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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
May 8, 2020
(MarketWatch) Government math doesn’t always add up.
The Labor Department on Thursday reported another 3.2 million unemployed workers applied for jobless benefits in early May, bringing the total during the coronavirus pandemic to 33.5 million in seven weeks.
Turns out it’s an under-count — by at least 2.5 million and probably a lot more.
States are just starting to report the number of new claims filed by people such as gig workers, freelance writers and independent contractors who previously were ineligible for benefits. An emergency-relief law passed by Congress last month loosened eligibility standards and allowed these workers to qualify for benefits for the very first time. ........(more)
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-record-number-of-people-applying-for-jobless-benefits-is-even-worse-than-it-looks-2020-05-07?mod=home-page
The record number of people applying for jobless benefits is even worse than it looks
(MarketWatch) Government math doesn’t always add up.
The Labor Department on Thursday reported another 3.2 million unemployed workers applied for jobless benefits in early May, bringing the total during the coronavirus pandemic to 33.5 million in seven weeks.
Turns out it’s an under-count — by at least 2.5 million and probably a lot more.
States are just starting to report the number of new claims filed by people such as gig workers, freelance writers and independent contractors who previously were ineligible for benefits. An emergency-relief law passed by Congress last month loosened eligibility standards and allowed these workers to qualify for benefits for the very first time. ........(more)
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-record-number-of-people-applying-for-jobless-benefits-is-even-worse-than-it-looks-2020-05-07?mod=home-page
May 8, 2020
How Freedom Became Free-dumb in America
Why the World is Horrified by the American Idiot
"Avridamah!!” shouted Matteo, from across the park. Snowy looked up at me, quizzically. It was too early for this. I grumbled, irritated. What was the Italian doctor trying to say this fine spring lockdown morning?
“Mate. Have you seen this?!” Ben, the grizzled London copper asked me, starting to cackle, as he handed me his iPhone.
There, I saw a picture of crowds of people gathered in Central Park. Then another, on California’s beaches. With, apparently, not a care in the world.
“What the hell is wrong with them? It’s not like there’s…a…global pandemic…or anything.” Ben laughed. .......(more)
https://eand.co/how-freedom-became-free-dumb-in-america-baee33dc6476
How Freedom Became Free-dumb in America
How Freedom Became Free-dumb in America
Why the World is Horrified by the American Idiot
"Avridamah!!” shouted Matteo, from across the park. Snowy looked up at me, quizzically. It was too early for this. I grumbled, irritated. What was the Italian doctor trying to say this fine spring lockdown morning?
“Mate. Have you seen this?!” Ben, the grizzled London copper asked me, starting to cackle, as he handed me his iPhone.
There, I saw a picture of crowds of people gathered in Central Park. Then another, on California’s beaches. With, apparently, not a care in the world.
“What the hell is wrong with them? It’s not like there’s…a…global pandemic…or anything.” Ben laughed. .......(more)
https://eand.co/how-freedom-became-free-dumb-in-america-baee33dc6476
May 8, 2020
(Detroit Metro Times) Day by day, Michigan is slowly bending the coronavirus curve, with metro Detroit leading the way.
The state reported 93 new coronavirus deaths on Thursday, bringing the state’s total to 4,343. Michigan now has more than 45,600 confirmed cases, up 592 in the past 24 hours.
At the peak out of the outbreak in early and mid-April, metro Detroit accounted for 80% of the confirmed infections in the state. On Thursday, only a third of the new cases were in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties.
But as the rate of new cases declines in metro Detroit, outbreaks are cropping up in western Michigan counties. .......(more)
https://m.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2020/05/07/michigan-shows-strong-signs-of-controlling-the-coronavirus-as-new-cases-deaths-continue-to-decline
Michigan shows strong signs of controlling the coronavirus as new cases, deaths continue to decline
(Detroit Metro Times) Day by day, Michigan is slowly bending the coronavirus curve, with metro Detroit leading the way.
The state reported 93 new coronavirus deaths on Thursday, bringing the state’s total to 4,343. Michigan now has more than 45,600 confirmed cases, up 592 in the past 24 hours.
At the peak out of the outbreak in early and mid-April, metro Detroit accounted for 80% of the confirmed infections in the state. On Thursday, only a third of the new cases were in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties.
