Virus pushes US unemployment toward highest since Depression

Currently, the coronavirus, and the subsequent industrial shutdowns, has led to a substantial increase in the unemployment rate, within the United States. These figures, according to the article, have reached historic levels, with unemployment “swelling to levels last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s, with one in six American workers” out of a job. The article notes that the American government has had to institute several stimulus packages to help alleviate this increase in the unemployment rate, but more stimulus packages may be needed. Also, according to recent economic figures, unemployment benefit claims have reached a historic and unprecedented level with 26 million people filing for unemployment benefits. 

https://apnews.com/e928d091f81f75b9bc8830c7370f41fb

Corporate Debt Could Make Economic Recovery Harder

According to an article published by CNN Business, the increasing levels of corporate debt could make it much harder for the U.S. economy to recover from the hit it is taking from the coronavirus. Before the spread of the virus corporate debt was already reaching a historically high level. Now, the amount of corporate debt is almost twice the amount that it was at this time last year.  So far, investment-grade corporate bonds have reached $425 billion, but are continuing to rise. In order to combat the effects of this, companies may be forced to scale back their planned investments, defer capital spending projects, and even delay bringing back the employees that have been temporarily laid off. Debt will also lead firms to run into problems not only with their employees, but with their shareholders and lenders as well. While debt is a major problem for struggling companies, the article also stated that healthy companies are also contributing to the rise in corporate debt. For example, Netflix, which is currently thriving, has added $1 billion in order to invest in more movies and shows.

Why do you think a healthy company like Netflix would add to the already high level of corporate debt?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/25/economy/corporate-debt/index.html

Coronavirus Testing

This article brought up a good point on testing larger populations for the coronavirus in order to get better estimates and results on the larger picture. It is difficult, right now, to predict anything that will happen for sure in the near future regarding the coronavirus, the economy, and the people themselves.  The article talks about how it is important to have all the factual information first before assuming anything and taking steps in order to improve the situation. The current pandemic numbers are predicted to be not very representative of what is really going on. The best example it gives as to what is happening is if there was a toll on the Trump-Biden race, but the toll was taken at a Trump rally. Nobody would rely on that toll or believe it to be accurate and the same may be happening with the COVID-19 testing. I agree with the article in terms of the fact that we should most definitely have more elaborate and widespread testing done on the large population to get a sense of what may be happening and the action steps we should take next.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/opinion/coronavirus-testing.html

Jobless Numbers Are ‘Eye-Watering’ but Understate the Crisis

The description at the beginning of the article stats that the total unemployment claims have surpassed over 26 million, and that number is still going to continue to grow in the coming weeks. This pandemic has taken away so much employment that it will most likely take many months and possibly years to recover from. This kind of unemployment has not been seen in a long time, and with many companies still worried about the possibility of the date being pushed back or there even may be a second outbreak that would rock every business and these numbers would grow tremendously. This has all happened so fast too that it is almost hard to even fathom what the impact is currently because it's changing every second and also is getting harder to predict. What point do you think the unemployment numbers will rise to? Also, how long do you think it will take the US and world economies to recover and get unemployment back around where it was?

Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/business/economy/unemployment-claims-coronavirus.html

Pandemic Geopolitics - Is China Winning?

China began 2020 in a dire situation, having been the source of the coronavirus and therefore its first major victim. The country struggled at the beginning with containing the virus, but has since used its totalitarian state and one-minded unity to utilize extreme testing measures and mitigate the spread.

The country is now attempting to take advantage of their position by donating masks and other equipment to other nations in need (4 billion masks)! This appears suspicious, but in reality they are filling the hole of a power vacuum. The leader of the free world, President Trump, appears to have no interest in leading a global response to the virus. China has taken his place in steed, a continuation of what has occured at global summits during Trump's time in office.

While China's role in virus spreading is still muddled, it is clear they are taking every opportunity they can to play the "savior" as much as possible. So far, everyone else has let them.

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/04/16/is-china-winning

The US economy has erased nearly all the job gains since the Great Recession

The US economy has erased nearly all the job gains since the Great Recession

As stated in the article, soon the US will have exceeded the number of jobs lost during the Great Recession.. all of this happening in just the past 5 weeks. The last time this happened, it took 11 years for us to recover. How do you think they plan to rectify this situation this time around? What industries do you think will pick up extra employees considering a lot of companies went out of business for good?

Trump will sign executive order banning immigration into the U.S.

President Trump stated on Monday the 20th, that he will sign an executive order that will suspend immigration into the U.S. temporarily amid the pandemic. Trump tweeted out that "In the light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens.." After this, a lot of questions came about seeing as hours before he tweeted this, he was talking optimistically about certain states opening up their economies despite the treat of the virus. It is also unclear if Trump had made other countries aware of this decision before tweeted out his statement.

As of right now, Trump has not provided any major details on when this suspension would go into place and how long it will last.

Do you think that President Trump's order will stay in place even after the pandemic ends seeing as he has already tried to limit immigration into the U.S. well before the pandemic started?

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/493812-trump-says-he-will-sign-executive-order-temporarily-suspending 

They Filed for Unemployment Last Month. They Haven’t Seen a Dime.

When I think about the United States economy, New York automatically pops into my head. 

It is the foundation of the US economy given its landmarks such as wall street and its portrayal in films. 

Therefore, it worries me that there is an entire street dedicated to keeping up with stocks, but 1.2 million New York residents haven't received their unemployment claims. 

How do you think this will change the hustle and bustle of New York life once they open back up? 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/nyregion/coronavirus-pandemic-unemployment-assistance-ny-delays.html

Institutional Investment is Pouring into Cryptocurrency

Despite the economic turmoil being covered in the news worldwide, there is still investment going on in the cryptocurrency sphere. According to the digital asset management firm Grayscale, recently there has been $498.9 million invested into different cryptocurrency-backed trusts. While there is still debate as to whether Bitcoin can be considered the "digital gold" and be a safe investment for tough economic times like now, or that it is still to volatile, there are positive signs for the industry.

With large investments like this, and the price of BTC rising recently very quickly while investors are seeing the coronavirus take its toll on many other industries, there is more trust in the industry for many. In addition to more governments adding new laws to combat criminal activity being financed through cryptocurrency, I believe there is a lot of hope for crypto still.

Has any of these recent events changed your thoughts about cryptocurrency?

Consequences of a Controversial Decision by Sweden

The fear that was instilled in many Americans was in large part due to models that predicted as many as 2 million deaths. If nothing else, such models, whether accurate or not, give proof that social distancing measures are effective in limiting the virus' impact. In nations across the world, government mandated stay-at-home orders have undeniably lessened the mortality rate of covid-19. This is evident in Scandinavia, where Sweden made a controversial choice to allow citizens to be self-accountable when it comes to social distancing, and did not order any lockdowns. This has resulted in a death toll in the country as much as 17 times higher than neighboring Nordic countries. There have been over 1,300 virus related deaths in Sweden, compared to just 321 in Denmark, 150 in Norway and 75 in Finland, each of which did order government mandated lockdowns early on. This decision from Sweden comes very much as a surprise to me, as the Swedes are known for their progressive nature and tremendous welfare state, I  would've expected them to be steps ahead of the virus and protecting their citizens. 

Are you also surprised by the decision of the Swedish government to not mandate any stay at home orders, and instead allow the citizens to be accountable themselves? Do you think this decision has costed people's lives?