Empire State Manufacturing index was released last Monday with sobering news: the index turned strongly negative with the largest drop ever. This occurred before the near economic shutdown caused by fear of the spread of infection, as responses from purchasing managers were due before March 15th. It is undeniable that partial quarantines--aka "social distancing--for an extended period (eighteen months?) will make a weak economy built on debt, money printing, and asset inflation even worse.
Coronavirus is hardly a "black swan" event despite what the liar-in-chief spews from his propaganda pulpit* Pandemics have occurred throughout human history, the last worldwide killer occurring only a century ago. And now that non rich 'Mericans have voted decisively against socialized medicine (Thank you, Joe Gramps), they will reap the whirlwind and end up unemployed (Goldman Sachs: 2.25 million), if not dead. Because capitalism does not solve social problems, it exploits them.
*Il Douche on COVID-19:
Jan. 22: “We have it totally under control”
Feb. 28: “This is their new hoax”; "One day, it’s like a miracle. It will disappear.”
Mar. 9: “Last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. Think about that!”
Mar. 13: “I don’t take responsibility at all.”
Mar. 16: “You were surprised. We were all surprised.”
March 17: “I’ve felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”
March 18: “It snuck up on us.”
South Korea has tested 290K people, and its corona virus outbreak is largely under control. The US has only tested 60,000 and cases are exploding. It took the Imperial College of London to shake the regime out of its capitalist stupor [chart above] Unmitigated, the virus could kill 2.2 million in the US according to the epidemiological study. That death toll is politically unacceptable, even for free market goons. The scientist who led the British study is infected with the virus.