#recession 2020

[tomorrowusa]

Four years ago today (March 13th), then President Donald Trump got around to declaring a national state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic. The administration had been downplaying the danger to the United States for 51 days since the first US infection was confirmed on January 22nd.

From an ABC News article dated 25 February 2020...

CDC warns Americans of 'significant disruption' from coronavirus

Until now, health officials said they'd hoped to prevent community spread in the United States. But following community transmissions in Italy, Iran and South Korea, health officials believe the virus may not be able to be contained at the border and that Americans should prepare for a "significant disruption." This comes in contrast to statements from the Trump administration. Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Tuesday the threat to the United States from coronavirus "remains low," despite the White House seeking $1.25 billion in emergency funding to combat the virus. Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC’s Kelly Evans on “The Exchange” Tuesday evening, "We have contained the virus very well here in the U.S." [ ... ] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the request "long overdue and completely inadequate to the scale of this emergency." She also accused President Trump of leaving "critical positions in charge of managing pandemics at the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security vacant." "The president's most recent budget called for slashing funding for the Centers for Disease Control, which is on the front lines of this emergency. And now, he is compounding our vulnerabilities by seeking to ransack funds still needed to keep Ebola in check," Pelosi said in a statement Tuesday morning. "Our state and local governments need serious funding to be ready to respond effectively to any outbreak in the United States. The president should not be raiding money that Congress has appropriated for other life-or-death public health priorities." She added that lawmakers in the House of Representatives "will swiftly advance a strong, strategic funding package that fully addresses the scale and seriousness of this public health crisis." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also called the Trump administration's request "too little too late." "That President Trump is trying to steal funds dedicated to fight Ebola -- which is still considered an epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- is indicative of his towering incompetence and further proof that he and his administration aren't taking the coronavirus crisis as seriously as they need to be," Schumer said in a statement.

A reminder that Trump had been leaving many positions vacant – part of a Republican strategy to undermine the federal government.

Here's a picture from that ABC piece from a nearly empty restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. The screen displays a Trump tweet still downplaying COVID-19 with him seeming more concerned about the effect of the Dow Jones on his re-election bid.

People were not buying Trump's claims but they were buying PPE.

I took this picture at CVS on February 26th that year.

The stock market which Trump in his February tweet claimed looked "very good" was tanking on March 12th – the day before his state of emergency declaration.

Trump succeeded in sending the US economy into recession much faster than George W. Bush did at the end of his term – quite a feat!. (As an aside, every recession in the US since 1981 has been triggered by Republican presidents.)

Of course Trump never stopped trying to downplay the pandemic nor did he ever take responsibility for it. The US ended up with the highest per capita death rate of any technologically advanced country.

Precious time was lost while Trump dawdled. Orange on this map indicates COVID infections while red indicates COVID deaths. At the time Trump declared a state of emergency, the virus had already spread to 49 states.

The United States could have done far better and it certainly had the tools to do so.

The Obama administration had limited the number of US cases of Ebola to under one dozen during that pandemic in the 2010s. Based on their success, they compiled a guide on how the federal government could limit future pandemics.

Obama team left pandemic playbook for Trump administration, officials confirm

Of course Trump ignored it.

Unlike those boxes of nuclear secrets in Trump's bathroom, the Obama pandemic limitation document is not classified. Anybody can read it – even if Trump didn't. This copy comes from the Stanford University Libraries.

TOWARDS EPIDEMIC PREDICTION: FEDERAL EFFORTS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN OUTBREAK MODELING

Feel free to share this post with anybody who still feels nostalgic about the Trump White House years!

[fluffypotatey]

My fellow zillennial. It's come to my attention that Gen Alpha is apparently making aesthetic tiktoks romanticizing 2020, like they want to be a teenager during that time??? Like no? You don't? I can't even begin to start breaking down how bad that year was in every category. McDonalds apparently now has "standards" yet another rubbish thing to add to the "college degrees make you overqualified with zero experience sorry you can't get this entry job" bucket. And Lunchables news reporters are like 30 years too late to be writing an expose on the toxic levels of metal in that.

people were dying????? we were in a state of panic and isolation???? schools were struggling with the switch to online only classes????

do we all remember the BLM protests and the tips on how to keep your face hidden and how to stay safe from getting maced???? do we remember the pushback against it??? calling on botched stats???

do we even remember the fucking US election???? how heated it got???? how much distrust republicans tried to seed into mail-in ballots?????

and then literally January of 2021, the US legislative house gets stormed in, Texas has a freeze so bad our gridlock shuts down and PEOPLE DIED FROM THE COLD WHILE EVERYONE ELSE MOCKED US FOR FREEZING!!!

