Trump Takes Us to the Brink
Will weaponized racism destroy America?
By Paul Krugman
Last fall Bob Kroll, the head of the Minneapolis police union, appeared at a Trump rally, where he thanked the president for ending Barack Obama’s “oppression of police” and letting cops “put the handcuffs on criminals instead of us.”
The events of the past week, in which the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody led to demonstrations against police brutality, and these demonstrations were met by more police brutality — including unprecedented violence against the news media — have made it clear what Kroll meant by taking the handcuffs off. And Donald Trump, far from trying to calm the nation, is pouring gasoline on the fire; he seems very close to trying to incite a civil war.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that America as we know it is on the brink.
How did we get here? The core story of U.S. politics over the past four decades is that wealthy elites weaponized white racism to gain political power, which they used to pursue policies that enriched the already wealthy at workers’ expense.
Until Trump’s rise it was possible — barely — for people to deny this reality with a straight face. At this point, however, it requires willful blindness not to see what’s going on.
I still see occasional news reports that describe Trump as a “populist.” But Trump’s economic policies have been the opposite of populist: They have been relentlessly plutocratic, centered largely on a successful effort to ram through huge tax cuts for corporations and the rich, and a so far unsuccessful attempt to take health insurance away from poor and working-class families.
Nor have Trump’s trade wars brought back the good jobs of yore. Even before the coronavirus plunged us into depression, Trump had failed to deliver major employment growth in coal mining or manufacturing. And farmers, who supported Trump by large margins in 2016, have suffered huge losses thanks to his trade wars.
So what has Trump really offered to the white working class that makes up most of his base? Basically, he has provided affirmation and cover for racial hostility.
And nowhere is this clearer than in his relationship with the police.
If economic self-interest were the only thing driving political orientation, you would expect police officers to favor Democrats. They are, after all, unionized public-sector employees — and Republicans are both anti-union and anti-government.
They don’t make enough money to benefit much from the Trump tax cut. Their jobs will be very much at risk if revenue-starved state and local governments are forced to make drastic spending cuts — and Trump’s allies in the Senate are blocking the aid that might avert such cuts.
Indeed, political contributions by public-sector unions overwhelmingly favor Democrats. And while many firefighters voted for Trump in 2016, the largest firefighters’ union has endorsed Joe Biden.
But many police officers and their unions remain staunch Trump supporters, and they have been pretty clear about why: They feel that Trump will back them even, or perhaps especially, if they engage in abusive behavior toward racial minorities.
Just to be clear, many and probably most police officers have behaved well over the past week. In fact, in some cities the police have shown solidarity with protesters, joining marches or taking a knee.
But Trump clearly sides with those who reject any notion that police officers — or any other authority figures — should be held accountable for abusive behavior. Remember, he’s used his authority to pardon members of the U.S. military who were accused or convicted by their own services of committing war crimes.
In a call with governors on Monday, he showed no sign of recognizing either that there might be some justification for widespread protests or that he should play some role in unifying the nation. Instead, he told the governors that all the violence was coming from the “radical left,” and he insisted that governors must get tougher: “You have to dominate or you’ll look like a bunch of jerks; you have to arrest and try people.”
Trump — who retreated to an underground bunker when protesters began demonstrating in front of the White House — also told the governors that “most of you are weak.”
It was a terrifying performance.
Republicans have, as I said, spent decades exploiting racial hostility to win elections despite a policy agenda that hurts workers. But Trump is now pushing that cynical strategy toward a kind of apotheosis.
On one side, he’s effectively inciting violence by his supporters. On the other, he’s very close to calling for a military response to social protest. And at this point, nobody expects any significant pushback from other Republicans.
Now, I don’t think Trump will actually succeed in provoking a race war in the near future, even though he’s clearly itching for an excuse to use force. But the months ahead are still likely to be very, very ugly.
After all, if Trump is encouraging violence and talking about military solutions to overwhelmingly peaceful protests, what will he and his supporters do if he looks likely to lose November’s election?
China steps up inactivated COVID-19 vaccine development
China’s inactivated COVID-19 vaccine is expected to get ready for the market by the end of this year or early next year.
