'We're going big': Trump seeks $1 trillion economic stimulus as U.S. battles coronavirus

[webfact]

'We're going big': Trump seeks $1 trillion economic stimulus as U.S. battles coronavirus

By Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Allen

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting on the coronavirus (COVID-19) response with tourism industry executives in the Cabinet Rooom of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis

 

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday pursued a $1 trillion (£827.75 billion) stimulus package to buttress an economy hit by coronavirus fears that could deliver $1,000 checks to Americans within two weeks, while New York said it might order residents of the most populous U.S. city to stay at home.

 

With the number of reported U.S. cases of the respiratory illness surging past 5,800 and deaths approaching 100, millions of Americans hunkered down in their homes instead of commuting to work or school as New York and other major cities escalated "social distancing" policies by closing schools, bars, restaurants and theaters.

 

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would decide within two days whether to order residents to "shelter in place" to fight the spread of the virus. The move would largely confine people to their homes in the city of roughly 8.5 million but probably let them make necessary trips to the grocery or pharmacy.

 

"It's a very, very difficult decision," de Blasio said. "We've never been here before. I have never heard of anything like this in the history of New York City."

 

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that state's first coronavirus death and said 22 other people had been infected at a nursing home in suburban Chicago. In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy closed amusement parks and indoor shopping malls as a record number of unemployment applications crashed state computer systems.

 

In Minnesota, the Mall of America, the nation's largest enclosed shopping center, said it would close through the end of the month. Sheriff's deputies in Los Angeles were ordered to write more tickets and make fewer arrests, to keep jail crowding to a minimum.

 

Vice President Mike Pence said the White House may have the U.S. military establish field hospitals in virus hot zones if requested by state governors, or use the Army Corps of Engineers to add capacity to existing hospitals.

 

New York, Washington state and California have the most confirmed cases of the highly contagious respiratory illness.

 

In one of the most restrictive policies already in place, officials ordered residents of the San Francisco Bay area, some 6.7 million people, to stay home beginning for all but the most crucial outings until April 7.

 

"It's like living in a 'Twilight Zone,'" said Rowan Oake, 36, during a jog through San Francisco's Presidio Park. "You can feel the anxiety in the air."

President Donald Trump said progress is being made against the fast-spreading pathogen and predicted the U.S. economy would "come roaring back" when it slows.

 

"It's going to pop," said Trump, who is seeking re-election on Nov. 3.

 

The Republican president's tone on the coronavirus pandemic has changed sharply in the last few days. After initially playing down the threat and focusing on the stock market, his administration has begun pushing for urgent action to stem the disease's economic and human toll.

 

His administration sought more than $1 trillion for a stimulus package, which would include $50 billion for hard-hit airlines facing bankruptcy and $250 billion for small business loans.

 

"We're going big," Trump said, describing the health crisis as a war against an "invisible enemy."

 

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday was asked if his change of tone in a news conference on Monday that was more somber was related to report that projected that 2.2 million people in the U.S. could die from the coronavirus, but Trump said he had 'always known' it was a pandemic long before it was described as one.

 

'GAG AND VOTE FOR IT'

Trump, surrounded by top advisers at the White House briefing room, said his administration was considering a plan to send checks to individual Americans of $1,000 to help them weather the crisis, though he indicated details needed to be worked out.

 

High earners might not qualify for payments, which could be sent within the next two weeks, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

 

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said his chamber would this week pass a multibillion-dollar emergency spending bill cleared by the House of Representatives on Saturday, despite concerns from some Republicans.

 

He said he told them to "gag and vote for it anyway."

 

McConnell said the Senate would not leave town until it passes a follow-up package.

 

The House bill would require paid sick leave for workers, expand unemployment compensation and provide nearly $1 billion in additional money to help feed children, homebound senior citizens and others during the outbreak.

 

The Senate would then turn to a follow-on aid package, he said.

 

U.S. stocks jumped on Tuesday, a day after their steepest declines since the 1987 crash, as the Federal Reserve took further steps to boost liquidity as the coronavirus pandemic grips the global economy and markets.

 

The benchmark S&P 500 <.SPX> closed up 6% after the central bank relaunched a financial crisis-era purchase of short-term corporate debt. Mnuchin said it may get to a point where shortening market trading hours would be needed, but that the intention is to keep markets open.

 

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

Trump said travel restrictions within the United States are being considered.

 

"You can do a national lockdown. Hopefully, we're not going to need that," Trump said. "It's a very big step."

 

He asked Americans to avoid traveling and urged them to "buy less" when they go to stores after nationwide reports of anxious shoppers emptying grocery store shelves.

 

"We're asking our older generation to stay in their homes. ... We're asking the younger generation to stop going out," said Trump coronavirus adviser Deborah Birx.

 

It was St. Patrick's Day but the mood was sober, not joyous, after parades and parties celebrating the Irish heritage of many Americans were canceled around the country and bars were shuttered. Florida's governor said bars and nightclubs in his state would close for 30 days.

