AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

Post by thelivyjr »

THE WHITE HOUSE

Statement by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on the Executive Order Regarding the Crisis in Ethiopia


SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

The ongoing conflict in northern Ethiopia is a tragedy causing immense human suffering and threatens the unity of the Ethiopian state. 

Nearly one million people are living in famine-like conditions, and millions more face acute food insecurity as a direct consequence of the violence. 

Humanitarian workers have been blocked, harassed, and killed. 

I am appalled by the reports of mass murder, rape, and other sexual violence to terrorize civilian populations.

The United States is determined to push for a peaceful resolution of this conflict, and we will provide full support to those leading mediation efforts, including the African Union High Representative for the Horn of Africa Olusegun Obasanjo. 

We fully agree with United Nations and African Union leaders: there is no military solution to this crisis.

I join leaders from across Africa and around the world in urging the parties to the conflict to halt their military campaigns, respect human rights, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and come to the negotiating table without preconditions. 

Eritrean forces must withdraw from Ethiopia.

A different path is possible but leaders must make the choice to pursue it.

My Administration will continue to press for a negotiated ceasefire, an end to abuses of innocent civilians, and humanitarian access to those in need. 

The Executive Order I signed today establishes a new sanctions regime that will allow us to target those responsible for, or complicit in, prolonging the conflict in Ethiopia, obstructing humanitarian access, or preventing a ceasefire. 

It provides the Department of the Treasury with the necessary authority to hold accountable those in the Government of Ethiopia, Government of Eritrea, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and Amhara regional government, among others, that continue to pursue conflict over negotiations to the detriment of the Ethiopian people.


The United States remains committed to supporting the people of Ethiopia and to strengthening the historic ties between our countries.

These sanctions are not directed at the people of Ethiopia or Eritrea, but rather the individuals and entities perpetrating the violence and driving a humanitarian disaster.

We provide Ethiopia with more humanitarian and development assistance than does any other country benefitting all of its regions.

We will continue to work with our partners to address basic needs of at-risk populations in Ethiopia and the greater Horn of Africa.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo ... -ethiopia/
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

Post by thelivyjr »

THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR SEPTEMBER 19, 2021 AT 11:13 AM

Paul Plante says:

The word “science” here in Mhureeka, formerly known in far better times as the United States of America, has become an empty, stupid word that means whatever some greedy, grasping hack politician or their toadies and lickspittles want it to mean, which is pretty much everything under the sun, so long as it serves THEIR purposes.

And there is no such thing as “the science.”

What a stupid expression that is.

SCIENCE: the intellectual and practical ACTIVITY encompassing the SYSTEMATIC STUDY of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.

What is the best definition of science?

Science is the STUDY of the nature and behaviour of natural things and the knowledge that we obtain about them.

A science is a particular branch of science such as physics, chemistry, or biology.

Physics is the best example of a science which has developed strong, abstract theories.

What is the true meaning of science?

The AIM of science is to build true and accurate KNOWLEDGE about how the world works.

http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/w ... ent-426755
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

Post by thelivyjr »

REUTERS

"Biden administration seeks to protect Americans from extreme heat"


Reuters

September 20, 2021

WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday ordered his administration to seek ways to ensure people are protected from extreme heat, including through work-related rules and other cooling efforts.

The order comes as public health and environmental groups have put pressure on the administration to create enforceable standards for outdoor workers exposed to extreme heat, at a time when the number of high heat days is projected to increase significantly due to climate change.

Excessive heat in the Pacific Northwest this summer, for instance, led to hundreds of deaths and thousands of emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses, the administration said.

The essential outdoor jobs in sectors like agriculture, construction and delivery services are the most exposed to extreme heat and are disproportionately held by people of color, the administration said in a statement.

"Rising temperatures pose an imminent threat to millions of American workers exposed to the elements, to kids in schools without air conditioning, to seniors in nursing homes without cooling resources, and particularly to disadvantaged communities," Biden said in a statement.

Various federal government departments and agencies are being tapped to help provide cooling assistance to homes and neighborhoods and to ensure safe working conditions, Biden said.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration will develop a process to create a workplace heat standard.

The department will enforce the standard in part through workplace inspections on days when the temperature exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius).