But as the rate of new cases declines in metro Detroit, outbreaks are cropping up in western Michigan counties. .......(more)
https://m.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2020/05/07/michigan-shows-strong-signs-of-controlling-the-coronavirus-as-new-cases-deaths-continue-to-decline
May 7, 2020
The temporary field hospital at TCF (formerly Cobo) Center has closed....
.... there was only 1 of 1,000 beds occupied there as of yesterday.
Detroit (and New Orleans) had the steepest rise in cases of any city back in March, now have among the steepest declines in cases.
Good job! Social distancing works.
May 7, 2020
(Market Watch) That’s the cautious view Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari shared on NBC’s Today Show in an interview ahead of Friday’s monthly employment report, which he says won’t give the clearest picture of job losses amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“That bad report tomorrow is actually going to understate how bad the damage has been,” Kashkari explained, adding that the reported unemployment rate could be as high as 17% — a brutal number, no doubt — but he says the true number may be as high as 24%. “It’s devastating.” .........(more)
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-devastating-the-jobs-number-will-be-bad-but-the-reality-is-actually-much-worse-warns-the-feds-neel-kashkari-2020-05-07?mod=home-page
It's devastating' -- Jobs number will be bad, but the reality is actually much worse, warns the Fed's
(Market Watch) That’s the cautious view Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari shared on NBC’s Today Show in an interview ahead of Friday’s monthly employment report, which he says won’t give the clearest picture of job losses amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“That bad report tomorrow is actually going to understate how bad the damage has been,” Kashkari explained, adding that the reported unemployment rate could be as high as 17% — a brutal number, no doubt — but he says the true number may be as high as 24%. “It’s devastating.” .........(more)
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-devastating-the-jobs-number-will-be-bad-but-the-reality-is-actually-much-worse-warns-the-feds-neel-kashkari-2020-05-07?mod=home-page
May 7, 2020
(Metro Times) Royal Oak City Commissioner Kim Gibbs, who came under fire for attending a rally against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s restrictions amid the coronavirus outbreak, was busted for shoplifting at Meijer on Wednesday.
Gibbs, an attorney who is running for reelection, is accused of failing to pay for about $100 worth of groceries at a self-checkout scanner. .......(more)
https://m.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2020/05/07/royal-oak-commissioner-kim-gibbs-busted-for-shoplifting-after-attending-operation-gridlock
Royal Oak Commissioner Kim Gibbs busted for shoplifting after being censured for attending Operation
(Metro Times) Royal Oak City Commissioner Kim Gibbs, who came under fire for attending a rally against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s restrictions amid the coronavirus outbreak, was busted for shoplifting at Meijer on Wednesday.
Gibbs, an attorney who is running for reelection, is accused of failing to pay for about $100 worth of groceries at a self-checkout scanner. .......(more)
https://m.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2020/05/07/royal-oak-commissioner-kim-gibbs-busted-for-shoplifting-after-attending-operation-gridlock
May 5, 2020
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Business Activity Index Shows to What Unfathomable Extent the US Economy Has Collapsed
(WolfStreet) Business activity and production at US non-manufacturing industries in April collapsed to the lowest level since inception of the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index in 1997, from already weak levels in March.
Only one industry, Finance & Insurance, reported an increase in business activity; the remaining 17 industries – ranging from Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation to Utilities – reported a decline in business activity, with some of them essentially shut down in large parts of the US. The ISM Business Activity Index plunged to 26%. A level below 50% means contraction (historic data from YCharts, current data from ISM):
This is how executives see business at their own companies. The Institute of Supply Management gathers these surveys from executives on a monthly basis. The names of the companies are not disclosed in the report. ..........(more)
https://wolfstreet.com/2020/05/05/the-ism-non-manufacturing-business-activity-index-shows-to-what-unfathomable-extent-the-us-economy-has-collapsed/
ISM Non-Manufacturing Business Activity Index Shows to What Unfathomable Extent the US Economy.....
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Business Activity Index Shows to What Unfathomable Extent the US Economy Has Collapsed
(WolfStreet) Business activity and production at US non-manufacturing industries in April collapsed to the lowest level since inception of the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index in 1997, from already weak levels in March.
