Extent of Current Economic Crisis Was Made Worse By Our Policies & Practices in Previous Decades

In this video from Redacted Tonight, Lee Camp explains how what he terms “disaster capitalism” has actually made this Covid-19 crisis worse than it otherwise might have been otherwise. 

Yes, Camp argues that the economics that has produced a majority of people in the United States on the edge of an abyss has indeed not only failed to serve the public interest, but in fact has made this disaster a virtual breaking point for many, if not most, of them. We had heard about how a growing percentage of Americans were one disaster away from potential financial disaster, and how most Americans (60 percent, according to recent polls) would not necessarily be able to handle an emergency in the amount of $1,000, and would need to borrow, to go into debt, in order to pay for a $1,000 emergency. 

So what are the ramifications of this now, when we are obviously facing this coronavirus disaster? With 10 million Americans filing for unemployment just over the past two weeks, and with estimated figures of just how bad it might get reaching astronomical proportions – over 32 percent unemployment and 47 million unemployed Americans – now looming, we clearly are facing something unlike anything that this country has faced in recent memory. In fact, since these projections were more extreme even than the Great Depression, where the peak unemployment figures were 24.99 percent, which was reached more or less right in the middle of that economic crisis, than we might be about to enter a situation that this country literally has never reached before. 

Like with the Great Depression, we can blame the era that came before at least partially. After all, Americans almost felt embarrassed by the ‘Roaring Twenties” era that had preceded it. There is a good chance that we as Americans today will feel ashamed of the economic excesses and elitism of recent decades, when we collectively as a nation returned to the same kinds of trickle-down economic policies that had obviously made matters quite dire once the Great Depression began. 

No one can know for sure where we are going, and how bad this crisis is going to be. Perhaps I should not mention it, but what if there is yet another disaster that befalls us in the near future, adding to the misery? During the Great Depression, there were the Dust Bowl days, which dried out farms and which obviously exacerbated the economic situation. It cannot be said that such a scenario will definitely happen again, but can we with equal confidence rule it out as a very real possibility? It would seem irresponsible to think that we should. In fact, if this current crisis has taught us anything, it is that we should prepare for disasters before they happen, and not try and play quick catch-up after the fact, like Donald Trump did by disbanding the White House pandemic team, only to scramble and try and make up for obviously lost time once the extent of the Covid-9 crisis became clear. 

Even then, Trump’s main concern always seems to be how he and his administration are viewed in terms of popularity and re-election chances.

Nationalism is Making Coronavirus Crisis Far Worse, Not Better

This was a post that I wrote perhaps a week or more ago, but never quite got around to publishing, for some reason.

But since I sincerely believe that an ugly form of nationalism is making things worse with this Covid-19 crisis, rather than better, it seemed worth posting.

The irony - or perhaps the tragedy - of it is that for many people who subscribe to nationalism, not only do they not see anything wrong with it, but they believe it to be a good thing. What's wrong with patriotism, they will ask to counter any criticism/

Of course when you fixate so much on one country to the exclusion of all others, there is no sense of any wider community. It becomes an extension of one's ego, a kind of narcissism that becomes toxic to one's thinking, and which does not allow the one who holds it to see anything outside of the nation's borders as legitimate or relevant. Some countries have seen this kind of nationalism take hold and, unfortunately, that seems true here in the United States, where we have an elected president who's stated policy is "America first," and again, this exclusive policy has lost this country some traditional allies. After all, usually cautious world leaders in Europe, within hours of meeting with Trump, suggested that the United States could no longer be relied upon as a trustworthy partner. To me, that seems like toxic nationalism, but to Trump supporters, that probably feels like a strong leader finally standing up to hypocrisy of the international community. It is that same kind of thinking that also prevents Americans from recognizing the inadequacies of their national healthcare system, which is far and away the most expensive one in the world, and it is here, where there are absolutely no price controls, that not surprisingly we have to pay the highest prices for healthcare of any country in the world. I would call that a failure, but Trump fans who are aware of this inconvenient fact simply place the blame on Obama, or on the Clintons, or the Democrats more generally, and then forget to pay attention enough to when Republicans not only do nothing to improve the situation, but then outright work to make it worse. I knew just such a guy, a former coworker, who's wife had cancer. While she did, he went against Republicans, angrily pointing out that they had no plan. But as soon as she got better, he turned back to Republicans, and as someone who was an admitted racist, he also unashamedly and enthusiastically supported - who else? - Donald Trump for the White House. I wish that I was kidding or exaggerating.