The administration also directed the Department of Health and Human Services to expand a program that provides home energy assistance to low-income Americans to allow for purchases of air conditioning units and to establish cooling centers.

Meanwhile the Environmental Protection Agency is coordinating the development of neighborhood cooling centers at public school facilities.

Reporting by Susan Heavey and Valerie Volcovici; editing by Doina Chiacu and Alistair Bell

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden- ... 021-09-20/
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

Post by thelivyjr »

THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 AT 6:07 PM

Paul Plante says:

Which takes us to Remarks by President Biden on the Economy on September 16, 2021, East Room, 2:00 P.M. EDT, as follows:

THE PRESIDENT: These policies are what the science tells us we need to do.

They’re going to save lives.

And they’ll protect our economic recovery as well, and allow the economy to continue to grow.

We’re also going after the bad actors and pandemic profiteers in our economy.

There’s a lot of evidence that gas prices should be going down, but they haven’t.

We’ll be taking a close look at that.

Taxpayers in this country also have paid for extraordinary effort to keep our country going over the past year or so.

Unlike the last administration, which resisted oversight and allowed taxpayers to be victimized by fraud, we’re working hard to protect vulnerable Americans from having their identities stolen — as a consequence of their unemployment check stolen as well.

But here’s the truth: Yes, the pandemic has caused a lot of economic problems in the country, but the fact is our economy faced challenges long before this pandemic struck.

Working people were struggling to make it long before the pandemic arrived.

Big corporations and the very wealthy were doing very well before the pandemic.

That’s why I’ve said — starting back in my campaign for president — that it’s not enough just to build back; we have to build back better than before.

And that’s how it all begins.

end quotes

And see what you can make the science say if you are the president of the United State of America?

You, like another self-proclaimed “world leader” back when who was a rug-chewing, froth-at-the-out madman, can use “science” to justify every single thing you do, like removing segments of society from life on the earth because the science says it is not only alright, but the right thing to do, which is obscene.

Reminds me too much of Dr. Mengele, who also used science as a basis for political policy.

And IF science is not what Joe Biden says it is, but instead is truly the intellectual and practical ACTIVITY encompassing the SYSTEMATIC STUDY of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment, then as we clearly see from a CNBC article entitled “FDA panel recommends Pfizer’s Covid booster doses for people 65 and older after rejecting third shots for general population” by Berkeley Lovelace Jr., Robert Towey and Rich Mendez on September 17, 2021, Joe Biden does not have any “science” to rely on to back up or support any of his policies, to wit:

Dr. Hayley Gans, a voting member, said she was “struck” that the FDA was asking the committee to look at the totality of the evidence presented Friday because some data, including on safety, was still insufficient.

end quotes

But hey, people, this is not true “science,” at all.

To the contrary this is POLITICS, using the empty word “science” to justify a pre-determined political course of action, in this case, a decision by Joe Biden to mandate vaccines based on insufficient data.

Don’t look too hard and it is amazing what it is that you won’t see!

As to science that makes it look like both WHO and the political CDC in this country were asleep at the switch and far behind the eight-ball with respect to Joe Biden’s policies today that he says are what the voo-doo science he practices tells him to do, I will leave you with the following:

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY COLLECTION

ACS Nano. 2020 Nov 25 : acsnano.0c08484.

Published online 2020 Nov 25. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.0c08484

PMCID: PMC7724984

PMID: 33236896

Airborne Transmission of COVID-19: Aerosol Dispersion, Lung Deposition, and Virus-Receptor Interactions

Yi Y. Zuo, corresponding author, William E. Uspal, corresponding author and Tao Wei corresponding author

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), due to infection by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is now causing a global pandemic.

Aerosol transmission of COVID-19, although plausible, has not been confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a general transmission route.

Introduction

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), due to infection of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is currently causing a global pandemic, with more than 53 million confirmed cases and 1 million deaths, as of November 15, 2020, in more than 200 countries, areas, and territories in the world.

Given the current world population of 7.8 billion, approximately 1 out of every 150 humans on earth has or had been infected with COVID-19.

To date, the confirmed modes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission include respiratory droplets, direct (person-to-person) and indirect (fomite) contacts, as well as scarce reports of fecal–oral transmission.

