
Even the auto sector wo n't see a full return to normal yet , and if people do n't start buying vehicles again , workers could be sent home .
Yet automakers say there 's enough pent-up demand , especially for pickup trucks , to get factories humming again .
That could help states slow the drain on their unemployment benefit funds .
In Michigan , where over one-third of the labor force sought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 4.6 billion before the pandemic to $ 4.1 billion on April 30 , said Jeff Donofrio , director of the state Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity .
Some returning auto employees could work part-time and get still some unemployment benefits , but federal programs could cover part of their payments , he said .
At Ford , where about 47,000 U.S. factory workers will return by next week , there 's optimism that consumer demand will accompany them .
Chief Operating Officer Jim Farley said the company has seen sales start to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the future in Europe , China , and the United States based on data collected from new models equipped with internet modems that show the number of times an engine is turned on and off .
The company found a correlation between the number of trips people take and auto sales , with trips increasing as restrictions eased .
`` We started to see in early April a change where people started to take more trips , '' Mr. Farley said on Thursday .
`` The [ sales ] decline stopped and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' Auto sales in China , where the virus peaked before the U.S. , could be a harbinger of things to come .
China sales fell just 2.6 % in April from a year earlier , compared with a 48 % free-fall in March .
Production at many plants is nearly back to normal after being shut down in January and February .
Volkswagen , Honda , Mercedes , and Ford reported no virus cases among employees since reopening .
Fiat Chrysler had two , but said the workers never entered factories .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ sales plummeted 55 % in March and some factories are running at only 40 % of capacity .
The pandemic has affected more than 1.1 million European auto industry workers , almost half the sector 's manufacturing jobs .
Most are getting paid through government support .
A survey of auto parts suppliers shows that a third of executives believe it will take at least two years for the industry to recover .
U.S. sales fell 46 % in April compared with a year ago , but analysts are forecasting a smaller decline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been juiced by incentives , with offers of 0 % financing for seven years .
Government statistics show auto production dropped over 70 % in April .
Pickup trucks are giving automakers the most hope , said Jeff Schuster , senior vice president at LMC Automotive , a consulting firm .
From January through April , total auto sales were down 21 % , but pickups were only off 4 % , he said .
Yet Mr. Schuster says automakers could be a little too optimistic .
`` Those consumers who are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making auto purchases , '' he said .
Some U.S. automakers , like General Motors , are restarting slowly , only bringing back workers on one shift in factories , some of which ran around the clock before the pandemic .
Others , like Subaru in Indiana , have a full complement of employees .
Although companies are taking precautions , one big virus outbreak at an auto plant could send the industry back into hibernation .
And the industry could face parts supply interruptions from Mexico , where the government wants to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Automakers in the U.S. are requiring employees to fill out questionnaires daily to see if they have symptoms , taking temperatures with no-touch thermometers before workers enter buildings , and requiring gloves , masks , and face shields .
They 've also tried to keep at least six feet between workers , staggered time between shifts so workers do n't interact , and put up plexiglas barriers when possible .
All the steps were tested on U.S. workers who volunteered to make protective gear and breathing machines while they were laid off .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases among workers in the effort .
But Phil Cuthbertson a worker at GM 's transmission plant in Toledo , Ohio , who will return on Monday , said he has mixed feelings .
`` I just do n't want the whole thing to be pushed on us to go back if it 's not safe , '' he said .
Cindy Estrada , United Auto Workers vice president for Fiat Chrysler , said she 's been impressed by the companies ' safety commitment .
But she 's sure some workers , especially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be fearful because family members or co-workers have had COVID-19 .
At least 25 UAW members employed by Detroit automakers have died from the virus , although no one is sure if they caught it at a factory .
The union will be watching in case workers get infected , though there 's no magic number for when it will try to close a factory , Ms. Estrada said .
`` If something looks like it 's becoming a hot spot , then we need to act quickly and make adjustments , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to see that happen . ''
This story was reported by The Associated Press .
AP reporters Joe McDonald in Beijing ; Carlo Piovano in London ; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville , Tennessee ; John Seewer in Toledo , Ohio ; Mike Householder in Ypsilanti Township , Michigan ; David Eggert in Lansing , Michigan ; and Mary Esch in Albany , New York contributed to this report .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage .
It ’ @ @ @

Defying a wave of layoffs that has sent the U.S. job market into its worst catastrophe on record, at least one major industry is making a comeback: Tens of thousands of auto workers are returning to factories that have been shuttered since mid-March due to fears of spreading the coronavirus.
Until now, it was mostly hair salons, restaurants, tattoo parlors, and other small businesses reopening in some parts of the country. The auto industry is among the first major sectors of the economy to restart its engine.
