Saving lives or saving markets? Apparently, that’s a tough choice.
I’m Francesca Fiorentini, and this is Newsbroke’s “Helter Shelter” series,
coming to you from my one-bedroom LA apartment,
which, after three weeks of self-quarantine,
I’ve converted into my very own post-apocalyptic Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
Today’s secret word is…
“SACRIFICE.”
Now you all know what you need to do when you hear the secret word, right?
Scream!
Ahhhhhhh!
Today, we’re looking at how defeating coronavirus will mean deflating the Dow.
And yet, accepting that reality is something the president,
and the hard-line conservatives advising him, are trying to prevent at all costs.
Yes, even our lives.
[Newsbroke opening music]
There still has yet to be a nationally coordinated effort to end the pandemic
through mass testing, mass production of medical supplies
or nationwide lockdowns, which many experts say need to happen for months.
That’s partially why the U.S. has the most cases of coronavirus
so far in the world, and counting.
Instead, Trump first floated the idea of loosening social distancing restrictions
by Easter Sunday, because there's no better way to celebrate Jesus
than by letting millions meet him in the afterlife.
Trump then graciously agreed to extend the CDC guidelines to April 30th.
Now, maybe that was based on science,
but it was probably because he realized Tiffany was going to be visiting for Easter.
And you know that would’ve been an awkward encounter.
Oh wonderful, we can all hug again. Yes, Tiffany, right after the egg hunt!
Is she still looking at me?
Either way, press conference after press conference has proven that Trump’s brain
truly is a magnificent cocktail of ignorance to the reality of COVID-19,
and callous disregard for the human lives it claims.
If we can hold that down,
as we’re saying,
to 100,000 – it’s a horrible number,
maybe even less – but to 100,000.
So we have between 100 and 200,000,
we altogether have done a very good job.
Alright, first of all, that’s not even an achievable number
without nationally coordinated action.
And, secondly, that’s not a number to brag about.
Also, rest assured that no matter how many people die from coronavirus,
Trump will absolutely claim he did a good job.
Compared to the Black Plague, we’re doing great.
Compared to the Spanish flu, we’re doing fantastic.
Compared to the meteor that wiped out all the alleged dinosaurs,
we’re winning bigly.
But Trump’s thinking is honestly more sinister than crass,
because there is one number that he and his cronies,
and even media pundits, care a lot about: the stock market.
And they talk about its recent slide using an alarming metaphor.
Stop the bleeding.
Stop the economic bleeding.
Global markets just cannot
shake the coronavirus.
How will the president
try to stop the bleeding?
Yeah, the market is bleeding so much you wonder if it on its period.
‘Cause she is moody! Am I right? Up high! No? No? Insensitive? OK.
It’s almost like they care more about markets bleeding than people bleeding.
Newsbroke has looked at the stock market before
and how it’s just a legal casino that gambles away our future
so Jerry from Fidelity can get bottle service.
The stock market isn’t a good indicator for a healthy economy,
given that “84% of all stocks owned by Americans
belong to the wealthiest 10% of households.”
Yet when it comes to coronavirus,
the market seems to be the only measurement that worries Conservatives.
This, at a time when the Fed estimates we may hit 32% unemployment,
which tops unemployment numbers during the Great Depression.
But, who cares? How’s your portfolio?
In fact, some have been letting their free-market flag fly a little too high,
like Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
We can’t lose our whole country.
We’re having an economic collapse.
Let’s get back to work.
Let’s get back to living.
Let’s be smart about it.
And those of us who are 70+,
we’ll take care of ourselves.
But don’t sacrifice the country.
Sacrifice?!
He said the secret word!
[everyone screams]
What is he saying? That seniors should be left to fend for themselves
like some AARP Thunderdome?
The first senior to master TikTok shall be granted a ventilator.
The same sentiment was echoed by radio host
and less-accomplished Tiger King, Glenn Beck:
I’m in the danger zone.
I would rather have my children
stay home
and all of us who are over 50
go in and keep this economy going
and working,
even if we all get sick.
I'd rather die than kill the country.
No, don’t say that. What would we do without you?
Just so we’re clear, these guys are saying they are willing to kill themselves
and millions of others, all to please the all-powerful line graph
representing the invisible hand of the free market.
How is this not a cult? I’m starting to think Jim Jones didn’t actually die.
He just changed his first name to Dow.
‘Cause like Dow Jones ... It’s the stock market. It’s fine.
This morbid cynicism of putting the economy – or rich people’s poker chips –
before human lives isn’t just something media commentators have expressed.
