Lions Nap in the middle of a Road

In Kruger National Park, South Africa, lions have been photographed sleeping on roads and wild dogs have been filmed playing on golf courses while the country is in lockdown.

Richard Sowry, a park ranger, spotted a group of sleeping lions in the middle of the road during a patrol on Wednesday. The park explained the lions are normally found in Kempiana Contractual Park, which is closed to tourists, but appear to be making the most of the quiet streets, taking a nap near one of the park’s entrance gates, near a camp that can accommodate dozens of visitors.

Source for this is Newsweek magazine.

U.S. Jobless Claims Top 20 Million Since Start of Shutdowns

New jobless claims reported today totaled 5.2 million filings for this past week. That brings the total seeking aid in a month of coronavirus-related shutdowns to 22 million workers and showing a broad shock for the U.S. labor market.

This graph shows the unemployment claims is off the chart. Notice where the unemployment rate was during the Great Recession. The graph goes to 6 million initial claims showing how disastrous the situation is now.

Thursday’s report also showed 12 million Americans received unemployment payments in the week ended April 4, a record. That is up from 7.4 million the prior week, which exceeded the highest level set in the 2007-2009 recession.

The maximum benefit in California is $450 per week.  An additional $600 will be added to that amount thanks to the CARES act passed by congress regardless of the California unemployment benefit.  It’s anticipated that the additional payments will last four months.  If your salary was $40,000 per year your weekly benefit is $385.  To qualify for the $450 benefit your annual income must have beeen at least $50,000 per year for the past year. Incidentally CARES stands for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security.

Who is to blame?

Coronavirus Deaths by Nation

Sadly the United States is the country with the most deaths, 26,064 and the most cases of this disease.  Italy is second and China has had 3,342 deaths.  While the number of cases word wide now exceeds 2 million, the United States also leads that number at over 640,000.

Our institutions have failed to protect our population.  Lack of leadership at the top is to blame.  Donald Trump can try to lay the blame elsewhere but he claims total authority when he comes to claiming a success.  When things don’t work out it’s always some one else’s fault.

An Unmitigated Disaster

The president of the United States takes no responsibility. Those are his words.

While the number of new deaths from the coronavirus has slowed, the number of new cases has continued to climb. The real question should be how many people have the virus that are self-quarantining themselves but are unknown to the data collectors. The number of new cases has exceeded 30k every day, except one, starting April 2.

Meanwhile the total of new unemployment claims in the past three weeks exceeded 16 million people (BLS figures). Bloomberg Economics created a model last year to determine America’s recession odds. The chance of a recession now stands at 100%, confirming an end to the nation’s longest-running expansion.

The “stable genius” did not believe there would be a widespread epidemic in the United States. He fired the entire pandemic response team in 2018. On March 19, 2020, former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ​called the changes elimination. He tweeted: “The Obama-Biden Administration set up the White House National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense to prepare for future pandemics like COVID-19. Donald Trump eliminated it — and now we’re paying the price.”

This graph compares unemployment today to the unemployment during the 2008-2009 Great Recession. The United States is already in a recession and will remain that way for the first half of the year, according to a survey of 45 economists. The assumption is that everyone will be going back to work very soon.

In an interview on Fox News on today Friday April 10, Surgeon General Jerome Adams emphasized that “now is the time for us to continue to lean into” the social-distancing recommendations first issued in mid-March and extended last week until the end of April.

“There are places around the country that have seen consistently low levels. And as we ramp up testing and can feel more confident that these places actually can do surveillance and can do public health follow-up, some places will be able to think about opening on May 1,” Adams said.

“Most of the country will not, to be honest with you, but some will,” Adams continued, “And that’s how we’ll reopen the country: place by place, bit by bit, based on the data.”

The End of The Shopping Mall?

Coronavirus closings: Macy’s, Apple, Sephora say they’ll reopen soon. But will they?

While it is impossible to forecast the recovery once the coronavirus crises has passed, you can easily see the result will be an impact on many store chains from restaurants to clothing retailers. The question is will shopping habits be permanently impacted?

Sears, JCPenney, Neiman Marcus and J. Crew were some of the most distressed companies prior to the outbreak, according to analysts. Forever XXI was in the process of being bought by Simon Shopping Centers.

7th Ave in Times Square April 7 2020
7th Ave in Times Square April 7, 2020

The Cheesecake Factory has seen a decline in same store sales decline as far back as August 2017. Most recently the CEO sent a letter to all the property owners saying they are unable to pay April’s rent at all 300 of their locations.

Sephora, a subsidiary of LVMH, announced that all stores in the U.S. and Canada will close indefinitely due to the spread of COVID-19.

We are all buying everything on line. Parking at my nearest malls has always been a challenge. Unless you just like window shopping why would you go to a mall? I’m not the only person asking this question. I will miss JCPenny.