BEIJING — China’s inactivated COVID-19 vaccine is expected to finish clinical trials and get ready for the market as early as the end of this year or early next year, according to developer China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
As a subsidiary of the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), CNBG has two inactivated COVID-19 vaccines under Phase-2 clinical trials and has increased its vaccine production capacity.
The company said more than 2,000 people have received the vaccines and clinical data has verified their safety and efficacy, showing that adverse reactions are far lower than other similar products.
To increase manufacturing capacity, the company has built a large production unit in Beijing that can meet high bio-safety protection requirements. The unit will be able to produce 100 to 120 million inactivated COVID-19 vaccines per year once mass production begins.
Another vaccine production facility in Wuhan is expected to be completed by the end of June or early July. Together, the two production units are expected to produce 200 million inactivated COVID-19 vaccines per year, which will help ensure adequate supply.
Republican Attacks on State and Local Government Are Yet Another Assault on Black People
By Dean Baker
Democrats in Congress have been pushing for a large amount of assistance for state and local governments in the next pandemic aid package. The finances of these governments have been devastated by the pandemic, with all of them seeing massive shortfalls in revenue due to the shutdowns and the weak economy that is projected for the months ahead. At the same time, they have had enormous demands for public services as a result of the pandemic, largely due to the need for additional health care spending. The demand for services has been further increased as a result of state and local government efforts to deal with the protests following the police killing of George Floyd.
The Republicans have thus far balked on providing aid to state and local governments. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has openly said that states should declare bankruptcy, which would allow them to default on their pension obligations.
Defaulting on the pensions of state and local employees would be a huge hit to African American workers and retirees. They are substantially over-represented among current and retired public sector employees. This is due to the fact that they faced less discrimination in employment opportunities in public sector employment than in private sector employment.
Currently, the African American share of the state and local workforce is almost 25 percent higher than its share of the private sector workforce. In the 1990s, the African American share of state and local employment was almost 40 percent higher than its share of private sector employment. State and local governments provided millions of African Americans middle class jobs that they were denied in the private sector.
Part of the compensation for a middle class job has historically been a pension. These pensions are not a gift from the government, workers sacrifice pay during their working years in exchange for this pension in retirement. Mitch McConnell’s plan to have states declare bankruptcy, and thereby renege on pensions promised to workers, is in effect an effort to take away pay that workers have already worked for. And, the victims of Senator McConnell’s scheme would disproportionately be African American workers.
And Republicans wonder why so many black people are angry.
Physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection to prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis
By Derek K Chu, Elie A Akl, Stephanie Duda, Karla Solo, Sally Yaacoub, Holger J Schünemann, et al.
Summary
Background
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19 and is spread person-to-person through close contact. We aimed to investigate the effects of physical distance, face masks, and eye protection on virus transmission in health-care and non-health-care (eg, community) settings.
Methods
We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the optimum distance for avoiding person-to-person virus transmission and to assess the use of face masks and eye protection to prevent transmission of viruses. We obtained data for SARS-CoV-2 and the betacoronaviruses that cause severe acute respiratory syndrome, and Middle East respiratory syndrome from 21 standard WHO-specific and COVID-19-specific sources. We searched these data sources from database inception to May 3, 2020, with no restriction by language, for comparative studies and for contextual factors of acceptability, feasibility, resource use, and equity. We screened records, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias in duplicate. We did frequentist and Bayesian meta-analyses and random-effects meta-regressions. We rated the certainty of evidence according to Cochrane methods and the GRADE approach.
Findings
Our search identified 172 observational studies across 16 countries and six continents, with no randomised controlled trials and 44 relevant comparative studies in health-care and non-health-care settings (n=25 697 patients). Transmission of viruses was lower with physical distancing of 1 m or more, compared with a distance of less than 1 m (n=10 736, pooled adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0·18, 95% CI 0·09 to 0·38; risk difference [RD] −10·2%, 95% CI −11·5 to −7·5; moderate certainty); protection was increased as distance was lengthened (change in relative risk [RR] 2·02 per m; pinteraction=0·041; moderate certainty). Face mask use could result in a large reduction in risk of infection (n=2647; aOR 0·15, 95% CI 0·07 to 0·34, RD −14·3%, −15·9 to −10·7; low certainty), with stronger associations with N95 or similar respirators compared with disposable surgical masks or similar (eg, reusable 12–16-layer cotton masks; pinteraction=0·090; posterior probability >95%, low certainty). Eye protection also was associated with less infection (n=3713; aOR 0·22, 95% CI 0·12 to 0·39, RD −10·6%, 95% CI −12·5 to −7·7; low certainty). Unadjusted studies and subgroup and sensitivity analyses showed similar findings.
