The stock markets have tanked pretty hard due to concerns surrounding the spread of coronavirus across the globe.
Nevertheless, President Donald Trump is still trying to promote an optimistic view about what’s happening, economically, when it comes to the disease’s impact.
When asked on Thursday if he was planning to sign any sort of economic declaration, Trump retorted with a remark that suggested he didn’t have a true understanding of what was happening that morning.
“The markets are gonna be just fine,” Trump responded.
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Pres. Trump: "The markets are going to be just fine, just fine."
Reporter: "Why do you say that?"
Trump heads inside. https://t.co/gYzXmYF0aF pic.twitter.com/yYJ9k46Yoi
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) March 12, 2020
In fact, the markets are not doing fine as of right now, or in the past few weeks, and have officially entered what investors call “bear market” territory.
For instance, since its highest point, which was achieved on February 12 of this year, the Dow Jones has dropped by more than 7,000 points. That’s a quarter of losses from where it stood just 29 days ago.
Put another way, the Dow Jones has lost all of the gains — and then some — that have been produced since the president’s signature economic policy, his enormous corporate tax cuts, was implemented at the start of 2018.
https://twitter.com/NBC_Fake_News/status/1237865839979708426?s=20
Of course, how the stock market behaves is just one sign of how the economy is doing. Workers will likely face substantial challenges in the months ahead when it comes to figuring out how to continue working at their jobs, or dealing with personal illness, that Congress must address in the next few days or so.
Democrats on Wednesday night submitted a bill in the House that would provide paid sick leave of 14 days to every American, increase funds for unemployed workers who might become furloughed due to coronavirus, and expand food programs across the country, in addition to several other measures.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, as well as aides from the White House, signaled that they planned to oppose the Democrats’ bill, Politico reported.
Chris Walker is a freelance journalist based in Madison, Wisconsin, who focuses on news, politics, and analysis of world events. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, since 2005 Chris has reported on workers’ rights protests in Wisconsin, opined on four separate presidential elections and written on a number of other political subjects for a variety of national online publications.
