4/14 Recession– is it here already? Bernie Talks Up Biden to AP; Afternoon/Eve OT
(credit: WSJ)
I think it’s already here. Progressive Rep. Pramilla Jayapal has her staff working overtime on various bills. Here’s one of them.
My Paycheck Guarantee Act continues to pick up support from a diverse set of economists, lawmakers, labor unions, businesses & others.
Why? Because mass unemployment is catastrophic but avoidable – & a federal paycheck guarantee is a solution that meets the scale of the crisis. https://t.co/XsqSUgLy9c
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) April 14, 2020
So is Speaker Pelosi, feeding her hungry corporate socialist donors:
Pelosi is ON IT https://t.co/bFaVgGACn0
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) April 14, 2020
The consensus of 57 economists surveyed this month by The Wall Street Journal is that 14.4 million jobs will be lost in the coming months, and the unemployment rate will rise to a record 13% in June, from a 50-year low of 3.5% in February. Already nearly 17 million Americans have sought unemployment benefits in the past three weeks, dwarfing any period of mass layoffs recorded since World War II.
Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist of Oxford Economics, projects 27.9 million jobs will be lost, and industries beyond those ordered to close will account for 8 to 10 million, a level of job destruction on a par with the 2007-09 recession.
Oxford Economics, a U.K.-based forecasting and consulting firm, projects April’s jobs report, which will capture late-March layoffs, will show cuts to 3.4 million business-services workers, including lawyers, architects, consultants and advertising professionals, as well as 1.5 million nonessential health-care workers and 100,000 information workers, including those working in the media and telecommunications.
“The virus shock does not discriminate across sectors as we initially thought,” Mr. Daco said.
Forecast April job losses, in selected industries, in millions:
Source: Oxford Economics7.9 Accommodation, food service
4.9 Retail, excluding online, grocery
1 Entertainment
3.4 Professional, business services
1.5 Ambulatory health-care services
1.5 Manufacturing
1.4 Transportation, warehousing
0.8 Wholesale trade
0.6 Social assistance
0.6 ConstructionGary Cuozzo, owner of ISG Software Group in Wallingford, Conn., said in recent weeks he’s only received a few hundred dollars in payments from customers, including manufacturers, nonprofits and retailers, for which he hosts websites and builds applications. It’s not enough to pay the $3,000 electric bill for his servers and other equipment, much less pay his own salary.
“Customers who paid like clockwork for 10-plus years are suddenly late,” he said. “I’m burning through all the cash I have.”
The AP interviewed Bernie Sanders this afternoon. I’m not certain I was ready to hear his words, but here is a portion of the interview (text, not video):
Sanders, who suspended his presidential bid last week, spoke at length about his decision to endorse Biden, his political future and the urgent need to unify the Democratic Party during an interview with The Associated Press. He railed against the Republican president but also offered pointed criticism at his own supporters who have so far resisted his vow to do whatever it takes to help Biden win the presidency.
He seemed to distance himself from his campaign’s former national press secretary, Briahna Joy Gray, when asked about her recent statement on social media refusing to endorse Biden.
“She is my former press secretary — not on the payroll,” Sanders noted. A spokesman later clarified that all campaign staffers were no longer on the payroll as of Tuesday, though they will get a severance check in May. (note by me: that explains all of the farewells and exits seen on twitter today)
Sanders said his supporters have a simple choice now that Biden has emerged as the presumptive nominee: “Do we be as active as we can in electing Joe Biden and doing everything we can to move Joe and his campaign in a more progressive direction? Or do we choose to sit it out and allow the most dangerous president in modern American history to get reelected?”
He continued: “I believe that it’s irresponsible for anybody to say, ‘Well, I disagree with Joe Biden — I disagree with Joe Biden! — and therefore I’m not going to be involved.’”
Sanders said he would not actively campaign or spend money on advertising in the primary contests that are still on the calendar in the coming months. But he still encouraged Democrats in those states to vote for him, hoping to amass as many delegates as possible for leverage to shape the party platform and the direction of Biden’s campaign.
He also vowed to continue fighting for progressive priorities such as his signature “Medicare for All” as a senator, even though Biden has refused to embrace the government-backed single-payer health care system.
“If people want to vote for me, we’d appreciate it,” Sanders said of the roughly 20 primary contests that remain where his name will appear on the ballot. He later added, “I think you’re going to see significant movement on the part of the Biden campaign into a more progressive direction on a whole lot of issues.”