2020 was not a good year. it is the furthest from a a good year, but it sure as hell emphasized a motley of issues the world had going on (tho i’m more versed in the US issues bc i live there)

[celestial-sapphicss]

reblog and put in tags the prominent musical artists phases in your life

[venacoeurva]

Considering how I may be doing comms again more consistently this year, especially, I've been on a streak of no bad experiences with clients since about 2019. Nobody's gotten parasocial because they gave me money for a service in years, let's keep it up boys!!!

[scamperin-shroom]

Well, we're fucked. What a year am I right? (*sobs violently)

[tamaharu]

reading old writing is so. i have no idea who wrote this they are so disconnected from me that i cant even follow their thought processes. and also theyre writing about a concept that if written by anyone else would intrigue me greatly. kill me now.

[ceilingfrogs]

The Hunt

SangChengMonth2020 (on ao3)

Day 30: Free Day!

“If we get caught, I’m breaking your legs,” Jiang Cheng threatened in the dead of the night, Lan Qiren hot on their heels.

“We’re not getting caught,” Nie Huaisang replied, lugging Jiang Cheng along, forcing him to walk faster. Nie Huaisang could move very quickly with the right motivation. And Lan Qiren methodically hunting them down was motivation enough.

“I refuse to get caught,” Nie Huaisang continued, panting, “I’ve actually bothered to put some effort into my studies this time and I refuse to return to this dump another year.”

“If we denounce ourselves now, maybe the punishment won’t be so severe,” Jiang Cheng said, like the naive soul he was.

“Where have you been these past few weeks? This is the Lan Sect. Do you honestly think they’re going to go easy on us just because we gave ourselves up? No. If Lan Qiren finds us out of bed, we’re either going to spend a great many painful hours locked up in the library writing lines or get expelled,” Nie Huaisang said, as they crept their way through Cloud Recess, “Lan Qiren didn’t see our faces; he doesn’t know it’s us. We just need to make sure he doesn’t catch us.”

This was not how Nie Huaisang had envisioned this night going. No, this night was meant to be spent staring lovingly into Jiang Cheng’s eyes, maybe even some light making-out if the mood struck them. Not this. Not sneaking around every corner and ducking behind every pillar, hoping the darkness swallowed them up and hid them from any nosy grandmasters.

Alas, the light making-out was no longer a viable plan.

Jiang Cheng continued to mutter about Nie Huaisang’s terrible ideas, but he was whispering quietly enough that Nie Huaisang allowed it.

Nie Huaisang heard the pitter-patter of footsteps nearby and dragged Jiang Cheng into the nearest conveniently placed bush, pressing his hand against Jiang Cheng’s mouth, before a shout of protest could be uttered.

Hidden amongst the underbrush, all manner of branches digging into his sides, Nie Huaisang prayed to whatever deity would listen that they remained concealed. He made sure to sound especially pathetic; that tactic usually worked on Da-ge.

Marching up the path, at a brisk pace, but not a run (never a run in the Cloud Recesses) was their pursuer, Lan Qiren. In the light of the lanterns, he appeared incensed.

Nie Huaisang kept his hand pressed against Jiang Cheng’s mouth, trying not to focus on how lovely Jiang Cheng’s back felt against his chest (he couldn’t wait for Jiang Cheng to get comfortable enough for long, lazy, and decadent cuddle sessions). Neither of them dared breath as Lan Qiren approached their hiding spot, fearing the slightest air from their lungs would alert the grandmaster to their presence.

Lan Qiren did not even glance at the conveniently placed bush, just kept on marching in the direction Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng had been heading.

