Should Trump should be charged with involuntary manslaughter?

If I was a U.S. prosecutor, I would charge Trump with involuntary manslaughter. In case you don’t know what that is; charges of involuntary manslaughter is defined as an unintentional killing that results either from negligence or recklessness. An example is a motorist driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs resulting in a deadly car crash killing another individual.

Trump realized that if the body count from COVID-19 in the U.S. reached pandemic levels during 2020, his re-election bid could be in serious jeopardy. On Jan 21, the first American was diagnosed with the virus. A day later in Davos, Trump was asked if he was worried about a global pandemic.

“No, not at all” he stated. “And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control.

On Jan 30 during a campaign rally in Michigan, Trump provided an update on the spread of the virus in the U.S. to a rowdy crowd of supporters.

“We have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment with 5 and those people are all recuperating successfully.”

On Feb 2, Trump bragged about his China travel ban on Fox News. He told Sean Hannity and a national audience that:

“We pretty much shut it down coming from China.”

Trump wasn’t quite ready to give up on his number strategy throughout February as he continued to claim the situation was improving. There are plenty examples of Trump being irresponsible. Here are just a few:

• On Feb 26, he said “We are going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.”
• On Feb 27, he bragged: It’s going to disappear one day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
•  On Feb 29, he said a vaccine would be available “very quickly and very rapidly” He praised his administration’s actions as “the most aggressive taken by any county.”

The case for Trump’s negligence is the mishandling of the test kits that were sent to laboratories around the country that had a technical flaw and didn’t work. Trump and his team weren’t worried and ordered the CDC to find a work around. The Trump administration also didn’t turn to the World Health Organization for its perfectly functioning test, nor did it remove regulations that prevented hospitals and labs from developing their own tests. Why? Trump remained intent on keeping the U.S. body count low.

Despite mishandling the production of test kits, Trump continues to make dangerous false statements.

On Mar 6 Trump said “Anybody that wants a test can get a test.” 

I could go on and on but this sums things up:

The mishandling of this crisis is reflected in the raising death count that was in the hundreds and now over a thousand. Why hasn’t he used the Defense Production Act to force companies to produce masks, protective equipment and ventilators which are in short supplies? Does Trump even care how many Americans are going to die?  He just wants businesses to re-open in time for Easter hoping that a strong economy and raising stock prices will get him re-elected. He should resign!!!

All state and local governments should ignore Trump’s call to re-open businesses! If not, then what is happening in Italy is only a few weeks away from happening in America.

 

 

Why interest rate cuts won’t save the economy or the stock market

This week, after an emergency call with central bank leaders around the world, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates. A somewhat surprising move coming about two weeks before its next scheduled meeting. It was the first emergency rate cut by the Fed since the financial crisis in 2008 and a strong signal that the central bank is taking the threat of the virus seriously.

The problem is that cutting interest rates, which were already very low, isn’t likely to do much to solve the kinds of economic problems posed by a pandemic.

Think of it like this: if more people get sick, more people can’t work. Businesses become less productive and ailing workers without paid sick leave don’t earn money. (They might also go to work sick.) Meanwhile, others who are either sick or afraid of catching the virus stop going out and spending money.

Restaurants, movie theaters, hotels and airlines have already experienced less revenue. More workers will lose their jobs temporary, so fewer people will have money to spend. Its classic cause of an economic downturn since the U.S. economy depends on consumers’ spending money.

Crucially, all the people out of work will still need money for food and housing costs. The new record-low mortgage rates aren’t going to solve that immediate problem, especially not for renters. Nearly 4 in 10 adults would have trouble handling a $400 emergency expense, according to a recent study from the Federal Reserve.

An economic downturn is coming, the problem is no one knows how severe it will be and how long will it last. China’s economy took a big hit and government took some draconian measures that can’t be done here in North America.

Some precautionary financial steps

1. Top up your emergency fund
2. Living pay check to paycheck: then get a line of credit or increase the limits on your credit cards
3. Start looking for day care services in case of school closures
4. Don’t put any new money into the stock market until the coronavirus is contained. (Too early to buy the dips, however make an investment shopping list)
5. Get ready to refinance your debt, but keep in mind that there could be more rate cuts.

Why you shouldn’t panic over a decline in stock market prices

The chart below illustrate what happen to stock market values during the financial crisis. (Jan 2008 until Mar 2011) The left side of the graph shows the market hit bottom in Mar of 2009 and recovered most of it losses by Mar of 2011. I not suggesting that this current market downturn will get that bad.

Keep in mind that the stock market has gone straight up since the market hit bottom back in march of 2009 with a few little blips. The chart below illustrates that the current downturn could be just another blip. This virus will only have a temporary effect on the economy and consumer spending will recover. People will travel again, visit theme parks, eat out and business will be profitable again.

Back in September, I wrote a post to reduce some of your risk and move some money into dividend paying stocks. I hope that you followed my advice.  Dividend income should help to offset some of the fall in value of your portfolio.