The Covid-19 crisis is similar. American leadership right now just is not strong. Trump denied that the coronavirus was a serious threat and downplayed the severity of it for quite some time, thus delaying what may otherwise have been a strong and effective response. In short, he put Americans at risk, because at the time, he was worried that such news might hurt the stock market - the economy - and he has put all of his chips on the table that the mark of a successful presidency would be the economy. When the economy predictably crashed as Covid-19 began to hit the United States more strongly and became a bona fide crisis, the stock market crashed anyway, mostly because of Trump's inadequate response. When he seemed uncomfortable and uncertain during a national address (the one which he ended by siting back, loosening his tie, and saying, "Okaay" in a manner that betrayed clear frustration, the stock market reacted in predictable fashion: it tanked. Despite ample expert advice and evidence of what might be effective against the coronavirus around the world, Trump instead misled Americans not only about the severity of the crisis, and keeps sending strange, mixed messages, fluctuating between positions where he acknowledges how serious this whole thing was, and still more attempts to downplay it. He still stood too near people, still shook hands, touched their microphones before they came up to the podium and spoke, and claimed that he would never wear a mask, even though this was now officially being recommended. What exactly is the clear message coming from the White House when it comes to Covid-19? Who can be certain, since he keeps flip-flopping between taking it seriously, and his rather typical sense of being exempt from any and all consequences, much like he has done throughout his entire life.

Germans confirmed that the Trump administration had tried to lure their scientists away in order to be a step ahead on acquiring a cure for the coronavirus, and that he hoped it would be regarded as an exclusively American cure, which he would use to cure Americans only. Maybe, once that was taken care of, he might loan it out to other countries, out of the great generosity of his heart. When I refer to ugly, blind, counterproductive nationalism, that is pretty much a perfect example of what I am specifically referring to. After all, what if China or Japan, or some other European nation, perhaps, suddenly comes up with something, discovers a cure? What if, in that scenario, they took that same approach? Would that be helpful for Americans? Would that be putting politics over the safety and well-being of possibly millions (perhaps even billions) of people? Of course it would. Yet, somehow, this logic escapes Trump supporters when it comes to their whole-hearted endorsement of their favorite president.

That is why I wrote this piece, and it felt like the time to publish it now:


The coronavirus would have been very bad already, just as is. It is an airborne virus that spreads from person to person without necessarily any direct contact. Often, someone who has it might be contagious before they even know that they have it, before any symptoms reveal themselves. That makes this very dangerous, and hard to contain, which makes this almost an inevitable, worldwide epidemic.

Yet, there are some things that are being done which have actually made it worse. And it seems clear that one of these things is nationalism.

Indeed, the thing that some believe is absolutely necessary to make a country better is, in fact, toxic. And it's toxicity is making this whole coronavirus crisis worse, and even perhaps far worse. And nowhere is that nationalism as evident, and perhaps as toxic, as it is here in the United States.

Self-identified superpatriots, most of whom tend to be loyal supporters of Donald Trump, are making the coronavirus situation worse than it really needs to be.The coronavirus is a global pandemic, which has hit particularly hard in some countries, particularly China and Italy (at least so far). Also, the fears – really, paranoia – that it has stoked has caused some stunning shortages of normally readily available items in supermarkets of developed nations, such as toilet paper, meat, rice, and even flour. At least my girlfriend could not find flour when she tried to go grocery shopping in recent days.              

That is saying nothing about the recent economic collapse that has been a big part of this whole thing. It is such a bi thing, in fact, that it seems to be the main concert for Trump, who clearly sprung to action very quickly to respond to the economic crisis and the concerns that it has created. Frankly, it almost feels like he did not really bother to concern himself too seriously about the whole coronavirus thing until the stock market specifically reacted negatively to concerns that Trump was not handling the crisis seriously, let alone responsibly. Seemingly only at that point in time did Trump finally seem to take this whole Covid-19 crisis seriously, when this whole thing might have not been quite as serious as it has become here in the United States if he had responded in  a mature and responsible, concerned manner from the start. But that feels like far too much to ask from Trump, based on his history the past three years. Hell, it feels like it is too much to ask for from him in particular if we look at his remarkably consistent history of exclusive self-interest in the many decades before he ever was elected into the White House and officially became the face and the voice of the country (again, officially) that elected him as it’s leader.              

All of that is bad, of course. Yet, that situation has been made quite a bit worse by natio nalism, usuusally with a good dose of predictable xenophobia. There has been considerable skepticism towards even the legitimay of the seriousness of the coronavirus among many superpatriots here in the Unigted States. And when they reluctantly have to admit that it exists, as Donald Trump has been forced to do following weeks of downplaying the seriousness of it and even claiming that it was not a big deal and would be contained, and patting his administration on the back for doing such a swell, stand-up job - he claimed that we were well on our way to almost zero cases of Covid-19, remember -  they tend to do it grudgingly, dragging their feet the entire time.              

