click
👁 👃🏻 👁
👅
▼
Jan 13, 2021
COVID-19 Update
World
Over the past day, a lot of people have asked me how I feel. They are usually referring to my covid-19 diagnosis and my symptoms. I feel like I have a mild cold. But even more than that, I am angry.
I am angry that after I spent months carefully isolating myself, a single chaotic day likely got me sick. I am angry that several of our nation’s leaders were unwilling to deal with the small annoyance of a mask for a few hours. I am angry that the attack on the Capitol and my subsequent illness have the same cause: my Republican colleagues’ inability to accept facts.
When I left for Washington last week, it was my first trip there in several months. I had a list of things to accomplish, including getting my picture taken for the card I use when voting on the House floor. For the past two years, I appeared on that card completely bald as a result of the chemotherapy I underwent to eliminate the cancer in my right lung. It was because of that preexisting condition that I relied so heavily on the proxy voting the House agreed to last year, when we first began to understand the danger of covid-19.
I was nervous about spending a week among so many people who regularly flout social distancing and mask guidelines, but I could not have imagined the horror of what happened on Jan. 6.
To isolate as much as possible, I planned to spend much of my day in my apartment, shuttling to the House floor to vote. But the building shares an alley with the Republican National Committee, where, we’d later learn, law enforcement found a pipe bomb. I was evacuated from that location early in the afternoon.
The next best option would have been my office in the Cannon House Office Building, where just three of my staffers worked at their desks to ensure safe distancing. Before I arrived, security evacuated that building as well, forcing us to linger in the hallways and cafeteria spaces of the House complex. As I’m sure you can imagine, pushing the occupants of an entire building into a few public spaces doesn’t make for great social distancing. Twice, I admonished groups of congressional staff to put on their masks. Some of these staffers gave me looks of derision, but slowly complied.
My staff and I then decided that the Capitol building would likely be the safest place to go, since it would be the most secure and least likely to be crowded. I’ve spent a lot of time since in utter disbelief at how wrong those assumptions turned out to be.
Everyone knows what happened next: A mob broke through windows and doors and beat a U.S. Capitol Police officer, then went on a rampage. Members and staff took cover wherever we could, ducking into offices throughout the building, then were told to move to a safer holding location.
I use “safer” because, while we might have been protected from the insurrectionists, we were not safe from the callousness of members of Congress who, having encouraged the sentiments that inspired the riot, now ignored requests to wear masks.
I’ve been asked if I will share the names of those members. You’ve probably seen video of some of them laughing at my colleague and friend Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) as she tries to distribute masks. But it’s not their names that matter.
What matters are facts, both about the covid-19 pandemic and the conduct of the 2020 election:
You can, in fact, breathe through a mask. Doctors have been doing it for decades. It is occasionally annoying — my glasses tend to fog, and when I wear makeup and a mask, I end up with smudged lipstick. That is a small price to pay for the safety of those around me.
You can, in fact, count on a mask to reduce the chances of spreading the virus. Studies of how many droplets escape into the air and the rates of infection following the implementation of mask mandates both prove effectiveness.
Refusing to wear a mask is not, in fact, an act of self-expression. It’s an act of public endangerment. The chaos you create in exercising your so-called freedom can cause permanent, deadly damage. I only hope that won’t be the case for me and my colleagues, Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), who have also tested positive for the coronavirus.
When I say that many Republicans are responsible for what happened to me, to others and to the country last week, I mean their essential failure to accept facts led us here. Much like they should be able to accept the results of an election, elected leaders should be able to accept facts like the efficacy of masks. It’s clearly time for a congressional campus-wide mask requirement, enforced by the House and Senate sergeants at arms.
Facts really do matter. I hope to get back to work soon to make sure we respect them.
New Cases: 664,971 (⬆︎ .73%)
New Deaths: 15,816 (⬆︎ .81%) 🏆 New Record!
USA
New Cases: 223,628 (⬆︎ .97%)
New Deaths: 4,281 (⬆︎ 1.11%) 🏆 New Record!
US Rep Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ12) tells us her story
Over the past day, a lot of people have asked me how I feel. They are usually referring to my covid-19 diagnosis and my symptoms. I feel like I have a mild cold. But even more than that, I am angry.
I am angry that after I spent months carefully isolating myself, a single chaotic day likely got me sick. I am angry that several of our nation’s leaders were unwilling to deal with the small annoyance of a mask for a few hours. I am angry that the attack on the Capitol and my subsequent illness have the same cause: my Republican colleagues’ inability to accept facts.
When I left for Washington last week, it was my first trip there in several months. I had a list of things to accomplish, including getting my picture taken for the card I use when voting on the House floor. For the past two years, I appeared on that card completely bald as a result of the chemotherapy I underwent to eliminate the cancer in my right lung. It was because of that preexisting condition that I relied so heavily on the proxy voting the House agreed to last year, when we first began to understand the danger of covid-19.
I was nervous about spending a week among so many people who regularly flout social distancing and mask guidelines, but I could not have imagined the horror of what happened on Jan. 6.
To isolate as much as possible, I planned to spend much of my day in my apartment, shuttling to the House floor to vote. But the building shares an alley with the Republican National Committee, where, we’d later learn, law enforcement found a pipe bomb. I was evacuated from that location early in the afternoon.
The next best option would have been my office in the Cannon House Office Building, where just three of my staffers worked at their desks to ensure safe distancing. Before I arrived, security evacuated that building as well, forcing us to linger in the hallways and cafeteria spaces of the House complex. As I’m sure you can imagine, pushing the occupants of an entire building into a few public spaces doesn’t make for great social distancing. Twice, I admonished groups of congressional staff to put on their masks. Some of these staffers gave me looks of derision, but slowly complied.
My staff and I then decided that the Capitol building would likely be the safest place to go, since it would be the most secure and least likely to be crowded. I’ve spent a lot of time since in utter disbelief at how wrong those assumptions turned out to be.
Everyone knows what happened next: A mob broke through windows and doors and beat a U.S. Capitol Police officer, then went on a rampage. Members and staff took cover wherever we could, ducking into offices throughout the building, then were told to move to a safer holding location.
I use “safer” because, while we might have been protected from the insurrectionists, we were not safe from the callousness of members of Congress who, having encouraged the sentiments that inspired the riot, now ignored requests to wear masks.
I’ve been asked if I will share the names of those members. You’ve probably seen video of some of them laughing at my colleague and friend Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) as she tries to distribute masks. But it’s not their names that matter.
What matters are facts, both about the covid-19 pandemic and the conduct of the 2020 election:
You can, in fact, breathe through a mask. Doctors have been doing it for decades. It is occasionally annoying — my glasses tend to fog, and when I wear makeup and a mask, I end up with smudged lipstick. That is a small price to pay for the safety of those around me.
You can, in fact, count on a mask to reduce the chances of spreading the virus. Studies of how many droplets escape into the air and the rates of infection following the implementation of mask mandates both prove effectiveness.
Refusing to wear a mask is not, in fact, an act of self-expression. It’s an act of public endangerment. The chaos you create in exercising your so-called freedom can cause permanent, deadly damage. I only hope that won’t be the case for me and my colleagues, Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), who have also tested positive for the coronavirus.
