[MCN] $2 Trillion Lifeline Will Help .. for a few months

[Lance Olsen]

New York Times  March 25, 2020

NEWS ANALYSIS

A $2 Trillion Lifeline Will Help, but More May Be Needed
The coronavirus response deal set to pass Congress is more than twice as big as the 2009 stimulus bill to ease the Great Recession, but it will soothe a shutdown economy for only a few months.

By Jim Tankersley <https://www.nytimes.com/by/jim-tankersley>
<<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/business/stimulus-impact-coronavirus.html? <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/business/stimulus-impact-coronavirus.html?>>>

Excerpts

WASHINGTON — If you want to shut down an economy <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/us/politics/coronavirus-economy-shutdown.html> to fight a pandemic without driving millions of people and businesses into bankruptcy, you need the government to cut some checks. The coronavirus response deal <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/us/politics/coronavirus-senate-deal.html> that congressional leaders struck early Wednesday morning will get a lot of checks in the mail, but they’ll soothe only a few months of financial pain.

If the outbreak and the disruptions continue through summer, lawmakers will need to spend even more.

The economy, which has been shuttered to control the spread of the virus, does not need a jump-start to get moving again. The government is just trying to tide people and firms over until it is safe to start back up again <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/business/economy/coronavirus-economy.html>.

Viewed through that particular set of circumstances, the deal announced early Wednesday isn’t economic stimulus at all. It’s a series of survival payments. And those payments will only last a few months.

The extraordinary measures that mayors and governors have taken to restrict economic activity, which at their most extreme include shutting down all nonessential businesses and ordering people to shelter in the homes, are unlikely to show success in “bending the curve” of the virus for at least another week. If they prove effective, and the infection rate slows dramatically, activity could be back to normal — or at least something that reasonably resembles it — within a few months for many businesses and workers.

If the measures don’t prove effective, or if they are relaxed under orders from Mr. Trump or defied en masse, experts warn the crisis could stretch much longer, under the growing cloud of a recession. That’s why it’s hard to say if the congressional deal will be enough to keep families from going hungry and businesses from going under.

“Much of the small business community is facing an extinction-level event,” said John Lettieri, the chief of the Economic Innovation Group think tank in Washington, who pushed heavily for a package of small business loans in the agreement. “Will this bill help? Absolutely. But the lending capacity needed to prevent mass closures and layoffs could be four or five times larger than what is being provided.”

“Congress,” Mr. Lettieri said, “needs to be prepared now for how quickly these resources are going to evaporate.”

<<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/business/stimulus-impact-coronavirus.html? <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/business/stimulus-impact-coronavirus.html?>>>

*************************************
Domino effect could heat up Earth by 5 degrees Celsius  <https://www.dw.com/en/domino-effect-could-heat-up-earth-by-5-degrees-celsius-despite-paris-climate-deal/a-44968248>
https://www.dw.com/en/domino-effect-could-heat-up-earth-by-5-degrees-celsius-despite-paris-climate-deal/a-44968248 <https://www.dw.com/en/domino-effect-could-heat-up-earth-by-5-degrees-celsius-despite-paris-climate-deal/a-44968248>

Aug 6, 2018 ... Even if the Paris agreement is successfully implemented, the planet could still heat up by 5 degrees Celsius, scientists warn.

The lead authors say:

“Our study suggests that human-induced global warming of 2 degrees Celsius may trigger other Earth system processes, often called 'feedbacks,' that can drive further warming — even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases.” 

And:
“These tipping elements can potentially act like a row of dominos. Once one is pushed over, it pushes Earth toward another. It may be very difficult or impossible to stop the whole row of dominoes from tumbling over.” 


The above referenced PNAS article:
Steffen, Rockström et al. Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene. PNAS August 2018. [Open access]
http://www.pnas.org/content/early2018/07/31/1810141115 <http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/07/31/1810141115>

*************************************
Domino effect could heat up Earth by 5 degrees Celsius  <https://www.dw.com/en/domino-effect-could-heat-up-earth-by-5-degrees-celsius-despite-paris-climate-deal/a-44968248>
https://www.dw.com/en/domino-effect-could-heat-up-earth-by-5-degrees-celsius-despite-paris-climate-deal/a-44968248 <https://www.dw.com/en/domino-effect-could-heat-up-earth-by-5-degrees-celsius-despite-paris-climate-deal/a-44968248>

Aug 6, 2018 ... Even if the Paris agreement is successfully implemented, the planet could still heat up by 5 degrees Celsius, scientists warn.

The lead authors say:

“Our study suggests that human-induced global warming of 2 degrees Celsius may trigger other Earth system processes, often called 'feedbacks,' that can drive further warming — even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases.” 

And:
“These tipping elements can potentially act like a row of dominos. Once one is pushed over, it pushes Earth toward another. It may be very difficult or impossible to stop the whole row of dominoes from tumbling over.” 


The above referenced PNAS article:
Steffen, Rockström et al. Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene. PNAS August 2018. [Open access]
http://www.pnas.org/content/early2018/07/31/1810141115 <http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/07/31/1810141115>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://bigskynet.org/pipermail/missoula-community-news_bigskynet.org/attachments/20200325/2d091c88/attachment.html>