Virus thread, the political one.

[Paul Jacobs]

That makes no sense, which doesn't exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

I think he meant a World War in which humanity is united in dealing with a common enemy, the coronavirus.

[Chik]

I think he meant a World War in which humanity is united in dealing with a common enemy, the coronavirus.

Yes, I realise that, but if he can't even deliver a soundbite with any degree of cogency, I can't be confident that he has a grasp of the complex and complicated situation at hand. But, yes, I do share the hopeful sentiment although recent events suggest otherwise.

[theflashunc]

[x] Dislike

(I get that lenders are trying...it sucks for all involved.)

Treasury and SBA spent the last weekend in a needless pissing match. Nonbank lenders didn't get their applications to the program until today, and we're supposed to go live on the 10th. Meanwhile, JP Morgan can't even wrap their heads around getting this thing live.

This makes Healthcare.gov look like the Normandy Landing.

[lumpy]

Treasury and SBA spent the last weekend in a needless pissing match. Nonbank lenders didn't get their applications to the program until today, and we're supposed to go live on the 10th. Meanwhile, JP Morgan can't even wrap their heads around getting this thing live.

This makes Healthcare.gov look like the Normandy Landing.

This is the White House Chief of Staff's fourth day on the job.

[ides1056]

It's a bit like Jackass. Fourth day on the job and the proverbial door hits him on the way in.

[lumpy]

It's a bit like Jackass. Fourth day on the job and the proverbial door hits him on the way in.

He can't say he wasn't warned.

[GrantM]

yeah big news here

same here in Canada

Stop exporting N95 masks to Canada, Trump administration tells U.S. manufacturer | The Star

The troubling thing about nationalism in a crisis, the supply chain is international, the business community isn't national.

Medicom is a Canadian company, with headquarters in Montreal.
"operations in 50 countries, 8 fully controlled manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and Asia and sales in over 95 countries"
Medicom

Which "country" government gets to seize their supply?

How about this proposal - the USA keeps all the supplies on the continent, and so does China?
How does that sound? Not good?

-g

[gregl]

same here in Canada

Stop exporting N95 masks to Canada, Trump administration tells U.S. manufacturer | The Star

The troubling thing about nationalism in a crisis, the supply chain is international, the business community isn't national.

Medicom is a Canadian company, with headquarters in Montreal.
"operations in 50 countries, 8 fully controlled manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and Asia and sales in over 95 countries"
Medicom

Which "country" government gets to seize their supply?

How about this proposal - the USA keeps all the supplies on the continent, and so does China?
How does that sound? Not good?

The members of the current administration clearly didn't pay attention in history class. The last "great war" was won because the US exported tremendous amounts or raw materials and finished goods to our allies. The USSR was happy to take our aircraft and the UK was kept fed and otherwise supplied by convoys of our ships. If COVID-19 is truly a "world war" against an unseen enemy, then Trump and his followers should decide if they want to go down in history as FDRs or Hitlers.

Greg

[guido]

Then there is that little thing about keeping workers employed...

[mjbabcock]

The members of the current administration clearly didn't pay attention in history class.

Understatement of the month right there...doubt those guys paid attention in any class.

[theflashunc]

same here in Canada

Stop exporting N95 masks to Canada, Trump administration tells U.S. manufacturer | The Star

The troubling thing about nationalism in a crisis, the supply chain is international, the business community isn't national.

Medicom is a Canadian company, with headquarters in Montreal.
"operations in 50 countries, 8 fully controlled manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and Asia and sales in over 95 countries"
Medicom

Which "country" government gets to seize their supply?

How about this proposal - the USA keeps all the supplies on the continent, and so does China?
How does that sound? Not good?

-g

US is also now being accused essentially of international piracy for goods: Subscribe to read | Financial Times

[Sbti]

As of Friday morning, the remaining 12 states that had so far failed to issue statewide stay-at-home orders were all run by Republican governors.

[BBB]

Surely Arnie should be sent back to 1945/1946 to knock off Mrs Trump? The incompetence is beyond a joke and the man is a clown. The family or extended family are no better. That NYT article about the son in law. My god. And the death rate soars.

[ides1056]

Useless at tits on a boar.

[Greg Costello]

RE SBA loans: Bank of America has done a decent job for current clients (so far). Since the ngo I run has a L/C with BA, we were able to get an application in through their on-line portal. Got on at 6 am this morning and the application is submitted, now the waiting begins.

[Colinmclelland]

In Australia, we’ve had pretty solid announcements of disaster relief (although per Mark’s post it’s all announcements at the mo)

Whatever, it’s all pitched as 6 month temporary measures “to get to the other side”, that will “snap back”.

Leaving aside the issue that opposition policy measures were just unfundable fantasies but now in the space of 3 weeks we’ve got mortgage holidays, rental relief and wage subsidies for employers. Also, debt repayments are long term...whatever, how does any government withdraw free stuff and get re-elected?

[guido]

240,000 coronavirus deaths: ‘In what circle of hell is that a good outcome?,’ asks Susan Rice | Washington Post

"One of the nightmare scenarios for Susan E. Rice when she was national security adviser to President Barack Obama was the possibility of a global pandemic. They planned for it. They did a tabletop exercise with the incoming Trump administration that included pandemic preparedness. They even left a road map behind for the incoming team.

“We left behind a 69-page playbook, which was sort of ‘Pandemic for Dummies.’ If you don’t know where to start, start here, and ask these questions and do these things,” Rice told me in the latest episode of “Cape Up.” “And, apparently, if they weren’t thrown into garbage bins, they sat on the shelves and collected dust.”"

[guido]

The Trump administration just changed its description of the national stockpile to jibe with Jared Kushner’s controversial claim | Washington Post

"The Trump administration on Friday changed its description of the Strategic National Stockpile on a government website after journalists noted that it contradicted a claim Jared Kushner had made about the program.

Kushner on Thursday evening offered a novel argument about the national stockpile. He said some states still had stockpiles that they hadn’t been employing for the coronavirus outbreak and that localities should go to them first. And then he suggested that the national stockpile wasn’t even meant for them.

“And the notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile,” Kushner said. “It’s not supposed to be states’ stockpiles that they then use.”

As reporters quickly noted, that didn’t match with how the Department of Health and Human Services was describing the program. On its website, it said, “Strategic National Stockpile is the nation’s largest supply of life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out.” It continued to say, "When state, local, tribal, and territorial responders request federal assistance to support their response efforts, the stockpile ensures that the right medicines and supplies get to those who need them most during an emergency.”

That language suddenly disappeared from the site Friday morning, as journalist Laura Bassett noted, and was replaced with something de-emphasizing the size of the stockpile and its role in helping states. The new description cast it as a “short-term stopgap.”"

[guido]

Virus-stricken aircraft carrier erupts in applause and cheers as ousted Navy captain departs | Washington Post

"Videos that emerged on social media showed crew members of the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier cheering their captain in a walloping send-off, after the Navy removed him Thursday for speaking up in a leaked letter to his superiors about what he saw as insufficient measures to contain a coronavirus outbreak aboard the vessel.

Footage posted on Facebook and Twitter appears to show hundreds of service members crowding into a hangar around Capt. Brett Crozier as he makes his way off the vessel over a gangway to Guam, a backpack slung over his shoulder. The sailors chant “Captain Crozier!” over and over, clapping and cheering. In one of the videos, a voice in the background says: “And that’s how you send out one of the greatest captains you ever had!”"

[guido]

Trump’s Strategic National Stockpile looks empty as coronavirus peaks - Vox

"The Trump administration apparently wants states to take care of themselves before bugging the federal government."