 

Voters in Florida, Illinois and Arizona were met by gloved poll workers and hand sanitizer as they cast ballots on Tuesday in the state-by-state process of selecting a Democratic challenger to Trump in the Nov. 3 U.S. election.

 

Former Vice President Joe Biden looked to bolster his dominant lead over rival Senator Bernie Sanders. Ohio officials postponed that state's primary due to coronavirus fears hours before voting was to begin.

 

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington and Maria Caspani and Jonathan Allen in New York. Additional reporting by Alexandra Alper, Jeff Mason, David Morgan, Lisa Lambert, David Shepardson, Susan Heavey, Nathan Layne, Lisa Shumaker, Joseph Ax, Jill Serjeant, Dan Whitcomb, Gabriella Borter, Barbara Goldberg, Brendan O'Brien, Michael Erman and Robin Respaut; Writing by Will Dunham and Andy Sullivan; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-18

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[leeneeds]

The debt of the country will be in  numbers that I can not write.

Name	Number
Million	1 x 106
Billion	1 x 109
Trillion	1 x 1012
Quadrillion	1 x 1015
Quintillion	1 x 1018
Sextillion	1 x 1021
Septillion	1 x 1024
Octillion	1 x 1027
Nonillion	1 x 1030
Decillion	1 x 1033
Undecillion	1 x 1036
Duodecillion	1 x 1039
Tredecillion	1 x 1042
Quattuordecillion	1 x 1045
Quindecillion	1 x 1048
Sexdecillion	1 x 1051
Septendecillion	1 x 1054
Octodecillion	1 x 1057
Novemdecillion	1 x 1060
Vigintillion	1 x 1063
Unvigintillion	1 x 1066
Duovigintillion	1 x 1069
Trevigintillion	1 x 1072
Quattuorvigintillion	1 x 1075
Quinvigintillion	1 x 1078
Sexvigintillion	1 x 1081
Septenvigintillion	1 x 1084
Octovigintillion	1 x 1087
Nonvigintillion	1 x 1090
Trigintillion	1 x 1093
Untrigintillion	1 x 1096
Duotrigintillion	1 x 1099
Ten-duotrigintillion (or Googol)	1 x 10100
Skewer's Number	1 x 10130
Centillion	1 x 10303
Googolplex	1 x 1010100

[Somtamnication]

They keep talking recession. This is going to be a depression. Tighten your belts!

[Cryingdick]

1 hour ago, Somtamnication said:

They keep talking recession. This is going to be a depression. Tighten your belts!

 

There is no reason for a depression. The economy is fundamentally sound. The short term impacts are going to be big. However later in the year things should become somewhat normal.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Cryingdick

[metisdead]

An offensive post and the reply has been removed. 

[smedly]

send China the bill - they started it

[bristolboy]

18 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

There is no reason for a depression. The economy is fundamentally sound. The short term impacts are going to be big. However later in the year things should become somewhat normal.

Actually, you're forgetting that there is also an oil and gas price crisis. Yes, it's great for consumers. But not so good for banks that have lent money to producers.

[mtls2005]

Thank goodness for "Socialism".

 

Easy to pull yourself up by the bootstraps when Uncle Sam opens his wallet.

 

Waitng for the medical bills to come due. Ouch.

 

 

 

 

[samran]

Donald goes Bigly...

[samran]

2 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Thank goodness for "Socialism".

 

Easy to pull yourself up by the bootstraps when Uncle Sam opens his wallet.

 

Waitng for the medical bills to come due. Ouch.

 

 

 

 

The rugged individualists are totally conflicted right now. Their demigod acting like he is Bernie Sanders. 

[mtls2005]

44 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

The economy is fundamentally sound.

 

I suspect your definition of "fundamentally" and "sound" are quite a bit different than most. Excluding that idiot Jim Cramer of course.

 

The entire U.S. economy is a teetering house of cards built on debt, and moving from bubble to bubble. Hence the panic.

 

Knowing that the government will always bail out corporations, banks, businesses mean that there is little incentive to modify bad behavior. In fact, the incentive(s) are to be more reckless in chasing financial returns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bristolboy]

3 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

I suspect your definition of "fundamentally" and "sound" are quite a bit different than most. Excluding that idiot Jim Cramer of course.

 

The entire U.S. economy is a teetering house of cards built on debt, and moving from bubble to bubble. Hence the panic.

 

Knowing that the government will always bail out corporations, banks, businesses mean that there is little incentive to modify bad behavior. In fact, the incentive(s) are to be more reckless in chasing financial returns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing this crisis shows is the foolishness of touting the stock market as a reliable indicator of the health of the economy. Much of that rise was due to stock buybacks. In other words corporations like the airlines  (96 percent of their cash used to buy back stock) burned through their cash in order to raise the price of their stock. Now they're going to need the government to bail them out. At the very least, the government should demand part ownership. So when presumably stock prices go back up, the American people should profit from it.

[zydeco]

And all of a sudden, Donald Trump makes Bernie Sanders look like Ayn Rand. That is, if you're a corporation listed on the S&P, where Trump has his "blind trust."

