investmentwatchblog--2020-04-02--What Is America Going To Look Like With Tens Of Millions Of Unemployed Workers?

In all of U.S. history , we have never seen a spike in unemployment like we are witnessing right now .
Last Thursday it was announced that more than 3.2 million Americans had filed new claims for unemployment benefits during the previous week , and many believe that the number that will be announced this Thursday will be even larger .
By the way , the previous all-time record for a single week was just 695,000 .
So what is happening right now is absolutely nuts .
49 percent of U.S. companies anticipate conducting layoffs within the next 3 months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ projecting that the unemployment rate in this country will soon rise to 32 percent .
Before the coronavirus pandemic started shutting virtually everything down , approximately 158 million Americans were employed , and so we could soon have tens of millions of unemployed workers on our hands if the St. Louis Fed ’ s projection is accurate .
How are we possibly going to take care of them all ?
To call this a “ tsunami of unemployment ” would be a massive understatement .
According to California Governor Gavin Newsom , more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have filed for unemployment in recent weeks… Over on the east coast , New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is claiming that there are times when “ hundreds of thousands of people ” are trying to access his state ’ s unemployment website simultaneously… It is hard to imagine things “ getting back to normal ” in New York any time for the foreseeable future .
The number of cases in the state continues to explode , and this is starting to really affect even basic social services .
For example , more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York City “ were out sick on Tuesday ” … And the death toll is rising so rapidly in New York City that they are actually using a forklift to lift dead bodies into refrigerated trucks… There is no way that America is going to “ open for business again ” as long as this virus continues to spread so rapidly .
The total death toll in the United States just crossed the 5,000 mark , and President Trump says that it could go as high as 240,000 .
So it looks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to go before this pandemic is finally behind us .
Meanwhile , more Americans are losing their jobs with each passing day .
In fact , a brand new survey just discovered that 28 percent of Americans have already “ lost wages or other personal income ” during this crisis… Without a doubt , the number that we are going to get from the Labor Department on Thursday is going to be bad .
Could it be even worse than the number that we saw last week ?
Apparently that is what quite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are anticipating… And it appears that we could keep getting more bad numbers for many weeks to come as vast portions of the country remain shut down .
At this point , some of our biggest corporations are bracing for a very , very long pause in operations .
This week , we learned that Ford has decided to keep their North American factories closed indefinitely… Of course someday those factories will come back to life , and someday the entire country will try to resume normal activities .
But when that happens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see another new wave of coronavirus cases .
Just look at what is happening over in China .
For a while they have been claiming to have the virus under control , but this week they had to put an entire county in lockdown mode… Officials all over the world are going to be balancing the need to protect life with the need to resume economic activity for a long time to come .
But even if every “ shelter-in-place ” order was immediately lifted all across America , a large portion of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the coronavirus and economic activity would still be greatly depressed from previous levels .
Everyone needs to understand that the unsustainable debt-fueled prosperity that we were enjoying is not coming back , and our day of reckoning has finally arrived .
The “ everything bubble ” has finally burst , and Egon von Greyerz is warning that we are heading straight into “ a collapse ” … All of the dominoes are going to be falling , and we are going to see financial chaos like we have never seen before .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ we had learned our lessons from the last financial crisis and had fundamentally rebuilt our financial system from the ground up using sound economic principles .
But instead our authorities simply inflated all of the bubbles far larger than before , and now we will all have to live with the consequences .

by Michael Snyder
In all of U.S. history, we have never seen a spike in unemployment like we are witnessing right now. Last Thursday it was announced that more than 3.2 million Americans had filed new claims for unemployment benefits during the previous week, and many believe that the number that will be announced this Thursday will be even larger. By the way, the previous all-time record for a single week was just 695,000. So what is happening right now is absolutely nuts. 49 percent of U.S. companies anticipate conducting layoffs within the next 3 months, and the St. Louis Fed is projecting that the unemployment rate in this country will soon rise to 32 percent. Before the coronavirus pandemic started shutting virtually everything down, approximately 158 million Americans were employed, and so we could soon have tens of millions of unemployed workers on our hands if the St. Louis Fed’s projection is accurate.
How are we possibly going to take care of them all?
To call this a “tsunami of unemployment” would be a massive understatement. According to California Governor Gavin Newsom, more than 1.6 million residents of his state have filed for unemployment in recent weeks…
It took the coronavirus pandemic less than a month to triple California’s unemployment rolls and plunge the state’s economy into a tailspin comparable to the Great Recession. Gov. Gavin Newsom, in his daily update on the fight against COVID-19 on Tuesday, said “well over 1.6 million Californians” have filed for unemployment. A record 150,000 Californians filed claims Monday alone, he said.
Over on the east coast, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is claiming that there are times when “hundreds of thousands of people” are trying to access his state’s unemployment website simultaneously…
New Yorkers are struggling to file claims for unemployment benefits, as applications have inundated the state’s Department of Labor. At a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, acknowledged the state is having problems processing claims. “I apologize for the pain—it must be infuriating to deal with,” he said. “The site is so deluged that it keeps crashing because you literally have hundreds of thousands of people at any time trying to get on the site.”
It is hard to imagine things “getting back to normal” in New York any time for the foreseeable future. The number of cases in the state continues to explode, and this is starting to really affect even basic social services. For example, more than 15 percent of all police officers in New York City “were out sick on Tuesday”…
The novel coronavirus outbreak in New York City has taken a major toll on workers in health care, mass transit, and public safety, including the New York City Police Department. The department reported on Tuesday that 1,048 uniformed members and 145 civilian employees have tested positive for the coronavirus. More than 5,600 officers (about 15.6% of its uniformed workforce) were out sick on Tuesday—more cops than serve in the entire Houston Police Department.
And the death toll is rising so rapidly in New York City that they are actually using a forklift to lift dead bodies into refrigerated trucks…
On Tuesday, a forklift was used to help lift dead bodies onto a refrigerated truck outside the Brooklyn Hospital Center. The COVID-19 death toll in the city is 1,139 and 47,439 confirmed cases and hospitals have been using bed sheets to wrap bodies because they no longer have body bags.
There is no way that America is going to “open for business again” as long as this virus continues to spread so rapidly.
The total death toll in the United States just crossed the 5,000 mark, and President Trump says that it could go as high as 240,000. So it looks like we may have a long way to go before this pandemic is finally behind us.
Meanwhile, more Americans are losing their jobs with each passing day. In fact, a brand new survey just discovered that 28 percent of Americans have already “lost wages or other personal income” during this crisis…
More than a quarter of Americans say they’ve already lost wages as the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic broadens, according to a new Grinnell College poll released Wednesday. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed said they’d already “lost wages or other personal income.” Another 16 percent said they were laid off or furloughed from work, and an additional 28 percent said they lost what they considered a “substantial amount” from a retirement account.
Without a doubt, the number that we are going to get from the Labor Department on Thursday is going to be bad.
Could it be even worse than the number that we saw last week? Apparently that is what quite a few of the “experts” are anticipating…
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Economists surveyed by Bloomberg estimate a Labor Department report Thursday morning will show 3.5 million Americans filed initial applications for unemployment insurance last week, up from the record 3.3 million who sought benefits the prior week. Some economists expect a far bigger total. Nomura forecasts 4.1 million; Morgan Stanley, 4.5 million; and Bank of America, 5.5 million. Such first-time jobless claims represent the best measure of layoffs across the country.
And it appears that we could keep getting more bad numbers for many weeks to come as vast portions of the country remain shut down.
At this point, some of our biggest corporations are bracing for a very, very long pause in operations. This week, we learned that Ford has decided to keep their North American factories closed indefinitely…
With what are sure to be ugly March sales numbers looming, Ford has now decided it is cancelling plans to re-start production in the U.S. and Mexico over the next two weeks. Citing risks associated with the coronavirus, the automaker has said the the suspension is “indefinite” and has not set a timeline to bring its facilities back online, according to Bloomberg. The company is currently working with the UAW to establish new guidelines for safety procedures before re-opening.
Of course someday those factories will come back to life, and someday the entire country will try to resume normal activities.
But when that happens, it is likely that we could see another new wave of coronavirus cases. Just look at what is happening over in China. For a while they have been claiming to have the virus under control, but this week they had to put an entire county in lockdown mode…
A Chinese county that was largely unscathed by the novel COVID-19 coronavirus went into lockdown Wednesday, signaling fears of a possible second wave in the country where the virus originated, The South China Morning Post reports. The county of Jia in Henan province, home to 600,000 people, is now in lockdown after infections reportedly spread at a local hospital. There were previously only 12 confirmed cases in Henan, despite it being situated just north of Hubei province, where China’s epicenter, Wuhan, is located. However, U.S. intelligence reportedly believes China under-reported the actual number of cases.
Officials all over the world are going to be balancing the need to protect life with the need to resume economic activity for a long time to come.
But even if every “shelter-in-place” order was immediately lifted all across America, a large portion of the population would still be deathly afraid of the coronavirus and economic activity would still be greatly depressed from previous levels.
Everyone needs to understand that the unsustainable debt-fueled prosperity that we were enjoying is not coming back, and our day of reckoning has finally arrived.
The “everything bubble” has finally burst, and Egon von Greyerz is warning that we are heading straight into “a collapse”…
I have for years warned about the enormous risks in the financial system that inevitably would lead to a collapse. As the bubble continued to grow for over ten years since the 2006-9 crisis, very few understood that the last crisis was just a rehearsal with none of the underlying problems resolved. By printing and lending $140 trillion since 2006, the problem and risks weren’t just kicked down the road but made exponentially greater. So here we are in the spring of 2020 with debts, unfunded liabilities and derivatives of around $2.5 quadrillion. This is a sum that is impossible to fathom but if we say that it is almost 30x global GDP, it gives us an idea what the world and central banks will have to grapple with in the next few years.
All of the dominoes are going to be falling, and we are going to see financial chaos like we have never seen before.
We could have avoided this scenario if we had learned our lessons from the last financial crisis and had fundamentally rebuilt our financial system from the ground up using sound economic principles.
But instead our authorities simply inflated all of the bubbles far larger than before, and now we will all have to live with the consequences.


