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TexasTowelie

(111,314 posts)
Tue Jul 21, 2020, 12:47 AM Jul 2020

Unsanitized: 1937 Revisited

America prematurely pulled back on federal relief then. We’re planning to do so again. This is The COVID-19 Daily Report for July 20, 2020.


Last year on this day we were marveling at the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, celebrating American ingenuity that can meet any challenge. Today we’re hoping that only 800 people die from this disease that we’ve largely given up on containing. We also begin a critical week for the future of the U.S. economy.

A boost to state jobless aid of $600 a week ends this week for most recipients. (The Journal manages to get two things wrong in its lede; the practical end to the benefit is July 25 or 26 depending on how a state calculates its work week, and it’s more like 32 million people receiving or set to receive benefits, not 25 million.) One-time checks were sent out long ago. The lack of state and local fiscal aid has already set in motion layoffs and triggered premature reopenings (as is clearly seen in, for example, California breaking its own guidelines to reopen). Small business failures have accelerated and states are headed back into lockdown, either formally or functionally. If you only look through June you see an economy bouncing back, but economic indicators are all looking bad this month.

With this backdrop, Congress is set to begin negotiations on the next bill. This is unfolding exactly the way the CARES Act unfolded; Republican leaders are huddling in the White House, preparing to write a bill without outside input, which they will then present to Democrats as if the House-passed Heroes Act never existed. Parts of that wish list like hazard pay for essential workers seem all but dead. Instead, Mitch McConnell is dictating terms.

Here’s what those terms look like: it starts with a broad release from liability for corporations whose workers and customers get sick. That’s priority number one; not stopping the virus, but stopping lawsuits about the virus. The “temporary” liability would last four years for businesses who make “reasonable” efforts to follow public health guidelines (of which there aren’t any at the federal level, so that’s not much of a hurdle), and adds damage caps just in case a couple cases sneak through. The measure would include hospitals and schools, so parents should know that the party pressuring schools to reopen also wants to give them immunity from sickening your child (and potentially you). Keep in mind that there are next to no lawsuits right now.

Read more: https://prospect.org/coronavirus/unsanitized-1937-revisited/
(American Prospect)
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Unsanitized: 1937 Revisited (Original Post) TexasTowelie Jul 2020 OP
Fucking republican shitfaces I_UndergroundPanther Jul 2020 #1
I like what you say but wish the Dems could get a cohesive message out along those lines... dutch777 Jul 2020 #2
K/R When does the greed stop? appalachiablue Jul 2020 #3

I_UndergroundPanther

(12,452 posts)
1. Fucking republican shitfaces
Tue Jul 21, 2020, 01:01 AM
Jul 2020

Dems do not let the limits on liability,the payroll tax cut or any other repubican pro corporate bullshit stand. Slam the ever living fuck out of those soul dead republican pigs. No more negotiation tell them to pass the Dem version or suffer the consequences when the desperate come to kick you out of power ya pigs.

dutch777

(2,871 posts)
2. I like what you say but wish the Dems could get a cohesive message out along those lines...
Tue Jul 21, 2020, 01:19 AM
Jul 2020

...sadly, I am not sure they can. Table pounding and spines needed. How hard is it to say this favors corporate America and Wall Street not American families on Main Street? And why can't they message that lack of good public health policy and real leadership from the Federal government has caused over 3 mil illnesses and 135k deaths...most unnecessary when you look at how Austria, Germany, Vietnam, etc., etc. contained this? The economy is going down, hospitals will implode, people will continue to die ...thanks Republicans and Prez Trump.

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