Interpretation
The findings of this systematic review and meta-analysis support physical distancing of 1 m or more and provide quantitative estimates for models and contact tracing to inform policy. Optimum use of face masks, respirators, and eye protection in public and health-care settings should be informed by these findings and contextual factors. Robust randomised trials are needed to better inform the evidence for these interventions, but this systematic appraisal of currently best available evidence might inform interim guidance.
Medical Workers Should Use Respirator Masks, Not Surgical Masks
The surgical masks used in risky settings like hospitals offer much less protection against the coronavirus, an analysis found.
By Apoorva Mandavilli
A new analysis of 172 studies, funded by the World Health Organization, confirms what scientists have said for months: N95 and other respirator masks are far superior to surgical or cloth masks in protecting essential medical workers against the coronavirus.
The results, published in The Lancet, make it clear that the W.H.O. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should recommend that essential workers like nurses and emergency responders wear N95 masks, not just surgical masks, experts said….
Also, the Swedish approach of accepting more deaths to keep the economy humming — which a lot of Wall Street types are urging us to adopt — is succeeding on the death side 2/
Man Behind Sweden’s Controversial Virus Strategy Admits Mistakes
Sweden’s top epidemiologist has admitted his strategy to fight Covid-19 resulted in too many deaths, after persuading his country to avoid a strict lockdown.
The number of Covid19 deaths per capita in Sweden was the highest in the world in a rolling seven-day average to June 2nd, according to reported data. The country’s rate of 5.29 deaths per million inhabitants a day was well above the UK’s 4.48.
We should have done more, admits architect of Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy
Anders Tegnell says there was ‘potential for improvement’ in country’s strategy to fight pandemic
We should have done more, admits architect of Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy
Anders Tegnell says there was ‘potential for improvement’ in country’s strategy to fight pandemic
By Jon Henley – Guardian
Sweden’s chief epidemiologist and the architect of its light-touch approach to the coronavirus has acknowledged that the country has had too many deaths from Covid-19 and should have done more to curb the spread of the virus.
Anders Tegnell, who has previously criticised other countries’ strict lockdowns as not sustainable in the long run, told Swedish Radio on Wednesday that there was “quite obviously a potential for improvement in what we have done” in Sweden.
Asked whether too many people in Sweden had died, he replied: “Yes, absolutely,” adding that the country would “have to consider in the future whether there was a way of preventing” such a high toll.
Sweden’s death rate per capita was the highest in the world over the seven days to 2 June, figures suggest. This week the government bowed to mounting opposition pressure and promised to set up a commission to look into its Covid-19 strategy.
“If we were to encounter the same disease again knowing exactly what we know about it today, I think we would settle on doing something in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done,” Tegnell said. It would be “good to know exactly what to shut down to curb the spread of infection better”, he added.
In an interview with the Dagens Nyheter daily, Tegnell subsequently said he still believed “the basic strategy has worked well. I do not see what we would have done completely differently … Based on the knowledge we had then, we feel we made the appropriate decisions.”
According to the scientific online publication Ourworldindata.com, the number of Covid-19 deaths per capita in Sweden was the highest in the world in a rolling seven-day average to 2 June. The country’s rate of 5.29 deaths per million inhabitants a day was well above the UK’s 4.48….
Things are getting worse more slowly. I don't know why economists were surprised. I though it was clear from a number of indicators that the decline has pretty much leveled off 1/ https://t.co/aMn9s1tZnM
Things are getting worse more slowly. I don’t know why economists were surprised. I thought it was clear from a number of indicators that the decline has pretty much leveled off 1/
Private payrolls down another 2.76 million in May, ADP says
The reported total was well below the 8.75 million estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The reason for the wide disparity was not immediately clear.
Like every libertarian in the history of the world.
” Rand Paul’s Gift for Being a Colossal Public Dick Is Otherworldly
He senses the opportunity the way a polar bear can sense prey 10 miles away.
