And it Continues…
Trading has been halted on the NYSE with the market down another 1,700 points. It’s clear that investors are not happy with Trump’s response. Trump offered no specifics last night short of pulling up the drawbridge from Europe after the virus already got in. He hinted at economic relief with no specifics. His payroll tax cut, which is only a thinly disguised effort to kill Social Security and Medicare, was DOA on the Hill. There was no discussion of increasing availability of test kits, no information on how local jurisdictions should respond, no words of wisdom on how individuals should prepare.
I’m convinced that Trump is intentionally slowing the distribution of kits because that would “make my numbers go up”. He doesn’t want to know how many people have it, because he’s playing a global television gameshow and he’s determined to declare victory over whoever his fellow contestants are.
The Coronavirus doesn’t give a shit who Donald Trump is or that he’s president and a famous gameshow host. It’s doing to do what it’s going to do. All Trump’s happy talk is doing nothing but more damage.
25th Amendment anyone?
Beware the Ides…
Blockbuster new book reveals Mick Mulvaney thought it was a good thing Donald Trump is mentally ill.
The assassination of Julius Caesar was a conspiracy of several Roman senators, notably led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Cassius Longinus and Decimus Junius Brutus, at the end of the Roman Republic.They stabbed Caesar to death during a meeting of the Senate, which took place in the Theatre of Pompey on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC
https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/blockbuster-new-book-reveals-mick-mulvaney-thought-it-was-a-good-thing-donald-trump-is-mentally-ill/
1He says there will be no more co-pays for testing, but that only helps those who have insurance. Texas has about five million uninsured people with little or no hope.
2The states are reporting the numbers.. He can’t hide them. NY reports 216 cases and Washington reports 337 cases as of this morning.
3Megasoid, remember they had Cicero to take over, we have Pence! Also, we need to be sure all elections go forward.
4Well, let’s not be Debbie Downers about this! There is a bright side:
1. We’re cutting off air travel from Europe. Except, according to the White House, we’re not. Evidently people whose in-laws are chain immigrants will be able to arrive (rumor has it Melania had a hand in this walk-back).
2. We’re cutting off commercial traffic from Europe. Except, according to the same source, we’re not. (Must have been the product of the covid-19 conference with the bankers. He just has a short attention span.)
3. With 17,000,000 affected by the Food Stamps cut and not having insurance, well, it looks like the pandemic will solve both their problem and a minor budgetary problem at the same time!
4. Ditto with the populations in all those pesky blue cities. Sorry about this, Houston!
5. And when he tells his base that their votes count for even MORE now, they’ll kiss his shoes.
What a great way to cruise to the 2020 victory!
5Grandma Ada@ 4 Its OK Wall Street will re-enact The Godfather and take care of ALL the family business together.
6You don’t suppose the reason the UK is exempt from the Europe ban has anything to do with the resort he owns in Scotland.?
7From time to time, I reread Stephen King’s The Stand. Probably not a good time to do it.
8Pence must take precedence!
9Reportedly Stephen Miller pushed for the speech. Investors didn’t like it. Does that mean Miller is soon to be Bannonized?
Also, where was the orange glow? Trump looked pallid. Puffy eyes, short breath.
He looked sick.
Pence on the other hand always looks like a Ken doll.
10@Mike, #7,
It probably has more to do with Brexit. The UK is no longer a part of the “open borders” within the EU. So in theory the UK will do screening for the US???
In any case, until all persons are quarantined following travel from overseas…
11JAIR! I thought we were BFFs!!!
Edit: Jair Bolsonaro’s communications secretary has tested positive for coronavirus just days after accompanying the Brazilian president on a trip to the US where they met Donald Trump.
The two leaders dined together at Mar-a-Lago in Florida last Saturday night and Bolsonaro and ministers who were on the trip are reportedly under observation.
The news was revealed by Fabio Wajngarten’s wife Sophie on a WhatsApp group of parents at the school their children attend, the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported on Thursday.
“My husband returned from the trip to Miami yesterday and did the Covid exam which was positive,” she wrote, referring to the novel strain of coronavirus involved in the current outbreak, Covid-19. She added that he is “taking all care at home and since his return he has been isolated in a room, following all the quarantine protocol.”
Gabriel Stargardter
✔
@gabstargardter
The guy standing to Trump’s left just tested positive for coronavirus, according to Brazilian media. Fabio Wajngarten posted this photo, taken during meetings at Mar-a-Lago, five days ago.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/mar/12/donald-tump-coronavirus-travel-ban-joe-biden-bernie-sanders-stock-markets-live-updates?page=with:block-5e6a56bf8f08c2df6d27856f#block-5e6a56bf8f08c2df6d27856f
12Beware the Ides still probable.