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-02--It would be a shame if everyone saw this…

THEY HATE IT WHEN THEIR PLANS BACKFIRE : Media Feverish About Trump ’ s Covid-19 Briefings .
ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE : The Media ’ s Hatred Of Trump Is Endangering Lives : The news media ’ s disdain for Trump has always led to reporting that is misleading , but during a pandemic it can also be deadly .
From the beginning of the Wuhan virus outbreak many in the media have been playing a dangerous game in which their objective has been to make President Trump look as bad as possible .
What else is new ?
If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s fault .
Stub your toe ?
Forget your keys ?
Woman turned you down for a date ?
Look hard enough and you can find how Trump caused it .
CNN ’ s Jim Acosta might even ask him about it .
Remember when Trump mentioning the promise of hydroxychloroquine as potential treatment was treated as him selling snake oil to the American people ?
Now the New York Times reports it helped victims in a study .
Remember when a man died because he and his wife ate fish tank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Now it turns out she ’ s a big donor to Democrats .
When the President and Vice President began holding daily briefings to inform the American people of what was going on , the media spent most of its energy focused on minor rhetorical differences in how Trump and Drs .
Anthony Faucci and Deborah Birx described what was going on instead of the vital information the briefings provided .
When the American people saw through the pundits like a poorly made piece of two-way glass , the President ’ s approval @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reaction of the heroes in much in the news media ?
To make fabulous and fabricated claims that Trump ’ s briefings were to dangerous to be shown live because the President of the United States can not be trusted .
NO GOOD REASON : There Is No Reason to Believe China Is Reporting Its Coronavirus Cases Accurately .
“ And yet media outlets have taken the numbers at face value.
” Pushing the Communist Party line makes Trump look bad , and anyway is a longstanding habit for the American press .

This is the side of President Trump that the media doesn't want anyone to see.
THEY HATE IT WHEN THEIR PLANS BACKFIRE: Media Feverish About Trump’s Covid-19 Briefings.
ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE: The Media’s Hatred Of Trump Is Endangering Lives: The news media’s disdain for Trump has always led to reporting that is misleading, but during a pandemic it can also be deadly.
From the beginning of the Wuhan virus outbreak many in the media have been playing a dangerous game in which their objective has been to make President Trump look as bad as possible. What else is new? If something bad is happening, its Trump’s fault. Stub your toe? Forget your keys? Woman turned you down for a date? Look hard enough and you can find how Trump caused it. CNN’s Jim Acosta might even ask him about it.
Remember when Trump mentioning the promise of hydroxychloroquine as potential treatment was treated as him selling snake oil to the American people? Now the New York Times reports it helped victims in a study. Remember when a man died because he and his wife ate fish tank cleaner because Trump told them to? Now it turns out she’s a big donor to Democrats.
When the President and Vice President began holding daily briefings to inform the American people of what was going on, the media spent most of its energy focused on minor rhetorical differences in how Trump and Drs. Anthony Faucci and Deborah Birx described what was going on instead of the vital information the briefings provided.
When the American people saw through the pundits like a poorly made piece of two-way glass, the President’s approval numbers spiked. So what was the reaction of the heroes in much in the news media? To make fabulous and fabricated claims that Trump’s briefings were to dangerous to be shown live because the President of the United States cannot be trusted.


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--This Is What Economic Collapse Looks Like

Approximately ten million Americans have filed new claims for unemployment benefits over the past two weeks .
To put that in perspective , the all-time record for a single week before this coronavirus pandemic hit was just 695,000 .
So needless to say , 6.6 million claims in a single week puts us in uncharted territory .
Just check out this chart .
We have never seen a week like this before , and we may never see a week quite this bad again .
Of course millions more jobs will be lost in the months ahead as this pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to imagine another spike like we just had .
When you add the last two weeks together , somewhere around 10 million Americans have filed new unemployment claims during that time period… The torrent of Americans filing for unemployment insurance skyrocketed last week as more than 6.6 million new claims were filed , the Labor Department reported Thursday .
That brings to 10 million the total Americans who filed over the past two weeks .
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected 3.1 million for last week , one week after 3.3 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been a record-shattering swelling of the jobless ranks .
The previous week ’ s total was revised higher by 24,000 .
As I have documented repeatedly in my articles , survey after survey has shown that most Americans were living paycheck to paycheck even during the “ good times ” .
Now that those paychecks aren ’ t coming in anymore for millions of Americans , a lot of bills aren ’ t going to get paid .
Just like we witnessed in 2008 , mortgage defaults are about to skyrocket , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worst… Borrowers who lost income from the coronavirus , which is already a skyrocketing number as the 10 million new jobless claims in the past two weeks attests , can ask to skip payments for as many as 180 days at a time on federally backed mortgages , and avoid penalties and a hit to their credit scores .
But as Bloomberg notes , it ’ s not a payment holiday and eventually homeowners they ’ ll have to make it all up .
According to estimates by Moody ’ s Analytics chief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 30 % of Americans with home loans – about 15 million households – could stop paying if the U.S. economy remains closed through the summer or beyond .
As I noted yesterday , the St. Louis Fed expects the unemployment rate to eventually hit 32 percent .
That won ’ t happen immediately , but if we do get there it will be worse than anything that we witnessed during the Great Depression of the 1930s .
Because of all the shutdowns that have been instituted nationwide , economic activity has already dropped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before in our entire history .
Personally , I was absolutely astounded when the latest box office numbers were released… And even once all the “ shelter-in-place ” orders have finally been lifted , a substantial portion of the population will not want to go to movie theaters anymore due to fear of catching the virus .
Many movie theaters that have closed down will simply never open up again .
Another thing that has really surprised me is how rapidly many Americans have run out of food .
A Daily Mail article @ @ @ @ @ @ @ half mile long at a church in Orlando that was giving out food received a lot of attention today… How is it possible that so many families are out of food already ?
And apparently charities and food banks all over the country are seeing similar surges in demand .
Here are just a few examples that were shared by the Guardian… • In Amherst , home to the University of Massachusetts ’ largest campus , the pantry distributed 849 % more food in March compared with the previous year .
The second-largest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the Pittsfield Salvation Army pantry .
• The Grace Klein community food pantry in Jefferson county , which has the largest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Alabama , provided 5,076 individuals with food boxes last week – a 90 % increase on the previous week .
• In southern Arizona , demand has doubled , with pantries supplying groceries to 4,000 households every day – double the number supplied in March 2019 .
“ We saw an increase during the federal government shutdown but nothing as rapid , massive or overwhelming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , CEO of the Community Food Bank of South Arizona .
If things are this bad already , how much worse will the suffering be a month or two down the road ?
Meanwhile , U.S. farmers are facing problems of their own .
Because of all the shutdowns , it has been difficult for farmers to get enough workers into their fields .
The following comes from CNN… Of course the main thing that is going to drive up prices is the fact that the system is being absolutely flooded with new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent moves by the Federal Reserve , and just about everyone seems thrilled that big government checks are coming , but they won ’ t be so thrilled when a loaf of bread costs five dollars and a gallon of milk costs ten dollars .
As the virus spreads , many are concerned that it will sweep through low wage communities particularly hard , and that is a huge problem because low wage workers are absolutely vital all along the food chain… So what are we going to do if there are not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the farms to our dinner tables ?
Already , confirmed cases are starting to pop up at quite a few food production facilities… Fear of the coronavirus is going to paralyze even “ essential ” industries such as food production .
We are now being told that authorities hope that cases peak in April and that this crisis will hopefully be behind us by June .
Let us pray that is true , but what most Americans don ’ t realize is that this pandemic is just the beginning .
Even before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 ” , our world was already descending into madness , but now this pandemic has certainly accelerated things .
Millions of Americans have already lost their jobs , and the days ahead are going to be exceedingly challenging .
This is what an economic collapse looks like , and it is just getting started .