When I say that many Republicans are responsible for what happened to me, to others and to the country last week, I mean their essential failure to accept facts led us here. Much like they should be able to accept the results of an election, elected leaders should be able to accept facts like the efficacy of masks. It’s clearly time for a congressional campus-wide mask requirement, enforced by the House and Senate sergeants at arms.
Facts really do matter. I hope to get back to work soon to make sure we respect them.
Ending With A Whimper
Sec'y Of State Mike Pompeo has been denied meetings with foreign leaders, as the days of Qult45 dwindle down to nothing.
"Mister Trump is a criminal, a political pyromaniac who should be sent to criminal court. He's a person who was elected democratically but who isn't interested in democracy in the slightest."
- and -
"The 6th of January 2021 was a 9/11 attack on democracy itself, and Trump was the one who egged it on."
- and -
"The people who are truly responsible are Trump and members of the GOP. People like Ted Cruz and other elected Republicans are responsible because they acted like Trump's poodles."
Luxembourg, EU Snub Pompeo in Final Europe Trip, Diplomats Say
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cancelled his Europe trip at the last minute on Tuesday after Luxembourg's foreign minister and top European Union officials declined to meet him, European diplomats and other people familiar with the matter said.
The Europeans snubbed Washington's top envoy days after the storming of the U.S. Capitol by thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump, an unprecedented attack on American democracy that stunned many world leaders and U.S. allies.
Pompeo, a close ally of Trump, had sought to meet Jean Asselborn in Luxembourg, a small but wealthy NATO ally, before meeting EU leaders and the bloc's top diplomat in Brussels, three people close to the planning told Reuters.
Pompeo had originally planned to go to Luxembourg, but that leg of the trip was scrapped, one diplomatic source said, after officials there showed reluctance to grant him appointments. The Brussels leg was still on until the last minute.
But Pompeo's final visit schedule in Brussels was not going to involve any meetings with the EU or any public events at NATO. A third diplomatic source said allies were "embarrassed" by Pompeo after the violence in Washington last Wednesday.
Trump encouraged his supporters at a rally to march on the building that houses the Senate and the House of Representatives while lawmakers were certifying Democrat President-elect Joe Biden's Nov. 3 election victory. Republican Trump claims, without providing evidence, that the election was stolen from him.
Pompeo condemned the violence but made no reference to the role Trump's baseless claims played in galvanizing the march on the Capitol.
Appalled by the violence, Luxembourg's Asselborn had called Trump a "criminal" and a "political pyromaniac" on RTL Radio the next day.
Luxembourg's foreign ministry confirmed the previously planned stop there was cancelled, but declined to give further details. The EU declined to comment.
And of course, they needed something to cover for the snub and save face.
The U.S. State Department, in a statement, attributed the cancellation to transition work before Biden takes office on Jan. 20, even if until recently Pompeo had been reluctant to unequivocally recognise Biden's win. The State Department declined further comment on European officials' rejection of meetings with Pompeo.
The latest of which being Luxembourg's Foreign Minister, Jean Asselborn:
- and -
"The 6th of January 2021 was a 9/11 attack on democracy itself, and Trump was the one who egged it on."
- and -
"The people who are truly responsible are Trump and members of the GOP. People like Ted Cruz and other elected Republicans are responsible because they acted like Trump's poodles."
Luxembourg, EU Snub Pompeo in Final Europe Trip, Diplomats Say
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cancelled his Europe trip at the last minute on Tuesday after Luxembourg's foreign minister and top European Union officials declined to meet him, European diplomats and other people familiar with the matter said.
The Europeans snubbed Washington's top envoy days after the storming of the U.S. Capitol by thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump, an unprecedented attack on American democracy that stunned many world leaders and U.S. allies.
Pompeo, a close ally of Trump, had sought to meet Jean Asselborn in Luxembourg, a small but wealthy NATO ally, before meeting EU leaders and the bloc's top diplomat in Brussels, three people close to the planning told Reuters.
Pompeo had originally planned to go to Luxembourg, but that leg of the trip was scrapped, one diplomatic source said, after officials there showed reluctance to grant him appointments. The Brussels leg was still on until the last minute.
But Pompeo's final visit schedule in Brussels was not going to involve any meetings with the EU or any public events at NATO. A third diplomatic source said allies were "embarrassed" by Pompeo after the violence in Washington last Wednesday.
Trump encouraged his supporters at a rally to march on the building that houses the Senate and the House of Representatives while lawmakers were certifying Democrat President-elect Joe Biden's Nov. 3 election victory. Republican Trump claims, without providing evidence, that the election was stolen from him.
Pompeo condemned the violence but made no reference to the role Trump's baseless claims played in galvanizing the march on the Capitol.
Appalled by the violence, Luxembourg's Asselborn had called Trump a "criminal" and a "political pyromaniac" on RTL Radio the next day.
Luxembourg's foreign ministry confirmed the previously planned stop there was cancelled, but declined to give further details. The EU declined to comment.
And of course, they needed something to cover for the snub and save face.
The U.S. State Department, in a statement, attributed the cancellation to transition work before Biden takes office on Jan. 20, even if until recently Pompeo had been reluctant to unequivocally recognise Biden's win. The State Department declined further comment on European officials' rejection of meetings with Pompeo.
Meanwhile, down there is Texas...
Chicago Tribune:
Trump takes no responsibility for riot, tours Texas border wall construction after days spent out of sight and banned from Twitter
ALAMO, TEXAS — President Donald Trump on Tuesday took no responsibility for his part in fomenting a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week, despite his comments encouraging supporters to march on the Capitol and praise for them while they were still carrying out the assault.
“People thought that what I said was totally appropriate,” Trump said.
He made the comments during his first appearance in public since the Capitol siege, which came as lawmakers were tallying Electoral College votes affirming President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Trump arrived in Texas on Tuesday to trumpet his campaign against illegal immigration in an attempt to burnish his legacy with eight days remaining in his term, as lawmakers in Congress appeared set to impeach him this week for the second time.
In Alamo, Texas, a city in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexican border — the site of the 450th mile of the border wall his administration is building, Trump brushed off Democratic calls on his Cabinet to declare him unfit from office and remove him from power using the 25th Amendment.
“The 25th Amendment is of zero risk to me, but will come back to haunt Joe Biden and the Biden administration,” Trump said. “As the expression goes, be careful of what you wish for.”
The rampage through the halls of Congress sent lawmakers of both parties and Trump’s own vice president into hiding, as crowds called for Mike Pence’s lynching for his role overseeing the vote count. The scene also undermined the hallmark of the republic — the peaceful transition of power. At least five people died, including one Capitol Police officer.
Trump takes no responsibility for riot, tours Texas border wall construction after days spent out of sight and banned from Twitter
ALAMO, TEXAS — President Donald Trump on Tuesday took no responsibility for his part in fomenting a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week, despite his comments encouraging supporters to march on the Capitol and praise for them while they were still carrying out the assault.
“People thought that what I said was totally appropriate,” Trump said.