13Three years, months, weeks, interminable days, and the ***king moron* is still there. Republicons took intransigence to levels never before imagined when Moscow Mitch derailed any semblance of an impeachment trial for IQ4.5*. When the “I voted” stickers are passed around in November there needs to be two lines with “I voted” reserved for Democrats, while “Stuck on St00pid” needs to be tattooed on every Republicon voter.
14This meltdown is about to make the last Republican Recession of 2007-10 look like a picnic. A “Bear” economy is roaring.
The US markets have now given up almost all the gains that accrued during the continued Obama recovery economy, while Trump has occupied the WH.
We may be headed for a DJIA -3000 day.
~11AM CDT:
DJIA 21,524.02 2029.20 −8.62%
S&P 500 2,527.03 214.35 −7.82%
NASDAQ 7,341.29 610.76 −7.68%
.
Commodity Prices
Chart
WTI Crude 31.92 -1.06 -3.21%
Brent Crude 33.61 -2.18 -6.09%
Ethanol 1.175 -0.047 -3.85%
Natural Gas 1.824 -0.054 -2.88%
Gasoline 0.8768 -0.2335 -21.03%
Heating Oil 1.1513 -0.0867 -7.00%
Gold 1571.6 -69.8 -4.25%
Quotes are delayed at least 10 minutes.
Just look at that wholesale gasoline price: 87.7cents/gal, down 21% today alone. Look for $1.30/g pump prices to fill up with early next week [in low tax states anyway].
15Yeehaaaa! So much Trumpian Winning!
DJIA 21,394.53 2158.69 −9.17%
S&P 500 2,512.81 228.57 −8.34%
NASDAQ 7,294.89 657.16 −8.26%
BTW: The Asian, UK, German markets are crashing too, just before their closing, after steadily declining:
Global Market Indexes
NameValueGraphChangeChange %
Nikkei 225 18,559.63 856.43−4.41%
Hang Seng 24,309.07 922.54−3.66%
Shanghai Comp 2,923.49 45.03−1.52%
FTSE 100 5,287.34 589.18−10.03%
16DAX 9,242.25 1196.43−11.46%
https://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Poe/Red_Death.pdf
4.) THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH It was towards the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence. It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade.
17Comrade Trump has been bragging that even with this ‘downturn’ the stock markets are much higher than when he took office.
As usual he’s lying.
The markets have now fallen to aprx where they were in January 2017.
Other indicators are as bad, and all will continue to fall. Employment is about to crater, with all these closures. Many people, particularly lower wage ones, will have no way to survive this.
As I’ve traveled around mostly South Texas the last twenty years [in retirement], I’ve been struck by the tremendous booming economy [even during 2007-10], like I’d never seen before anywhere.
This is all about to end, since this Texas boom has been largely based on oil and gas, tourism, finance, etc.
This Trump crash is roughly at the same percentage of market value loss as the “Crash of 1929”.
This is what Republicans do, bring on crashes , recessions, and depressions. Now we can add plagues too…
18@ Sandridge, #18,
Or, as Rick Wilson stated: “Everything Trump Touches Dies”…
19Old Fart @19,
20Just amazing how such tiny grubby hands can turn nearly everything they touch straight to shit, ain’t it?
–El Hombre del toca caga.–
Banning travel to Europe is not enough. Trump should also ban travel to the following infested areas:
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Washington D.C.
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Winning . . . so much winning.
21No wonder the stock market is wiping out our retirements in historic fashion. The stable orange genius is proving just how bad a leader he is by his speech last night and his actions to date on the Coronavirus. And he’s surrounded himself with only the best- like Larry Kudlow who’s brilliant idea is to have everyone get the virus now. That way the economy can recover faster and the country can rid itself of the vulnerable and save on future Medicare expenses. Oh and Trump is waiting on Kushner to finish his “research” on what to do.
22And Trump calls WA governor Inslee a snake because he spoke out on the lack of action by the Trump administration, and Inslee actually took decisive action. How could investors have any confidence in the Trump administration?
Well, well, well. President Trump desperately needs an economic relief package before the stock market approaches zero. Guess who has him by his small package? That’s right,kids- Nancy Pelosi. She has to be smiling knowing that Trump has to come to her on his hands and knees to get anything passed. And how many Republicans dare to vote against whatever bill Nancy comes up with. I think we’re witnessing the beginning of the end of the Republican Party as we know it today. Congrats, Nancy.
23