By Charles P. Pierce
Jun 4, 2020
“On a day like we had on Wednesday, you’d think that the opportunities to stand out as a colossal public dick would be quite limited, given the competition. But that’s only if you reckoned without Senator Rand Paul, onetime dudebro idol and Republican of Kentucky. Aqua Buddha’s gift for seeing and seizing upon even the slightest chance at being a colossal public dick is positively otherworldly. He senses them the way a polar bear can sense prey 10 miles away. From The Hill.
‘Asked how the anti-lynching bill could be applied to altercations that result in “minor bruising” or what language he was hoping to get removed, Paul’s office referred to a statement from the GOP senator. “The bill as written would allow altercations resulting in a cut, abrasion, bruise, or any other injury no matter how temporary to be subject to a 10-year penalty. My amendment would simply apply a serious bodily injury standard, which would ensure crimes resulting in substantial risk of death and extreme physical pain be prosecuted as a lynching,” he said in the statement.’
(It’s worth noting that Aqua Buddha’s standard for what constitutes “lynching” is taken almost word-for-word from the Bush Administration’s standard for what constitutes “torture,” and we all know how well that standard worked out.)
This, of course, is precisely the right moment in time to block an anti-lynching bill, given what happened in Minneapolis and subsequent events. And, of course, the Congress has been trying and failing to get its act together on an anti-lynching bill for only over a century. How freaking hard can this be in 2020? Don’t answer that.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/opinion/trump-george-floyd-police-brutality.html
June 1, 2020
Trump Takes Us to the Brink
Will weaponized racism destroy America?
By Paul Krugman
Last fall Bob Kroll, the head of the Minneapolis police union, appeared at a Trump rally, where he thanked the president for ending Barack Obama’s “oppression of police” and letting cops “put the handcuffs on criminals instead of us.”
The events of the past week, in which the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody led to demonstrations against police brutality, and these demonstrations were met by more police brutality — including unprecedented violence against the news media — have made it clear what Kroll meant by taking the handcuffs off. And Donald Trump, far from trying to calm the nation, is pouring gasoline on the fire; he seems very close to trying to incite a civil war.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that America as we know it is on the brink.
How did we get here? The core story of U.S. politics over the past four decades is that wealthy elites weaponized white racism to gain political power, which they used to pursue policies that enriched the already wealthy at workers’ expense.
Until Trump’s rise it was possible — barely — for people to deny this reality with a straight face. At this point, however, it requires willful blindness not to see what’s going on.
I still see occasional news reports that describe Trump as a “populist.” But Trump’s economic policies have been the opposite of populist: They have been relentlessly plutocratic, centered largely on a successful effort to ram through huge tax cuts for corporations and the rich, and a so far unsuccessful attempt to take health insurance away from poor and working-class families.
Nor have Trump’s trade wars brought back the good jobs of yore. Even before the coronavirus plunged us into depression, Trump had failed to deliver major employment growth in coal mining or manufacturing. And farmers, who supported Trump by large margins in 2016, have suffered huge losses thanks to his trade wars.
So what has Trump really offered to the white working class that makes up most of his base? Basically, he has provided affirmation and cover for racial hostility.
And nowhere is this clearer than in his relationship with the police.
If economic self-interest were the only thing driving political orientation, you would expect police officers to favor Democrats. They are, after all, unionized public-sector employees — and Republicans are both anti-union and anti-government.
They don’t make enough money to benefit much from the Trump tax cut. Their jobs will be very much at risk if revenue-starved state and local governments are forced to make drastic spending cuts — and Trump’s allies in the Senate are blocking the aid that might avert such cuts.
Indeed, political contributions by public-sector unions overwhelmingly favor Democrats. And while many firefighters voted for Trump in 2016, the largest firefighters’ union has endorsed Joe Biden.
But many police officers and their unions remain staunch Trump supporters, and they have been pretty clear about why: They feel that Trump will back them even, or perhaps especially, if they engage in abusive behavior toward racial minorities.
Just to be clear, many and probably most police officers have behaved well over the past week. In fact, in some cities the police have shown solidarity with protesters, joining marches or taking a knee.
But Trump clearly sides with those who reject any notion that police officers — or any other authority figures — should be held accountable for abusive behavior. Remember, he’s used his authority to pardon members of the U.S. military who were accused or convicted by their own services of committing war crimes.