He made the comments during his first appearance in public since the Capitol siege, which came as lawmakers were tallying Electoral College votes affirming President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Trump arrived in Texas on Tuesday to trumpet his campaign against illegal immigration in an attempt to burnish his legacy with eight days remaining in his term, as lawmakers in Congress appeared set to impeach him this week for the second time.
In Alamo, Texas, a city in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexican border — the site of the 450th mile of the border wall his administration is building, Trump brushed off Democratic calls on his Cabinet to declare him unfit from office and remove him from power using the 25th Amendment.
“The 25th Amendment is of zero risk to me, but will come back to haunt Joe Biden and the Biden administration,” Trump said. “As the expression goes, be careful of what you wish for.”
The rampage through the halls of Congress sent lawmakers of both parties and Trump’s own vice president into hiding, as crowds called for Mike Pence’s lynching for his role overseeing the vote count. The scene also undermined the hallmark of the republic — the peaceful transition of power. At least five people died, including one Capitol Police officer.
And that's quite enough of that shit.
First, c'mon, Trib - 450 miles of wall? At least try to get things right. Qult45 has built about 50 miles of new wall and the rest of it is Rebuild-n-Rehab.
And that "speech"?
Jan 12, 2021
Daddy State Illustrated
Lisa Kudrow as Non-Official Spokesperson Jeanetta Grace Susan, in a Netflix thing called Death To 2020:
Round Up The Usual Suspects
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on a conference call with members Monday that there is "undisputedly" no evidence that people linked to Antifa participated in last week's deadly siege on the Capitol, per sources on the call, and told members he had urged President Trump to call President-elect Biden after Trump promised a transfer of power.
Driving the news: Earlier Monday, McCarthy sent a letter to rank and file House Republicans, saying he remains opposed to impeaching Trump over his actions around last week's deadly Capitol siege, and laid out other responses lawmakers could make, including censure.
Between the lines: McCarthy is now trying to navigate how to bridge the factions within the party following Wednesday's siege at the Capitol, and is treading carefully by telling members Trump is partially to blame for what happened without condemning him outright.
What he's saying: "Having spoken to so many of you, I know we are all taking time to process the events of that day. Please know I share your anger and your pain," McCarthy wrote in his letter to members.
"In the same breath, I have also heard profound resolve from our conference in the face of this evil. From the dean of the House to our new members who were just sworn in a week ago, you feel an even deeper sense of service and move forward with a renewed clarity of purpose—both for our shared principles and for the future of our nation," he added.
"Personally, I continue to believe that an impeachment at this time would have the opposite effect of bringing our country together when we need to get America back on a path towards unity and civility."
"Notwithstanding the Speaker’s push towards impeachment, I have heard from members across our conference who have raised at least four potential avenues available to the House to ensure that the events of January 6 are rightfully denounced and prevented from occurring in the future.
These include, McCarthy said, a resolution censure, a bipartisan commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding last week's riot, reforming the Electoral Count Act of 1887, and legislation to promote voter confidence in future federal elections.
Some Republicans and conservatives, have baselessly claimed that individuals linked to Antifa were pretending to be Trump supporters to cause chaos during last week's riot.
Some Republicans and conservatives, have baselessly claimed that individuals linked to Antifa were pretending to be Trump supporters to cause chaos during last week's riot.
McCarthy's comments come after law enforcement, including the FBI, said there was "no indication" of involvement by Antifa.
The monster he helped create went on a rampage thru his village - killing 5 people at last count - and all McCarthy can come up with is a string of empty platitudes.
Cheery perky Mike says we're making some progress and it looks like we might come out of this fucked up mess OK, while depressively cynical Mike says, "I swear to fake fucking god these assholes will just keep denying there's a real problem until we don't have a chance to recover anything but the charred remains of a once-great republic."
Deny deny deny
COVID-19 Update
World
D.C., Northern Virginia move to second phase of coronavirus vaccinations, targeting older residents
The District and much of Virginia moved into their next phases of coronavirus vaccinations Monday, targeting older residents and other vulnerable populations as a post-holiday surge of new infections in the Washington region continued to reach record highs.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said the city will begin vaccinating residents 65 and older, while some jurisdictions in Virginia on Monday began making appointments to inoculate residents 75 and older. Health officials previously had worked to inoculate residents of nursing homes and assisted-living communities before moving to the next phase.
“The coronavirus vaccine is free,” Bowser (D) said during a Monday news conference. “Those with insurance will not be charged a co-pay. Those without insurance will not be charged or turned away.”
The District has administered 26,672 vaccine doses through its first round of inoculations, which included health-care workers and front-line emergency workers. An additional 18,753 doses set aside for that group have yet to be administered.
The city expects to receive about 8,300 vaccine doses this week for the next round of inoculations, which will be conducted under three tiers.
The first tier will include residents 65 and older, people and staff in congregate settings such as group homes and homeless shelters, correctional officers and non-health-care personnel supporting operations of coronavirus vaccination clinics.
The second tier will include inmates inside correctional facilities and detention centers, law enforcement and other public safety officers, staff working in public schools, child-care workers and grocery store employees.
Last in line for the second round will be courthouse employees and other residents providing legal services, those who work in health, human services and social services programs, public transit workers, manufacturing workers, those who handle food packaging and distribution, and U.S. Postal Service employees.
D.C. residents can make vaccination appointments through the District’s online portal by calling the city health department or through their health-care provider. D.C. health director LaQuandra Nesbitt said officials expect that demand for vaccines will rise after some initial concerns about side effects.
“Seniors were up and on the Web this morning, before 8 a.m., scheduling appointments,” Nesbitt said. “We believe uptake is going to be high.”
The rollout of the additional vaccines came as the region’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases continued to escalate, reaching a high Monday of 8,545.
The greater Washington region added 7,744 new infections Monday and 43 virus-related fatalities. Virginia added 4,530 infections and 10 deaths, Maryland added 3,012 cases and 29 deaths, while the District added 202 infections and four deaths.
In Virginia, public health districts in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, the city of Alexandria, as well as the Southwest region west of Roanoke, also began taking appointments Monday for their second phase of vaccine distributions.
As of Monday, the state had administered 189,283 vaccine doses to health care workers and residents in long-term care facilities covered under the first round, according to the Virginia health department.
The next round of inoculations includes people 75 and older; people living in correctional facilities, homeless shelters and migrant labor camps; and a large and varied category of front-line essential workers who cannot work remotely.
Local health departments in Virginia will contact groups of essential workers in the following order: police, fire and hazardous materials response teams; corrections and homeless shelter workers; K-12 teachers and school and child-care staff; food and agriculture workers, including veterinarians; manufacturing workers; grocery store staffers; public transit workers; mail carriers, including the U.S. Postal Service and private companies; and those needed to maintain continuity of government.
As worries climb about the region’s growing number of infections, eligible residents seeking vaccine appointments lit up local health department phone lines Monday, making it hard for others to get through.
“If you are calling to make an appointment, please note that our call center is experiencing high volume,” an alert posted to the Fairfax County Health Department website said, steering residents to an online portal.
