Millions of Americans are entering poverty amid pandemic as stimulus runs out
Millions of Americans have been thrown into poverty as government aid dried up in the last five months, according to a pair of studies, and those ranks will likely swell without more relief on the way.
“Poverty is rising in the United States,” Zach Parolin, a researcher at the Columbia University's Center on Poverty and Social Policy told Yahoo Finance (video above). “More families, once again, are struggling to put food on the table, struggling to provide for their families at a time when we have the means to be able to help them out.” Eight million more Americans fell below the poverty threshold since May, a study by Columbia University found. A similar study from the University of Chicago and Notre Dame estimated 6 million Americans entered poverty for the same period.
Without further government intervention, more Americans could follow, facing food insecurity, utility shutoffs, and even homelessness. Poverty in the U.S. actually declined at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, thanks largely to two provisions in the CARES Act: stimulus checks and the extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits.
Since then, there has been no second round of checks, and the extra unemployment benefits expired at the end of July. The Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) program — enacted by the president to make up some of the difference in unemployment — mostly expired in September, leaving unemployed workers with only their regular state benefits that replace much less of their wages. “That's just a lot of money that they're going to have to do without,” Bruce Meyer, a University of Chicago economist, told Yahoo Money. “It means people are going to be cutting back on what they can.”
While the funding provided under the $2.2 trillion CARES Act was the largest economic stimulus package in history, its effects won’t last long enough to support those in financial hardship, especially when the job market and the economy haven’t recovered.
The unemployment rate remains elevated at 7.9% — the highest since 2012 — while 25 million Americans receive some type of unemployment insurance, according to the Labor Department.
Any benefits that out-of-work Americans were able to sock away earlier are evaporating. Jobless workers more than doubled their liquid savings between March and July, according to a new study by the JPMorgan Chase Institute, but they spent two-thirds of those accumulated savings in August alone. Unemployed workers also pulled back on spending, recording a 14% drop in August after a 22% increase when they got the extra $600 in benefits, the JPMorgan Chase Institute study found. This will likely hurt aggregate spending, according to Greig. The fading effect of the stimulus comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin continue talks for a bipartisan stimulus deal. But disagreements on price tag and key provisions, lack of GOP support, and the proximity of the election all lower the prospects of a deal before the election.
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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/millions-of-americans-are-entering-poverty-amid-pandemic-as-stimulus-runs-out-131951460.html
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Algerian AF KJD008 G4 departed Paris-Le Bourget Airport south after a ground stop-inbound from Algiers
Thailand protesters vow to continue with daily rallies
On a wet but unusually cool Saturday afternoon, Thailand's peaceful young protesters ran circles around authorities attempting to enforce a ban on public assemblies of more than five people.
A supplemental emergency decree on Thursday morning led to the deployment of riot police, water cannons and tear gas on Friday night against an estimated 4,000 protesters. Arrest warrants were also issued for 12 student leaders who were still at large. Tensions have risen after the Friday crackdown, fueling further unrest with the protesters vowing to stage daily protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and his cabinet, constitutional changes drafted by representatives of the people, and reform of the monarchy under the constitution.
"After the crackdown on Oct. 16, we learned that the government and military are enemies of the people," the People's Party 2020, a united front of different protest groups, said in a statement this morning.
Asked by reporters on Friday whether he would yield to protest demands and resign, Prayuth said, "No, I won't …What wrong did I do?" The prime minister said all measures to curb the protests would respect international norms regarding civil disorder. An attempt to thwart the protester's mobility today by suspending the entire BTS SkyTrain mass transit system from 3 p.m. to midnight failed as the youngsters took to motorcycle taxis and other means of transport or simply walked to get around the city.
The United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration had earlier asked protesters to gather along the BTS system: "All stations have become assembly points for demonstrations," it announced.
Roads in the financial, business and retail districts were blocked early in the afternoon by police, who evidently presumed the protesters would be converging in one place again for a main rally.
The fourth day in a row of protests in the capital had been planned for 4 p.m. Organizers announced just 15 minutes ahead of time that these would occur in outlying parts of the city: the major Lat Phrao intersection to the north; Udom Suk, another key intersection on the southeast edge of the capital; and Wong Wien Yai, a large roundabout in Thonburi west across the Chao Phraya river. Groups also popped up in other places, including at the major Asoke-Sukhumvit intersection in the heart of the city, Sam Yan near Chinatown, and Ramkhamhaeng in the northeast part of the city, which has a university and large student presence. The protesters got by without public address systems some even using traffic cones as loud hailers and announced they would be going home at 8 p.m.
The strategy of early protest shutdowns is likely to undermine the usefulness of a threatened curfew – one of the unused weapons in the arsenal of the beleaguered government of Prayuth. Although no serious injuries were reported on Friday night, the Thai authorities have been heavily criticized by lawyer groups, the parliamentary opposition and international human rights groups for their heavy handed response to the orderly and peaceful protest.
Opposition parties issued a joint statement in the morning condemning the excessive use of force in dispersing protesters at the Patumwan intersection on Friday. "These are our children, our future generation, who have come to express their opinions with the aim of seeing our country move forward in the right direction," they said. "And it is a right stipulated by the constitution." Joining this clamor for the resignation of Prayuth and his government today was Yingluck Shinawatra, the prime minister whose caretaker government he toppled as army chief in a coup in 2014. Yingluck reminded Prayuth that she had called an election when confronted by serious street protests after he had asked her if she could continue her administration.
"I hope you can recall what you asked me, and I hope you will choose immediately the path to bring the country back to peace and prosperity," Yingluck tweeted.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Turbulent-Thailand/Thailand-protesters-vow-to-continue-with-daily-rallies
Russia, Saudi Arabia Prepared to Keep Energy Market Stable
Russia and Saudi Arabia are ready to cooperate closely to keep the global energy market stable, the Kremlin said in an emailed statement after President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, held their second phone call this week. The two spoke “extensively” about the OPEC+ cooperation, continuing an Oct. 13 conversation during which they reviewed efforts to balance supply and demand in the oil market and boost the global economy. The calls came before a small group of the world’s main oil exporters are scheduled to review compliance with production cuts on Oct. 19.
With new coronavirus outbreaks in Europe and the Americas weighing on demand, many in the market question whether OPEC producers and their allies will increase output by 2 million barrels a day from January as part of a plan to taper cuts started in May. The group an alliance of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and others such as Russia and Mexico is set to decide its policy when all members meet on Nov. 30-Dec. 1. Earlier this week, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, Suhail Al Mazrouei, said that, for now, the group plans to proceed with the supply boost as scheduled. At the same time, OPEC’s joint technical committee on Friday warned that under a negative scenario global oil stockpiles could increase by an average 200,000 barrels a day next year. The scenario, which is not the base case for the group, could materialize if Libya manages to revive supply and the pandemic hits demand harder than expected, according to a document seen by Bloomberg.
Putin and the crown prince also discussed cooperation in fighting the pandemic and the possibility of using Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine in Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-17/russia-saudi-arabia-ready-to-keep-energy-market-stable-kremlin