Only one industry, Finance & Insurance, reported an increase in business activity; the remaining 17 industries – ranging from Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation to Utilities – reported a decline in business activity, with some of them essentially shut down in large parts of the US. The ISM Business Activity Index plunged to 26%. A level below 50% means contraction (historic data from YCharts, current data from ISM):
This is how executives see business at their own companies. The Institute of Supply Management gathers these surveys from executives on a monthly basis. The names of the companies are not disclosed in the report. ..........(more)
https://wolfstreet.com/2020/05/05/the-ism-non-manufacturing-business-activity-index-shows-to-what-unfathomable-extent-the-us-economy-has-collapsed/
May 5, 2020
(Bloomberg) Sam Zell, the billionaire known for buying up troubled real estate, said the coronavirus pandemic will leave the same kind of impact on the economy and society as the Great Depression 80 years ago, with long-lasting changes in human behavior that imperil many business models.
“Too many people are anticipating a kind of V-like recovery,” Zell said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We’re all going to be permanently scarred by having lived through this.”
Just as the depression left behind a generation that couldn’t shake the experience of mass unemployment, hunger and desperation, the burdens this crisis has forced on society may be similarly hard to forget. Zell, 78, said it won’t be easy for people to live as they did before the “extraordinary shock” of the pandemic. .........(more)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-05/billionaire-zell-sees-economy-permanently-scarred-by-pandemic?srnd=premium
Billionaire Sam Zell Sees Economy Permanently Scarred by Pandemic
(Bloomberg) Sam Zell, the billionaire known for buying up troubled real estate, said the coronavirus pandemic will leave the same kind of impact on the economy and society as the Great Depression 80 years ago, with long-lasting changes in human behavior that imperil many business models.
“Too many people are anticipating a kind of V-like recovery,” Zell said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We’re all going to be permanently scarred by having lived through this.”
Just as the depression left behind a generation that couldn’t shake the experience of mass unemployment, hunger and desperation, the burdens this crisis has forced on society may be similarly hard to forget. Zell, 78, said it won’t be easy for people to live as they did before the “extraordinary shock” of the pandemic. .........(more)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-05/billionaire-zell-sees-economy-permanently-scarred-by-pandemic?srnd=premium
May 5, 2020
Law professor: Virus reveals we all need a class in evidence
LEN NIEHOFF | DETROIT FREE PRESS
11:59 a.m. EDT May 5, 2020
Numerous public officials and individuals have made dreadful decisions about how to assess and respond to the threat posed by COVID-19. Those errors reveal a fundamental flaw in our K-12 and collegiate education systems.
We have failed to teach a subject of critical importance, and as a result have imperiled our health, our economy, and our republic.
We teach it in law school. We call it Evidence.
....(snip)....
COVID-19 has revealed our societal failure to understand what evidence is and to respect how it works. National and local political leaders have made decisions that ignored the evidence. Members of the general public have proved slow to accept the evidence. Measures adopted to help flatten the curve have been met with virulent protests, despite the evidence that they are working."
....(snip)....
We have become a nation of magical thinkers, making decisions based on what we hope is the case and whom we want to believe. When confronted with opposing evidence, we do not engage with it. We dismiss it and stick a label on it: “fake,” “phony,” “biased,” etc. And then we mistake that label for evidence. .........(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2020/05/05/coronavirus-evaluating-evidence/3083768001/
"We have become a nation of magical thinkers"
Law professor: Virus reveals we all need a class in evidence
LEN NIEHOFF | DETROIT FREE PRESS
11:59 a.m. EDT May 5, 2020
Numerous public officials and individuals have made dreadful decisions about how to assess and respond to the threat posed by COVID-19. Those errors reveal a fundamental flaw in our K-12 and collegiate education systems.
We have failed to teach a subject of critical importance, and as a result have imperiled our health, our economy, and our republic.
We teach it in law school. We call it Evidence.
....(snip)....
COVID-19 has revealed our societal failure to understand what evidence is and to respect how it works. National and local political leaders have made decisions that ignored the evidence. Members of the general public have proved slow to accept the evidence. Measures adopted to help flatten the curve have been met with virulent protests, despite the evidence that they are working."
....(snip)....
We have become a nation of magical thinkers, making decisions based on what we hope is the case and whom we want to believe. When confronted with opposing evidence, we do not engage with it. We dismiss it and stick a label on it: “fake,” “phony,” “biased,” etc. And then we mistake that label for evidence. .........(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2020/05/05/coronavirus-evaluating-evidence/3083768001/
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit, MI
Member since: Fri Oct 29, 2004, 12:18 AM
Number of posts: 77,078