Public health officials urged people in those groups to be patient as they work through the logistics of the vaccinations.
“We know that our essential workers and older adults are eager to get vaccinated, and we are eager to facilitate vaccination for as many people as possible in the weeks ahead,” David Goodfriend, director of the Loudoun County Health Department, said in a statement.
Maryland health officials continued to vaccinate health-care workers and nursing home residents under the state’s first phase, administering 146,172 doses as of Monday.
The state’s largest public employee union criticized Gov. Larry Hogan’s vaccine rollout, complaining that little information has been given to front line employees who work in congregant settings or in social services.
“The complete lack of planning and communication is, it’s scary,” said Patrick Moran, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Maryland Council 3, during a virtual news conference.
Moran said more than 10 percent of the 30,000 employees in the union have been infected with the virus since March. Six of its members have died.
Workers in prisons and state hospitals are “only now starting to get the vaccines that they need,” Moran said. Those who work for the Department of Juvenile Services and the Department of Human Services, he said, have received no insight on when vaccines will be made available to them.
A spokesman for Hogan (R) did not respond Monday to a request for comment.
Officials in Montgomery County, the state's most populous jurisdiction, said the jurisdiction is “pushing every button” to administer doses more quickly. But, officials said, they have limited control over the implementation of the vaccination programs at hospitals and nursing homes.
“There’s so much out of our control,” County Council Vice President Gabe Albornoz (D-At large) said during a Monday news conference.
Montgomery officials said the county expected to end Monday with about 83 percent of its nearly 13,000 doses administered to residents. Still, that’s not enough to push the county into the next round of inoculations, officials said.
To cover all of Montgomery’s first responders alone, the county needs at least 3,000 more doses, said James Bridgers, the county’s deputy health officer.
In the District, officials said they are monitoring the health effects of last week’s pro-Trump rally and ensuing insurrection, in which thousands of the president’s supporters gathered downtown without wearing masks before some stormed the Capitol.
On Sunday, Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician to Congress, notified members of the House and Senate they might have been exposed to someone with a coronavirus infection while hiding from rioters. He encouraged them to get tested.
On Monday, New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D), who was huddled in a room with some lawmakers who refused to wear masks, announced she has tested positive.
Nesbitt said she has been in “constant communication” with Monahan to gauge the possibility that others in the city also were exposed.
“We have been close partners and close allies in ensuring that there is no transmission, that anything that happens on the Hill does not have outflow into the District of Columbia,” Nesbitt said.
New Cases: 578,376 (⬆︎ .64%)
New Deaths: 9,319 (⬆︎ .48%)
USA
New Cases: 214,683 (⬆︎ .94%)
New Deaths: 1,964 (⬆︎ .51%)
The rollout continues to sputter, but it also continues to pick up a little momentum - somewhere between 6 million & 9 million does have found their way into people's arms so far.
That's about 2 ½% so far, leaving us right about 68% (230 million) to go. Not the most auspicious beginning, but it's a beginning.
Some local flavor - WaPo:
D.C., Northern Virginia move to second phase of coronavirus vaccinations, targeting older residents
The District and much of Virginia moved into their next phases of coronavirus vaccinations Monday, targeting older residents and other vulnerable populations as a post-holiday surge of new infections in the Washington region continued to reach record highs.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said the city will begin vaccinating residents 65 and older, while some jurisdictions in Virginia on Monday began making appointments to inoculate residents 75 and older. Health officials previously had worked to inoculate residents of nursing homes and assisted-living communities before moving to the next phase.
“The coronavirus vaccine is free,” Bowser (D) said during a Monday news conference. “Those with insurance will not be charged a co-pay. Those without insurance will not be charged or turned away.”
The District has administered 26,672 vaccine doses through its first round of inoculations, which included health-care workers and front-line emergency workers. An additional 18,753 doses set aside for that group have yet to be administered.
The city expects to receive about 8,300 vaccine doses this week for the next round of inoculations, which will be conducted under three tiers.
The first tier will include residents 65 and older, people and staff in congregate settings such as group homes and homeless shelters, correctional officers and non-health-care personnel supporting operations of coronavirus vaccination clinics.
The second tier will include inmates inside correctional facilities and detention centers, law enforcement and other public safety officers, staff working in public schools, child-care workers and grocery store employees.
Last in line for the second round will be courthouse employees and other residents providing legal services, those who work in health, human services and social services programs, public transit workers, manufacturing workers, those who handle food packaging and distribution, and U.S. Postal Service employees.
D.C. residents can make vaccination appointments through the District’s online portal by calling the city health department or through their health-care provider. D.C. health director LaQuandra Nesbitt said officials expect that demand for vaccines will rise after some initial concerns about side effects.
“Seniors were up and on the Web this morning, before 8 a.m., scheduling appointments,” Nesbitt said. “We believe uptake is going to be high.”
The rollout of the additional vaccines came as the region’s seven-day average for new coronavirus cases continued to escalate, reaching a high Monday of 8,545.
The greater Washington region added 7,744 new infections Monday and 43 virus-related fatalities. Virginia added 4,530 infections and 10 deaths, Maryland added 3,012 cases and 29 deaths, while the District added 202 infections and four deaths.
In Virginia, public health districts in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, the city of Alexandria, as well as the Southwest region west of Roanoke, also began taking appointments Monday for their second phase of vaccine distributions.
As of Monday, the state had administered 189,283 vaccine doses to health care workers and residents in long-term care facilities covered under the first round, according to the Virginia health department.
The next round of inoculations includes people 75 and older; people living in correctional facilities, homeless shelters and migrant labor camps; and a large and varied category of front-line essential workers who cannot work remotely.
Local health departments in Virginia will contact groups of essential workers in the following order: police, fire and hazardous materials response teams; corrections and homeless shelter workers; K-12 teachers and school and child-care staff; food and agriculture workers, including veterinarians; manufacturing workers; grocery store staffers; public transit workers; mail carriers, including the U.S. Postal Service and private companies; and those needed to maintain continuity of government.
As worries climb about the region’s growing number of infections, eligible residents seeking vaccine appointments lit up local health department phone lines Monday, making it hard for others to get through.
“If you are calling to make an appointment, please note that our call center is experiencing high volume,” an alert posted to the Fairfax County Health Department website said, steering residents to an online portal.
Public health officials urged people in those groups to be patient as they work through the logistics of the vaccinations.
“We know that our essential workers and older adults are eager to get vaccinated, and we are eager to facilitate vaccination for as many people as possible in the weeks ahead,” David Goodfriend, director of the Loudoun County Health Department, said in a statement.
Maryland health officials continued to vaccinate health-care workers and nursing home residents under the state’s first phase, administering 146,172 doses as of Monday.
The state’s largest public employee union criticized Gov. Larry Hogan’s vaccine rollout, complaining that little information has been given to front line employees who work in congregant settings or in social services.
“The complete lack of planning and communication is, it’s scary,” said Patrick Moran, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Maryland Council 3, during a virtual news conference.
Moran said more than 10 percent of the 30,000 employees in the union have been infected with the virus since March. Six of its members have died.
