The giant hole in Trump's back-to-work plan

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Trump is trying to bully a virus. A virus is a microscopic organism. It doesn’t have ears enabling it to hear, or emotions allowing it to feel intimidated. The bullying won’t work.

But expect Trump to keep insisting he’s going to reopen the economy, virus be damned. Trump is obviously frustrated as he watches the stock market plunge and businesses shut down as everybody stays home to combat the coronavirus pandemic. A recession has undoubtedly arrived, and it’s a doozy. Perhaps most alarming to Trump are his darkening reelection odds, since incumbent presidents running for reelection typically get walloped when the economy’s in a funk.

Trump’s reaction to all this is a new idea to encourage businesses to reopen, even as the coronavirus outbreak worsens and more people get sick and die. The new refrain in Trumpland: “We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,” as Trump said during his coronavirus propaganda session from the White House on March 23. “America will, again, and soon, be open for business. A lot sooner than three or four months,” Trump insisted. He later added he’d like to see businesses reopen by Easter, which is April 12.

Everybody understands Trump’s impatience. Millions of Americans are sitting idly at home as their incomes dry up and their retirement plans sink. But Trump’s plan is impossible until one crucial thing is in place: widespread testing for coronavirus, including multiple tests for every working person in the Untied States.

-snip-

The biggest failure of the U.S. response to coronavirus is a huge lag in testing. President Trump has repeatedly misspoken on this, saying on March 6, for instance, that “anybody that needs a test gets a test.” That’s not remotely true, even now. An AP investigation found a series of blunders from the White House on down that impeded testing, beginning in January. The U.S. testing rate is improving, but as of March 20, the United States ranked 10th in the world with 314 coronavirus tests per million people. The testing rate in South Korea, which seems to have contained the virus, is 6,148 tests per million, or 20 times higher than the U.S. rate.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-giant-hole-in-trumps-back-to-work-plan-142503300.html

[uponit7771]

1. "is a huge lag in testing" this

[EarlG]

2. Correction

"Trump is obviously frustrated as he watches the stock market plunge and businesses shut down..."

Should read:

"Trump is obviously frustrated as he watches the stock market plunge and *his* businesses shut down..."

I don't think he gives two shits about anybody else's businesses.

[Efilroft Sul]

3. Dead employees don't produce. Dead customers can't consume.

Not sure what Trump and his Masters of the Universe buddies on Wall Street are unclear about here.

[Ferrets are Cool]

5. And they sure as hell don't pay taxes. nt

[Efilroft Sul]

7. That's one thing they have in common with corporations.

[sop]

4. "We cannot let Trump's solution be worse than the problem itself"

[NCjack]

6. One man in the WH mismanages our nation. He stands on the shoulders of one man in the US Senate,

and he could be toppled by 15 Repukian Senators voting with DEMs. I wonder what will be necessary for 15 Senators to see their complicity and topple the gang. Maybe when healthcare systems in their states are totally non-functional because their doctors and staff are too ill to work or are dead. Maybe millions are dead from covid-19? What will be their breakpoint?