They waited in silence for some time, before finally allowing their breathing to go back to normal. Nie Huaisang felt Jiang Cheng’s breath on his hand.

Reluctantly, Nie Huaisang removed his hand and unwrapped his arm from that very well-defined torso.

“Come on,” Nie Huaisang said, extracting himself from the branches, offering a hand to Jiang Cheng who took it without hesitation. “I refuse to spend the night in a bush, no matter how nice the company is.”

It was a shame it was too dark to see the blush no doubt colouring Jiang Cheng’s cheeks.

Nie Huaisang, with Jiang Cheng close behind, slunk away, in the opposite direction of Lan Qiren, turning a corner of a cabin only to abruptly step back, knocking into Jiang Cheng.

They peeked around the corner.

“How does he move so quickly?” Nie Huaisang hissed as they watched Lan Qiren—who should definitely be somewhere behind them—stride with all the vigour of a predator having caught the scent of its next meal.

“I don’t know,” Jiang Cheng hissed back, equally disturbed by Lan Qiren’s stalking abilities.

They tiptoed away, hoping beyond hope Lan Qiren would just give up. But neither of them were that lucky.

A loud crack shattered the quiet of the night, radiating out in all directions. They both froze and looked down at the broken twig under Jiang Cheng’s foot.

They looked up at each other in wide-eyed horror.

Without a word, they tiptoed away faster.

Farther off, they heard the tell-tale sound of footsteps on the pebbled path.

Nie Huaisang searched left and right for a hiding place and found none.

Until finally, he spotted a small shed, not far off.

Nie Huaisang veered towards the shed, hauling along a silently cursing Jiang Cheng.

He swung the door open. The footsteps drew closer. He threw Jiang Cheng into the dark opening and followed right behind, delicately closing the door just in time.

Jiang Cheng was stiff by his side, the type of Jiang-Cheng-stiffness usually attributed to sudden rage and/or annoyance.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. There was barely enough moonlight filtering in through the wooden roof to see Wei Wuxian—hair dishevelled, robes loose and hanging off a shoulder. He had one of his legs wrapped around Lan Zhan who was holding him up against the flimsy wall with a bruising grip on Wei Wuxian’s thigh. Lan Zhan did not have a single strand of hair out of place.

Wei Wuxian opened his mouth to speak. Nie Huaisang glared at him and signalled him to keep his trap shut, throwing in a few rude gestures to get his point across.

Wei Wuxian wisely closed his mouth, Lan Zhan wisely didn’t open his mouth at all, and everyone wisely stayed still and silent as the footsteps outside passed the shed.

Noone talked once the footsteps could no longer be heard, no one dared leave the shed either.

There was a very obvious hickey growing on Wei Wuxian’s neck.

It was going to be a long night.

[nebuvoid]

on one hand, once you let go of cringe an really delve into all the parallels, hints, foreshadowing, symbolism yada yada in kh its really fun and engaging to try and find as much as possible, hell you combine knowledge a and knowledge b and get...knowledge c! i swear some of these meta posts will make you shit your pants

on the other it can be very overwhelming because theres so MUCH of it you want to catch it all and stay on top of it all but its a lot like god damn. well i dont wanna be a fool and not understand a scene to its fullest potential because i dont remember minor lore trivia xyz in conjuction with abc. this too will make you shit your pants

[abetterscarletletter]

all the american fans having a breakdown over not being able to get tickets. yeah ticketmaster is shit but honey. babes. my sweet summer child. taylor literally has not performed in my country in over a decade. you do not know my pain and i pray that you never will.

[tomorrowusa]

Just so nobody can say this is out of context, here's a vid of the entire interview.

The Obama administration successfully contained the Ebola outbreak in the United States. The death toll for Ebola in the US was under a dozen. So before leaving office, the Obama National Security Council created a 69-page handbook on how to deal with a pandemic. Trump and his flunkies ignored it with disastrous results.

Trump team failed to follow NSC’s pandemic playbook

The US death toll from COVID-19 is in seven digits. Other industrialized countries with advanced technological infrastructure such as Canada, Taiwan, Germany, and New Zealand had lower fatality rates per capita.

Trump largely ignored the virus until well into March when it had a chance to spread across the US.