Workers in prisons and state hospitals are “only now starting to get the vaccines that they need,” Moran said. Those who work for the Department of Juvenile Services and the Department of Human Services, he said, have received no insight on when vaccines will be made available to them.
A spokesman for Hogan (R) did not respond Monday to a request for comment.
Officials in Montgomery County, the state's most populous jurisdiction, said the jurisdiction is “pushing every button” to administer doses more quickly. But, officials said, they have limited control over the implementation of the vaccination programs at hospitals and nursing homes.
“There’s so much out of our control,” County Council Vice President Gabe Albornoz (D-At large) said during a Monday news conference.
Montgomery officials said the county expected to end Monday with about 83 percent of its nearly 13,000 doses administered to residents. Still, that’s not enough to push the county into the next round of inoculations, officials said.
To cover all of Montgomery’s first responders alone, the county needs at least 3,000 more doses, said James Bridgers, the county’s deputy health officer.
In the District, officials said they are monitoring the health effects of last week’s pro-Trump rally and ensuing insurrection, in which thousands of the president’s supporters gathered downtown without wearing masks before some stormed the Capitol.
On Sunday, Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician to Congress, notified members of the House and Senate they might have been exposed to someone with a coronavirus infection while hiding from rioters. He encouraged them to get tested.
On Monday, New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D), who was huddled in a room with some lawmakers who refused to wear masks, announced she has tested positive.
Nesbitt said she has been in “constant communication” with Monahan to gauge the possibility that others in the city also were exposed.
“We have been close partners and close allies in ensuring that there is no transmission, that anything that happens on the Hill does not have outflow into the District of Columbia,” Nesbitt said.
Today's Tweet
The paranoiacs who live in their dark imaginings of being oppressed by the deep state have brought their nightmare into the real world and turned it on themselves.
“hey champ, did you commit treason on wednesday?” ☠️ pic.twitter.com/YuOhBxV5cy
— shauna (@goldengateblond) January 11, 2021
Jan 11, 2021
Worst Revolution Ever
Here they were, a coalition of the willing: deadbeat dads, YouPorn enthusiasts, slow students, and MMA fans. They had heard the rebel yell, packed up their Confederate flags and Trump banners, and GPS-ed their way to Washington. After a few wrong turns, they had pulled into the swamp with bellies full of beer and Sausage McMuffins, maybe a little high on Adderall, ready to get it done. Like Rush Limbaugh before them, they were in search of their own Presidential Medals of Freedom, and like Donald Trump himself, they were ready to relieve themselves on the withering soul of the nation and the marble floors of the Capitol building. Out of darkness we were born and into darkness we were returning.
If they were animated by any idea, it was that America had somehow gone off track. It had something to do with feminism. It had something to do with Obama-ism. It had something to do with “globalism” and “Marxism.” In other words: It’s the Jews again. Didn’t Trump walk through a cloud of tear gas to hold up a Bible when it was all going down in Washington? Wasn’t he the only one holding the line against the Jews and the Blacks and the satanic pedophiles trying to take over the country?
Fired up by the Great Orator, they charged their way into the Capitol building, which turned out to be as heavily fortified as a slice of angel food cake. The proximate aim of the action was to get inside and stop the certification of the Electoral College vote so that Trump could win.* In one widely circulated video, police with riot shields tried to block the entry of one group of rioters, who yelled at them, “Pussies! Pussies!” And that was the first sign of some possible incoherence at the heart of the revolution. What was the cops’ manly option? Shooting the rioters? And more important: Isn’t this the pro-cop group, the party of law and order?
Once inside, they were bent on proving themselves fierce and intimidating—and they were those things. But when they got to the National Statuary Hall, on the second floor, where velvet ropes indicate the path that tourists must take, they immediately sorted themselves into a line and walked through it. In other words, they were biddable. They were men (and, yes, some women) lost in a modern world that no longer assumed they come first. They were looking for someone to tell them what to do. Trump told them what to do. So did the velvet ropes.
It would not be hard for a tyrant to compel men like these into violence. Like the original patriots, they were ready to crack heads and convinced they were paying too much in taxes.
It seems as though they hadn’t expected to gain entrance with such ease—an ease that becomes more suspicious as the hours pass—and once there they didn’t know what to do, exactly. One patriot made it all the way to Nancy Pelosi’s office, where (per his own gleefully repeated description) he sat at her desk, scratched his balls, left a note—“Nancy, Bigo was here, you bitch”—and grabbed a trophy: an envelope stamped with her name. Soon enough he’d trotted back outside to show it off, the victor in a one-man panty raid. He was an envelope guy in an email world, but suddenly he was taking control of his destiny.
A man in a Viking helmet and the kind of face paint not often seen outside sporting venues held a sign reading hold the line patriots, which made you wonder if he was just a misguided New England fan. Who can make sense of the new football schedule? Inside, he ran around issuing guttural cries and climbing the furniture, like someone who had been thawed out from a 1995 Robert Bly retreat. (Bly was part of the movement that coined the term toxic manhood, the toxicity being office work and too much time around bossy women, and the antidote being a return to the original state of dude nature: roaring, beating drums.) This was not a low-T group. This was not a group that had been robbed and diminished by radical feminism. And they proved it by defecating on the floors and tracking their own filth through the hallways. They were dazed by power and limited in their conception of what to do with it. Some rioters left the building in the charged, happy way people exit the Dive Devil ride at Magic Mountain: single file, grinning, and not really sure what just happened. They cried out for beer, they pumped their fists in triumph, they went looking for Mom and money for curly fries.
The Viking guy was frightening, until it turned out that he’s a notorious ham who shows up at lots of Trump events and loves publicity. Last May, in Phoenix, he was pounding his drum and yelling, “Thank you, President Trump!” and “Thank you, Q!” until a reporter approached him to ask for an interview, and in an instant he turned into Beto O’Rourke. “My name is Jake Angeli,” he said smoothly. “That’s J-A-K-E and A-N-G-E-L-I. Angel with an i.”
The comedian Norm MacDonald has observed that the second-worst job in the world is Crack Whore and that the worst job in the world is Assistant Crack Whore. So let us cast our lonely eyes on the specter of Assistant Viking, Aaron Mostofsky, who was dressed in pelts and carried a police riot shield and who—in a rare Viking flourish—was bespectacled. Can you tell us what you’re doing here today? a reporter asked him. “What I’m doing here today is,” he began, but here the words began to fail him. He looked around and then said he was there to “express my opinion as a free American, my beliefs that this election was stolen. Um—we were cheated.” He adjusted one of his pelts and said that certain blue states—“like New York”—had once been red, and “were stolen.”
Where had he gotten the riot shield? “Found it on the floor,” he said in amazement. “I gave it to the cops, because it might be someone’s personal thing.” Envelope Guy hadn’t stolen Pelosi’s letter; he had left a quarter on her desk in payment. Assistant Viking had dutifully brought his shield to the lost and found, but no one had recognized it. These men had lived their lives in the ranks of a society where rules were constantly imposed upon them, and—even in the midst of the chaos they were creating—they reflexively followed a few of them. They brought items to the lost and found; they walked between the velvet ropes. They were cowed schoolboys and vicious adolescents at the same time. They were in the Capitol building because important rules had been broken. Which ones, exactly? The super-complicated, talkety-talkety ones enshrined in our beloved Constitution, of course. Unlike members of the lost generation whose minds are being poisoned by the obscenities of “critical race theory,” they had been edified and uplifted by the kind of “patriotic” education Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos were trying to deliver to all American children.
