The Department of Homeland Security has put “on hold” a plan to authorize an additional 35,000 H-2B guestworker visas, meaning businesses can no longer bring on new migrant workers under the program. The move comes after the initial unemployment claims spiked by 10 million in two weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic – with 6.6 […]

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, Major Technical Failures Confirm Bear Market Risk In last week’s discussion, we stated the “bear market” was not yet complete. This was despite the “market rally,” which convinced the media the “bull market was back.” While it was indeed a sharp “reflex rally,” and expected, “bear markets” are not resolved in a single month. Most importantly, as we discussed in our […]

As if a national lockdown to prevent a deadly pandemic from killing hundreds of thousands of people wasn’t terrifying enough, there are now armed asylum seekers marauding around southeastern France, murdering shoppers as they venture out to buy groceries. To wit, a man killed two people and wounded several others, one critically, during a knife […]

Just over two months after dying along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna in a tragic helicopter crash, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Bryant has been inducted alongside Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett in what the Washington Post described as a long-anticipated move. In a […]

While the Chinese Communist Party claims they’ve suffered just 3,300 coronavirus deaths out of more than 60,000 who have died around the world as of this writing, evidence exists that the actual death toll across China is far higher – and could be more than 40,000. And as long lines form at Wuhan funeral homes […]

Authored by Kladji Bregu via The Mises Institute, The Fed came out with a series of unprecedented measures on March 22, 2020. They announced the Fed will buy an unlimited amount of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities (MBS), or as Peter Schiff refers to it, “QE infinity.” This has been very positively welcomed by many in the mainstream […]

In retrospect, trading on a Trump tweet may not have been the best idea. On April 2, in what initially appeared to be a belated April fool’s joke, the US president tweeted “Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope […]

Summary: UK reports more than 700 deaths, mortality rate climbs to record 10.35 Germany reports smallest batch of deaths in 2 weeks Spain case numbers pass Italy, after reported lowest deaths in a week yesterday deaths Journalist says more than 800 health-care workers infected in Massachusetts Italian government agrees on emergency business loan program US […]

In the latest “Masters in Business” podcast, I speak with Jonathan Miller, co-founder of Miller Samuel. He blogs at the Matrix Blog. Miller is an expert on real-estate appraisals and transactions, and runs one of the larger appraisal firms. He has created a variety of real-estate data analytics for various regions as well as nationally. He is also sought […]

Authored by Sill Solomon via Counterpunch.org, It is difficult to neatly encapsulate the shift that has occurred in our collective perception and experience over the last several weeks. That all semblance of ‘certainty’ and ‘normalcy’ has disappeared seems no longer the main feature—what stands out is the psychological shift underway, proceeding on the collective and […]

On March 30, Finland said it would extend its countrywide shutdown until May 13 from April 13. It appears strict social distancing and quarantines are working, but it comes at a massive economic cost. Now we’re beginning to learn that the country’s welfare system is cracking and cannot handle the influx of unemployed. Finland has […]

by Calculated Risk on 4/04/2020 08:11:00 AM

In The Defense Production Act I argued that the DPA was neither especially useful or necessary and would probably be misused. In Sicken Thy Neighbor Trade Policy I argued that exports bans were a bad idea. So, of course, Donald Trump has used the DPA to ban 3M from exporting masks to Canada. “We hit […]

Mice have a range of facial expressions, researchers find Guardian (Dr. Kevin) Physical Force Alone Spurs Gene Expressions, Study Reveals PhysOrg #COVID-19 I made a Jockstrap Mask Tutorial, because I’m ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/JiYhV3K8uh — Emerson Collins (@ActuallyEmerson) April 3, 2020 Threat of catastrophe stalks developing world Financial Times Health/Medical (see overlap with Big Brother is Watching […]

Yves here. Note that early on, Emanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman estimated that the coronavirus crisis could produce a 10% fall in US annual GDP based on the magnitude of the hit to services. This sounded crazy then and is looking less crazy now. By Wolf Richter, editor at Wolf Street. Originally published at Wolf […]

Yves here. We’ve written regularly on Eileen Appelbaum and Rosemary Batt’s important investigations into how private equity has taken over more and more of hospital staffing, including of emergency rooms. This in turn has allowed them to override patient efforts to have only in-network doctors assigned to their case, as well as to engage in […]

For my macro lectures next week: Figure 1: Nonfarm payroll employment, in logs, normalized 2020M02=0 (blue), lagged and normalized 2007M12=0 (red). Source: BLS. Figure 2: Real GDP, in logs, normalized to 2019Q4=0 (blue), Goldman Sachs 3/31 forecast (teal triangles), lagged and normalized to 2007Q4=0 (red). Source: BEA and Goldman Sachs.

