The number of new applications for unemployment benefits has held steady through September at just below 900,000 a week, indicating businesses remain unable to hire back workers or are reluctant to do so before the COVID virus is contained. During the week ended 18 September, the number of new claims edged up to 870,000 from...
Tag: sep 29 2020
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PUBLIC DEBT & PRIVATE WEALTH SOARED IN SECOND QUARTER
U.S. households added almost $119 trillion in net worth in this year’s second quarter, a 6.8-percent gain over the first quarter. About $5.7 trillion of the added wealth came from stock market gains (of which 10 percent of the population owns 87 percent and 1 percent owns 52 percent); appreciation in real estate added $500...
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HOME PRICES SOAR TO 14-YEAR RECORD
In August, U.S. home prices reached their highest median value ever, with sales equaling a pace not seen since December 2006. August sales rose 2.4 percent from July, totaling six million units, a 10.4 -percent jump from August 2019. The typical home remained on the market for just 22 days, compared to 31 a year...
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VIRUS CASES UP IN EU, HOSPITALIZATIONS DOWN
It has been widely reported that much of Europe is undergoing a second wave of coronavirus infections with more citizens being diagnosed in some areas than during the height of the first round of infections, which led to widespread lockdowns. The jump in infections, however, has not translated to an increase in deaths and hospitalizations...
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AMERICANS GET COLD FEET OVER COVID-19 VACCINE
Americans seem to have reservations about being first in line for any approved vaccination for COVID-19, according to a recent Axios-Ipsos poll. The poll showed only 13 percent of Americans would be willing to take the vaccine upon rollout. Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, have raised suspicions about the reliability of...
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MELBOURNE TO EASE VIRUS LOCKDOWN RESTRICTIONS
Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews announced Sunday that Melbourne’s hotly contested coronavirus lockdown orders would be eased and its curfew lifted after a significant drop in new cases. Andrews was roundly criticized for putting Melbourne and other parts of the country under a Level 4 lockdown at the beginning of August while trying to get a grip on...
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SWEDES CONTINUE TO AVOID WORST OF VIRUS OUTBREAK
The Associated Press last week described a scene in Stockholm, Sweden, which surely would make health officials in most Western nations squirm. The wire service described a train pulling into a subway station in the central part of the city and groups of people bustling about without wearing those now-ubiquitous surgical masks worn across the...
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SPANISH HEALTH OFFICIALS DON’T AGREE ON NEW LOCKDOWNS
Clashes over new virus restrictions played out in Madrid last week as local health officials refused to comply with new guidelines recommended by the country’s central government, according to reports. The health system in Spain is unique in that each of the country’s 17 regional governments has its own health care system, according to the...
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EU LEADERS FACE RESISTANCE OVER NEW RESTRICTIONS
National governments in Europe have clashed with local leaders over the best approach to the second wave of COVID infections that seem to be sweeping much of the continent. There has been debate over how significant the number of confirmed virus cases are to the public’s overall health. Countries want no new cases, but citizens...