[lannarebirth]

39 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Actually, you're forgetting that there is also an oil and gas price crisis. Yes, it's great for consumers. But not so good for banks that have lent money to producers.

Not as great as it could be given we can't actually go anywhere. If I were those poor airlines I'd be locking in some Futures contracts.

[zydeco]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

His administration sought more than $1 trillion for a stimulus package, which would include $50 billion for hard-hit airlines

The same airlines that spent $45 billion over the past ten years in stock buybacks artificially boosting their stock price and executive bonuses. 

[lannarebirth]

6 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

One thing this crisis shows is the foolishness of touting the stock market as a reliable indicator of the health of the economy. Much of that rise was due to stock buybacks. In other words corporations like the airlines  (96 percent of their cash used to buy back stock) burned through their cash in order to raise the price of their stock. Now they're going to need the government to bail them out. At the very least, the government should demand part ownership. So when presumably stock prices go back up, the American people should profit from it.

 

That's a good idea. Or just liquidate the stock and turn the companies over to the bondholders. Those people are smarter than people who buy stocks anyway.

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by lannarebirth

[zydeco]

26 minutes ago, samran said:

The rugged individualists are totally conflicted right now. Their demigod acting like he is Bernie Sanders. 

If you're a corporation. But if you're an individual and want health care. Well, wait a minute. You see, that is baaad socialism. Trump will use the $1000 per (individual or household?) to hide behind his multi trillion dollar giveaway of taxpayer money to the likes of Boeing, the cruise ship companies, and airlines.

[nobodysfriend]

Money is no cure for the virus .

[bkk6060]

13 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

Money is no cure for the virus .

?

Well, that is not the point.

Giving some people a little relief who will be hurting financially due to a job loss is.

Edited March 18, 2020 by bkk6060

[Emdog]

Meanwhile "to save money" they are cutting off many food stamp recipients.

Could lower cratering of national debt paying for this by:

1. Implement Yale med school program universal health care, save $450,000,000,000 per year

2. Rescind that trillion buck gift tax cut to wealthy corporations and the rich. Keep the 17% that goes to average Joe

 

[mtls2005]

51 minutes ago, zydeco said:

to hide behind his multi trillion dollar giveaway of taxpayer money to the likes of Boeing, the cruise ship companies

 

Boeing: Cash for Clunkers (737Max). Yes, reward incompetence.

 

Cruise Ship companies: with headquarters in tax havens, flagged in countries with little/no regulation, with slave labor. While we have short memories, this travel sector is toast. No one will forget these floating, disease-ridden prisons.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by mtls2005

[mtls2005]

Just now, Emdog said:

Meanwhile "to save money" they are cutting off many food stamp recipients.

 

Pretty sure that has been tabled, for now.

 

Optics not good on that one right now. Wait until Christmas-time to snatch those away.

 

Affected ~ 700,000 people via the SNAP proram.

 

 

[Eric Loh]

World of woes falling on Trump and his re-election chances. Pandemic out of control, oil price upheavals, every sectors of the hospitality industry taking a heavy toll and very likely a return of the ‘08 subprime mortgage crisis. Which god has Trump upset? 

[Jimbo2014]

So during the last 10 years most CEOs have directed their companies to use free flowing money for stock buybacks so they can meet bonus wage targets for themselves.  They could have saved the money for a rainy day but no - now most are in debt.  So once again the common person will pay for the big companies through socialised support in the form of inflation, reduced asset prices and other means.   What a joke! - much better to give that trillion to the community to ensure people can continue to eat and house themselves during the upcoming crisis.

[bristolboy]

1 minute ago, Jimbo2014 said:

So during the last 10 years most CEOs have directed their companies to use free flowing money for stock buybacks so they can meet bonus wage targets for themselves.  They could have saved the money for a rainy day but no - now most are in debt.  So once again the common person will pay for the big companies through socialised support in the form of inflation, reduced asset prices and other means.   What a joke! - much better to give that trillion to the community to ensure people can continue to eat and house themselves during the upcoming crisis.

As I've pointed out elsewhere, airline companies burned through 96 percent of their cash for stock buybacks. This is why using the stock market to gauge the health of the economy is so ridiculous.

[mtls2005]

Why do I think "Hotels", specifically those associated with golf clubs, will be bailed out first?

 

[bristolboy]

5 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Why do I think "Hotels", specifically those associated with golf clubs, will be bailed out first?

 

I'm wondering if Trump has shut down Mar a Lago. I know it was closed on the 16th for a deep cleaning, but has it reopened?

Edited March 18, 2020 by bristolboy

[bristolboy]

4 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Why do I think "Hotels", specifically those associated with golf clubs, will be bailed out first?

 

I just went to the mar a logo website and no announcement of closing. 

[Cats4ever]

Well he hasn't minded bankruptcy, personally, in the past.

[zydeco]

Global debt is over $250 trillion. Is the Fed going to bailout everybody?