IssuesInsights.com

In the flurry of President Joe Biden’s executive orders was one that was almost entirely overlooked but could easily end up having the biggest impact.

The order also seems harmless enough, going by the seemingly innocent title “Modernizing Regulatory Review.” Except this order isn’t about modernizing regulations. It’s about unleashing the regulatory state with a ferocity never before seen in this country.

Biden’s order – which didn’t get released to the press until late in the evening of his first day – aims to effectively toss the cost-benefit analysis that for many decades has served as at least a modest brake on the ambitions of regulators. In the past, regulations where the cost of compliance far exceeded the benefits could be stymied by the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Biden wants the review process instead to be “a tool to affirmatively promote regulations” and “to ensure swift and effective federal action” on everything from the pandemic, to the economy, to racial inequality, to the “undeniable reality and accelerating threat of climate change.” In other words … everything.

Clyde Wayne Crews, a regulation expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said that Biden’s order is “likely to do away with cost-benefit analysis by elevating unquantifiable aims as benefits and deny costs of regulation altogether.” In doing so, it will “put weight on the scales of whether or not to regulate such that the answer will always be in the affirmative.”

The leftist Huffington Post cheered the news, calling Biden’s order “game changing” and saying “the memo could unleash a wave of stronger regulations to reduce income inequality, fight climate change and protect public health. Among left-leaning experts on regulation, it’s a signal that Biden could break with 40 years of conservative policy.”

The site quoted James Goodwin, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform, who said “I realize what I’m about to say to you sounds absurd. It has the potential to be the most significant action Biden took on day one.” 

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com

The impact of the global coronavirus lockdown is set to plunge 100 million people into extreme poverty, warns a new report by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

The report appears to pin the blame on COVID-19 itself for the economic impact, yet the actual culprit is discovered to be the “restrictions” put in place by governments in response to the pandemic.

From the report;

“With the virus and its restrictions, up to 100 million more people globally could fall into the bitter existence of living on just $1.90 a day, according to the World Bank. That’s “well below any reasonable conception of a life with dignity,” the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty wrote this year. And it comes on top of the 736 million people already there, half of them in just five countries: Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Congo and Bangladesh.”

The report notes that the impact of the lockdown on the poor in countries like India was “so abrupt and punishing” that their Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, begged for forgiveness.

The report will stir up further debate as to whether the global lockdown will prove more deadly than COVID-19 itself, with extreme poverty being directly linked to death and shortened life spans. According to research published by Imperial College London and Johns Hopkins University, around 1.4 million people are expected to die from untreated TB infections due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Experts have also warned that hundreds of thousands or even millions of people could die in the longer term as a result of the lockdown preventing them from receiving treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses.

Given that many of those sunk into extreme poverty as a result of the lockdown live in sub-Saharan Africa, this could also exacerbate mass immigration from that region into Europe.

“It’s a timely reminder that the the main cost of the lockdowns favoured by liberal policy-makers across the world will not be people in the West, but those hovering just above the poverty line in the developing world,” writes Toby Young.

“Thanks to the misguided enthusiasm of Western governments for imprisoning entire populations in their homes, thereby triggering a global recession, tens of millions of people will die of starvation in low-income countries.”

By Sylvan Lane
TheHill.com

The U.S. economy shrunk at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 32.9 percent during the second quarter of 2020 as the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic spurred an economic collapse of record-breaking speed and size, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Between April and June, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk at a pace that would have wiped out roughly a third of the value of the economy if extended over 12 months, according to the Commerce Department’s advance estimate of second-quarter growth. It is the largest one-quarter plunge in economic growth since the federal government began reporting quarterly GDP data. 

“This was the steepest decline since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008, when output shrank by 8.4%,” wrote Agathe Demarais, global forecasting director at The Economist Intelligence Unit in a Wednesday preview of the report. “The scale of the fall in the first quarter will be dwarfed by that in the second.”

On a non-annualized basis, GDP shrunk roughly 9.5 percent between the first and second quarters of 2020.

The staggering decline in GDP growth was widely expected by economists after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic forced millions of Americans into quarantine and out of work. More than 20 million Americans lost their jobs in March and April as thousands of businesses were forced to close and lay off their workers.

The mass layoffs and business closures derailed consumer spending, sapping a crucial source of strength for the U.S. economy that drives roughly two-thirds of annual growth. Spending on goods and services plunged at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 34.6 percent in the second quarter, another record-breaking plunge.

“Consumption is the biggest component of GDP — almost 70% — so this drop alone will have subtracted some 24 percentage points from headline growth,” wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics in a Thursday research note.