by Michael Snyder
Approximately ten million Americans have filed new claims for unemployment benefits over the past two weeks. To put that in perspective, the all-time record for a single week before this coronavirus pandemic hit was just 695,000. So needless to say, 6.6 million claims in a single week puts us in uncharted territory. Just check out this chart. We have never seen a week like this before, and we may never see a week quite this bad again. Of course millions more jobs will be lost in the months ahead as this pandemic stretches on, but it is hard to imagine another spike like we just had. When you add the last two weeks together, somewhere around 10 million Americans have filed new unemployment claims during that time period…
The torrent of Americans filing for unemployment insurance skyrocketed last week as more than 6.6 million new claims were filed, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That brings to 10 million the total Americans who filed over the past two weeks. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected 3.1 million for last week, one week after 3.3 million filings in the first wave of what has been a record-shattering swelling of the jobless ranks. The previous week’s total was revised higher by 24,000.
As I have documented repeatedly in my articles, survey after survey has shown that most Americans were living paycheck to paycheck even during the “good times”.
Now that those paychecks aren’t coming in anymore for millions of Americans, a lot of bills aren’t going to get paid.
Just like we witnessed in 2008, mortgage defaults are about to skyrocket, and Wall Street is bracing for the worst…
Borrowers who lost income from the coronavirus, which is already a skyrocketing number as the 10 million new jobless claims in the past two weeks attests, can ask to skip payments for as many as 180 days at a time on federally backed mortgages, and avoid penalties and a hit to their credit scores. But as Bloomberg notes, it’s not a payment holiday and eventually homeowners they’ll have to make it all up. According to estimates by Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, as many as 30% of Americans with home loans – about 15 million households – could stop paying if the U.S. economy remains closed through the summer or beyond.
As I noted yesterday, the St. Louis Fed expects the unemployment rate to eventually hit 32 percent. That won’t happen immediately, but if we do get there it will be worse than anything that we witnessed during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Because of all the shutdowns that have been instituted nationwide, economic activity has already dropped to levels that we have never seen before in our entire history.
Personally, I was absolutely astounded when the latest box office numbers were released…
The Domestic Box office (movie theaters) brought in a whopping $5,179 for the week of Mar 20-26. Down 100% from $204,193,406 the same week a year ago… These numbers are just incredible.
And even once all the “shelter-in-place” orders have finally been lifted, a substantial portion of the population will not want to go to movie theaters anymore due to fear of catching the virus.
Many movie theaters that have closed down will simply never open up again.
Another thing that has really surprised me is how rapidly many Americans have run out of food. A Daily Mail article that documented a line of vehicles a half mile long at a church in Orlando that was giving out food received a lot of attention today…
Today, the hundreds of families flocking to a church parking lot across town from Orlando’s iconic resorts and theme parks are here for a starkly different reason: survival. ‘In the amusement parks, the purpose or the outcome is about having joy or a thrill,’ says mom-of-three Glenda Hernandez, winding down her window to speak with a DailyMail.com reporter. ‘This is about having a child’s belly full for the night or the next couple of nights on whatever they give us.’
How is it possible that so many families are out of food already?
And apparently charities and food banks all over the country are seeing similar surges in demand. Here are just a few examples that were shared by the Guardian…
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In Amherst, home to the University of Massachusetts’ largest campus, the pantry distributed 849% more food in March compared with the previous year. The second-largest increase in western Massachusetts was 748% at the Pittsfield Salvation Army pantry.
The Grace Klein community food pantry in Jefferson county, which has the largest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Alabama, provided 5,076 individuals with food boxes last week – a 90% increase on the previous week.
In southern Arizona, demand has doubled, with pantries supplying groceries to 4,000 households every day – double the number supplied in March 2019. “We saw an increase during the federal government shutdown but nothing as rapid, massive or overwhelming as this,” said Michael McDonald, CEO of the Community Food Bank of South Arizona.
If things are this bad already, how much worse will the suffering be a month or two down the road?
Meanwhile, U.S. farmers are facing problems of their own.
Because of all the shutdowns, it has been difficult for farmers to get enough workers into their fields. The following comes from CNN…
April and May are critical planting and harvesting times for many US farmers. They need skilled laborers to work their fields, and a reliable supply chain to deliver their goods. And they don’t have any time to waste. If farmers can’t find enough workers or if their farming practices are disrupted because of the pandemic, Americans could have less or pricier food this summer. And because international farmers and their supply chains face similar problems, we could receive fewer food imports, potentially limiting supply and driving up prices.
Of course the main thing that is going to drive up prices is the fact that the system is being absolutely flooded with new money. Many Americans have applauded the recent moves by the Federal Reserve, and just about everyone seems thrilled that big government checks are coming, but they won’t be so thrilled when a loaf of bread costs five dollars and a gallon of milk costs ten dollars.
As the virus spreads, many are concerned that it will sweep through low wage communities particularly hard, and that is a huge problem because low wage workers are absolutely vital all along the food chain…
By law, food manufacturers must prevent anyone who is sick or has a communicable disease from handling, processing or preparing food for human consumption. But much of the food supply chain is staffed by low-wage workers, many of them undocumented immigrants with limited ties to health services.
So what are we going to do if there are not enough healthy workers to get our food from the farms to our dinner tables?
Already, confirmed cases are starting to pop up at quite a few food production facilities…
The first case of a worker at a major U.S. meat producer testing positive for the virus was reported last week at poultry giant Sanderson Farms Inc. Since then, infections have cropped up everywhere from JBS SA plants in Iowa to Harmony Beef in Alberta. While scattered factories have closed temporarily or cut output, generally companies are keeping plants running when workers get sick. Rather than shutting entire plants, they’ve focused on identifying areas where infected people have had direct contact.
Fear of the coronavirus is going to paralyze even “essential” industries such as food production.
We are now being told that authorities hope that cases peak in April and that this crisis will hopefully be behind us by June. Let us pray that is true, but what most Americans don’t realize is that this pandemic is just the beginning.
Even before any of us ever heard of “COVID-19”, our world was already descending into madness, but now this pandemic has certainly accelerated things.
Millions of Americans have already lost their jobs, and the days ahead are going to be exceedingly challenging.
This is what an economic collapse looks like, and it is just getting started.


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--Coyotes On The Run, Operators On Site, Deep, Safe

The [ DS ] is now pushing their 16 year plan , they believe they have the upperhand , they @ @ @ @ @ , but they are mistaken , this will all come back at them .
The @ @ @ @ @ military has launched and operators are going deep to route out the invisible enemy .

The [DS] is now pushing their 16 year plan, they believe they have the upperhand, they are getting what they want, but they are mistaken, this will all come back at them. The mission is underway, the military has launched and operators are going deep to route out the invisible enemy.
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investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--DD – These stimulus loans to SME are not happening

I work high up at a company still considered an SME , however pretty large .
Just had a discussion with my boss .
No longer going to be applying for the stimulus loan… WTF .
Why ?
I inquire .
So our bank , a bulge bracket thiqq papi bank – has been given NO GUIDANCE on this loan package .
What does this mean ?
It means the bank doesn ’ t know : Whether they can make money on this loan… What happens if the debt defaults… Will the banks be reimbursed for the amount they loan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be reimbursed .
And basically any practical and operational subject about this stimulus .
In short , this stimulus was rushed through with no guidance to the very people supposedly administering this loan program , and they have no idea what they are able and not able to do , so they are just not going to accept loan applications until they get guidance .
We are screwed , this stimulus retarded .
Disclaimer : This information is only for educational purposes .
Do not make any investment decisions based on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own due diligence .

by TaxationIsTh3ft
I work high up at a company still considered an SME, however pretty large. Just had a discussion with my boss. No longer going to be applying for the stimulus loan… WTF. Why? I inquire.

So our bank, a bulge bracket thiqq papi bank – has been given NO GUIDANCE on this loan package.

What does this mean?

It means the bank doesn’t know:
Whether they can make money on this loan…
What happens if the debt defaults…
Will the banks be reimbursed for the amount they loan if it is forgiven…
We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!
How the banks will be reimbursed.
And basically any practical and operational subject about this stimulus.

In short, this stimulus was rushed through with no guidance to the very people supposedly administering this loan program, and they have no idea what they are able and not able to do, so they are just not going to accept loan applications until they get guidance.

We are screwed, this stimulus retarded.
TL;DR
IWM $95puts April 17th
Spy 220 puts April 17th
Disclaimer: This information is only for educational purposes. Do not make any investment decisions based on the information in this article. Do you own due diligence.


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--To Say This May Not End up Inflationary Is Betting Against History

CNBC ’ s “ Power Lunch ” team breaks down how markets are trading after record weekly jobless claims amid @ @ @ @ @ Rosenberg of Rosenberg Research .

CNBC’s “Power Lunch” team breaks down how markets are trading after record weekly jobless claims amid the coronavirus pandemic with David Rosenberg of Rosenberg Research.
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investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--AOC is now complaining Trump was too slow. 3 weeks ago she shamed people for not going to Chinese re

AOC is now complaining Trump was too slow. 3 weeks ago she shamed people for not going to Chinese restaurants.

People like her believe the American people are stupid and that we can ’ t remember stuff that happened after @ @ @ @ @ s highly offensive how stupid they think we are .
It ’ s them that @ @ @ @ @ and idiotic over and over again because we Americans are very smart , but yet @ @ @ @ @ realize how dumb they keep making themselves look because they have themselves on a self-rightous @ @ @ @ @ as not being able to think for ourselves and only believe what is told too @ @ @ @ @ pathetic and just shows how lost from reality these people are .
That and Pelosi @ @ @ @ @ saying this now .
It ’ s the narrative they are trying to push and @ @ @ @ @ she starts saying it without any care that she is contradicting herself !