For Donald Trump, of course, he went from seemingly giving the green light for sick Americans to continue going to work, and from consistently – some might say persistently – downplaying the seriousness of the impending crisis, to finally admitting that it was indeed a very big problem, but trying to point the finger of blame on anyone and everyone else, which is also very, very typical of his supposed “leadership” style. Yes, he blames the Democrats, claiming that their response to the pandemic has been a “hoax” and that they are using it to get at him and attack him once again. As if his response was indeed so wonderful that it was beyond criticism. Maybe he just really is that bad, that virtually everything that he does warrants serious criticism?

I have long felt that the constant, narcissistic patting ourselves on the back was excessive for a long time as well. Ironically, many Americans seem to be clinging to notions of our uniqueness, our special, privileged status as a "beacon of freedom" precisely as we are losing our once elite standard of living and falling behind other countries, just as many are parading the supposed freedom here right as many of those very freedoms are being steadily eroded by people who we, as Americans collectively, put in power. And who do we elect to be our face and our voice for four years? An absolute clown figure, who is clearly in over his head when he deals with a serious crisis. And yet, recent polls suggest that 60% of Americans approve of his handling of the coronavirus thing! No wonder we are increasingly, and frankly, deservedly, being laughed at by the rest of the world. We have lost our way. There are individuals who are obviously exceptions, even tens of millions of enlightened Americans. But collectively, we as a country have lost our way, allowed immature values and people to take prevalence. And this constant fixation on ourselves, reinforced countless times every day (one of which are claims to being the greatest country on Earth, or being "God's country") is reinforcing all of this. Frankly, we need to grow the hell up!

Covid-19 & Economic Crisis Are Only the Most Immediate Problems Facing Americans

These are scary times in our world. Just days ago, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres suggested that the coronavirus crisis amounts to the "greatest test" for the world since World War II. Indeed, when you look at it, that is exactly how it feels, for that matter.              

As of right now while I am writing this, there are well over 1,200,000 cases of people around the world who have contracted the coronavirus. There have been nearly 64,000 deaths from it, while at least one positive is that there have been nearly 247,000 cases where people suffering from Covid-19 have recovered, which is nearly a four-to-one ratio.  

Here in the United States, there are more confirmed cases than in any other country. We presently have  well over 300,000 people who have contracted Covid-19, which is more than twice that of any other country in terms of confirmed cases. So far, we have seen well over 8,000 deaths. And we are still more or less two weeks away from what most people predict will be the peak of this crisis. On the plus side, there are over 12,000 Americans who have recovered from it.  

But most people predict that the worst will be coming in the following weeks.  

However, there is another obvious crisis, that clearly is linked to the coronavirus crisis. That would be the economic crisis. Last week, I reported here that over three million Americans (3.3 million, to be precise) filed for unemployment. This week, that number doubled to 6.6 million, which means that 10 million Americans have filed for unemployment in the past two weeks alone. If you look at the bar graph from the NPR article by Avie Schneider that I got some of these figures from (see link below), the number graph is stunning. After many years of fairly stable unemployment numbers, there is suddenly a line that just shoots straight up. That indicates that the economic issues that we are facing right now are already more serious – far more serious – than the so-called “Great Recession” crisis that we saw back in 2008 and into 2009.  Here is a picture of the recently released bar graph illustrating the obvious spike in unemployment in just the past two weeks:

How scary is this crisis?  

Well, according to an article in Forbes, the Fed declared that 701,000 jobs were lost in a disastrous month of March, the month that Covid-19 really started to hit the United States. They are now predicting 47 million more job losses may be coming, which would result in an over 32 percent unemployment rate. To put that into perspective, that is significantly higher than the unemployment rate at the peak of the Great Depression, which saw a peak unemployment rate of 24.9 in 1933, right in the middle of the Great Depression.  

In other words, this is beginning to feel like uncharted territory. Back then, Americans voted in Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who instituted his New Deal policies that invested in massive development policies that helped the country get back on it’s feet, little by little. Of course, there was a major war coming, as Hitler and the Nazis in Germany were doing their best to build the most powerful war machine possible. Soon, Roosevelt would have to contend with the challenges of World War II, but this actually helped the United States come out of the Great Depression, and unified Americans towards the goal of defeating the Axis powers.  

Unfortunately, though, that was then, and this is now. We certainly do not have an FDR in the White House right now. Instead, we have someone who seems intent on proudly displaying and promoting his staggering levels of incompetence and irresponsibility, and claiming that his administration’s efforts are basically historically good.  

