: US Restaurant Association Projects Up To 7 Million Jobs Lost
: Over 3 Months

:
: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/national-restaurant-association-sees-7-million-jobs-lost-over-3-months

: Wed, 03/18/2020 - 15:51

: The pandemic ripple effect continues across the food and
: beverage server industry, as more and more major cities
: across the nation - including some states - declare 'health
: emergency' status and order the shutting of all dining and
: bar locations. Ohio was among the very first to declare it

: Sunday evening, and has since seen a nearly 600% leap in
: unemployment benefit applications since last week.

: This appears the emerging pattern in other states as well,
: with Connecticut reporting 30,000 claims filed since last
: Friday, compared to a prior average of between 3,000 and
: 3,500 a week.

: The National Restaurant Association is predicting the
: unprecedented carnage is only just beginning, on Wednesday
: writing a letter to the White House and Congress detailing
: an estimated $225 billion in sales will be wiped out over
: the next three months, crucially prompting the loss of
: between five and seven million jobs.

: The popular Hideout Inn sits empty, via Chicago Eater.

: Though by Monday top economists, including Goldman, were
: talking near-certain recession, we are already by Wednesday
: in Great Depression era territory in terms of national
: joblessness.

: The Hill reports of the contents of the National Restaurant
: Association's letter to Trump as follows: The full economic
: impact, according to the association, will be $675 billion
: because every dollar spent in restaurants generates an
: additional $2 elsewhere in the economy.

: We are revising our business model to provide meals in
: different ways (takeout, delivery, safety-enhanced
: dine-in), but we are facing economic headwinds that will
: lead many restaurants to shut down operations, lay off
: workers, and end our service in our communities,” Sean
: Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs, wrote
: in the letter.

: At the moment over 28 states and many more cities have
: shuttered restaurants, only allowing drive-thru or take-out
: service.

: “We are revising our business model to provide meals in
: different ways (takeout, delivery, safety-enhanced
: dine-in),” Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public
: affairs, said in the letter.

: “But we are facing economic headwinds that will lead many
: restaurants to shut down operations, lay off workers, and
: end our service in our communities,” he added.

: The association is urging immediate tax and financial relief
: to mitigate the severity of economic devastation of the
: crisis, including the creation of a $145 billion Restaurant
: and Foodservice Industry Recovery Fund.

: But in all it adds up to an over $455 billion in total federal
: aid package it's seeking due to coronavirus hit: The
: association’s request includes creation of a $145 billion
: Restaurant and Foodservice Industry Recovery Fund to
: provide immediate liquidity to operators, $100 billion of
: federally-backed business interruption insurance and $135
: million of disaster unemployment assistance.

: The letter urged prompt action “within 15 days of enactment
: and provide grants with minimal procedural delay,” to stave
: off industry collapse and up to 7 million jobs lost.

: ~~~

: Banks are about to drown in an ocean of defaults. I’ll talk
: about this a lot more in the coming days, but briefly:
: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/banks-are-going-drown-ocean-defaults

: There’s $250 TRILLION in global debt right now– mortgages,
: credit card debt, business loans, government debt, etc.

: And banks own a large portion of that debt.

: This virus crisis is going to trigger a wave of defaults from
: consumers, businesses, and even governments.

: Think about it: tourism alone makes up 10% of global GDP.
: Revenue in that entire sector– hotels, airlines, cruise
: ships, etc. has collapsed, and many of those companies
: aren’t going to survive.

: The crash in oil prices is going to wipe out countless oil
: companies.

: Many large retail chains, which were already struggling in the
: age of e-commerce, will likely declare bankruptcy.

: Countless businesses around the world have ‘temporarily’
: closed due to public health policies, and many of them will
: go out of business entirely.

: MOST of these businesses owe lots of money to the banks,
: whether it’s a small business working line, or the $34
: billion in debt that American Airlines owes. So the
: defaults are going to be massive.

: On top of that, millions of people are going to lose their
: jobs and be unable to make payments on their credit card
: debt, auto loans, and even mortgages.

: Again, there’s $250 trillion in global debt right now. Total
: bank capital worldwide is less than $10 trillion.

: So if the coming defaults trigger a mere 4% loss in total
: debt, it will exceed the entirety of global bank capital.

: And this doesn’t even take into consideration the impact of
: the $1 QUADRILLION derivatives exposure.

: Misunderestimate? Absolutely.

: This looming wave of loan defaults over the next few months
: could spark a crisis in the global financial system that
: completely dwarfs what happened back in 2008.

: I desperately want to be wrong.

: And it’s possible that public health officials radically shift
: their positions in the coming weeks and tell all the young,
: healthy people in the world to go back to work, get
: infected, and start developing immunity.

: They may be forced to do this to avoid destroying the global
: economy.

: But at this point, every possible scenario is on the table.
: Nothing is out of the question… especially when the
: arithmetic is so obvious.

: And continuing to misunderestimate the effects of this virus
: could be far more dangerous than the virus itself.

: We’ll talk about this more in the coming days, along with some
: sensible suggestions to reduce risk."

: ~~~

: Thomas Massie on State and Federal Government Overreaches

: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZUyRMmKE30

:

: ~~~

: You can't really count on polls, but,

: Pew Poll: 62 Per Cent of Americans Believe Media Has
: Exaggerated Coronavirus Risk

:
: https://summit.news/2020/03/18/pew-poll-62-per-cent-of-americans-believe-media-has-exaggerated-coronavirus-risk/

: Majority think press has overhyped the threat.

: Published 1 min ago

: on 18 March, 2020

: Paul Joseph Watson

: 62 per cent of Americans believe that the media has
: exaggerated the threat of coronavirus, according to a new
: Pew Research poll.

: The results of the survey found that 63 per cent of Americans
: believe the CDC and public health officials have got the
: risk of COID-19 about right, with just 21 per cent
: believing they have exaggerated the risks.

: While 62 per cent think the media has overhyped the threat, 29
: per cent believe President Trump hasn’t taken it seriously
: at all while a further 52 per cent say he has not taken the
: risk seriously enough.

: Only 30 per cent say the media has handled the issue
: appropriately, while just 8 per cent say the press has not
: taken the risks seriously enough.

: On a partisan breakdown, 76 per cent of Republicans think the
: media has exaggerated the threat compared to 49 per cent of
: Democrats.

: There is still a significant number of people who believe that
: the response to coronavirus has been over the top or even
: hysterical, with many suggesting that once a large number
: of people in the U.S. are tested, the mortality rate of
: COVID-19 will drop substantially.

: Others point to infection and death toll numbers out of Italy
: to make the point that overreacting is essential to
: stopping the spread of the virus and preventing deaths in
: the hundreds of thousands.