Investments in buildings, equipment and intellectual property — important drivers of U.S. economic production — fell at a yearly rate of 49 percent. Exports also plunged at a yearly rate of 64 percent.

While the economy has since regained roughly 8 million of the jobs lost during the pandemic, a second surge of cases has slowed the burgeoning recovery. Permanent job losses increased in each of the past two monthly jobs reports despite strong net totals and the number of unemployed Americans applying for weekly jobless benefits has remained above 1 million for four months.

The Labor Department reported on Thursday that initial unemployment claims rose for the second week in a row to a seasonally adjusted 1.43 million for the week ending July 25. Another 829,000 jobless workers applied for benefits through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program for contractors and gig workers not typically covered by traditional unemployment insurance.

The Trump administration, Senate Republicans and Democratic congressional leaders are struggling to strike a deal on another economic rescue package to guide the U.S. through the pandemic-driven recession. Lawmakers have already missed a window to come to an agreement before enhanced unemployment benefits effectively lapsed and a federal eviction and foreclosure moratorium expired on July 25.

Economists have warned that the steep decline in fiscal support from Congress and the impact of a second wave of coronavirus infections could cause deep long-term damage to the U.S. economy that could take years to reverse. 

“While the initial rebound in monthly activity was stronger than expected, the recent flattening in high frequency indicators suggests a more gradual pace of recovery from here,” wrote economists at Nomura in a Wednesday research note.

AmericaCanWeTalk.org

This ought to be the theme set by President Trump in his renewed Covid-19 briefings, and the completion of the sentence is:  “we would not have ordered a shutdown—and that is why we can now lift all remaining lockdowns and covid-related restrictions throughout this country.”

The overwhelming power of this theme, and the overwhelming rationale for using it, comes from the simple fact that it is true.

• We know now that Covid-19 is an unpleasant disease, a dangerous and potentially fatal disease for the elderly and infirm, and an extremely rare disease in children.
• We know now there are therapeutic treatments—hydroxychloroquine is the foundation of one entire branch of remedies (which Trump himself made use of), and inhaled steroids (budesonide being one) are another—which are showing undeniable efficacy all over the country.
• We know now the lethality of Covid-19 is comparable to that of a bad flu (and that assumes the reported ‘Covid-19 deaths’ are not substantially overstated, though there is abundant evidence that they are—which would mean the actual lethality may be significantly less than a bad flu).
• “Spikes” in new ‘cases’ reflect increased testing and the predominance of mild and completely asymptomatic incidents of the disease (and a large amount of false positive and fraudulent reporting); they have only confirmed the low lethality rate (and driven it lower)

Had all of the foregoing been known at the time of the initial outbreak, there would have been no lockdown, and probably no restrictions of any kind.  The disease would have spread as contagious diseases do, the especially sick would have been treated in hospitals and ICUs, and the remaining cases would have run their course with infected people missing a few days of work, recovering, and going back to work.

There is no shame in acknowledging this truth.  A contagious virus seeming to originate from China and possibly from a CCP bioweapons lab deserved special precautions.  The US national public health authorities advised special precautions, and President Trump followed their advice.  To say now that their advice turned out to be overcautious is not to say they acted in bad faith (though the jury is still out on Fauci), nor is it to say that Covid-19 is no big deal.

It is simply to point out truth in a common sense, understandable way that allows Americans to break free of the paralysis of fear—and simultaneously breaks the rationale of the continued stranglehold that some state and local officials are still imposing on the American people.

It is unfathomable that President Trump does not know the truth about what we now know about Covid-19.

And so Trump’s continued public statements that:

(1) label Covid-19 ‘the plague’;

(2) tout his decisions to shut down air travel from China and then authorize the shutdown of the country as ‘saving millions of lives’;

(3) endorse the PC view that mask-wearing is a patriotic, unselfish act; and

(4) enshrine the mantra of urging patient endurance because ‘the vaccine is coming, the vaccine is coming!”

…can only reflect

(a) a political calculation that admitting governmental overreaction to Covid-19 will harm his re-election prospects, or

(b) a personal predilection against ever admitting error—even when it was not in fact his error, or

(c) that his own germaphobia has him still fearful—

or some combination of the above.

This is a tragic, unnecessary and massive miscalculation by President Trump, and the American people are paying a huge price for it.  They are ready to power their economy to a strong rebound, but Trump is enabling the lockdowns and fear to continue.  His public posture allows Newsom and Cuomo—to name just two blue state governors—to continue the dictatorial tyranny in the name of ‘science’, when there is no science whatsoever behind continued lockdowns.  But there is a continuing fear created by the initial overreaction, and this is easily leverageable by governors and local officials who want to use it to be little Napoleons in their own domains.