Bill Gates, who warned us–The Next Outbreak, We’re not ready–is getting ready for a vaccine, in fact for seven of them. Business Insider: Gates said he was picking the top seven vaccine candidates and building manufacturing capacity for them. “Even though we’ll end up picking at most two of them, we’re going to fund factories […]

Let us assume that you, for reasons of choice or necessity, are spending time in close quarters with another person.  You are then less inclined to visit corona-dangerous locations.  In part you are altruistic toward the other person, and in part for selfish reasons you do not wish to lower the common standard of care.  […]

President Trump on Friday fired the intelligence community inspector general, Michael Atkinson, who brought a hearsay whistleblower complaint to Congressional Democrats, kicking off President Trump’s impeachment.  Atkinson’s closed-door testimony was so troubling to House Republicans that they launched an investigation into his role into what President Trump and his allies coined the ‘impeachment hoax.’ Ranking […]

Authored by Gregory Copley via OilPrice.com, The rush to what is essentially a new wartime footing began consciously and urgently in the first quarter of 2020 between some of the most powerful geopolitical players of the modern era: the United States of America, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the United Kingdom. It was […]

There’s been shortages of all types as New York City deals with the unprecedented lockdown as a result of the coronavirus. But one of the most surprising of these shortages has been dogs and cats. There’s been a “run on pets” in the city, according to Bloomberg, ostensibly as lonely New Yorkers realize they’re going to […]

Authored by Eric Felten via RealClearInvestigations.com, The U.S. military is “preparing for worst-case scenarios with respect to the potential spread” of the COVID-19 virus, U.S. Air Force Gen. Tod D. Wolters told reporters Friday. But just what those scenarios are is a military secret. At a time when the president and his advisers hold daily press conferences where […]

The San Francisco Bay Area is usually ahead of the curve when it comes to implementing environmentally-friendly policies to save the planet. However, city officials banned reusable shopping bags Wednesday as a way to enforce social distancing protocols imposed by the state government to limit the spread of COVID-19.  The reusable bag ban was enforced by the San […]

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com, Back in 2014 during the Ebola scare in the US I published an article warning about how a global pandemic could be used by the elites as cover for the implementation of an economic collapse as well as martial law measures in western nations. My immediate concern was the way in […]

Enlarge this image Amanda Aronczyk/NPR New York City Health + Hospitals/Bellevue is the oldest public hospital in the country. It’s seen everything, survived everything, and been there for every outbreak from yellow fever to Ebola. If you’re in New York City and catch something weird, new, and scary — you go to Bellevue. Yet, even […]

As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to skyrocket, healthcare researchers around the world are working tirelessly to discover new life-saving medical innovations. As Visual Capitalist’s Nick Routley notes, the projects these companies are working on can be organized into three distinct groups: Diagnostics: Quickly and effectively detecting the disease in the first place Treatments: Alleviating […]

Authored by Scott Horton via The Libertarian Institute, Can anyone think what our society might have spent six and a half trillion dollars on instead of 20 years of war in the Middle East for nothing? How about the trillion dollars per year we keep spending on the military on top of that? Invading, dominating and remaking the Arab […]

Delaware police have been granted the authority to pull over drivers displaying out-of-state tags to ask questions about why they’re on the road, before telling them that “they are required by law to self-quarantine for 14 days while in Delaware, or immediately return to their state,” according to Gov. John Carney’s state of emergency declaration. […]

Authored by Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com, “…..but the plan insidiously advances.” – ordo ab chao “They are banned from churches and public spaces. They can’t hold hands to pray. LOL!” – The Devil At the very end of last year, I wrote a New Year’s piece entitled “America is Over But You Knew That Already”, whereby various “cracks and water […]