POLITICUSUSA
President Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning to attack Democrats, claiming that economic shutdowns to slow the spread of coronavirus are politically motivated.
“The Democrats will open up their states on November 4th, the day after the Election,” he wrote. “These shutdowns are ridiculous, and only being done to hurt the economy prior to the most important election, perhaps, in our history!”
President Donald Trump boasted about the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that found employers added 1.4 million jobs in August. However, the president did not mention that the report also points out the United States has lost 11.5 million jobs since February.
According to the latest data released by the Department of Labor (DOL), another 1 million American workers filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week on a seasonally adjusted basis. This is the 22nd time in 23 weeks that unemployment claims topped 1 million as the nation struggles economically amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Over one million unemployment claims were filed last week, according to new data from the Department of Labor (DOL), rising to a seasonally adjusted 1.106 million for the week ended Aug. 15, from an upwardly revised 971,000 in the prior week. The national economy has regained only 9.3 million of the 22 million jobs lost between February and April.
President Donald Trump’s personal net worth has dropped $300 million in one year as the coronavirus pandemic hurts his businesses, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. This means the president has lost roughly 10 percent of his wealth since his inauguration. His net worth now stands at $2.7 billion, according to the Billionaires Index.
President Donald Trump claimed that the United States will experience an economic “disaster” if Democrat Joe Biden wins this year’s general election.
“I think if he wins, you’re going to end up with a disaster,” Trump said on Fox Business.
Kentucky voters are angry at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s response to the economic crisis wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. Protesters have taken to protesting outside McConnell’s Louisville office, carrying signs with slogans such as “Mitch Better Have My Money.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) took Republicans to task for delaying vital financial relief to everyone affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn for what you just described,” she told CNBC’s Jim Cramer. Pelosi added that she “hopes” President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to extend the nationwide eviction moratorium though she pointed out that things would only continue to get worse in the absence of adequate financial relief.
62 percent of voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin believe enhanced unemployment benefits should be extended, according to polling published Wednesday by CNBC/Change Research. All of the aforementioned states are swing states in play for November’s general election.
The latest data from the United States Department of Labor (DOL) shows that 1.4 million more Americans have filed for unemployment, the first increase since the pandemic intensified in March. DOL says about 32 million people are receiving unemployment benefits, though that figure could include double-counting by some states.
According to new data from the Department of Labor, another 2.44 million Americans filed for initial unemployment benefits last week
The current unemployment rate of 14.7 percent means that nearly 40 million Americans are out of work as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced many businesses to declare bankruptcy or impose layoffs. An estimated 20 million jobs were wiped out last month.
According to an Associated Press report, President Donald Trump’s allies are recruiting “extremely pro-Trump” doctors to go on television and advocate reopening the national economy as speedily as possible. This would be “without waiting to meet safety benchmarks proposed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.”
The Orlando Sentinel‘s editorial board criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after he blamed the high number of unemployed people for the state’s failure to pay unemployment benefits.
DeSantis made the remarks in response to a reporter’s question about delays that have affected individuals who first applied for unemployment in March.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has called for an inspector general to investigate coronavirus stimulus loans given to large companies and those close to the administration.
“Let me issue a warning right now to anyone who participates in a corrupt giveaway with President Trump and his administration,” Biden said in a video message released by his campaign. “I will direct her to review every stimulus loan given to any big company or political insider.”
In an op-ed for The Washington Post, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden wrote that President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic amounts to little more than “deflecting blame and dividing Americans.”
Writing in an op-ed for The Hill, journalist and Fox News political analyst Juan Williams says President Donald Trump’s “failure of leadership” allowed the coronavirus “to do greater damage to the economy than it otherwise would.”
Late Night host Seth Meyers slammed President Donald Trump over his insistence that the national economy reopen and his push for states to lift their stay-at-home orders, saying that his lack of empathy compels him to let Americans die to return to business as usual.
Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote a letter to President Donald Trump suggesting he suspend visas for guest workers “during recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.”
An exclusive report from The Associated Press reveals that President Donald Trump’s administration shelved a 17-page report by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework.” The report, the AP notes, “was researched and written to help faith leaders, business owners, educators and state and local officials as they begin to reopen.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) admitted during a private call with lawmakers that reopening the economy would spread the coronavirus even as he publicly announced that he would end an executive stay-at-home order. The news was first reported by The Daily Beast; a spokesperson for Abbott confirmed the call is authentic.