"People are literally not patroning Chinese restaurants. They're not patroning Asian restaurants because of just straight-up racism around the coronavirus."@AOC claimed many restaurants "are feeling the pain of racism" pic.twitter.com/cJbsrCg1Tu — Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 11, 2020
People like her believe the American people are stupid and that we can’t remember stuff that happened after 7 days. It’s highly offensive how stupid they think we are. It’s them that keep making themselves look stupid and idiotic over and over again because we Americans are very smart, but yet they are too stupid to realize how dumb they keep making themselves look because they have themselves on a self-rightous pedestal and think of us as not being able to think for ourselves and only believe what is told too us. It’s pathetic and just shows how lost from reality these people are. That and Pelosi is paying her to start saying this now. It’s the narrative they are trying to push and now all of a sudden she starts saying it without any care that she is contradicting herself!
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h/t marsajane


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--Why does Amazon get to continue business as usual, while small businesses are forced to close down a

Why does Amazon get to continue business as usual, while small businesses are forced to close down and get utterly crushed?

Why are banks getting bailouts ( yet again ) ?
If this is about protecting people , why do we @ @ @ @ @ exploit this crisis ?
They are trying to ban encryption while everyone is focused on @ @ @ @ @ to monitor all phone traffic under the guise of “ health ” www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-relief-bill-promotes-surveillance-health/ 66 % @ @ @ @ @ went to bank bailouts ( again ) .
8 % went to corporations .
Only @ @ @ @ @ and 2 % went to hospitals .
This injection into the economy was money printed @ @ @ @ @ Meaning it just devalued everyone ’ s dollar by 9 % www.youtube.com/watch ?
v=5s3Gc00Dvrw & @ @ @ @ @ sales and carry of guns , despite guns having nothing to do with coronavirus www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/16/new-orleans-mayor-issues-coronavirus-order-allowing-ban-on-sale-transportation-of-firearms/ @ @ @ @ @ hospital funding .
WHAT !
?
nypost.com/2020/03/19/cuomo-panel-recommends-400m-in-hospital-cuts-as-coronavirus-pandemic-rages/ Hedge Funds and banks are buying up MASSIVE @ @ @ @ @ for dirt cheap after the market crash .
The wealthy are getting wealthier and the @ @ @ @ @ Politicians are dumping their stocks .
A massive conflict of interest www.propublica.org/article/senator-dumped-up-to-1-7-million-of-stock-after-reassuring-public-about-coronavirus-preparedness

by _Granny_Gum_Jobs
Why are banks getting bailouts (yet again)? If this is about protecting people, why do we see government taking measures to exploit this crisis?
They are trying to ban encryption while everyone is focused on the virus www.theverge.com/interface/2020/3/12/21174815/earn-it-act-encryption-killer-lindsay-graham-match-group
They want to monitor all phone traffic under the guise of “health” www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-relief-bill-promotes-surveillance-health/
66% of the government stimulus package went to bank bailouts (again). 8% went to corporations. Only 4% went to individuals and 2% went to hospitals. This injection into the economy was money printed out of thin air. Meaning it just devalued everyone’s dollar by 9% www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s3Gc00Dvrw&feature=youtu.be
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Leaders are banning gun sales and carry of guns, despite guns having nothing to do with coronavirus www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/16/new-orleans-mayor-issues-coronavirus-order-allowing-ban-on-sale-transportation-of-firearms/
Leaders are cutting back on hospital funding. WHAT!? nypost.com/2020/03/19/cuomo-panel-recommends-400m-in-hospital-cuts-as-coronavirus-pandemic-rages/
Hedge Funds and banks are buying up MASSIVE numbers of companies and assets for dirt cheap after the market crash. The wealthy are getting wealthier and the poor are getting poorer markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-bond-market-opportunities-coronavirus-selling-federal-reserve-aid-ubs-2020-3-1029050673
Politicians are dumping their stocks. A massive conflict of interest www.propublica.org/article/senator-dumped-up-to-1-7-million-of-stock-after-reassuring-public-about-coronavirus-preparedness


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--Joe Biden Just Said He Has “Five Grandchildren,” He Has Seven

This man is not going to be the nominee .
Anyone that thinks this is a moron .
Here is @ @ @ @ @ know he ’ s running for President and not the Senate ?

by Venus230
This man is not going to be the nominee. Anyone that thinks this is a moron.
We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!
Here is the link…
Does Biden even know he’s running for President and not the Senate?


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--US has set 10 targets to hit it in Iraq, and the Iranian is ready to go as far as possible.

# OSINT The 🇺🇸 US has set 10 targets to hit it in Iraq , and the Iranian is ready @ @ @ @ @ possible .

#OSINT The 🇺🇸 US has set 10 targets to hit it in Iraq, and the Iranian is ready to go as far as possible.
— INTELSky (@Intel_Sky) April 2, 2020


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--Why U.S. Shale Will Survive The Oil Price War

The future of the oil industry , it seems , all depends on who you ask .
Many industry insiders and experts are crying armageddon , while others say that United States shale is not only poised for a comeback , it will be better than ever .
Early last month , global oil prices experienced their worst single-day setback in almost 30 years thanks to a series of unfortunate geopolitical events and a certain virus you may have heard something about .
China was the first country to have to all but shut down its entire economy to stop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anything happens to the second-largest economy in the world , the rest of the world is certain to feel the aftershocks .
First , the demand for oil plunged .
This prompted discussions between the OPEC+ leaders of Saudi Arabia and Russia to enter talks to determine how they would respond to this setback .
The talks did not go well , to put it mildly , and Russia and Saudi Arabia ’ s alliance quickly devolved into an all-out oil price war .
All of this came to a head-on March 9 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spectacular 30 percent .
“ Brent lost $ 15.65 from its weekly close to settle at $ 34.36 per barrel on Monday , while WTI lost $ 14.6 of its value to close at $ 31.13 ” reported the National ’ s Business section .
Since then , the energy industry has been awaiting the stimulus package with bated breath , as the Permian Basin experiences tens of thousands of layoffs .
But some are optimistic about a serious rebound .
One such entity is Goldman Sachs Group Inc. , which believes that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industry is poised to emerge from the oil crash a winner , ” says Bloomberg .
In a March 31 note , Goldman Sachs analyst Damien Courvalin expressed that “ shale ’ s high-pressured wells and short drilling time mean the industry is well-positioned to benefit if the current plunge in oil causes long-term damage to production capacity , resulting in a price jump when demand returns.
” Goldman Sachs is not the only group feeling optimistic about oil .
Daniel Yergin , a Pulitzer Prize-winning oil historian and vice chairman of IHS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for an earlier article that “ Companies go bankrupt , but rocks don ’ t go bankrupt , ” and that “ when this all shakes out , there will be other people to develop shale.
” Vincent G. Piazza , Bloomberg Intelligence ’ s senior oil analyst , even believes that shale will not only bounce back , but it will also be better than ever .
In a scenario not unlike Darwinian natural selection , the weakest companies would be weeded out and we will be left with only the strongest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ companies with better technology and better preparedness for future market volatility .
The weakest companies “ will go into stronger hands , ” he said .
“ The industry is going to be in a lot better shape than in 2014-2016 .
The balance sheet is in a lot better shape .
I wouldn ’ t underestimate the ability of this industry to re-create itself.
” This scenario is not unprecedented .
In the 2014-16 oil crash , oil prices dipped significantly lower than they are now , and , not long after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shale rebound that changed the global energy industry .
“ The American shale industry shocked the world with its rebound after the 2014-2016 bust , ” says Bloomberg , “ setting records for output that pushed the U.S. to the top spot among oil-producing countries.
” Ironically , it was the very same 2014-16 oil crash that prompted the alliance between Saudi Arabia and Russia whose meltdown led to the current crash .

By Haley Zaremba
The future of the oil industry, it seems, all depends on who you ask. Many industry insiders and experts are crying armageddon, while others say that United States shale is not only poised for a comeback, it will be better than ever. Early last month, global oil prices experienced their worst single-day setback in almost 30 years thanks to a series of unfortunate geopolitical events and a certain virus you may have heard something about. China was the first country to have to all but shut down its entire economy to stop the spread of coronavirus, and whenever anything happens to the second-largest economy in the world, the rest of the world is certain to feel the aftershocks.
First, the demand for oil plunged. This prompted discussions between the OPEC+ leaders of Saudi Arabia and Russia to enter talks to determine how they would respond to this setback. The talks did not go well, to put it mildly, and Russia and Saudi Arabia’s alliance quickly devolved into an all-out oil price war. All of this came to a head-on March 9, when oil prices crashed by a spectacular 30 percent.
“Brent lost $15.65 from its weekly close to settle at $34.36 per barrel on Monday, while WTI lost $14.6 of its value to close at $31.13” reported the National’s Business section. Since then, the energy industry has been awaiting the stimulus package with bated breath, as the Permian Basin experiences tens of thousands of layoffs.
But some are optimistic about a serious rebound. One such entity is Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which believes that “the bruised and battered U.S. shale industry is poised to emerge from the oil crash a winner,” says Bloomberg. In a March 31 note, Goldman Sachs analyst Damien Courvalin expressed that “shale’s high-pressured wells and short drilling time mean the industry is well-positioned to benefit if the current plunge in oil causes long-term damage to production capacity, resulting in a price jump when demand returns.”
We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!
Goldman Sachs is not the only group feeling optimistic about oil. Daniel Yergin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning oil historian and vice chairman of IHS Markit Ltd. told Bloomberg in an interview for an earlier article that “Companies go bankrupt, but rocks don’t go bankrupt,” and that “when this all shakes out, there will be other people to develop shale.”
Vincent G. Piazza, Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior oil analyst, even believes that shale will not only bounce back, but it will also be better than ever. In a scenario not unlike Darwinian natural selection, the weakest companies would be weeded out and we will be left with only the strongest, most efficient, and more resilient companies with better technology and better preparedness for future market volatility. The weakest companies “will go into stronger hands,” he said. “The industry is going to be in a lot better shape than in 2014-2016. The balance sheet is in a lot better shape. I wouldn’t underestimate the ability of this industry to re-create itself.”
This scenario is not unprecedented. In the 2014-16 oil crash, oil prices dipped significantly lower than they are now, and, not long after, which was followed by an unprecedented shale rebound that changed the global energy industry. “The American shale industry shocked the world with its rebound after the 2014-2016 bust,” says Bloomberg, “setting records for output that pushed the U.S. to the top spot among oil-producing countries.” Ironically, it was the very same 2014-16 oil crash that prompted the alliance between Saudi Arabia and Russia whose meltdown led to the current crash.
By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--Dubai launches its first ever drive-thru #COVID19 testing