About 133,000 U.S. workers – just over half of the industry's workforce before the pandemic – are expected to pour back into auto plants that will open in the coming week, according to estimates by The Associated Press. In addition, parts-making companies began cranking this week to get components flowing, adding thousands more workers.
Looming in the background is an economy decimated by the pandemic. Nearly 3 million laid-off U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, raising the total seeking aid in the past two months to about 36 million. Although some states have begun to let selected businesses reopen, workers are still reporting difficulty getting unemployment benefits. Freelance, gig, and self-employed workers are struggling.
Even the auto sector won't see a full return to normal yet, and if people don't start buying vehicles again, workers could be sent home. Yet automakers say there's enough pent-up demand, especially for pickup trucks, to get factories humming again.
That could help states slow the drain on their unemployment benefit funds. In Michigan, where over one-third of the labor force sought benefits, the fund fell from $4.6 billion before the pandemic to $4.1 billion on April 30, said Jeff Donofrio, director of the state Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Some returning auto employees could work part-time and get still some unemployment benefits, but federal programs could cover part of their payments, he said.
At Ford, where about 47,000 U.S. factory workers will return by next week, there's optimism that consumer demand will accompany them. Chief Operating Officer Jim Farley said the company has seen sales start to recover.
Ford is predicting stronger sales in the future in Europe, China, and the United States based on data collected from new models equipped with internet modems that show the number of times an engine is turned on and off. The company found a correlation between the number of trips people take and auto sales, with trips increasing as restrictions eased.
"We started to see in early April a change where people started to take more trips," Mr. Farley said on Thursday. "The [sales] decline stopped and our retail sales improved a lot."
Auto sales in China, where the virus peaked before the U.S., could be a harbinger of things to come. China sales fell just 2.6% in April from a year earlier, compared with a 48% free-fall in March. Production at many plants is nearly back to normal after being shut down in January and February. Volkswagen, Honda, Mercedes, and Ford reported no virus cases among employees since reopening. Fiat Chrysler had two, but said the workers never entered factories.
Things are worse in Europe, where sales plummeted 55% in March and some factories are running at only 40% of capacity. The pandemic has affected more than 1.1 million European auto industry workers, almost half the sector's manufacturing jobs. Most are getting paid through government support. A survey of auto parts suppliers shows that a third of executives believe it will take at least two years for the industry to recover.
U.S. sales fell 46% in April compared with a year ago, but analysts are forecasting a smaller decline of 30% in May. Sales have been juiced by incentives, with offers of 0% financing for seven years. Government statistics show auto production dropped over 70% in April.
Pickup trucks are giving automakers the most hope, said Jeff Schuster, senior vice president at LMC Automotive, a consulting firm. From January through April, total auto sales were down 21%, but pickups were only off 4%, he said.
Yet Mr. Schuster says automakers could be a little too optimistic. "Those consumers who are still unemployed are not likely to be making auto purchases," he said.
Some U.S. automakers, like General Motors, are restarting slowly, only bringing back workers on one shift in factories, some of which ran around the clock before the pandemic. Others, like Subaru in Indiana, have a full complement of employees.
Although companies are taking precautions, one big virus outbreak at an auto plant could send the industry back into hibernation. And the industry could face parts supply interruptions from Mexico, where the government wants to reopen factories despite rising virus cases.
Automakers in the U.S. are requiring employees to fill out questionnaires daily to see if they have symptoms, taking temperatures with no-touch thermometers before workers enter buildings, and requiring gloves, masks, and face shields. They've also tried to keep at least six feet between workers, staggered time between shifts so workers don't interact, and put up plexiglas barriers when possible.
All the steps were tested on U.S. workers who volunteered to make protective gear and breathing machines while they were laid off. Automakers say they know of no virus cases among workers in the effort.
But Phil Cuthbertson a worker at GM's transmission plant in Toledo, Ohio, who will return on Monday, said he has mixed feelings.
"I just don't want the whole thing to be pushed on us to go back if it's not safe," he said.
Cindy Estrada, United Auto Workers vice president for Fiat Chrysler, said she's been impressed by the companies' safety commitment. But she's sure some workers, especially in the hard-hit Detroit area, will be fearful because family members or co-workers have had COVID-19. At least 25 UAW members employed by Detroit automakers have died from the virus, although no one is sure if they caught it at a factory.
The union will be watching in case workers get infected, though there's no magic number for when it will try to close a factory, Ms. Estrada said.
"If something looks like it's becoming a hot spot, then we need to act quickly and make adjustments," she said. "No one wants to see that happen."
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This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP reporters Joe McDonald in Beijing; Carlo Piovano in London; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Mike Householder in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan; David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan; and Mary Esch in Albany, New York contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: As a public service, the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage. It’s free.