Which brings me to the other crisis that this country faces, one which did not begin being evident in March with Covid-19. This crisis has been known for quite a while, but it has actually been growing just under the surface for decades now. It kind of snuck up on many people, although by no means was it completely unknown. In fact, we had a real leader in the White House once who warned Americans about it. Yes, President Jimmy Carter gave a nationally televised address, which became known as the “Malaise” speech, in which he laid out the moral crisis that was facing the country. Basically, he said that far too many Americans were giving into greed, and that this was going to prove very costly to the country if it was not addressed soon, and if Americans did not collectively reign in their excesses.  

At first, the speech was actually well received. But in time, Americans soured on this, and on Jimmy Carter, and voted Ronald Reagan into the White House in a landslide. What followed was the “Me Decade” of the 1980’s. There were major scandals during this time, most notably the Savings and Loan scandal, as well as the Iran-Contragate scandal. But it seems that Americans have grown tired of scandals following a number of scandals which began with the Kennedy assassination and the official Warren Report account of that event, followed by the disastrous Vietnam War, the revelations of the Pentagon Papers, and finally, Watergate. So Americans seemed willing to let Reagan get away with pretty much anything, which earned him the nickname of the “Teflon President.” Meanwhile, unions were attacked, as were worker benefits. The trickledown economic policies of Reagan allowed the rich to get richer, while many others (the majority of us, that is) went quite the other way. Oh, and there was one other thing: an invasion of the tiny island of Grenada, which officially was condemned by the United Nations as “a flagrant violation of international law,” but which received widespread support among Americans.  

George H. W. Bush succeeded Reagan, and his role in the Savings and Loan scandal just kind of fizzled. He also led the United States in military actions. Americans learned overnight of the invasion of Panama, and Bush’s approval ratings soared, as Americans expressed their approval. His numbers went even higher when he led the United States to a bigger war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in Operation Desert Storm. Many of the same trickledown policies of Reagan were continued and strengthened during his term in office, as well.  

Bill Clinton was, in many respects, the Democrats answer to Ronald Reagan. He too had tumultuous years filled with scandals, and he too became known as the “real Teflon President.” On many levels, much of the same spirit seen in the elitist policies of the Reagan/Bush era were enhanced under Clinton. He got rid of the Glass-Steagall Act which had separated investment banking from retail banking, opening up the door for future abuses (more on those shortly), and passed very harsh drug laws that effectively made for-profit prison a lucrative business, and where the roots of our overpopulated prison system (we have more prisoners than any other country in the world) began.  

Next came George W. Bush, the son of the previous President Bush. And he went to a more extreme version of the same trickledown policies championed by Reagan and his father. There were military operations during his term in office. In fact, they may have defined his presidency, as he sought out war with Iraq not long after the September 11th attacks, even though Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks. Afghanistan did, and we fought a war there, too. However, both wars began to go badly, and while initial approval ratings for both were high, they both dropped significantly as the wars dragged on. Bush himself enjoyed high approval ratings following the September 11th attacks, but his numbers sank, as well. But not before he got a second term, during which the United States saw more economic scandals. There had been Enron early in Bush’s first term, but that seemed almost small potatoes compared to Halliburton, Blackwater, and those “no bid” contracts in Iraq. And, of course, there were all of those loaning institutions that got into big trouble because of their subprime loans (remember those?). What followed was a financial meltdown that threatened to become a much wider crisis. There was talk that it could become a depression, but it came to be known as the “Great Recession.” I remember seeing tent cities in the woods on my way to work. The economic inequality gap continued to grow, as the rich grew richer, at the expense of the rest of us.  

Barack Obama was supposed to be a breath of fresh air from all of that. Remember the optimism when he first came in? Yet, his first term in office was labeled by some as George W. Bush’s third term, as he kept many of Bush’s elitist economic policies, including the tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. He also had voted in favor of the economic bailout which helped corporations, rather than ordinary Americans, and he did not go after those corporations who took much of that money and handed rewards to their CEO’s and Board members, even when many of these same elitist officials were responsible for the economic meltdown that had caused the bailout to begin with. Obama launched military strikes on other countries, and he did not end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He clearly seemed to like drone strikes, and earned the dubious distinction of being the only Nobel Peace Prize winner to bomb another Nobel Peace Prize winner. Oh, and he spied on our European allies, something that obviously did not sit well with the leaders of those countries.  