The # UAE on Thursday launched its first ever drive-thru testing facility to test for # COVID19 .
Five days @ @ @ @ @ Al Jabri , the Chief medical officer at the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company , @ @ @ @ @ says almost 3.000 people have been tested so far with an average of around 600 @ @ @ @ @ goal is to start mass testing in the country to help relieve some of the @ @ @ @ @ clinics .
The UAE has over 800 cases and 8 fatalities so far .

The #UAE on Thursday launched its first ever drive-thru testing facility to test for #COVID19.
Five days since its launch, Omar Al Jabri, the Chief medical officer at the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, also known as SEHA, says almost 3.000 people have been tested so far with an average of around 600 people per day.
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The goal is to start mass testing in the country to help relieve some of the stress on the hospitals and clinics.
The UAE has over 800 cases and 8 fatalities so far.


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--Police App Encourages People To Report Neighbors Who Violate Stay At Home Orders

How do you encourage people to turn against each other during the COVID-19 pandemic ?
The answer is not that complicated , especially if you live in the City of Bellevue , Washington .
Four years ago , when the city created the MyBellvue app , it was touted as being a quick and easy way to report things like downed street signs , potholes , street light issues and noise complaints .
Fast forward to 2020 and public fears of COVID-19 have encouraged law enforcement to turn neighbors into government snitches .
Geekwire revealed how the Bellevue Police Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a report on your neighbors app .
You can report these incidents through the MyBellevue app on your electronic device or the MyBellevue portal .
A recent Associated Press article revealed that people are all to happy to report on their neighbors .
When law enforcement encourages Americans to turn against each other we all lose .
We become a nation controlled by fear .
The Bellevue Police Departments ’ MyBellevue page claims police need the public ’ s help monitoring their neighbors .
The MyBellevue customer assistance portal spells out exactly what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now .
Reporting on your neighbor apps fly in the face of the freedoms Americans have enjoyed for centuries .
start sarcasm “ Yes daddy , step on me harder , oh yes take my constitutionally protected rights away !
* end .
YOU SOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES !
tell on your neighbors for leaving their house is BS you have no clue where they are going or for what .
Since no crime has been committed in traveling , the police have no right to know where you go or why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ constitutionally protected free travel !
Y ’ all were sworn to protect and uphold the constitution , covid doesn ’ t change that.
” Now is the time to fight for our freedoms before a panicked nation willingly gives them away .

by mapi
How do you encourage people to turn against each other during the COVID-19 pandemic?
The answer is not that complicated, especially if you live in the City of Bellevue, Washington.
Four years ago, when the city created the MyBellvue app, it was touted as being a quick and easy way to report things like downed street signs, potholes, street light issues and noise complaints. Fast forward to 2020 and public fears of COVID-19 have encouraged law enforcement to turn neighbors into government snitches.
Geekwire revealed how the Bellevue Police Department has turned a public service app into a report on your neighbors app. You can report these incidents through the MyBellevue app on your electronic device or the MyBellevue portal.
“Police in Bellevue, Wash., are asking residents to report violations of the state’s “stay home” order online in an effort to clear up 911 lines for emergencies.”
A recent Associated Press article revealed that people are all to happy to report on their neighbors.
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“Snitches are emerging as enthusiastic allies as cities, states and countries work to enforce directives meant to limit person-to-person contact amid the virus pandemic that has claimed tens of thousands of lives worldwide. They’re phoning police and municipal hotlines, complaining to elected officials and shaming perceived scofflaws on social media.”
When law enforcement encourages Americans to turn against each other we all lose. We become a nation controlled by fear.
“Suspected violations are tracked in the MyBellevue app and generate a heat map that shows where gatherings have been reported. The map shows hot spots of activity throughout the City of Bellevue, which is about 10 miles from Seattle.
The Bellevue Police Departments’ MyBellevue page claims police need the public’s help monitoring their neighbors.
“The vast majority of people in our community are following the “Stay Home” order and are being safe,” said Chief Steve Mylett. “But we need your help in reporting violations where there may be a large amount of people at risk.”
The MyBellevue customer assistance portal spells out exactly what this is app is really meant for now.
Report Gatherings: You may report gatherings here in violation of the State mandate to “Stay Home”
Contact Your Police Sector Captain: Got an issue affecting your neighborhood? Contact the sector captain for your area! A captain is assigned to each of three geographical sectors — North, South and West — and is ultimately responsible for issues taking place in their sector.
“Sometimes there is a need to implement extreme measures but often these crises are used as justification to implement surveillance and data collection measures for purposes beyond that crisis,” the ACLU of Washington’s Jennifer Lee said.
Reporting on your neighbor apps fly in the face of the freedoms Americans have enjoyed for centuries.
The MyBellevue mobile app can be found at the Apple store and Google Play store . Two recent reviews spell out how everyone should view apps that encourage Americans to report on each other.
Leo Rosas said,
start sarcasm “Yes daddy, step on me harder, oh yes take my constitutionally protected rights away!* end. YOU SOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES! tell on your neighbors for leaving their house is BS you have no clue where they are going or for what. Since no crime has been committed in traveling, the police have no right to know where you go or why. There is no right to Abridge constitutionally protected free travel! Y’all were sworn to protect and uphold the constitution, covid doesn’t change that.”
Matthew Harphan said,
“I bet Hitler is rolling in his grave, super Jealous of your app used to violate civil rights through unconstitutional enforcement during Corona virus. You swore an Oath to Uphold and Defend the Constitution.. this is pathetic. I expect better from police. Despicable”
Now is the time to fight for our freedoms before a panicked nation willingly gives them away.


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--Why America’s Response to Coronavirus Adds Disaster to Catastrophe

