This is especially true if you are an airline or hotel employee that is about to be laid off as a result of a coronavirus lapse in demand.
OK Kort, what would inspire confidence?
—Tell the truth. Don’t speculate about when a vaccine might be available or make statements about how quickly testing will be available. Just give the unvarnished, knowable facts and what the administration is doing to get its arms around the potential contagion. Honesty is always the best policy. This bullet may be a deal-breaker.
— The chief point person (a corona czar) should be a trusted source, someone familiar with the science and medicine, someone with the ability to explain the complex to those without a scientific background and some who can answer questions, not the president or vice-president. The administration should refer all inquiries to this person and , otherwise, be quiet on the topic (no contradiction if facts don’t fit the narrative they would like to present).
—If we have to open up the federal check book it should be for spending that addresses the immediate problem not additional stimulus or rate cuts to ostensibly keep the market from crashing. Confidence in leadership will take care of that.
I believe that these three points would go along way to calming the situation and re-establishing credibility.
One final item might be proposals or the offer of targeted assistance to those industries most damaged by the virus, especially if this is a longer-term event.
This is my opinion. What’s yours?
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Not only “if you are an airline or hotel employee that is about to be laid off” but also if you are unemployed, a student, retired (the most vulnerable group), self-employed making quarterly estimated payments, or if you are uninsured but need $3,000 right now for a non-available coronavirus test to prove you are fit to return to work. And as for “targeted assistance to those industries most damaged by the virus” my mind keep wondering to the grocery store where I was this afternoon watching shopper after shopper pick up the cucumbers and melons and peppers and tomatoes and onions and everything else in the produce department and then respectfully put it back before choosing another to fondle. Oh, and of course while I was at the poll today where I had to hand my license to the poll worker, use my finger to register responses on the touch screen, sign my name on the touch screen, use the communal pencil to fill in my ballot, etc. As a member of the most vulnerable group of Americans, I give myself around two weeks to live. The payroll tax cut should roll in right around the time my family needs it most.
Paul,Thank you for the comment that takes my focus from narrow to broad. I agree with all that you have said. Pardon my insensitivity to those who are affected in the broader economy.
One thing that becomes clearer in my mind about coronavirus is that we had no way to test for it until they spotted it in China and developed a test. supposedly the authorities were slow to pick up on the seriousness of This infestation. Likewise, in the United States, we were slow to pick up on the seriousness of the problem. I am beginning to believe that the coronavirus has been here much longer than we estimate and that using the tested data out of China may skew the severity, mortality associated with the virus much higher than if a broader less sick portion of the population had been tested. I guess bottom line on this, is that we might not have seen anything yet in terms of actual cases but that the larger count will show a significantly improved mortality rate. (I hope I’m not one of the statistics)
I cannot prove this. I will say that according to people with experience treating the disease it does attack our elderly/immune challenged population at a much more severe level than younger people who, supposedly, hardly feel it. Therefore many cases have not been reported or tested for. I might make another point and that is according to the CDC the low-end estimate for run-of-the-mill flu virus casualties in the United States this year 20,000. However, this number might represent only about half of 1% of the total population that is affected. This might turn out to be the case with COVID-19 if everyone that actually gets it is counted. Meanwhile, the media is having a field day scaring people.
As the most interesting man in the world use to say whenever having polite conversation about various types of influenzas, “Stay healthy my friend” and keep washing those hands.
Thanks for your readership and thanks for checking in.
I totally agree with both you and Paule4. It seems to me that the proposed payroll tax cut may provide some people with more “spendable income” until they realize that their tax liability at the end of the year will still be the same, but with less having been deducted to meet that obligation. Or is Trump proposing another tax cut and deficit increase?