Just in time for the November election, the continued lockdowns in major states are going to make the monthly economic news for August and September (and maybe even July) likely to turn stagnant or negative.  The MSM will go bonkers when that happens, and Trump will be left talking about another ridiculous funny money stimulus, bizarre ideas for how to operate schools with masks and social distancing, and promising delivery of a vaccine that still won’t be ready but will be proceeding on what looks increasingly like a rushed, caution-to-the-winds development plan.

A majority of Trump supporters—probably even a large majority—will walk barefoot over broken glass to vote for his re-election in November no matter what the status of Covid-19 lockdowns or anything else, simply because the alternative of the radical left governing this nation is too frightening to even consider.  But if Trump loses the election because of a re-sagging economy, unhappy parents of school-age children, and general fatigue from pandemic fear—all associated with Trump as President—he will have no one to blame but himself.

President Trump, please trust the truth.  Truth has power; truth enables and empowers freedom—which is the bloodstream of America.  Admitting the truth is calming, clarifying, health-giving.

The truth is:  if we knew then (back in February) what we know now about Covid-19, there would have been no lockdowns.  Which means there do not need to be any lockdowns now.

Let’s trust our doctors and healthcare system to ride this out, and get on with life in America.  NOW.

Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota announced Thursday that her state achieved a $19 million surplus for the 2020 fiscal year.

For Noem, one of five governors who did not issue a stay-at-home order, it was a vindication of her hands-off approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, which protected her state’s economy while at the same time safeguarding the health of the people of South Dakota.

“As many states closed their economies, I trusted South Dakotans to make the right decisions for themselves and their loved ones,” said the 48-year-old Republican governor in announcing the surplus. “Our future remains bright because we kept our state open for business and we live within our means.” 

South Dakota experienced one of the smallest outbreaks of the virus in the nation even without the stringent measures imposed on most of the country. This is likely a consequence of the state’s low population density, its rural nature, voluntary social distancing, and the reasonable restrictions Noem did set in place.

Only 116 deaths attributed to COVID-19 have been recorded as of Friday in the state, which has the fifth-lowest population density in the nation and a population of around 880,000. South Dakota has also not experienced a recent climb in cases like many states have — on Thursday, July 16, the state recorded only 42 new cases. 

The surplus is more evidence that South Dakota’s economy has been spared the devastation wrought in other states by the pandemic. 

Across the country, states are facing budgets destroyed by drastically reduced tax revenue and increased spending to fight the virus: Connecticut had a $1 billion deficit for the 2020 fiscal year and New York had a $13.3 billion deficit for the fiscal year, for instance.

Sales and use tax, South Dakota’s largest revenue source, grew 4.6 percent in 2020 over the last fiscal year, according to a press release. 

South Dakota has also recorded the second-smallest contraction in gross domestic product of any state in the first quarter of 2020, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Only Nebraska, which also did not have a stay-at-home order, fared better. 

By Micheal Snyder
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com

Most Americans believe that “the worst is behind us”, but the truth is that we are sleepwalking into an unprecedented economic nightmare.

Week after week we continue to get economic numbers that are absolutely horrific, and it appears that we are heading for a housing crisis that will be even worse than what we witnessed in 2008. 

Back then, millions of Americans lost their homes, but this time around it could be tens of millions.

I know that a statement like that may sound overly dramatic, but I believe that many of you that feel that way may change your minds after reading this entire article.

And this is just for April, the very beginning of the Pandemic’s impact on housing.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

OK, it’s actually worse. Mortgages that are in forbearance and have not missed a payment before going into forbearance don’t count as delinquent. They’re reported as “current.” And 8.2% of all mortgages in the US – or 4.1 million loans – are currently in forbearance, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But if they did not miss a payment before entering forbearance, they don’t count in the suddenly spiking delinquency data.

The onslaught of delinquencies came suddenly in April, according to CoreLogic, a property data and analytics company (owner of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index), which released its monthly Loan Performance Insights today. And it came after 27 months in a row of declining delinquency rates. These delinquency rates move in stages – and the early stages are now getting hit:

Transition from “Current” to 30-days past due: In April, the share of all mortgages that were past due, but less than 30 days, soared to 3.4% of all mortgages, the highest in the data going back to 1999. This was up from 0.7% in April last year. During the Housing Bust, this rate peaked in November 2008 at 2% (chart via CoreLogic):

This video documents the earnings of prominent billionaires since March 2020, the departure of major CEOs over the last year, and asks questions about the future.

 

This has had many reasons why it's happening now......Is it to Divert Attention from what's just happened - "It is all a Diversion"