Israel set to start easing curbs with lasting job losses

Last Updated: Apr 13, 2020, 12.09 AM IST

"The relaxation will be gradual and, depending on its duration, the government could expand the 80 billion-shekel ($22.4 billion) fiscal aid package it approved last month to help businesses and employees contend with the fallout from the virus, Avi Simhon said."

"JERUSALEM: Israel will soon begin to ease restrictions on its economy enacted to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top economic adviser told Israel Radio on Sunday.

The relaxation will be gradual and, depending on its duration, the government could expand the 80 billion-shekel ($22.4 billion) fiscal aid package it approved last month to help businesses and employees contend with the fallout from the virus, Avi Simhon said."

moar:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/israel-set-to-start-easing-curbs-with-lasting-job-losses/articleshow/75113042.cms

More Than 1 In 3 Americans Consider Selling Blood As

Lockdowns Continue

Sun, 04/12/2020 - 14:15

"With 17 million Americans out of work in under three weeks, consumer sentiment crashing the fastest on record, and the economy sliding into a depression, households are starting to crack.

The evidence of the "working poor" crushed by the economic downturn is starting to be realized with huge runs on food bank systems across the country. On Thursday alone, the San Antonio Food Bank, located in San Antonio, Texas, aided about 10,000 households with food.

To confirm our thoughts that the evolution of the virus crisis has morphed into a financial crisis, now a social crisis. We turn to a recently published study via the career advice site Zety.com has confirmed what we've been saying for years: Households don't have the financial cushion to weather an economic storm.

The study polled about 1,000 working Americans last month, asking them about their financial well-being.

In the first series of questions, respondents were asked about how long their savings could bridge them if they lost their jobs. Shockingly, 36% answered 0-1 month, 24% answered 1-3 months, and so forth. That means at least 60% of respondents had only enough savings for less than three months, and judging by today's lockdowns, we could extrapolate those numbers and conclude that many people might not survive the economic downturn currently underway, despite government UBI checks."

moar:

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/more-1-3-americans-consider-selling-blood-lockdowns-continue

I warned of Trump’s attack on science. But I never predicted

the horror that lay ahead

Sun 12 Apr 2020 13.41 EDT

Last modified on Sun 12 Apr 2020 13.44 EDT

“¡Abajo la inteligencia! ¡Viva la muerte!” Those infamous words – “Down with intelligence! Long live death!” – were pronounced in 1936 by General Millán Astray, a fascist general who was a mentor and friend of Francisco Franco, soon to be Spain’s dictator for over four decades. They were part of a ranting speech Millán delivered at the University of Salamanca celebrating the insurrection against the Spanish Republic that heralded the dark years that were on the horizon.

I recalled these barbarous words with trepidation back in October of 2017 when I began tracking down the ways in which Donald Trump, in only the first 10 endless months of what was already then his endless government, was waging a disquieting war on science and the truth. In an online essay for the New York Review of Books, I warned of the “lethal consequences” that this offensive would entail, the millions of lives that would be shortened.

At that point what worried me was his assault on environmental and labor laws, the ways in which he was draining every government department of experts, the reckless evisceration of advisory councils, the proposed budgetary cuts to scientific research, the attacks on vaccinations and the health system and medical knowhow behind it, his obtuse climate change denials."

moar:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/12/i-warned-of-trumps-attack-on-science-but-i-never-predicted-the-horror-that-lay-ahead