In a call with governors on Monday, he showed no sign of recognizing either that there might be some justification for widespread protests or that he should play some role in unifying the nation. Instead, he told the governors that all the violence was coming from the “radical left,” and he insisted that governors must get tougher: “You have to dominate or you’ll look like a bunch of jerks; you have to arrest and try people.”
Trump — who retreated to an underground bunker when protesters began demonstrating in front of the White House — also told the governors that “most of you are weak.”
It was a terrifying performance.
Republicans have, as I said, spent decades exploiting racial hostility to win elections despite a policy agenda that hurts workers. But Trump is now pushing that cynical strategy toward a kind of apotheosis.
On one side, he’s effectively inciting violence by his supporters. On the other, he’s very close to calling for a military response to social protest. And at this point, nobody expects any significant pushback from other Republicans.
Now, I don’t think Trump will actually succeed in provoking a race war in the near future, even though he’s clearly itching for an excuse to use force. But the months ahead are still likely to be very, very ugly.
After all, if Trump is encouraging violence and talking about military solutions to overwhelmingly peaceful protests, what will he and his supporters do if he looks likely to lose November’s election?
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-06/01/c_139105909.htm
June 1, 2020
China steps up inactivated COVID-19 vaccine development
China’s inactivated COVID-19 vaccine is expected to get ready for the market by the end of this year or early next year.
BEIJING — China’s inactivated COVID-19 vaccine is expected to finish clinical trials and get ready for the market as early as the end of this year or early next year, according to developer China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
As a subsidiary of the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), CNBG has two inactivated COVID-19 vaccines under Phase-2 clinical trials and has increased its vaccine production capacity.
The company said more than 2,000 people have received the vaccines and clinical data has verified their safety and efficacy, showing that adverse reactions are far lower than other similar products.
To increase manufacturing capacity, the company has built a large production unit in Beijing that can meet high bio-safety protection requirements. The unit will be able to produce 100 to 120 million inactivated COVID-19 vaccines per year once mass production begins.
Another vaccine production facility in Wuhan is expected to be completed by the end of June or early July. Together, the two production units are expected to produce 200 million inactivated COVID-19 vaccines per year, which will help ensure adequate supply.
https://cepr.net/republican-attacks-on-state-and-local-government-are-yet-another-assault-on-black-people/
June 1, 2020
Republican Attacks on State and Local Government Are Yet Another Assault on Black People
By Dean Baker
Democrats in Congress have been pushing for a large amount of assistance for state and local governments in the next pandemic aid package. The finances of these governments have been devastated by the pandemic, with all of them seeing massive shortfalls in revenue due to the shutdowns and the weak economy that is projected for the months ahead. At the same time, they have had enormous demands for public services as a result of the pandemic, largely due to the need for additional health care spending. The demand for services has been further increased as a result of state and local government efforts to deal with the protests following the police killing of George Floyd.
The Republicans have thus far balked on providing aid to state and local governments. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has openly said that states should declare bankruptcy, which would allow them to default on their pension obligations.
Defaulting on the pensions of state and local employees would be a huge hit to African American workers and retirees. They are substantially over-represented among current and retired public sector employees. This is due to the fact that they faced less discrimination in employment opportunities in public sector employment than in private sector employment.
Currently, the African American share of the state and local workforce is almost 25 percent higher than its share of the private sector workforce. In the 1990s, the African American share of state and local employment was almost 40 percent higher than its share of private sector employment. State and local governments provided millions of African Americans middle class jobs that they were denied in the private sector.
Part of the compensation for a middle class job has historically been a pension. These pensions are not a gift from the government, workers sacrifice pay during their working years in exchange for this pension in retirement. Mitch McConnell’s plan to have states declare bankruptcy, and thereby renege on pensions promised to workers, is in effect an effort to take away pay that workers have already worked for. And, the victims of Senator McConnell’s scheme would disproportionately be African American workers.
And Republicans wonder why so many black people are angry.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext
June 1, 2020
Physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection to prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis
By Derek K Chu, Elie A Akl, Stephanie Duda, Karla Solo, Sally Yaacoub, Holger J Schünemann, et al.