The missing six weeks: how Trump failed the biggest test of his life The president was aware of the danger from the coronavirus – but a lack of leadership has created an emergency of epic proportions

The Trump administration, at best, was in denial; at worst, it sabotaged the pandemic response.

Trump White House made 'deliberate efforts' to undermine Covid response, report says

Trump zombies who claim the economy was marvelous under Trump conveniently forget about everything that happened after February of 2020. Trump's early bungling of the pandemic plunged the economy into recession. The COVID supply chain problems and the economic stimulus required to prevent a depression led to the spurt in inflation which is finally receding.

People who are nostalgic about taking hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, drinking bleach, and sticking UV lights up their butts must be excited about the opportunity to vote for Trump again.

[ruleof3bobby]

NOMADLAND (2020) Grade: B-

Good indie film of char study. The DP work is also great. Frances McDormand was wonderful & David Strathairn I've always thought to be underrated. The Non-Actors were hit or miss.

[chaosmenu]

trying to think of a single good leap year post 2000. yeah 2024 wont be my year

[superbeans89]

[starkwlkr]

the hamilton girls | lewis hamilton

based on dave grohl’s interviews about his daughters <33 he’s my favorite girl dad i can always trust dave grohl

Lewis Hamilton was many things. A Formula 1 driver, a seven time world champion, an idol, an inspiration to many young kids, but most of all, he was a husband and father to three girls. His family was everything to him. He enjoyed being a dad to his three precious girls.

Maeve was his oldest. She was born on a sunny day in 2013. Then came his second, Violet, born in 2017. Violet instantly became Maeve’s best friend. Lewis and Y/n were thankful that Maeve didn’t go through a jealous phase. Lastly, came their third girl, Gracie, born in early 2020.

The Hamilton girls would join their father in the paddock when they didn’t have school. Dressed in Mercedes merch, they walked hand in hand with their mother to the Mercedes garage. The entire team loved them, it was impossible not to.

“Dad! I really want lemonade!” Violet poked Lewis’ side until he payed attention to her.

“There’s no lemonade here. Have some water.” Lewis suggested, but Violet frowned. Lewis didn’t want his daughter to be upset so he directed the girls to Mercedes hospitality in hopes that someone could make the girls a lemonade. In the end, his three daughters ended up with their lemonade.

At one point, they even because Twitter famous whenever they were at the races. Violet had a habit of sleeping even before the race ended so when the camera showed Lewis celebrating his win, the camera panned over to Lewis’ family showing little Violet asleep with her mouth slightly open in her mom’s arms.

Maeve was half asleep, but she still made a heart with her hands. Gracie was with her grandma, but you were pretty sure she was asleep as well.

But when they weren’t attending races, the Hamilton girls were back in school. Whenever Lewis had time off, he would pick up the girls from school, giving you some time to yourself. He knew how the school pickup process was, what he didn’t know was how long it would take. When it was finally his time to park in front of the school, a teacher walked up making Lewis roll down the window.

The teacher was taken by surprise when she saw Lewis. “Um . . Who are you here to pick up, sir?”

“Maeve and Violet Hamilton.” He replied. Then the teacher nodded and walked back to the school. Seconds later, his two girls walked patiently towards their dad’s black Mercedes. Lewis could feel the other parents staring at him. It wasn’t everyday that Lewis Hamilton came to a children’s school.

Maeve opened the backseat door and climbed in along with Violet. They looked exhausted, probably from all the running they did during recess.

“How was school?” Lewis asked as he drove away.

“We went to the library today and I got a book. It’s about sports and your face is in it.” Violet said as she got the book out from her backpack.

“Really? What does it say?” Lewis questioned, curious as to what the book said. The girls weren’t really interested in formula 1, so he was confused as to why Violet even checked out the book.

“It says you won seven titles and then i stopped reading because I was bored. I only got it because I wanted to show you and mom that uncle Nico was in the book too.”

His girls always made him laugh. They could brighten up his day even if he was at his lowest. He was such a proud dad too, often bringing up his daughters during interviews and posting pictures of them on instagram. During his Jimmy Kimmel interview, he took any chance he got to talk about his family.