It’s what is guiding the Trump administration’s response to coronavirus
and the money attached to it.
The $2 trillion stimulus package has both Wall Street and lobbyists
licking their chops.
Even though there are stipulations and oversight committees on the money,
Trump has pushed back and said implementation will pretty much
be up to him and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
So we just handed over $2 trillion dollars to a corrupt, impeached president
and his treasury secretary, who earned the nickname, Foreclosure King,
after the last recession. But, on the plus side,
I just Bedazzled my jean jacket.
It’s the little things.
Just listening to the way this administration explains
the goal of the stimulus package gives you a sense of who they hope it helps.
The assistance bill here,
which does have growth incentives,
will help lead us back to a very strong
economic rebound before this year is over.
I think that too. I think we’re gonna
have a tremendous rebound
at the end of the year,
toward the end of the year.
I think we’re going to have a rebound
like we have never seen before.
Even now it wants to rebound.
You can see it, feel it.
It wants to rebound so badly.
Why are we talking about the stock market
like it’s getting out of a long-term relationship?
It wants to rebound so badly. Dust off that red dress,
hook up with some randos and just YOLO.
Maybe the market doesn’t need to rebound.
Maybe it needs to learn to be alone. We’re all doing it.
Another thing to know about that clip,
besides the very overeager predictions about the market,
is that the guy talking about “growth incentives” is Trump’s top economic advisor,
Larry Kudlow. No, he’s not an economist,
but he did play one on CNBC for many years.
Kudlow’s entire legacy has been about bolstering finance
at the expense of people’s lives.
In 2002, he advocated for the invasion of Iraq because the quote,
“shock therapy of decisive war will elevate the stock market
by a couple thousand points.”
And in 2011, right after an 8.9 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Kudlow said this:
The human toll here looks to be
much worse than the economic toll,
and we can be grateful for that.
Grateful? OK. Now we know what the Kudlow family Thanksgiving looks like.
Dear Lord, we are grateful for the gang violence in Central America that has
provided the migrant labor that has given us this affordable meal.
So while everyone in the health care community was pleading with Trump
for weeks to take coronavirus seriously,
Trump instead was listening attentively to people like Kudlow,
who consistently puts markets over lives.
And this is what he was saying back in early March about COVID-19
from the White House press briefing room.
We don’t actually know, uhh
what the magnitude
of the virus is gonna be,
although frankly, so far,
it looks relatively contained.
And we don’t think most people, I mean,
the vast majority of Americans
are not at risk for this virus.
I mean do the math. A couple million isn’t the vast majority.
We’ll have 328 million Americans left over! That’s plenty of low-wage workers!
Oh I did not wash that glass.
Finally, it turns out Trump’s idea to have everyone back to work by Easter
might have been spurred by a meeting earlier that day
of some very Machiavellian minds.
The White House earlier today
convened a call with major Wall Street
and hedge fund investors
to get their views on what's happening
in the markets and the U.S. economy.
These individuals from Wall Street
were on the call.
Dan Loeb from hedge fund, Third Point,
Jeff Sprecher
from ICE [Intercontinental Exchange]
and the New York Stock Exchange…
Yeah, Jeff Sprecher. You might not have heard of him, but he is the CEO
of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange,
which apparently is a thing. But you might have heard of his wife,
Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler who was one of a handful of senators
to sell off stock after being briefed about coronavirus-
$3 million of both of her and her husband’s holdings.
Like, how is that legal? How is any of this legal? It’s probably all illegal.
Because even the cronies in DC and Wall Street know,
this economy isn’t rebounding – not while the government
continues to have no game plan to test, save lives and quarantine communities.
The economy isn’t just a line that goes up or down.
The economy is made up of people:
people who make businesses and banks a lot of money.
People who are now out of work. People who can’t make rent this month
and who are struggling to get healthy themselves,
and people who sure as hell won’t be rebounding with $1,200.
Maybe it’s time to rethink this death duel between people and the economy,
and, for once, let finance make the sacrifice.
Uh oh!
Ahhhhhhh!
Thank you once again for watching Newsbroke. We really appreciate it.
So make sure to like this video, and also share it.
Share it with all the people who need to hear it,
and maybe people who don’t want to hear it, but they need to hear it anyway.
And because the economy is made up of people, we wanna hear from you.
How are you doing? Do you still have a job?
What’s going on with unemployment?
How is your state handling this current crisis?
Let us know in the comments below, and we will see you soon. Hang in there.