Now, we have Donald Trump. The moral crisis (yes, Carter was right about that) saw Americans sinking low enough to put in the most narcissistic, selfish, immature man possible into our highest office. What followed was incredible levels of polarization, as Trump’s polarizing brand of politics divided Americans more strongly, and increasingly more violently, than ever before. Trump seemed to side with literal Nazis at one point, and there were numerous other incidents where Trump came across as quite blatantly racist. He broke international treaties, and seemed to send the United States backwards by denying the science of climate change and pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord. He also favored corporations and made weakened environmental legislation, almost endorsing increased pollution by corporations. He went farther than Reagan or the Bushes with tax cuts and benefits to the wealthiest Americans, and the gap between rich and poor grew even wider still. The budget for the military industrial complex soared. And then came the coronavirus, followed by the current economic crisis. Trump mishandled the Covid-19 crisis, as I have mentioned before. But he also seemed far more concerned about stock market numbers than he was about the coronavirus crisis. And now, just as the country is facing it’s gravest situation in decades, Trump is cutting food stamp programs, and still in court trying to kill Obamacare, even though doing this would throw out tens of millions of Americans from their health insurance.  

What does he get for all of this? Days ago, he reached his highest approval ratings, at 49 percent. Even more stunning was that 60 percent of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, even though he has consistently downplayed the crisis until it grew into a major crisis, and then consistently has given misleading information. Plus, again, he is trying to cut benefits to Americans at a time when they are needed the most.  

To add to that, there are rumors and conspiracy theories all over the place. There is no seeming national consensus on what approach to take, as some states have taken serious measures, while others seem to cater to the coronavirus deniers. Yes, plenty of people believe that this is all a conspiracy, that this was something designed to make Trump look bad (as if he needed any help with that). I have heard some people claiming that this is all political. One boss at my weekend job claimed that in two weeks, we would all be laughing at this whole thing. That was two weeks ago today. Do you see anyone laughing yet?  

Well, actually, I have. I saw some people using laughing emojis when casualty figures were posted on Facebook. Others continue to either deny it or undermine the significance of this crisis, claiming that the Swine Flu crisis under Obama was worse, yet received less hype. Many of the people who deny how severe this Covid-19 crisis is actually seem to applaud their own piercing intellect for seeing through this whole “Fake News” media hype, and look down on anyone who is taking this seriously.  

All of this says something about our country. Frankly, this is at once depressing, sobering, and scary to think about. And that is why I think the situation in this country will grow worse before it ever gets better. At least until we find some unifying mission or purpose, assuming we ever do. And assuming that we do not destroy ourselves, and our country, before that ever has a chance of happening. 

World & Individual National Statistics on Coronavirus Cases Taken From Woldometer:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Here is the link to the Forbes article mentioned above, which shows how many jobs have been lost already, and the truly dire and, frankly, staggering projections of possible number of job losses to come in the future:

U.S. Economy Lost 701,000 Jobs In March—Fed Economists Predict 47 Million More Job Losses by Jack Kelly, April 3, 2020:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2020/04/03/us-economy-lost-701000-jobs-in-march-fed-economists-predict-47-million-more-jobs-losses/#58af2987768f




The pictured bar graph, as well as some statistical information used in this blog entry, were taken from this NPR article from April 2, 2020:

Staggering: Record 10 Million File For Unemployment In 2 Weeks by Avie Schneider, April 2, 2020: 

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/02/825383525/6-6-million-file-for-unemployment-another-dismal-record

Howard Stern Takes Aim at Trump's Lack of Leadership During the Covid-19 Crisis

During this Covid-19 crisis - the worst crisis to hit this nation and the world since World War II - we Americans have been tragically without solid, or even remotely responsible, leadership, capable of handing such adverse times. Of course, we Americans collectively have been almost asking for this kind of mediocrity to handle such a disaster. After all, just looking at those we have elected into the White House over the past three to four decades, we have put in there a professional actor, a slick politician with a well-established history of lying, a born-again Christian former drug addict and eventual war criminal who felt that God was on his side and showed no tolerance to drug addicts during his years in the White House, a man with very limited political experience who willingly, perhaps even enthusiastically, rode the wave of popular (and mistaken) perceptions about him for two terms in office, and finally, an arrogant billionaire with an exhaustive history of being a liar and a con artist, and who has proven to be exactly those things since he has taken over in the Oval Office. 

This last one is the man we have now, who is so transparently ill-equipped to handle this crisis, that it would almost be comical, if it were not so damn tragic.  He started off his "handling" of this crisis by basically denying how serious the coronavirus was, and quickly predicting it would simply go away. At one point, while there were still just 15 confirmed cases and zero deaths in the United States, he predicted that within two weeks, it would be zero. Supporters considered this a bold prediction, but in fact, it was either delusional, or even perhaps criminally misleading. 