America ’ s response to Coronavirus has been , in a word , disastrous .
It adds disaster to the catastrophe of a new global pandemic .
If you ’ ve thought something like the above , you ’ re exactly right .
And yet because the media is doing a fairly poor job of explaining just why , let me .
America ’ s stimulus program gives a one-off payment of $ 1200 to people — and even that ’ s conditional on income .
Good enough , right ?
Wrong .
Every other rich country by now has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other .
Sweden , to 90 % .
Denmark subsidizing 75 % of incomes .
Take the other most capitalist society in the world , Britain Even there , incomes have been guaranteed : Britain , to 80 % of income .
In Europe , most nations have gone even further , making not just emergency payments to workers for as long as the crisis will last , but mortgages have already been suspended , which is another way to guarantee incomes .
By this measure , America ’ s paltry $ 1200 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is .
Deeply and profoundly so .
Before I come to the other ways , let ’ s discuss why America ’ s response has been so dismal .
The fear is that inflation will wrack the economy if people are to “ get paid for free.
” But nothing could be more wrong .
Inflation , often misunderstood by Americans , because American economics , is to put it kindly , a joke , is really this : spirals in wages and prices .
Now think of the average American .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — and facing the prospect of sudden and long-lasting bankruptcy .
In other words , the average American is facing a deflationary shock .
One so total , the like has never been seen in modern history .
Overnight , literally , their income has gone to zero .
That deflationary shock will ripple outwards through the economy .
It will cause prices to fall , because people won ’ t have enough money to buy the same levels of stuff .
Prices for what ?
For everything .
For houses , food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That deflation probably won ’ t make the headlines , because they ’ ll be full of profiteering scandals .
Of course profiteering will take place , but across the larger economy , the effect of deflationary shocks will be what it always is : depression .
Depression means : After they lose their incomes Americans will then lose their savings , their homes , whatever other assets they had , like retirement and college and funds and so forth .
They will struggle to afford the basics , even more than the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already an economy in which 75 % struggled to pay basic bills , like food , housing , and utilities , even before Coronavirus .
Now imagine them being even poorer than that .
The stage has now been set for a depression .
Precisely because idea that a danger from the government supporting people during a catastrophe is “ inflation ” is backwards — the real danger is deflation .
That deflationary shock is taking place as we speak , like a mega-earthquake , an extinction level event , which is making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paltry income to…zero income .
That is why a $ 1200 payment to people isn ’ t nearly enough .
Those jobs aren ’ t suddenly going to magically come back .
Why not ?
That brings me to the second reason America ’ s Coronavirus response is inadequate .
Businesses are already going bankrupt .
How many can you count ?
Just take a look down your block .
How many small or medium sized businesses are shuttering their doors , or on the verge ?
Your local bakery , brewer , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left ?
America ’ s stimulus program offers little real support to the economy .
It gives mega-corporations huge bailouts .
But for everyone else , it offers little to no real support .
Maybe — and I stress maybe — your average business gets a small loan or a tax break from the government .
But what good is a loan or a tax break when the basis of your business has simply fallen apart ?
Think of a supply chain : it ’ s a complex web of businesses .
Like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ customers suddenly ripples outwards and upwards .
Sure , all these businesses can take on loans and get minor-league tax breaks .
So what ?
That doesn ’ t solve the problem of no income at all .
Those businesses will all still soon fold , as their debt spirals out of control , while their revenues plunge to near zero — and no amount of tax breaks can fix that , either .
Loans are not really a “ stimulus.
” The Fed doesn ’ t give banks “ loans ” during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money at them .
It literally simply puts money in their accounts in the central bank .
Yes , really .
That is precisely what America should have done for businesses , too .
It should have guaranteed their incomes , just as it should have guaranteed personal incomes .
That ’ s what Italy and Germany did : businesses at risk don ’ t get loans , they get grants .
And in Spain and France , they get government guaranteed funds , in which “ guaranteed ” means that any debt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis .
Just as the sudden loss of income for people creates an extinction level deflationary shock , so too does the sudden loss of income for businesses .
That deflationary shock — business ’ s revenues suddenly falling to zero — will rip through the economy , causing mass layoffs , bankruptcies , and the extinction of whole sectors .
Again : the stage for a historic depression has now been set .
That brings me to the third and biggest reason .
What ’ s missing from this “ stimulus ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brave doctors and nurses .
They ’ re fashioning masks out of pizza boxes .
They ’ re desperately trying to get patients to share scarce ventilators .
What ’ s missing from this stimulus package is…stimulus .
As in the real thing .
What does that mean ?
A massive , historic , generational wave of investment in healthcare like America ’ s never seen before .
Isn ’ t it obvious that ’ s what ’ s necessary right about now ?
That America ’ s barely functional healthcare system — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the magnitude of this shock ?
And yet , on the same day as it announced this stimulus package , the government also proclaimed it couldn ’ t spend a billion dollars on…ventilators .
Wait , what ?
Perhaps you see the problem .
Let me put it more plainly .
This stimulus bill isn ’ t really one .
It doesn ’ t put , say , a trillion dollars towards building new hospitals , clinics , care centers…and another trillions to new labs , research facilities , university research programs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ people or ten to do the sudden work of gearing a whole economy towards building the missing resources a society crippled by disease now urgently needs .
What kind of work is that ?
This stimulus doesn ’ t create institutions like a Works Progress Administration — only this time for people to work in factories suddenly building ventilators and masks , or a million bright young people researching pandemics harder , or an army of everyday people visiting the elderly and making sure they ’ re ok , or legions making films @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it — things which are the equivalent of digging ditches during a pandemic .
Yet think about how much of that is the necessary , crucial work of this moment .
Think how much work there is to really do — from building the resources we need , whether simple things like ventilators and masks , to doing new research and development , fast , to manning and managing it all , to chronicling this moment in literature and film , to building whole new hospitals and clinics , to creating a whole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stimulus doesn ’ t do any of that .
It doesn ’ t even have a billion dollars for the scarcest and most urgently necessary resource of all — ventilators , for Pete ’ s sake — let alone new hospitals and clinics , or staffing existing ones better .
The result is that America ’ s economy is still scarce of the resources it needs most to fight this pandemic , like ventilators and masks .
This stimulus isn ’ t one because it doesn ’ t invest in anything new at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in more formal , technical terms .
A stimulus is not a stimulus when it doesn ’ t create any resources , lead to any larger surplus , in society .
A stimulus is a stimulus when it suddenly , massively invests in society , so that new resources can be created .
Often , whole new institutions must be built — like the Depression ’ s WPA or Reconstruction Finance Corporation — to coordinate and manage those investments .
The whole point of a stimulus is to suddenly , rapidly expand society @ @ @ @ @ @ @ desperately necessary ones — or it isn ’ t a stimulus at all .
Those desperately necessary resources differ from crisis to crisis .
What are they this time around ?
Ventilators .
Masks .
Hospitals .
Care workers .
Factories .
Transportation .
Meanwhile , mass unemployment has set in .
Get access to the only crash course on preventing infection !
Knowledge will be your best weapon against this invisible threat .
The information inside “ Pandemic Protocol ” will melt away your fears and anxiety about the virus .
Everything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how to keep the infection out of your home and your family safe .
See the obvious solution ?
The government can and should “ employ ” people who are suddenly unemployed and broke to balance that equation — to create those desperately necessary resources .
If it needs to create new institutions to do that — A Healthcare Crisis Agency , a Pandemic Response Bank , a Reconstruction Finance Corporation — all the better : even more people are employed to create another scarce resource , planning and coordinating .
That is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ genuinely take collective action to invest together to create a surplus of critical resources that we suddenly , desperately lack .
This bill literally does none of that .
As in : zero .
And in that way , it ’ s not a stimulus at all .
What it is is a bailout .
It ’ s a rescue of corporations and Wall St and the same old .
It ’ s a bailout of capitalism — at the expense of the economy , people , and life itself .
What ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ desperate scarcity — whether of money , homes , income , medicine , and so on , the basics — usually , as the result of a sudden , catastrophic shock .
The correct result is a real stimulus — as Keynes discovered a century ago — precisely so that society can have a surplus of those critical resources .
Otherwise , a deflationary spiral sets in : wages and prices fall in tandem , and people get sharply poorer in real terms , fast .
The prices of these few critical resources @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amidst fresh and terrible poverty .
But that poverty is disaster added to catastrophe .
Because depression results from some shock — the loss of a war , natural calamity , in this case , pandemic .
Poverty is a consequence of inaction , folly , negligence — the lack of collective action and shared investment .
America ’ s response to Coronavirus is as flawed and inadequate as you probably think .
Compared to other rich countries , America is essentially doing next to nothing .
It sets the stage for depression @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s mega-rich , who already have too much , while the average person and his or her small business have long had too little .
Instead of massively investing to create a surplus of critical resources , it…doesn ’ t invest in anything at all .
That is why we will go on hearing surreal horror stories about doctors making masks from pizza boxes and nurses dying because they treated the sick without protective gear…even as we lose our own jobs and incomes…while the mega-rich go on laughing all the way to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me wrong .
This stimulus is better than nothing .
But what it isn ’ t is nearly good enough for a society as broken as America to be able to cope with catastrophe — much less grow as an improbable result of it .
There ’ s another , harder , way to put all that .
Did you really expect a ruthlessly capitalist society to be able to save itself from a pandemic ?
Or was it always just going to use it as a way to exploit people even harder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ friends , is one every country but America knows by now .