“And do your daughters understand that their dad is a seven time world champion?” Jimmy asked.

Lewis chuckled. “They don’t really care.” He said then the audience, along with Jimmy, laughed. “No, they know what I do for work, but when they were younger they thought I sold cars.”

“You sold cars? How did they come up with that?” Jimmy laughed.

“Their mum explained that I work with cars, that was all, so they assumed I sold cars because at home I have several. Then I think it was the Monaco Grand Prix where they finally got an understanding of what exactly I do. They watched the race and when it was over, I asked them what they thought of it and all I got was ‘I don’t know’ and that’s when my wife said that halfway through the race they asked her for her phone so they could watch their cartoons.” Lewis explained.

He remembers that day clearly. The girls weren’t interested in cars, they rather watch reruns of Gravity Falls. He wasn’t mad either, he was glad that they didn’t get frustrated and start causing chaos around the paddock.

Him mentioning his girls because a regular thing. During press conferences, he was often asked about his girls, more specifically if they would follow his footsteps into the world of F1.

“They don’t even care about the races.” Lewis said as the other drivers bursted out laughing. “My oldest, Maeve, she did have a phase where she liked cars, but she’s transitioned into learning about dinosaurs. She says she wants to be an paleontologist so I don’t have to worry about her.”

“Her birthday is coming up, no?” Max asked. “I’ll buy her one of those fossil kits. I think she’ll love it.”

“And what about your other daughter?”

“She falls asleep every time, I don’t think we will see her racing anytime soon. I’m telling you, they don’t care.” Lewis laughed.

“They don’t care about your world titles?” Charles asked smiling.

“They don’t care! To them, I’m just their dad. They’re like ‘daddy, I need my lemonade now’ it’s kinda funny actually. But I love my girls.”

The Hamilton girls loved their dad to death, it was clear, even if they didn’t care about his world titles or his reputation in F1. He was the best dad to them and that was all they cared about.

[swifterm]

Is your eCommerce store ready for Christmas?

[robertreich]

Biden vs. Trump: Whose Economic Plan Is Better for You? 

Trump failed to deliver on his number one campaign promise:

President Trump presided over a historic net loss of nearly 3 million American jobs, the worst jobs numbers ever recorded under an American president.

This is no fluke. America’s economy has almost always done worse under Republican presidents. A New York Times analysis found that since 1933, the U.S. economy has grown nearly twice as fast on average under Democrats.

Now Trump’s defenders claim it’s not his fault that the economy collapsed under his watch. It was the pandemic. But there are two big things wrong with this.

First, the pandemic recession was as bad as it was because of Trump. His failure to lead with any national strategy left America in chaos throughout 2020, long after other nations had developed coordinated testing, tracing, and social distancing plans that allowed them to reopen their economies.

But secondly, even before the pandemic, Trump failed to deliver on his economic promises. Job growth slowed under Trump.

America added more jobs in President Obama’s last three years than in Trump’s first three.

Even before the pandemic most middle-class American households saw their incomes go down under Trump.

Trump’s major economic policy was cutting taxes on the rich and big corporations. He promised it would result in $4,000 annual raises for workers. How did that work out? Did you get a $4,000 raise?

Republicans keep claiming that if we just cut enough taxes on the rich, the wealth will “trickle down.” But it never works. Wage growth slowed after Reagan’s tax cuts for the rich and big corporations. And the Bush and Trump tax cuts didn’t trickle down either.

These giveaways to the wealthy came at the expense of investments in infrastructure, education, and health care, making life more expensive and difficult for everyone who isn’t rich.

They also exploded the debt and deficit. Reagan oversaw a 186% increase in the national debt — the biggest percentage increase in over 70 years. The Bush and Trump tax cuts, that mostly benefited corporations and the rich, are the main reasons why America’s debt is growing faster than the economy.

Republican presidents have led us into the three worst economic crises of the last century, and Democrats led us out of them.

Republicans talk about running the country like a business, but they want to run it the way Trump ran his businesses: with massive debts, a string of failures, and payouts for the folks at the top, while workers get shafted again and again. Given Republicans’ track record, why would any hard-working American put their financial security in the hands of a Republican president ever again?