Yes, that was the beginning. But he grew more serious about it once it became a problem that was impossible to ignore, and broke all travel to Europe, even though again, in typical fashion, he painted broad brushstrokes that his White House then had to backtrack from, needing to clarify if the restrictions pertained to trade. Then, he fixated on trying to get this thing referred to as the "Chinese virus," and only finally agreed to stop calling it this once it was proven not only useless in terms of helping to contain it, much less cure it, but also once this bt of racism had the predictable result of seeing hate crimes within the country spike. That, too, has been a common and consistent byproduct of having Trump in charge in this country, because hate crimes have spiked up ever since his candidacy gained prominence back in 2016. 

Since all of that, Trump has spent his time doing something else that has become a staple of his presidency: praising himself and his handling of the crisis. Unfortunately, too many Americans are so brainwashed and incapable of an ounce of objectivity or reason to recognize these empty boasts as precisely that, because his approval ratings match his highest ever (49 percent) while a whopping 60 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the Covid-19 crisis, a staggering number when one thinks of all of the clear missteps and objectionable behavior and even policies from this White House since this thing first started, right up to now. This, despite his public battles with governors, who he warned better be friendly to him and his administration if they needed help, and while he was cutting food stamps and still actively trying to kill Obamacare, which would throw about 20 million more people off of healthcare, all during this time of a national (really, international) crisis. 

As the United States emerged as the leading nation, if that is the right term for it, for confirmed cases, and as the death toll rises daily, Trump keeps on praising himself. He proudly declared that his press conferences, which have been criticized for being deliberately misleading and contradictory (again, a typical characteristic of his entire time in office) had the best ratings on television. Then, he claimed that he was number one on Facebook.

How is it that so many Americans are convinced that a man who thinks about himself and how great and popular he is during a crisis like this is handling things well? It really is beyond me. 

Howard Stern is another celebrity who is fixated with his popularity. As such, he perhaps has a unique understanding of Donald Trump, someone he knew fairly well before Trump ever got into the White House. And Stern recently pulled no punches in his assessment of Donald Trump and his presidency. Here is what he had to say recently about Trump's fixation on ratings, when he should be focusing more seriously on the dilemma that is facing the American people he was voted to work for and represent:

Stern wasn’t having it.  “It’s not your incredible reality TV show that you’re putting on for the country,” he said, according to The Hill. “It’s because we’re in crisis and we’re tuning in to see what the president has to say. We’re looking for leadership, motherfuckers!”  

The SiriusXM radio host also blasted Trump’s constant praise for himself.  

“As far as Donald’s concerned, Donald thinks he’s the best president there ever was,” he said. “I can honestly tell you that Donald doesn’t give one shit about public service.”  

I do not always agree with Howard Stern and his opinions. But on these points that he made, it sounds about right. Trump does not give one shit about anything that does not, in one way or another, benefit him directly, either by enriching him, or by giving him what he so desperately, and exclusively, seems to pursue above all else: approval and ratings, come what may.

Again, I reiterate: we have been asking for this kind of a disastrous presidency during a true crisis for a long, long time. And the tragedy that is unfolding seems to be worse here in the United States than it is elsewhere as a direct result of this trend towards increasing immaturity among the American people, a trend that has been growing worse and worse now for many decades.

Soon, we will be seeing the full scale tragedy of it all.





Here is the link that got me on this topic to begin with:


Howard Stern Nails Trump’s Problem: ‘Doesn’t Give One S**t About Public Service’ by Ed Mazza, April 1, 2020:
Radio icon rips into the president for bragging about his ratings amid the pandemic.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/howard-stern-donald-trump-coronavirus_n_5e83ed5fc5b6a1bb764f9afa?utm_source=main_fb&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=hp_fb_pages&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063&section=politics&fbclid=IwAR3O-lJkanOwR5C2qcw-cMhpvEbP2ppIsMvSbSc5devYjqgBCou-mo_YKUY&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAE6UUEhLyBxZIESmHmhLDEjWoa0Xogm0xuRFXe3xfsE7s8FA0AUqxSbHbrNY_Sh_q_Tuu3IhBfgIvyn6x-K8S-vrfMnKr-i4MvW2TvgflM2Gzc1bRT2CN4qIAfuzxEvRDm6M_4ZucZpaHZHhPcn7AUpoJKOnHT5kXjtCRdBFsAIi&guccounter=2

Joe Rogan Discusses Shutdown of Los Angeles, Latest Coronavirus News (At Least One Week Old)

If there is one thing that hopefully will come out of this coronavirus crisis, it is this: it should be more about "we" than "me."

That is a lesson that we really should learn again here in America, especially in this era of Donald Trump and unprecedented greed.