by Amy S.
Originally published: Umair Haque
America’s response to Coronavirus has been, in a word, disastrous. It adds disaster to the catastrophe of a new global pandemic. If you’ve thought something like the above, you’re exactly right. And yet because the media is doing a fairly poor job of explaining just why, let me.
America’s stimulus program gives a one-off payment of $1200 to people — and even that’s conditional on income. Good enough, right? Wrong.
Every other rich country by now has guaranteed incomes, in some form or other. Sweden, to 90%. Denmark subsidizing 75% of incomes. Take the other most capitalist society in the world, Britain Even there, incomes have been guaranteed: Britain, to 80% of income. In Europe, most nations have gone even further, making not just emergency payments to workers for as long as the crisis will last, but mortgages have already been suspended, which is another way to guarantee incomes.
By this measure, America’s paltry $1200 one-off payment looks inadequate — because it is. Deeply and profoundly so.
Before I come to the other ways, let’s discuss why America’s response has been so dismal. The fear is that inflation will wrack the economy if people are to “get paid for free.” But nothing could be more wrong. Inflation, often misunderstood by Americans, because American economics, is to put it kindly, a joke, is really this: spirals in wages and prices.
Now think of the average American. He or she is suddenly out of work — and facing the prospect of sudden and long-lasting bankruptcy. In other words, the average American is facing a deflationary shock. One so total, the like has never been seen in modern history. Overnight, literally, their income has gone to zero.
That deflationary shock will ripple outwards through the economy. It will cause prices to fall, because people won’t have enough money to buy the same levels of stuff. Prices for what? For everything. For houses, food, cars, and so forth. That deflation probably won’t make the headlines, because they’ll be full of profiteering scandals. Of course profiteering will take place, but across the larger economy, the effect of deflationary shocks will be what it always is: depression.
Depression means: After they lose their incomes Americans will then lose their savings, their homes, whatever other assets they had, like retirement and college and funds and so forth. They will struggle to afford the basics, even more than the already did — remember, America was already an economy in which 75% struggled to pay basic bills, like food, housing, and utilities, even before Coronavirus. Now imagine them being even poorer than that.
The stage has now been set for a depression. Precisely because idea that a danger from the government supporting people during a catastrophe is “inflation” is backwards — the real danger is deflation. That deflationary shock is taking place as we speak, like a mega-earthquake, an extinction level event, which is making millions of Americans go from a relatively paltry income to…zero income.
That is why a $1200 payment to people isn’t nearly enough. Those jobs aren’t suddenly going to magically come back. Why not? That brings me to the second reason America’s Coronavirus response is inadequate.
Businesses are already going bankrupt. How many can you count? Just take a look down your block. How many small or medium sized businesses are shuttering their doors, or on the verge? Your local bakery, brewer, butcher — if you even had one left?
America’s stimulus program offers little real support to the economy. It gives mega-corporations huge bailouts. But for everyone else, it offers little to no real support. Maybe — and I stress maybe — your average business gets a small loan or a tax break from the government. But what good is a loan or a tax break when the basis of your business has simply fallen apart? Think of a supply chain: it’s a complex web of businesses. Like an ecosystem, the shock of losing customers suddenly ripples outwards and upwards. Sure, all these businesses can take on loans and get minor-league tax breaks. So what? That doesn’t solve the problem of no income at all. Those businesses will all still soon fold, as their debt spirals out of control, while their revenues plunge to near zero — and no amount of tax breaks can fix that, either.
Loans are not really a “stimulus.” The Fed doesn’t give banks “loans” during a crisis — it simply throws free money at them. It literally simply puts money in their accounts in the central bank. Yes, really. That is precisely what America should have done for businesses, too. It should have guaranteed their incomes, just as it should have guaranteed personal incomes. That’s what Italy and Germany did: businesses at risk don’t get loans, they get grants. And in Spain and France, they get government guaranteed funds, in which “guaranteed” means that any debt will probably be written off after the crisis.
Just as the sudden loss of income for people creates an extinction level deflationary shock, so too does the sudden loss of income for businesses. That deflationary shock — business’s revenues suddenly falling to zero — will rip through the economy, causing mass layoffs, bankruptcies, and the extinction of whole sectors. Again: the stage for a historic depression has now been set.
That brings me to the third and biggest reason. What’s missing from this “stimulus” package? Take a look at those brave doctors and nurses. They’re fashioning masks out of pizza boxes. They’re desperately trying to get patients to share scarce ventilators. What’s missing from this stimulus package is…stimulus. As in the real thing.
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What does that mean? A massive, historic, generational wave of investment in healthcare like America’s never seen before. Isn’t it obvious that’s what’s necessary right about now? That America’s barely functional healthcare system — and economy — can hardly cope with the magnitude of this shock? And yet, on the same day as it announced this stimulus package, the government also proclaimed it couldn’t spend a billion dollars on…ventilators. Wait, what? Perhaps you see the problem.
Let me put it more plainly. This stimulus bill isn’t really one. It doesn’t put, say, a trillion dollars towards building new hospitals, clinics, care centers…and another trillions to new labs, research facilities, university research programs. It doesn’t recruit a million people or ten to do the sudden work of gearing a whole economy towards building the missing resources a society crippled by disease now urgently needs. What kind of work is that?
This stimulus doesn’t create institutions like a Works Progress Administration — only this time for people to work in factories suddenly building ventilators and masks, or a million bright young people researching pandemics harder, or an army of everyday people visiting the elderly and making sure they’re ok, or legions making films about the pandemic, or writing about it — things which are the equivalent of digging ditches during a pandemic. Yet think about how much of that is the necessary, crucial work of this moment. Think how much work there is to really do — from building the resources we need, whether simple things like ventilators and masks, to doing new research and development, fast, to manning and managing it all, to chronicling this moment in literature and film, to building whole new hospitals and clinics, to creating a whole new sector of crisis planning.
This stimulus doesn’t do any of that. It doesn’t even have a billion dollars for the scarcest and most urgently necessary resource of all — ventilators, for Pete’s sake — let alone new hospitals and clinics, or staffing existing ones better.
The result is that America’s economy is still scarce of the resources it needs most to fight this pandemic, like ventilators and masks. This stimulus isn’t one because it doesn’t invest in anything new at all.
Let me put all that in more formal, technical terms. A stimulus is not a stimulus when it doesn’t create any resources, lead to any larger surplus, in society. A stimulus is a stimulus when it suddenly, massively invests in society, so that new resources can be created. Often, whole new institutions must be built — like the Depression’s WPA or Reconstruction Finance Corporation — to coordinate and manage those investments.
The whole point of a stimulus is to suddenly, rapidly expand society’s surplus of resources — especially desperately necessary ones — or it isn’t a stimulus at all. Those desperately necessary resources differ from crisis to crisis. What are they this time around? Ventilators. Masks. Hospitals. Care workers. Factories. Transportation. Meanwhile, mass unemployment has set in.
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See the obvious solution? The government can and should “employ” people who are suddenly unemployed and broke to balance that equation — to create those desperately necessary resources. If it needs to create new institutions to do that — A Healthcare Crisis Agency, a Pandemic Response Bank, a Reconstruction Finance Corporation — all the better: even more people are employed to create another scarce resource, planning and coordinating. That is what a stimulus is — when we genuinely take collective action to invest together to create a surplus of critical resources that we suddenly, desperately lack.
This bill literally does none of that. As in: zero. And in that way, it’s not a stimulus at all. What it is is a bailout. It’s a rescue of corporations and Wall St and the same old. It’s a bailout of capitalism — at the expense of the economy, people, and life itself.
What’s a depression? A society in desperate scarcity — whether of money, homes, income, medicine, and so on, the basics — usually, as the result of a sudden, catastrophic shock. The correct result is a real stimulus — as Keynes discovered a century ago — precisely so that society can have a surplus of those critical resources. Otherwise, a deflationary spiral sets in: wages and prices fall in tandem, and people get sharply poorer in real terms, fast. The prices of these few critical resources rise, of course — but only amidst fresh and terrible poverty.
But that poverty is disaster added to catastrophe. Because depression results from some shock — the loss of a war, natural calamity, in this case, pandemic. Poverty is a consequence of inaction, folly, negligence — the lack of collective action and shared investment.
America’s response to Coronavirus is as flawed and inadequate as you probably think. Compared to other rich countries, America is essentially doing next to nothing. It sets the stage for depression — by being a bailout of capitalism’s mega-rich, who already have too much, while the average person and his or her small business have long had too little. Instead of massively investing to create a surplus of critical resources, it…doesn’t invest in anything at all.
That is why we will go on hearing surreal horror stories about doctors making masks from pizza boxes and nurses dying because they treated the sick without protective gear…even as we lose our own jobs and incomes…while the mega-rich go on laughing all the way to the bank.
Don’t get me wrong. This stimulus is better than nothing. But what it isn’t is nearly good enough for a society as broken as America to be able to cope with catastrophe — much less grow as an improbable result of it.
There’s another, harder, way to put all that. Did you really expect a ruthlessly capitalist society to be able to save itself from a pandemic? Or was it always just going to use it as a way to exploit people even harder? Sadly, the answer, my friends, is one every country but America knows by now.


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--Mnuchin: If You Have Direct Deposit On File With IRS, YOU WILL GET YOUR MONEY IN 2 WEEKS

( Silver Doctors Editors ) The latest Coronavirus Task Force briefing is underway this Thursday afternoon .
Today ’ s @ @ @ @ @ be related to the economic relief package and all of the doubts surrounding the availability @ @ @ @ @ free money .
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin just said that if you have your direct deposit @ @ @ @ @ the Federal govenrment , then you will get your check ( via direct deposit ) @ @ @ @ @ from now .
Tune-in to the embed below for today ’ s entire press conference @

(Silver Doctors Editors) The latest Coronavirus Task Force briefing is underway this Thursday afternoon.
Today’s focus has been front-loaded to be related to the economic relief package and all of the doubts surrounding the availability and the timeline for the free money.
We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin just said that if you have your direct deposit information already on file with the Federal govenrment, then you will get your check (via direct deposit) no later than two weeks from now.
Tune-in to the embed below for today’s entire press conference:


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--NEWSOM: Coronavirus an Opportunity to Create a New “Progressive Era” to “Reshape the Way We Do Busin

NEWSOM: Coronavirus an Opportunity to Create a New “Progressive Era” to “Reshape the Way We Do Business and How We Govern”

Calif. Gov .
@ GavinNewsom : Coronavirus an opportunity to create a new “ progressive era ” “ We see this as an opportunity to reshape the way we do business and how we govern.
” UN Wants Global Power to Tax 10 % for the Coronavirus Anyone who thinks for one second that I am exaggerating by calling this a global coup does not know me very well .
I do not buy into conspiracy theories .
I rely upon qualified sources – not rumor or conjecture .
I have WARNED that we are facing a leftist coup of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this virus was not a real threat from the beginning .
It was not a biological weapon spliced with aids or a leak .
This has been an intentional misrepresentation .
My sources suggest it existed in the previous flu season in China .
The United Nations , and their World Health Organization , is behind this coup as well .
The death toll if far less than the annual flu ( about 10 % ) but the press is so happy to support this Marxist agenda .
The journalists who are following @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their own future and that of their families and children .
They used this virus for there is no vaccine but there are plenty of independent sources saying the medicine to treat malaria have been working with no deaths in France and elsewhere .
The United Nations has now produced a 26-page report outlining an action plan to address the various socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and the DESTRUCTION of the world economy that has been intentionally carried out by the left .
The United Nations has been using Climate Change to try to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they have run into way too much resistance .
Climate Change is now dead .
They have moved on to something that allows them to threaten that people will die IMMEDIATELY unless they surrender all their freedoms .
The agenda of the Climate Change was to seize industry and effectively nationalize them .
They will do that now by virtually bankrupting them and the state will just take them over .
This is the scheme that was even talked about in Germany to nationalize companies since they can not bail them out .

