A top economic adviser to Donald Trump has predicted that the unemployment rate could still be in double digits by the 2020 presidential election in November, as the number of unemployed Americans continues to creep upward due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump administration officials expect the unemployment rate to eclipse 20 per cent by the end of May, the highest such figure since the Great Depression, senior White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
“Unemployment will be something that moves back slower,” Mr Hassett said.
Mr Hassett said while he expects the unemployment rate to reach an inflection point in the coming weeks and that it could improve more rapidly than current projections, “you’re going to be starting at a number in the twenties and working your way down,” which will be a slow process.
“If there were a vaccine in July, then I’d be way more optimistic” about getting the unemployment rate back below 10 per cent, Mr Hassett said.
The unemployment rate reached 14.7 per cent in April as businesses continued to shutter over health concerns related to Covid-19.
Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats do not appear on the same page — or even reading from the same book — for how to proceed legislatively to help stem the economic fallout from the pandemic.
Congress passed roughly $2.7trn over four coronavirus relief bills in the first two months after the health crisis picked up in March. But while House Democrats passed a fifth bill worth north of $3trn earlier this month, Senate Republicans have adopted a wait-and-see approach, dismissing the House bill as a liberal “wish list.”
Mr Hassett indicated that one of the White House’s top priorities with regard to unemployment will be addressing the recent expansion of the unemployment insurance policy, which pays some recently laid off people more than people who are still working.
“There’s a lot of Republicans concerned that the benefit makes it so that people get more for not working than for working. And so we look forward to, you know, working with people on potentially reforming that,” Mr Hassett said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has also made passing liability law reform one of his party’s chief concerns in any subsequent coronavirus legislation, arguing that businesses won’t want to re-open if it means they could get swamped by lawsuits from patrons who later contracted Covid-19.
“for our team here, the Republican Senate majority, if there’s any red line, it’s on litigation,” Mr McConnell told reporters earlier this month.
From
Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century, Revised & Updated by Dick and James Strawbridge + Some experience
How to grow more food in small spaces;
The city garden.
There are multiple ways to use your space optimally, however small your garden. Think vertically, grow climbing beans against walls, lead your fruit trees in space saving styles. Place a worm tower in a corner and catch rain water in a container. Don’t forget the fauna by adding nectar rich flower in between you vegetables. Try feeding your local birds. If you have a little extra space try keeping chickens in a movable coop and you will have fresh eggs for breakfast.
1. Fruit trees grown by being led often give more harvest and take up less space. A small apple tree can still give kilo’s of fruit this way.
2. You can have a small wall greenhouse for more winter harvest. (Ikea sold some very cheap shelving units with covers (Hyllis). I have had mine for a year and they are in great condition in-spite of being outside all winter! )
3. You can grow food and vegetables in hanging baskets
4. Raised beds are great for gardens without dirt.
5. climbing plants are a great space saver. They even have small marrows and pumpkins that you can let climb.
6. You can grow potatoes in a potato growing bag (In my best year this gave me 3 kg of potatoes from one bag. Nice to try! Right now I am growing potatoes in big containers. To give them more space!)
7. Window sills can become plant containers. You can grow lettuce, herbs and tomato in there.
(Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century, Revised & Updated by Dick and James Strawbridge)
8. Herbs do great in containers anyway. And fresh herbs are very expensive in the store here. Try growing basil inside for example! Great results.
(Pixabay by drumpie1)
9. Foraging in the city can also be a great source of food! Some cities have chestnut trees, brambles, hazelnuts, a seaside or a park with nettles
Will add some more ideas later!
If you’re low on options then buckets can be used as pots–peppers actually grow very well in them, and buckets can be hella cheap. If you can afford to avoid plastic, though, then please do that.
If you have an old pot it’s worth cleaning the inside as well. “But I’m filling it with dirt anyway,” you may say. Yes, but you don’t want your basil to be competing with any weed that could be leftover in the pot.
Look for a, “chicken tractor,” for movable chicken home options–you’ll get tons more ideas with that keyword.
Pollinators that are endangered and vital to the rest of your local environment (such as that regional park nearby that you might love visiting) will benefit from you growing native plants rather than the other stuff that may be popular. Calscape is great for people in California. Check if your area has something similar! You want native plants because they and the bugs that pollinate them have evolved together for millions of years, while that other plant from somewhere else has not. Lots of things can work in pots, too! Just adjust how much you’ll need to water them.
Make sure your plant babies get the amount of sun that they need!
Today marks the 19th anniversary of the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) that took place on the streets of Seattle. These protests were part of much larger anti-globalization and anti-capitalist struggles across the world. They were also one of the first incidents of the use of the black bloc as a tactic in the so-called United States.
Many of us have some kind of story about our relationship to these protests; some of us were there, some of us participated in solidarity actions elsewhere, some of us experienced the protest’s coverage as a catalyst for our own radicalization, and for those of us too young to remember, the WTO protests of 1999 hold some sort of mythic status in our minds.
Feeling nostalgic, or maybe curious? Come take a listen to our recording of “N30: The Seattle WTO Protests: A Memoir and Analysis, With an Eye to the Future” originally put out by Crimethinc in 2006.
The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund recently rose to the aid of two antifa in Gothenburg, Sweden to help pay for the legal costs they’ve incurred as a result of being arrested for the “crime” of actively resisting attempts by the neo-nazi Nordic Resistance Movement to gain a foothold in their city.