Sanders did not outline any specific plans to begin helping Biden in earnest, though he noted that he held dozens of rallies for former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton four years ago and would be at least as active for Biden. In the short term, he said he’s essentially “incarcerated in his home” because of coronavirus social distancing guidelines and did not know when he would return to the campaign trail.
Sanders brushed away questions about why he was willing to back Biden so much sooner than he did Clinton, whom he waited until June to endorse. He said recent conversations with former President Barack Obama did not influence his decision. It came down to simple math, he said.
In 2016, Sanders said he had a mathematical path to the nomination all the way until the California primary, which was held on the last day of voting in June. That simply wasn’t the case this year.
“What would be the sense of staying in, of spending a whole lot of money, of attacking the vice president, giving fodder for Trump — what’s the sense of doing that when you can’t win?” he asked.
“I will do everything I can to help elect Joe,” Sanders continued. “We had a contentious campaign. We disagree on issues. But my job now is to not only rally my supporters, but to do everything I can to bring the party together to see that (Trump) is not elected president.”
Bernie, pls don’t give Biden nor the DNC my e-mail address. I have no appetite for someone who is deceptive.
More news, tweets, videos in the comments. This serves as an open thread.
Tips for the next leaders of the progressive mass politics…
Speaking of Nina, she’s co-hosting an event on Friday nite:
and speaking of other persons in Camp Sanders, Briahna Joy Gray is going to be on a live podcast of The Intercept at 5 CT.
A tax provision in the coronavirus relief package will mostly benefit millionaires, nonpartisan report finds
It’s party time. 🙂
T and R, Ms. Benny!!
Probably a little later during mocktails…:-)
Looky here, we can gather on Saturday and unless my plans change, I’m happy to start the music thread.
Click on images to see who’s going to be appearing and where to watch.
So this is why Team Biden was insensitive in fundraising during his joint conversation with Bernie yesterday and during his podcast w/Rev Barber while talking about the plight of the working poor?
Where are 44 billionaires that own him?
They are deep in their own greed. Too busy paying off
corporate socialistlobbyists.The Media Had a Formula for Reporting Sexual Misconduct. Then Joe Biden Was Accused
Until there is free college or another way to pay for professional schools liability, I don’t think student debt will ever be erased.
Good discussion by Killer Mike, AOC, Van Jones on how to move forward:
ICYW, Obama endorsed Biden today.
How anti-climatic is that for an endorsement. But no one bitched at him for waiting. They only bitched at the Sanders Camp.
Of Course… Classsic politiics for the establisment uses the classic whom to be afraid of- IE us Berners because we want to change the status quo and who to blame for thier problems IE Berners for $hills loss. They never got over $hill was just a bad candidate,
And The Snake still hasn’t endorsed. What’s up with that? Is she waiting for $hillary to be Joe’s replacement when he fails?
Not being a good fall in line DINO is she?
I have a bad feeling we haven’t seen the last of her.
In what way, T?
Primary her azz. She stinks as a candidate!
I’ve got to think if Biden steps out of the race that, at the convention, she may get floated as the nominee. Biden is a tainted candidate, and if he gets pathetic numbers in the remaining primaries, the establishment could panic.
It will be interesting to see if there’s any third party talk there.
https://peoplesaction.org/not-me-us/
Yes, and they support your candidate. They will expect payback for early support.
Man, NC’s Yves Smith has no use for either Private Equity or Hedge Funds. Those jokers ever get criminalized, she would support it; and her expertise is in banking, finance and other monied subjects.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/us/politics/bernie-sanders-joe-biden-democrats.html
Gov. Gavin Newsom names six goals that must be met to lift California coronavirus order
ye gods. if Bernie were in, we’d all be getting monthly checks. emergency executive action. very few would be able to say no.
Don’t we know it? Well, it’s not up to Bernie as much as it is for everyone now to step up. As grumpy as I am with the IL governor for not postponing the primary, he’s doing a lot of the right things now, and getting some mentoring from Newsom and some of the Western Blue States. However, I’m very nervous about the fallout. The state budget, which was just beginning to get a bit healthier, is gonna suffer a major setback.
Today marks the 50th aniv. of “NASA’s successful failure” Apollo 13. The world was on edge to see if America could pull off getting the astronauts home alive. This was probably the last act of American exceptionalism in action live for all the world to see. This was a real as it gets with no scripted outcomes or fake drama like so many reality shows today. America is no longer up for meeting these type of challenges anymore when you look at Katrina and the CV-19 virus responses. We’ve failed in the leadership department big time. If trumpcorp or Bush would’ve been in charge of NASA at the time those 3 astronauts would be dead.