Outside, a young woman named Elizabeth was weeping and holding a blue terry-cloth towel to her eyes, while a man beside her tried to comfort her. “I made it, like, a foot inside,” she told a reporter, her voice an admixture of misery and grievance, “and they pushed me out and they maced me!” She made it sound like this had happened to her at the Air and Space Museum. When the reporter asked her where she was from, she said, “Knoxville, Tennessee,” in an especially aggrieved tone, as though this was itself part of the outrage. Maced? A person from Knoxville?
Why had she come to Washington? “We’re storming the Capitol!” she whined. “It’s a revolution!” Patty Hearst was more up to speed on the philosophy and goals of the Symbionese Liberation Army before she got out of the trunk. These people were dressed like cartoon characters, they believe that the country is under attack from pedophiles and “globalists,” and they are certain that Donald Trump won the election. In other words, the Founders’ worst fear—that a bunch of dumbasses would elect a tyrant—had come to pass.
This week the reign of Donald Trump reached its natural culmination, the activation of an army of white thugs who could be motivated by the oldest trick in the nationalist playbook: the promise that they operated in service of some grand idea—to be explained at a later date—and that it was going to take some head-cracking and bloodletting to be born. A 42-year-old Capitol Police officer named Brian Sicknick survived deployment in Iraq only to have his head fatally bashed by Americans with a fire extinguisher in the U.S. Capitol.
Barack Obama came into public life declaring that “in no other country in the world is my story even possible.” But by last summer, in his speech at the Democratic National Convention, he had been reduced to pleading with Americans to keep faith in the Constitution itself, a flawed document but still our “North Star.” By the fall, he had begun to gesture toward America with something of a backward glance: “I’m not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America,” he wrote in the preface of his memoir. Imagine it: a former president on the verge of giving up on America. Why wouldn’t he? At that moment the country was being led by someone who hadn’t merely given up on America but wanted to destroy it.
My father was a historian, a leftist, and (in a term he would have detested) a “patriot,” in the sense that the United States government had arranged for him to be delivered from Amherst College to the Battle of Okinawa. Twenty years ago, I got the phone call that he had died in the early morning from a heart attack, and in the time it took me to get from Los Angeles to the Berkeley Hills, his body had already been taken to the Oakland morgue. My mother had died the year before, and walking into my dead parents’ empty house—maybe you have had this experience, and if you have not, you should gird yourself for it—felt ghostly, although I was the ghost. I walked upstairs to look at the bed my father had died in. Open on its spine on one side of the bed was the last book this learned man would ever read—or in this case, reread: volume two of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
All things are born, live, and then die. We can remember who we are, and keep going—maybe even moving forward. Or we can make a mockery of ourselves and die in filth.
COVID-19 Update
World
As spending climbs and revenue falls, the coronavirus forces a global reckoning
A rising ‘debt tsunami’ threatens even stable, peaceful middle-income countries.
'A big crack in the ice'
'There is no part of my life not affected'
Zambia, once a shining example of Africa’s economic renaissance, is now the Ghost of Crises Future for debt-burdened countries slammed by the pandemic.
The sub-Saharan nation fell into default in November, a result of its high reliance on foreign debt; a pandemic blow to the price of copper, its main commodity; and one of its worst droughts in 40 years. The country is now printing money to survive, forcing a devaluation of the kwacha and creating spiraling inflation that’s spreading misery at the worst possible time.
At the government’s Cancer Diseases Hospital in Lusaka, the capital, doctors say the price of imported drug treatments have doubled. A third of the country’s workers have lost wages, according to a household survey in July; 39 percent were skipping a meal, and 67 percent were worried about not having enough food.
Sakala Zulu, a 26-year-old teacher from eastern Zambia, said staples such as eggs and sugar now cost 60 percent more than just three months ago, making it harder to feed his six children. The cost of transport for the 12-mile commute to and from work has risen by 20 percent.
“Right now, I feel there is no part of my life not affected,” Zulu said.
Zambia is seeking to restructure its debt, but private creditors have shown little willingness to budge. A move to renegotiate substantial loans from China has been cloaked in secrecy.
As things stand, more than half of government spending this year is earmarked for servicing debt alone — leaving little for social programs, health or education.
“What you see now on the ground is reduced spending on key social sectors,” said Ishmael Zulu of the advocacy group CUTS International. “With the high levels of poverty in Zambia, there are many people that are heavily reliant on government programs. These programs are suffering at the cost of increased debt levels. Hospitals that are in small districts and the far-flung areas of the country are suffering at the cost of increased debt servicing.”
From zip-lining tourists to tear-gassed protesters
Half a world away, Costa Rica is scrambling to avoid a similar fate.
When the pandemic hit, tourism, the country’s economic lifeblood, dried up and unemployment skyrocketed to more than 24 percent, draining state coffers of health-care contributions just as the government was struggling to respond to the coronavirus. A tax break for hard-hit businesses and financial aid to out-of-work Costa Ricans dug the fiscal hole deeper.
The ensuing cash crunch forced hard decisions, including emergency cuts. At El Jardín elementary school in northern Costa Rica, Principal Elizabeth Mejía says the operating budget was slashed in half. Teachers are buying their own printers, ink cartridges and paper to distribute assignments to students. Mejía said she’s been told by the government to hold fundraisers to cover maintenance: “They tell us if we need to fix something, that we should go sell tamales.”
In the years after the Great Recession of 2008, Costa Rica ran up deficits and debt to sustain expansive state payrolls and progressive policies. Two years ago, the government attempted what economists describe as a fiscal Band-Aid: a new value-added tax and limits on salary increases for state workers.
Those measures paled in comparison with the proposal last year, when the government of President Carlos Alvarado Quesada, seeking to boost its bid for a $1.75 billion IMF bailout, sought broad tax increases in the middle of the pandemic.
Protesters hit the streets, blocking intersections nationwide, clashing with police and slowing commerce in a country that had only recently come out of lockdown.
“People don’t have money to pay their debts,” said Gerardo Zúñiga, an activist who joined the protests with a mask on his face and a rosary around his neck. “Businesses don’t have money to pay for supplies, their employees, their permits and all the social contributions.
“We understand that there has to be some agreement with the IMF, but what we don’t agree with are items where the most vulnerable people are harmed.”
The government backed off that proposal and is now in talks with the opposition, unions, civic activists and industrial groups to find a more palatable solution. But to avoid a painful default like the one the country suffered in 1981, when runaway inflation and spikes in poverty sparked a lost decade, something’s got to give.
With tourism not expected to recover fully for years, politicians and businesses are pushing sources of revenue that run afoul of Costa Rica’s renowned environmentalism. They include open-pit gold mining — effectively an ecological trade-off for what supporters estimate would be 6,500 direct and indirect jobs and a $9.52 billion jolt for the economy.
