Tag: Trump botched COVID-19 response tanked the U.S. economy

200,000 dead as Trump vilifies science, prioritizes politics

NEW YORK (AP) — “I did the best I could,” President Donald Trump said.

Huddled with aides in the West Wing last week, his eyes fixed on Fox News, Trump wasn’t talking about how he had led the nation through the deadliest pandemic in a century. In a conversation overheard by an Associated Press reporter, Trump was describing how he’d just publicly rebuked one of his top scientists — Dr. Robert Redfield, a virologist and head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Redfield had angered the president by asserting that a COVID-19 vaccine wouldn’t be widely available to the general public until summer or fall of 2021. So hours later, with no supporting evidence, Trump called a news conference to say Redfield was “confused.” A vaccine, Trump insisted, could be ready before November’s election. Continue reading.

Republicans Against Trump Ad: Top Pence staffer on Covid-19 speaks out against Trump, endorses Biden

Pelosi seeks to put pressure on GOP in COVID-19 relief battle

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday sought to heighten the pressure on Republicans to move a new round of coronavirus relief, announcing that the House will return to the Capitol next month to vote on another aid package if a bipartisan agreement is struck before the elections. 

Pelosi stopped short of promising a House vote on a new emergency stimulus proposal before the chamber recesses at the end of September — a tactic endorsed by a growing number of moderate Democrats concerned about the political optics of leaving Washington without acting to address the health and economic fallout of the deadly pandemic.  

Although the House passed the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act in May — a bill ignored by Senate Republicans — conditions on the ground have changed significantly in the four months since then, as the coronavirus death toll approaches 200,000, schools struggle to reopen, and tens of millions of workers remain unemployed. A growing chorus of centrist lawmakers are wary of returning to their districts just weeks before the elections with nothing new to show.  Continue reading.

Pelosi: House will stay in session until agreement is reached on coronavirus relief

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday announced that the House will remain in session until the parties have an agreement on another round of emergency coronavirus relief. 

In a conference call with the House Democratic Caucus — the first since the chamber returned from a long summer recess — Pelosi indicated she isn’t willing to accept a “skinny” legislative package, but told her troops the chamber’s calendar will be extended until an agreement is sealed, according to sources on the call. 

“We have to stay here until we have a bill,” Pelosi told lawmakers. Continue reading.

Biden leans into COVID-19 to argue Trump mishandled economy

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Joe Biden is seeking to force President Trump to play defense on the one issue where he’s had a consistent polling advantage: the economy. 

The Biden campaign is increasingly using the coronavirus pandemic to make the case that Trump has failed voters on economic issues. 

In recent days, it has sought to connect COVID-19’s economic fallout, from record-high unemployment to the closures of businesses and schools, directly to Trump.  Continue reading.

Trump payroll-tax deferral for federal workers sparks backlash

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The Trump administration’s decision to require the deferral of payroll taxes for federal workers and military members is creating more divisions around the president’s attempt to provide short-term economic relief for workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

While many private sector employers are not expected to defer their employees’ Social Security payroll taxes under Trump’s order, the federal government is making it mandatory for its employees. Federal agencies have indicated that the deferral will apply to all eligible civilian employees and service members.

The federal government is the most prominent employer to announce it’s participating in the deferral, and the administration’s move to defer the payroll taxes of executive branch workers increases the impact of an action by Trump that may have little effect beyond government. Continue reading.

Do Jobless Benefits Deter Workers? Some Employers Say Yes. Studies Don’t.

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A $600-a-week supplement that expired in July has been credited with bolstering the economy. Its impact on hiring is central to a political fight.

When Clips & Clamps, a metal forming company in Plymouth, Mich., advertised for a die setter and operator last year, more than a hundred applications came sailing in.

This summer, the company sought to hire another operator, offering $17 to $22 an hour and benefits. After three months, not a single person had responded.

“I received zero applicants,” said Jeff Aznavorian, the company’s president. “I’ve been dumbfounded.” Continue reading.

Experts: US is experiencing a ‘K-shaped’ recovery that has troubling implications for the future of America’s economy

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During a Sunday appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Symone Sanders, a senior campaign adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, lamented how recent economic gains were distributed unequally. “It is going well for folks at the top, but for folks who are middle class or below, it’s going down,” Sanders told host Bret Baier. “The question really is, is this [economy] working for working families, and the answer is no.”

The economic pickle Sanders described is sometimes called a “K-shaped” recovery — meaning one in which the wealthy benefit from the recovery while everyone else continues to suffer. Regardless of one’s feelings about the Biden campaign, Sanders’ analysis is echoed by economists — who say that the nascent K-shaped recovery has troubling implications for the future of America’s economy.

“I do think the USA is seeing a K-shaped recovery,” Dr. Gabriel Mathy, a macroeconomist at American University, told Salon by email. “The working class has to continue working, and the government transfers and additional unemployment insurance payments are falling. They must work outside the home, exposing themselves to the virus, and with schools opening they must find childcare. Richer groups have seen their stock portfolios rise and they are working from home, doing okay.” Continue reading.

Survey: Number of uninsured Americans increased in 2019

Survey: Number of uninsured Americans increased in 2019

Roughly 33.2 million Americans, or 10.3 percent of the population, lacked health insurance in 2019, according to new data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rate is slightly higher than the 30.4 million, or 9.4 percent, who were uninsured at the time they were contacted through the department’s National Health Interview Survey in 2018.

Hispanics and Blacks continued to be the racial groups most likely to lack coverage, even as the insured rate improved slightly for Hispanics. The survey found that 29.7 percent of Hispanic respondents and 14.7 percent of Black respondents reported having no health insurance in 2019. In 2018, 26.7 percent of Hispanics and 15.2 percent of Blacks were uninsured. Continue reading.