As many of us have experienced in the past few weeks, buying toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and face masks has become more difficult and more expensive. The reason, of course, is that unusually large numbers of people are rushing to buy these and other products that might prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. It's normal for people to stock up on supplies during crises. The immediate results are empty store shelves, soon followed by higher prices.
When this happens, politicians around the globe demand an end to the price hikes. The goal is to improve consumer access to the products now in higher demand.
Other things to check out:
Economic Prescription for Coronavirus: 'You've Got to Go Fast' - The New York Times
President Trump said Monday that he would meet with congressional leaders to discuss a "very substantial" payroll tax cut and other measures. Many economists are skeptical of that approach, arguing that a payroll tax cut would be too small and too poorly targeted to be of much help.
Instead, they recommended a variety of other steps, some narrowly aimed at addressing the outbreak and some intended to bolster the broader economy. One lesson from the last recession is that the government has to move quickly.
The coronavirus economic 'disaster' scenario: Stagflation - CNN
Global oil price drop to benefit Philippines, says Oxford Economics | The Star Online
MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer): Consumer prices in the Philippines and its economic growth stand to benefit from lower global oil prices, which UK-based Oxford Economics said may serve as a "modest" offset to the adverse impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.
"Under the current period of extreme uncertainty, the economic boost from a decline in oil prices will be modest. Relative to previous oil price collapses, monetary authorities will find it difficult to respond to the negative demand shock as deflationary pressures mount, " Oxford Economics economists Gabriel Sterne and Luka Raznatovic said in a March 10 report titled "Weak oil a modest global offset to coronavirus impact."
Many things are taking place:
Daily chart - In America, even pandemics are political | Graphic detail | The Economist
Editor's note: This article was updated on March 12th to include the president's announcement of new measures to contain the pandemic
A new poll conducted by YouGov, a pollster, on behalf of The Economist suggests that party loyalties do matter. In the survey, carried out between March 8th and 10th, 61% of Democrats said they were "very" or "somewhat" worried about personally contracting the coronavirus; only 37% of Republicans shared this fear. Indeed 24% of Republicans said they were "not worried at all" about catching the virus.
Subscribe to read | Financial Times
Economics Expert Says Trumps’ Tax Breaks Won’t Benefit Working Class – NBC 7
The expert told NBC 7’s Dave Summers that San Diego’s tourism industry could benefit but wonders if relief will come fast enough.
The plan could help San Diego in some ways, but falls short of providing immediate relief to the rank and file workers, according to University of San Diego economic professor Alan Gin.
* * *
"You need to get more money into people's hands right now. I think that [Trump's plan] is an indirect way," Gin said.
Uncle Sam v the coronavirus - Covid-19 is rapidly spreading in America.
Now that kits are being delivered, researchers are reporting another problem—a shortage of the components needed to extract genetic material from samples. The White House promised capacity of 1m tests by March 6th. The CDC has stopped publishing data on the number of tests performed. But the latest cobbled-together estimates, as of March 11th, are of 7,000 tests in total, well behind almost every developed country with an outbreak.
Mr Trump has minimised the threat all the same. On March 9th he blamed the "Fake News Media" and Democrats for conspiring "to inflame the Coronavirus situation" and wrongly suggested that the common flu was more dangerous. The same day, Nancy Messonnier, an official at the CDC , was warning, correctly, that "as the trajectory of the outbreak continues, many people in the United States will at some point in time this year or next be exposed to this virus."
Happening on Twitter
Breaking: Donovan Mitchell has tested positive for the coronavirus, per @wojespn https://t.co/6tKWOs77hA BleacherReport Thu Mar 12 14:51:12 +0000 2020
Jazz star Donovan Mitchell has tested positive for the coronavirus, league sources tell ESPN. Jazz players privatel… https://t.co/8O3FpQUhvD wojespn (from St. Bonaventure, NY) Thu Mar 12 14:49:00 +0000 2020
Hundreds of hungry monkeys swarm across Thai street as 'rival gangs' fight over food after tourists who normally fe… https://t.co/sQQ5Y7XOLm MailOnline Thu Mar 12 08:01:23 +0000 2020
This bill contains: - free coronavirus testing - paid emergency medical leave - extended unemployment insurance… https://t.co/0xXAERpc36 jonfavs (from Los Angeles, CA) Thu Mar 12 13:40:58 +0000 2020
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