Summary
Background
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19 and is spread person-to-person through close contact. We aimed to investigate the effects of physical distance, face masks, and eye protection on virus transmission in health-care and non-health-care (eg, community) settings.
Methods
We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the optimum distance for avoiding person-to-person virus transmission and to assess the use of face masks and eye protection to prevent transmission of viruses. We obtained data for SARS-CoV-2 and the betacoronaviruses that cause severe acute respiratory syndrome, and Middle East respiratory syndrome from 21 standard WHO-specific and COVID-19-specific sources. We searched these data sources from database inception to May 3, 2020, with no restriction by language, for comparative studies and for contextual factors of acceptability, feasibility, resource use, and equity. We screened records, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias in duplicate. We did frequentist and Bayesian meta-analyses and random-effects meta-regressions. We rated the certainty of evidence according to Cochrane methods and the GRADE approach.
Findings
Our search identified 172 observational studies across 16 countries and six continents, with no randomised controlled trials and 44 relevant comparative studies in health-care and non-health-care settings (n=25 697 patients). Transmission of viruses was lower with physical distancing of 1 m or more, compared with a distance of less than 1 m (n=10 736, pooled adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0·18, 95% CI 0·09 to 0·38; risk difference [RD] −10·2%, 95% CI −11·5 to −7·5; moderate certainty); protection was increased as distance was lengthened (change in relative risk [RR] 2·02 per m; pinteraction=0·041; moderate certainty). Face mask use could result in a large reduction in risk of infection (n=2647; aOR 0·15, 95% CI 0·07 to 0·34, RD −14·3%, −15·9 to −10·7; low certainty), with stronger associations with N95 or similar respirators compared with disposable surgical masks or similar (eg, reusable 12–16-layer cotton masks; pinteraction=0·090; posterior probability >95%, low certainty). Eye protection also was associated with less infection (n=3713; aOR 0·22, 95% CI 0·12 to 0·39, RD −10·6%, 95% CI −12·5 to −7·7; low certainty). Unadjusted studies and subgroup and sensitivity analyses showed similar findings.
Interpretation
The findings of this systematic review and meta-analysis support physical distancing of 1 m or more and provide quantitative estimates for models and contact tracing to inform policy. Optimum use of face masks, respirators, and eye protection in public and health-care settings should be informed by these findings and contextual factors. Robust randomised trials are needed to better inform the evidence for these interventions, but this systematic appraisal of currently best available evidence might inform interim guidance.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/health/masks-surgical-N95-coronavirus.html
June 1, 2020
Medical Workers Should Use Respirator Masks, Not Surgical Masks
The surgical masks used in risky settings like hospitals offer much less protection against the coronavirus, an analysis found.
By Apoorva Mandavilli
A new analysis of 172 studies, funded by the World Health Organization, confirms what scientists have said for months: N95 and other respirator masks are far superior to surgical or cloth masks in protecting essential medical workers against the coronavirus.
The results, published in The Lancet, make it clear that the W.H.O. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should recommend that essential workers like nurses and emergency responders wear N95 masks, not just surgical masks, experts said….
Paul Krugman @paulkrugman
Eurostat data on unemployment are out. It’s now official: the US unemployment surge is unique 1/
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZlZeiEWsAA-Iod?format=png&name=small
7:31 AM · Jun 3, 2020
Also, the Swedish approach of accepting more deaths to keep the economy humming — which a lot of Wall Street types are urging us to adopt — is succeeding on the death side 2/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-03/man-behind-sweden-s-virus-strategy-says-he-got-some-things-wrong
Man Behind Sweden’s Controversial Virus Strategy Admits Mistakes
Sweden’s top epidemiologist has admitted his strategy to fight Covid-19 resulted in too many deaths, after persuading his country to avoid a strict lockdown.