Tom Elliott
@tomselliott
Calif. Gov.
@GavinNewsom
: Coronavirus an opportunity to create a new “progressive era”
“We see this as an opportunity to reshape the way we do business and how we govern.”
UN Wants Global Power to Tax 10% for the Coronavirus
Anyone who thinks for one second that I am exaggerating by calling this a global coup does not know me very well. I do not buy into conspiracy theories. I rely upon qualified sources – not rumor or conjecture. I have WARNED that we are facing a leftist coup of major proportions. I have warned that this virus was not a real threat from the beginning. It was not a biological weapon spliced with aids or a leak. This has been an intentional misrepresentation. My sources suggest it existed in the previous flu season in China.
The United Nations, and their World Health Organization, is behind this coup as well. The death toll if far less than the annual flu (about 10%) but the press is so happy to support this Marxist agenda. The journalists who are following orders from their managing editors are sealing their own future and that of their families and children. They used this virus for there is no vaccine but there are plenty of independent sources saying the medicine to treat malaria have been working with no deaths in France and elsewhere.
The United Nations has now produced a 26-page report outlining an action plan to address the various socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and the DESTRUCTION of the world economy that has been intentionally carried out by the left. The United Nations has been using Climate Change to try to create a one-world government order, but they have run into way too much resistance. Climate Change is now dead. They have moved on to something that allows them to threaten that people will die IMMEDIATELY unless they surrender all their freedoms. The agenda of the Climate Change was to seize industry and effectively nationalize them. They will do that now by virtually bankrupting them and the state will just take them over. This is the scheme that was even talked about in Germany to nationalize companies since they cannot bail them out.
…
…


investmentwatchblog--2020-04-03--Every Vaccine and Treatment in Development for COVID-19, So Far

As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to skyrocket , healthcare researchers around the world are working tirelessly to discover new life-saving medical innovations .
The projects these companies are working on can be organized into three distinct groups : • Diagnostics : Quickly and effectively detecting the disease in the first place • Treatments : Alleviating symptoms so people who have disease experience milder symptoms , and lowering the overall mortality rate • Vaccines : Preventing transmission by making the population immune to COVID-19 Today ’ s graphics provide an in-depth look at who ’ s in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and they come to us courtesy of Artis Ventures , a venture capital firm focused on life sciences and tech investments .
Editor ’ s note : R & D is moving fast on COVID-19 , and the situation is quite fluid .
While today ’ s post is believed to be an accurate snapshot of all innovations and developments listed by WHO and FDA as of March 30 , 2020 , it is possible that more data will become available .
Testing rates during this pandemic have been a point of contention @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been tough to accurately track the spread of the virus , as well as pin down important metrics such as infectiousness and mortality rates .
Inexpensive test kits that offer quick results will be key to curbing the outbreak .
Here are the companies and institutions developing new tests for COVID-19 : The ultimate aim of companies like Abbott and BioFire Defense is to create a test that can produce accurate results in as little as a few minutes .
In the Trenches With Coronavirus While the majority of people infected with COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can cause severe issues in some cases – even resulting in death .
Most of the forms of treatment being pursued fall into one of two categories : • Treating respiratory symptoms – especially the inflammation that occurs in severe cases Here are the companies and institutions developing new treatment options for COVID-19 : A wide range of players are in the race to develop treatments related to COVID-19 .
Pharma and healthcare companies are in the mix , as well as universities and institutes .
One surprising name on the list is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stock recently shot up on the news that Avigan , a decades-old flu drug developed through Fujifilm ’ s healthcare subsidiary , might be effective at helping coronavirus patients recover .
The Japanese government ’ s stockpile of the drug is reportedly enough to treat two million people .
The progress that is perhaps being watched the closest by the general public is the development of a COVID-19 vaccine .
Creating a safe vaccine for a new illness is no easy feat .
Thankfully , rapid progress is being made for a variety @ @ @ @ @ @ @ efforts to sequence the genetic material of Sars-CoV-2 and to share that information with research groups around the world .
Another factor contributing to the unprecedented speed of development is the fact that coronaviruses were already on the radar of health science researchers .
Both SARS and MERS were caused by coronaviruses , and even though vaccines were shelved once those outbreaks were contained , learnings can still be applied to defeating COVID-19 .
One of the most promising leads on a COVID-19 vaccine is mRNA-1273 .
This vaccine , developed by Moderna @ @ @ @ @ @ @ urgency , skipping straight into human trials before it was even tested in animals .
If all goes well with the trials currently underway in Washington State , the company hopes to have an early version of the vaccine ready by fall 2020 .
The earliest versions of the vaccine would be made available to at-risk groups such as healthcare workers .
Further down the pipeline are 15 types of subunit vaccines .
This method of vaccination uses a fragment of a pathogen , typically a surface protein , to trigger an immune @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immune system how to fight off the disease without actually introducing live pathogens .
Unfortunately , there is no silver bullet for solving this pandemic .
A likely scenario is that teams of researchers around the world will come up with solutions that will incrementally help stop the spread of the virus , mitigate symptoms for those infected , and help lower the overall death toll .
As well , early solutions rushed to market will need to be refined over the coming months .
We can only hope that the hard lessons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a future outbreak in its tracks before it becomes a pandemic .
For now , those of us on the sideline can only do our best to flatten the curve .

by visualcapitalist
As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to skyrocket, healthcare researchers around the world are working tirelessly to discover new life-saving medical innovations.
The projects these companies are working on can be organized into three distinct groups:
Diagnostics: Quickly and effectively detecting the disease in the first place Treatments: Alleviating symptoms so people who have disease experience milder symptoms, and lowering the overall mortality rate Vaccines: Preventing transmission by making the population immune to COVID-19
Today’s graphics provide an in-depth look at who’s in the innovation race to defeat the virus, and they come to us courtesy of Artis Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on life sciences and tech investments.
Editor’s note: R&D is moving fast on COVID-19, and the situation is quite fluid. While today’s post is believed to be an accurate snapshot of all innovations and developments listed by WHO and FDA as of March 30, 2020, it is possible that more data will become available.
Knowledge is Power
Testing rates during this pandemic have been a point of contention. Without widespread testing, it has been tough to accurately track the spread of the virus, as well as pin down important metrics such as infectiousness and mortality rates. Inexpensive test kits that offer quick results will be key to curbing the outbreak.
Here are the companies and institutions developing new tests for COVID-19:
The ultimate aim of companies like Abbott and BioFire Defense is to create a test that can produce accurate results in as little as a few minutes.
In the Trenches With Coronavirus
While the majority of people infected with COVID-19 only experience minor symptoms, the disease can cause severe issues in some cases – even resulting in death. Most of the forms of treatment being pursued fall into one of two categories:
Treating respiratory symptoms – especially the inflammation that occurs in severe cases Antiviral growth – essentially stopping viruses from multiplying inside the human body
Here are the companies and institutions developing new treatment options for COVID-19:
We are primarily funded by readers. Please subscribe and donate to support us!
A wide range of players are in the race to develop treatments related to COVID-19. Pharma and healthcare companies are in the mix, as well as universities and institutes.
One surprising name on the list is Fujifilm. The Japanese company’s stock recently shot up on the news that Avigan, a decades-old flu drug developed through Fujifilm’s healthcare subsidiary, might be effective at helping coronavirus patients recover. The Japanese government’s stockpile of the drug is reportedly enough to treat two million people.
Vaccine
The progress that is perhaps being watched the closest by the general public is the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Creating a safe vaccine for a new illness is no easy feat. Thankfully, rapid progress is being made for a variety of reasons, including China’s efforts to sequence the genetic material of Sars-CoV-2 and to share that information with research groups around the world.
Another factor contributing to the unprecedented speed of development is the fact that coronaviruses were already on the radar of health science researchers. Both SARS and MERS were caused by coronaviruses, and even though vaccines were shelved once those outbreaks were contained, learnings can still be applied to defeating COVID-19.
One of the most promising leads on a COVID-19 vaccine is mRNA-1273. This vaccine, developed by Moderna Therapeutics, is being developed with extreme urgency, skipping straight into human trials before it was even tested in animals. If all goes well with the trials currently underway in Washington State, the company hopes to have an early version of the vaccine ready by fall 2020. The earliest versions of the vaccine would be made available to at-risk groups such as healthcare workers.
Further down the pipeline are 15 types of subunit vaccines. This method of vaccination uses a fragment of a pathogen, typically a surface protein, to trigger an immune response, teaching the body’s immune system how to fight off the disease without actually introducing live pathogens.
No Clear Finish Line
Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet for solving this pandemic.
A likely scenario is that teams of researchers around the world will come up with solutions that will incrementally help stop the spread of the virus, mitigate symptoms for those infected, and help lower the overall death toll. As well, early solutions rushed to market will need to be refined over the coming months.
We can only hope that the hard lessons learned from fighting COVID-19 will help stop a future outbreak in its tracks before it becomes a pandemic. For now, those of us on the sideline can only do our best to flatten the curve.