In August, lawmakers pushed another controversial option: opening Costa Rican lands and shorelines to fracking and oil drilling.
“Our marine territory is 10 times larger than our landmass and we know little about its riches,” lawmaker Patricia Villegas said during a congressional debate. “We have sources of energy that we exploit like hydroelectric, wind, geothermal and solar, but we haven’t wanted to discuss the possibility of taking advantage of gas and oil. Costa Rica is sitting on a gold mine.”
In a country that pledged to rely entirely on renewable energy by 2030, the debt debate is pitting the country’s economic future against cherished environmental ideals. Activists, and the government, say any boost in oil and natural gas exploration runs counter to everything the country has worked for. The nation, they say, must find other ways.
“We’ve launched a decarbonization plan to the world, and those things are fundamental to us as a nation, not just cosmetic,” said Elián Villegas, Costa Rica’s finance minister. “I find those solutions to be very distant from the essence of being Costa Rican.”
New Cases: 612,693 (⬆︎ .68%)
New Deaths: 8,895 (⬆︎ .46%)
USA
New Cases: 213,686 (⬆︎ .94%)
New Deaths: 1.794 (⬆︎ .47%)
The main problem I have with the Rubes is really not so much that they fail to see (or refuse to see) that things are all connected.
It's too easy for me to shit on them for operating as if everything that happens is just some random event that has nothing to do with anything else that's happening now or has happened in the past - and can have no bearing on what's likely to happen in the future.
I think they do have some basic understanding of inter-connectedness, but they've been led to believe in a fairy-tale version of it - the Rubes are so bought into embracing their fantasy victimization at the hands of brown people and the deep state, they're ignoring the fact that the Rent-Seekers and the Shock Doctrine Capitalists are butt-fucking them with their pants on - and are in the process of further expanding their holdings and consolidating their power.
WaPo:
As spending climbs and revenue falls, the coronavirus forces a global reckoning
A rising ‘debt tsunami’ threatens even stable, peaceful middle-income countries.
Costa Rica built Latin America’s model society, enacting universal health care and spending its way to one of the Western Hemisphere’s highest literacy rates. Now, it’s reeling from the financially crushing side effects of the coronavirus, as cratering revenue and crisis spending force a reckoning over a massive pile of government debt.
The pandemic is hurtling heavily leveraged nations into an economic danger zone, threatening to bankrupt the worst-affected. Costa Rica, a country known for zip-lining tourists and American retirees, is scrambling to stave off a full-blown debt crisis, imposing emergency cuts and proposing harsher measures that touched off rare violent protests last fall. To keep the lights on, a progressive, eco-friendly nation is weighing desperate solutions — including open-pit gold mining, even oceanic fracking.
“Costa Rica is facing a social crisis,” said Ana Rosa Ruiz, an economist at the Costa Rican Technological Institute.
Around the globe, the pandemic is racking up a mind-blowing bill: trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue, ramped-up spending and new borrowing set to burden the next generation with record levels of debt. In the direst cases — low- and middle-income countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America, that are already saddled with backbreaking debt — covering the rising costs is transforming into a high-stakes test of national solvency.
Analysts call it a “debt tsunami”: National accounts are sinking into the red at a record pace.
“I consider the risk to be very high of an emerging-market debt crisis where a lot of countries run into problems at once,” said Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. “This is going to be a rocky road.”
The pandemic is hurtling heavily leveraged nations into an economic danger zone, threatening to bankrupt the worst-affected. Costa Rica, a country known for zip-lining tourists and American retirees, is scrambling to stave off a full-blown debt crisis, imposing emergency cuts and proposing harsher measures that touched off rare violent protests last fall. To keep the lights on, a progressive, eco-friendly nation is weighing desperate solutions — including open-pit gold mining, even oceanic fracking.
“Costa Rica is facing a social crisis,” said Ana Rosa Ruiz, an economist at the Costa Rican Technological Institute.
Around the globe, the pandemic is racking up a mind-blowing bill: trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue, ramped-up spending and new borrowing set to burden the next generation with record levels of debt. In the direst cases — low- and middle-income countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America, that are already saddled with backbreaking debt — covering the rising costs is transforming into a high-stakes test of national solvency.
Analysts call it a “debt tsunami”: National accounts are sinking into the red at a record pace.
“I consider the risk to be very high of an emerging-market debt crisis where a lot of countries run into problems at once,” said Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. “This is going to be a rocky road.”
'A big crack in the ice'
By the end of 2020, total government debt worldwide was projected to soar by $9 trillion and top 103 percent of global GDP, according to the Institute of International Finance — a historic jump of more than 10 percentage points in just one year. Countries have maxed out their figurative credit cards to buy medical equipment, set up field hospitals, deploy health-care workers and source vaccines, even as pandemic-related recessions have caused tax revenue to plunge and aid for the unemployed to spike. Countries that rely on tourism, which has ground to a virtual halt, or commodities like oil that have sunk in price have felt the sting most keenly.
The United States has run up debt at a pace not seen since World War II. But the world’s wealthy nations are better able to cope with growing debt than their poorer counterparts.
Angola, in contrast, effectively shut out of global markets, is racing to strike a deal with the Chinese, but even that might not be enough to prevent a painful debt crisis. Sri Lanka, locked in recession, needs to make $4 billion in debt payments this year with only $6 billion in the bank. Brazil’s debt, worsened by a yawning budget deficit, has surged to a crippling 95 percent of GDP — raising alarm over the medium-term ability of the Latin American giant to stay afloat.
The IMF and the World Bank have sought to aid the most vulnerable states, and the world’s wealthiest nations endorsed a plan in October to extend a suspension of debt payments owed to them by the poorest. In November, those nations additionally agreed to jointly work toward some form of debt relief for the poorest nations that seek it from them, and also encouraged private lenders to follow suit.
But analysts say that may not be enough. Thirty-eight low-income countries are either in debt distress, according to the IMF, or at high risk of falling into it. Unless private creditors and wealthy nations step up and agree to concessions or outright debt forgiveness, the pandemic’s fiscal shock could hurl some of those, as well as highly leveraged middle-income countries such as Costa Rica, toward catastrophic national bankruptcies.
Analysts argue that the need for stimulus to keep economies running during this historically challenging period still outweighs the need to balance budgets. Even the IMF, the global guardian of fiscal rectitude, is telling countries that now is not the time to scrimp, lest they jeopardize still-fragile economic recoveries.
Yet even if a repeat of the cascading financial crises seen in Latin America and Asia in the 1980 and 1990s is avoided, the debt surge threatens to linger as a millstone around the necks of nations for years. It will compromise their ability to fight the first global increase in extreme poverty since the 1990s, and to invest in infrastructure projects, education and innovation down the line.
“You could think of it as a big crack in the ice,” said Sonja Gibbs, managing director of global policy issues at the Institute of International Finance. “Suddenly you’re in danger of a number of countries falling off the edge.”
The United States has run up debt at a pace not seen since World War II. But the world’s wealthy nations are better able to cope with growing debt than their poorer counterparts.