So below is a video of the Joe Rogan show, as he and a special guest react to Los Angeles being shut down. They make some solid points, too, during this conversation, which I would recommend watching.

Joe Rogan Reacts to LA Shutdown, Latest Coronavirus News

Video From Years Ago: Bill Gates Warning That We Were Not Ready For the Next Viral Pandemic

For a long time, some people have tried to warn our modern society that we were not ready for something this big, like the coronavirus.

Now that it is upon us, it sure seems like they were right, and it feels like the truth: we really were not ready. Like, at all.

Chances seem good that we will get past this, even if it is difficult. This is unlike anything that the vast majority of us have ever gone through before.

But there are lessons to be learned from this thing, which likely could have been far better contained with more responsible, capable leadership. And now that it has happened, we need to learn from it, understand that it not only might, but likely will happen again (and probably in almost all of our lifetimes, as well) and next time be a lot more prepared for it.

After all, it not so much a question of if, but when.

Below is a video of Bill Gates years ago warning that we are not ready for the next viral outbreak.

I am not the biggest fan of multi-billionaires generally, and that includes Gates. That said, however, he was spot on here:

The next outbreak? We’re not ready | Bill Gates

Covid-19 Updates for April 1, 2020

Often times on this day, I usually post something about this being April Fool’s Day. But not today. Not this year, and the reasons for it should be obvious. There is so much widespread disinformation, so many conspiracy theories already with the still developing story of the global coronavirus pandemic, that it would feel hardly responsible to specifically get into a day that has been designated as the day to pull practical jokes and try to fool people. We have enough of that right now, and there is really nothing funny about it. So be assured, that everything I write here is the latest confirmed news cases, with absolutely nothing to do with trying to trick anyone, or writing anything about this serious matter in any kind of jest.              

So now that we got that out of the way, let me proceed.              

According to the latest news (and no, this is not an April Fool’s Day joke or hoax), there are now 860,000 people infected with the coronavirus around the world, and over 42,000 deaths, according to John Hopkins University. The United States has more confirmed cases than any other nation, with well over 185,000 people infected, according to CNN. To date, there have been more than 3,800 deaths here in the United States due to Covid-19.              

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres declared that the Covid-19 crisis presents the "greatest test" that the world has faced since the end of World War II. That sounds about right, too.  The coronavirus pandemic has changed the lives of people in modern societies all around the world, of course. That pretty much goes without saying at this point.              

In Italy, some politicians have taken to threatening citizens who still are not taking this whole thing seriously. Of course, given the dramatic situation there, how it still (for now) leads the world in deaths resulting from the coronavirus, and the images of military trucks carrying dead bodies to a cemetery. While the United States has passed Italy in terms of confirmed cases, Italy still has seen (again, for now) more deaths due to coronavirus than any other country in the world, with well over 12,000.              

In Iran, the coronavirus continues to hit hard, and there are now mass graves of coronavirus victims. Iran has over 44,000 confirmed cases, and has seen a reported 2,898 deaths, as it has become the epicenter of the crisis in the Middle East.  The same can be said of Spain, where like Italy and Iran, the threat from Covid-19 was not immediately taken seriously, and thus allowed the disease to spread. Spain now has one of the worst situations of the Covid-19 outbreak in the world. Confirmed cases in Spain have risen dramatically in recent days, as they have reported over 95,000 confirmed cases, and well over 8,000 dead, second only to Italy (for now). The situation in Spain is so grave, that it may soon overtake Italy as the European country with the highest number of both confirmed cases, and possibly deaths, as well.              

In India, police have taken to beating violators, and in some cases, apparently, people who break the shutdown there are being forced to do crunches. The whole country is on lockdown, at least to the extent that they can be. The problem in India is that there are a lot of slums where people live in close quarters, and social distancing practices really are not very realistic. Also, the economic situation is in many respects more severe than here in the United States, because many people there do not merely face economic hardships, but outright starvation in the immediate future.              

Other countries are now beginning to really get hit hard by it. That includes Israel and Iraq, , while some African countries, including Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in the north, and Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, and Ethiopia in the central part of the continent. Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa are dealing with the growing severity of the crisis within their borders, as well.              

Yet right now, the United States remains the country with the most confirmed cases, as mentioned earlier. Donald Trump, who inexplicably is receiving majority support by Americans for his handling of the coronavirus crisis, despite having done a hell of a lot that was demonstrably wrong, and continuing to do so, has now conceded that there may be up to 100,00 to 200,000 who dies from Covid-19. All of that did not prevent him from boasting about his ratings for the White House press briefings, even though these also have been widely criticized for spreading misinformation and lacking any kind of unifying message.              