But in economic terms, not so much 3/
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZlZ7dWWkAAskos?format=png&name=small
More about Sweden 4/
Scott Gottlieb, MD @ScottGottliebMD
The number of Covid19 deaths per capita in Sweden was the highest in the world in a rolling seven-day average to June 2nd, according to reported data. The country’s rate of 5.29 deaths per million inhabitants a day was well above the UK’s 4.48.
http://theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/architect-of-sweden-coronavirus-strategy-admits-too-many-died-anders-tegnell
We should have done more, admits architect of Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy
Anders Tegnell says there was ‘potential for improvement’ in country’s strategy to fight pandemic
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/architect-of-sweden-coronavirus-strategy-admits-too-many-died-anders-tegnell
June 3, 2020
We should have done more, admits architect of Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy
Anders Tegnell says there was ‘potential for improvement’ in country’s strategy to fight pandemic
By Jon Henley – Guardian
Sweden’s chief epidemiologist and the architect of its light-touch approach to the coronavirus has acknowledged that the country has had too many deaths from Covid-19 and should have done more to curb the spread of the virus.
Anders Tegnell, who has previously criticised other countries’ strict lockdowns as not sustainable in the long run, told Swedish Radio on Wednesday that there was “quite obviously a potential for improvement in what we have done” in Sweden.
Asked whether too many people in Sweden had died, he replied: “Yes, absolutely,” adding that the country would “have to consider in the future whether there was a way of preventing” such a high toll.
Sweden’s death rate per capita was the highest in the world over the seven days to 2 June, figures suggest. This week the government bowed to mounting opposition pressure and promised to set up a commission to look into its Covid-19 strategy.
“If we were to encounter the same disease again knowing exactly what we know about it today, I think we would settle on doing something in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done,” Tegnell said. It would be “good to know exactly what to shut down to curb the spread of infection better”, he added.
In an interview with the Dagens Nyheter daily, Tegnell subsequently said he still believed “the basic strategy has worked well. I do not see what we would have done completely differently … Based on the knowledge we had then, we feel we made the appropriate decisions.”
According to the scientific online publication Ourworldindata.com, the number of Covid-19 deaths per capita in Sweden was the highest in the world in a rolling seven-day average to 2 June. The country’s rate of 5.29 deaths per million inhabitants a day was well above the UK’s 4.48….
Paul Krugman @paulkrugman
Things are getting worse more slowly. I don’t know why economists were surprised. I thought it was clear from a number of indicators that the decline has pretty much leveled off 1/
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/03/adp-private-payrolls-may-2020.html
Private payrolls down another 2.76 million in May, ADP says
The reported total was well below the 8.75 million estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The reason for the wide disparity was not immediately clear.
9:39 AM · Jun 3, 2020
New York Fed weekly economic indicator 2/
[ https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZl3JNYXYAI6S96?format=png&name=small ]
THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE’RE OUT OF THE WOODS. True unemployment probably near 25% 3/
https://sites.google.com/view/covid-rps/
Leveling off at Depression-era unemployment is not a policy success — especially since enhanced unemployment benefits set to expire July 31 4/
Like every libertarian in the history of the world.
” Rand Paul’s Gift for Being a Colossal Public Dick Is Otherworldly
He senses the opportunity the way a polar bear can sense prey 10 miles away.
By Charles P. Pierce
Jun 4, 2020
“On a day like we had on Wednesday, you’d think that the opportunities to stand out as a colossal public dick would be quite limited, given the competition. But that’s only if you reckoned without Senator Rand Paul, onetime dudebro idol and Republican of Kentucky. Aqua Buddha’s gift for seeing and seizing upon even the slightest chance at being a colossal public dick is positively otherworldly. He senses them the way a polar bear can sense prey 10 miles away. From The Hill.
‘Asked how the anti-lynching bill could be applied to altercations that result in “minor bruising” or what language he was hoping to get removed, Paul’s office referred to a statement from the GOP senator. “The bill as written would allow altercations resulting in a cut, abrasion, bruise, or any other injury no matter how temporary to be subject to a 10-year penalty. My amendment would simply apply a serious bodily injury standard, which would ensure crimes resulting in substantial risk of death and extreme physical pain be prosecuted as a lynching,” he said in the statement.’
(It’s worth noting that Aqua Buddha’s standard for what constitutes “lynching” is taken almost word-for-word from the Bush Administration’s standard for what constitutes “torture,” and we all know how well that standard worked out.)
This, of course, is precisely the right moment in time to block an anti-lynching bill, given what happened in Minneapolis and subsequent events. And, of course, the Congress has been trying and failing to get its act together on an anti-lynching bill for only over a century. How freaking hard can this be in 2020? Don’t answer that.”
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a32769028/rand-paul-anti-lynching-bill/