Angola, in contrast, effectively shut out of global markets, is racing to strike a deal with the Chinese, but even that might not be enough to prevent a painful debt crisis. Sri Lanka, locked in recession, needs to make $4 billion in debt payments this year with only $6 billion in the bank. Brazil’s debt, worsened by a yawning budget deficit, has surged to a crippling 95 percent of GDP — raising alarm over the medium-term ability of the Latin American giant to stay afloat.
The IMF and the World Bank have sought to aid the most vulnerable states, and the world’s wealthiest nations endorsed a plan in October to extend a suspension of debt payments owed to them by the poorest. In November, those nations additionally agreed to jointly work toward some form of debt relief for the poorest nations that seek it from them, and also encouraged private lenders to follow suit.
But analysts say that may not be enough. Thirty-eight low-income countries are either in debt distress, according to the IMF, or at high risk of falling into it. Unless private creditors and wealthy nations step up and agree to concessions or outright debt forgiveness, the pandemic’s fiscal shock could hurl some of those, as well as highly leveraged middle-income countries such as Costa Rica, toward catastrophic national bankruptcies.
Analysts argue that the need for stimulus to keep economies running during this historically challenging period still outweighs the need to balance budgets. Even the IMF, the global guardian of fiscal rectitude, is telling countries that now is not the time to scrimp, lest they jeopardize still-fragile economic recoveries.
Yet even if a repeat of the cascading financial crises seen in Latin America and Asia in the 1980 and 1990s is avoided, the debt surge threatens to linger as a millstone around the necks of nations for years. It will compromise their ability to fight the first global increase in extreme poverty since the 1990s, and to invest in infrastructure projects, education and innovation down the line.
“You could think of it as a big crack in the ice,” said Sonja Gibbs, managing director of global policy issues at the Institute of International Finance. “Suddenly you’re in danger of a number of countries falling off the edge.”
'There is no part of my life not affected'
Zambia, once a shining example of Africa’s economic renaissance, is now the Ghost of Crises Future for debt-burdened countries slammed by the pandemic.
The sub-Saharan nation fell into default in November, a result of its high reliance on foreign debt; a pandemic blow to the price of copper, its main commodity; and one of its worst droughts in 40 years. The country is now printing money to survive, forcing a devaluation of the kwacha and creating spiraling inflation that’s spreading misery at the worst possible time.
At the government’s Cancer Diseases Hospital in Lusaka, the capital, doctors say the price of imported drug treatments have doubled. A third of the country’s workers have lost wages, according to a household survey in July; 39 percent were skipping a meal, and 67 percent were worried about not having enough food.
Sakala Zulu, a 26-year-old teacher from eastern Zambia, said staples such as eggs and sugar now cost 60 percent more than just three months ago, making it harder to feed his six children. The cost of transport for the 12-mile commute to and from work has risen by 20 percent.
“Right now, I feel there is no part of my life not affected,” Zulu said.
Zambia is seeking to restructure its debt, but private creditors have shown little willingness to budge. A move to renegotiate substantial loans from China has been cloaked in secrecy.
As things stand, more than half of government spending this year is earmarked for servicing debt alone — leaving little for social programs, health or education.
“What you see now on the ground is reduced spending on key social sectors,” said Ishmael Zulu of the advocacy group CUTS International. “With the high levels of poverty in Zambia, there are many people that are heavily reliant on government programs. These programs are suffering at the cost of increased debt levels. Hospitals that are in small districts and the far-flung areas of the country are suffering at the cost of increased debt servicing.”
From zip-lining tourists to tear-gassed protesters
Half a world away, Costa Rica is scrambling to avoid a similar fate.
When the pandemic hit, tourism, the country’s economic lifeblood, dried up and unemployment skyrocketed to more than 24 percent, draining state coffers of health-care contributions just as the government was struggling to respond to the coronavirus. A tax break for hard-hit businesses and financial aid to out-of-work Costa Ricans dug the fiscal hole deeper.
The ensuing cash crunch forced hard decisions, including emergency cuts. At El Jardín elementary school in northern Costa Rica, Principal Elizabeth Mejía says the operating budget was slashed in half. Teachers are buying their own printers, ink cartridges and paper to distribute assignments to students. Mejía said she’s been told by the government to hold fundraisers to cover maintenance: “They tell us if we need to fix something, that we should go sell tamales.”
In the years after the Great Recession of 2008, Costa Rica ran up deficits and debt to sustain expansive state payrolls and progressive policies. Two years ago, the government attempted what economists describe as a fiscal Band-Aid: a new value-added tax and limits on salary increases for state workers.
Those measures paled in comparison with the proposal last year, when the government of President Carlos Alvarado Quesada, seeking to boost its bid for a $1.75 billion IMF bailout, sought broad tax increases in the middle of the pandemic.
Protesters hit the streets, blocking intersections nationwide, clashing with police and slowing commerce in a country that had only recently come out of lockdown.
“People don’t have money to pay their debts,” said Gerardo Zúñiga, an activist who joined the protests with a mask on his face and a rosary around his neck. “Businesses don’t have money to pay for supplies, their employees, their permits and all the social contributions.
“We understand that there has to be some agreement with the IMF, but what we don’t agree with are items where the most vulnerable people are harmed.”
The government backed off that proposal and is now in talks with the opposition, unions, civic activists and industrial groups to find a more palatable solution. But to avoid a painful default like the one the country suffered in 1981, when runaway inflation and spikes in poverty sparked a lost decade, something’s got to give.
With tourism not expected to recover fully for years, politicians and businesses are pushing sources of revenue that run afoul of Costa Rica’s renowned environmentalism. They include open-pit gold mining — effectively an ecological trade-off for what supporters estimate would be 6,500 direct and indirect jobs and a $9.52 billion jolt for the economy.
In August, lawmakers pushed another controversial option: opening Costa Rican lands and shorelines to fracking and oil drilling.
“Our marine territory is 10 times larger than our landmass and we know little about its riches,” lawmaker Patricia Villegas said during a congressional debate. “We have sources of energy that we exploit like hydroelectric, wind, geothermal and solar, but we haven’t wanted to discuss the possibility of taking advantage of gas and oil. Costa Rica is sitting on a gold mine.”
In a country that pledged to rely entirely on renewable energy by 2030, the debt debate is pitting the country’s economic future against cherished environmental ideals. Activists, and the government, say any boost in oil and natural gas exploration runs counter to everything the country has worked for. The nation, they say, must find other ways.
“We’ve launched a decarbonization plan to the world, and those things are fundamental to us as a nation, not just cosmetic,” said Elián Villegas, Costa Rica’s finance minister. “I find those solutions to be very distant from the essence of being Costa Rican.”
The bad guys - the cynical manipulators - are subverting our ability to draw the right conclusions from the available input. They provide false information which leads the Rubes to the wrong answers, or they invite the Rubes to infer the wrong conclusions from info that's factual.
That's all I've got for now.
Today's Tweet
Really poor planning
lolll stephen colbert with zero fucks left.pic.twitter.com/ZMpmvTk0Hs
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) January 10, 2021
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)