The situation is particularly bad where I live, here in the greater New York/ New Jersey metropolitan area. New York has over 75,000 confirmed cases, and over 1,500 deaths, while New Jersey ranks number two nation-wide (behind New York) with approach 19,000 confirmed cases, and 267 deaths reported.             

Making matters worse is a now all too familiar battle raging between those here in the United States (and elsewhere) who believe that the coronavirus is indeed the crisis that the experts insist that it is, versus those who reject the advice of the experts and believe that this whole thing is completely overblown. To that end, there are stories coming out everywhere of people who are largely ignoring the crisis. Just days ago, there were still more people going onto beaches in Florida, even after much criticism over similar stories about a week ago from Florida. Some people are having parties together, clearly not maintaining social distancing rules. There are reports that hospitals are quiet, and Trump himself suggested that New York state does not need 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators.              

However, there have also been video footage that shows a different reality, where here in the United States, in Brooklyn, bodies were being put into 18-wheel trucks, to be taken away to an as of yet unknown destination.              

John Oliver mentioned that one major element of this great divide within the United States which threatens to make the crisis even more severe – and perhaps far more severe – is what he termed as “market worship” In short, those people who are saying that it is more important to get the nation back to work are willing to put the health and even lives of people at risk in order to get the country back to normal, which is something that just feels unlikely to begin with. This will change the country, and indeed, it will change the world. Yet, some of those advocating a quick as possible return to normalcy, such as Glenn Beck, seem basically unaffected and unconcerned with this whole Covid-19 crisis. It seems that they are urging us to forget the whole thing, and just get back to business as usual, even though this crisis is actually revealing that business as usual in this country may be part of the problem, and why this country has very quickly accelerated to the most confirmed cases of Covid-19 of any country in the world.              

The conspiracy theories and outright falsehoods seem to be worse for this crisis than they have been at other times in history, and predictably, this is particularly pronounced here in the United States. There have long been rumors surrounding the Kennedy assassination, of course. But that singular event seemed to bring Americans together. The same can be said for September 11th, although again, there was a brief moment when it seemed like Americans might be able to come together after the attacks. But with Covid-19, it seemed like there was an instant, knee-jerk reaction among many Americans (mostly Trump supporters) who just went to extreme lengths to deny the seriousness of the situation. Obviously, that has not merely gone away, but continues, and even seems to be growing more severe.   
Most of us have seen some strange theories floating around. Quack remedies are one of the most common. Strange tests that supposedly indicate that you've got it are also quite common. There are a huge number of conspiracy theories suggesting how it originated. Most Americans, and presumably westerners, believe that it originated somewhere in China. I posted a link to an article that blames Iran for spreading it and making it a global pandemic. Meanwhile, there are rumors in both of those countries that this whole thing actually originated in the United States. And there are any number of reasons for why it happened. Anything from consumption of bats that were the cause of it being transmitted to humans, to some top secret military experiment to try and depopulate the world. Most of these are just on the periphery of plausibility, if they even qualify.   

Sigh. What that says about this country, about Americans, is very sobering and, frankly depressing beyond belief.   

Yet, to me, the worst are those who deny that this either is happening at all, or happening on the scale that it is happening. As if some kind of virus were not possible, or that it is some kind of government conspiracy to gain more control. I think, like September 11th, that governments will gain more control, but that is a side effect, not the cause. It is hardly implausible to think that a virus like this could become a pandemic so quickly and easily as this one has. Frankly, what is perhaps more surprising is that it has not happened more frequently. We got lucky with an unusually long break from this kind of thing, and that is all. Well over one hundred years since the last one.

Somehow, I doubt that we will go another hundred years without seeing one again. And the next one might not be as easy for some to ignore, even conspiracy theorists, as this one apparently is. 

Coronavirus cases top 860,000 globally by Ben Westcott, Helen Regan and Adam Renton, CNN, April 1, 2020:

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-04-01-20-intl/index.html

Coronavirus deniers take aim at hospitals as pandemic grows by Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins, March 30, 2020:  

Two videos illustrate the stark disparity in how the coronavirus outbreak is being portrayed on different parts of the internet.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/coronavirus-deniers-take-aim-hospitals-pandemic-grows-n1172336

How an Iranian Airline Tied to Terrorism Likely Spread the Virus (and Lied About It) by Kevin Lim, March 30, 2020:  

Why is Iran the flaming epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the Middle East? One of the primary suspects is Mahan Air.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/30/mahan-air-iranian-airline-spread-coronavirus-and-lied-about-it/

Countries where COVID-19 has spread by worldometers.info, updated for April 1, 2020:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/countries-where-coronavirus-has-spread/