However, the latest research suggests that fomite transmission is unlikely to be a major route of transmission as attempts to culture SARS-CoV-2 from surfaces were largely unsuccessful.

On the other hand, airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, although plausible, has not been confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a general transmission route.

However, on October 5, 2020, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated their guideline and acknowledged that airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 could occur under special circumstances that include enclosed spaces, inadequate ventilation, and prolonged exposure to events involving heavy breathing, such as singing and exercising.

Given the rapid spread of the coronavirus, especially nosocomial outbreaks and other superspreading events, there is an urgent need to carefully access the possibility of airborne transmission, especially the colloidal and aerodynamic mechanisms of aerosol dispersion and deposition, and the molecular interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and receptors.

An open letter by 239 researchers from 32 countries, published on July 6, 2020, challenged the WHO’s view on aerosol transmission.

Depending on the environmental conditions, virus particles (i.e., virions) may bind to aerosols and thus travel over a significantly longer distance (>2 m) and remain floating in air for a much longer time period (up to hours) than respiratory droplets.

It is now known that air pollution is an associated risk factor of COVID-19.

An increase of 1 μg/m3 in PM2.5 is associated with an 8% increase in the COVID-19 death rate.

In addition, it was found that outside the optimal relative humidity (RH) range of 40–60%, the viability of influenza virus in droplets increased both at higher (>60%) and lower (<40%) RH.

It appears that virus transmission in this outbreak cannot be explained by droplet transmission alone and consequently might involve aerosol transmission.

In fact, although available evidence remains scarce, SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in hospital air.

A recent study suggested that in every hour COVID-19 patients can exhale millions of SARS-CoV-2 RNA copies into air.

Given a study demonstrating that SARS-CoV-2 remained viable in aerosols for at least 3 h with only limited reduction in infectious titer, there is an urgent need to understand the likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via aerosols.

A similar humidity dependence has been found for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

E-cigarette aerosols have also been identified as suspicious anthropogenic aerosols potentially capable of spreading SARS-CoV-2.

Infectious aerosols can also be generated by medical procedures, such as intubation, and even by flushing a toilet containing infectious material.

Indeed, CDC guidelines, including the familiar six-foot rule, are still based on the 1930s-era concept of an isolated respiratory droplet settling under gravity, despite the wealth of contemporary literature reviewed above.

http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/w ... ent-427630
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

Post by thelivyjr »

THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 AT 5:39 PM

Paul Plante says:

And while we are on the subject of all the wonderful and awesome powers the “science” gives to Joe Biden as president of the United States of America, let’s go back to to Remarks by President Biden on the Economy on September 16, 2021, East Room, 2:00 P.M. EDT, where we have more, as follows:

THE PRESIDENT: These policies are what the science tells us we need to do.

But here’s the truth: Yes, the pandemic has caused a lot of economic problems in the country, but the fact is our economy faced challenges long before this pandemic struck.

Working people were struggling to make it long before the pandemic arrived.

Big corporations and the very wealthy were doing very well before the pandemic.

That’s why I’ve said — starting back in my campaign for president — that it’s not enough just to build back; we have to build back better than before.

And that’s how it all begins.

Big corporations and the super wealthy have to start paying their fair share of taxes.

It’s long overdue.

I’m not out to punish anyone.

I’m a capitalist.

If you can make a million or a billion dollars, that’s great.

God bless you.

All I’m asking is you pay your fair share.

Pay your fair share just like middle-class folks do.

But that isn’t happening now.

Today, in this country, right now, the top 1 percent, for example, evade an estimated $160 billion in taxes that they owe each year.

Not new taxes, taxes that they owe.

And the way it works is this: If you’re a typical American — like I suspect most of the press people sitting in front of me here — you pay your taxes.

Why?

Because you get a W-2 form.

It comes in the mail every year.

The IRS gets that information as well.

Your taxes get deducted from your paycheck, and you pay what is owed beyond that.

That’s why about 99 percent of working people pay the taxes they owe.

But that’s not how it works for people with tens of millions of dollars.

They play by a different set of rules.

And they’re often not employees themselves, so the IRS can’t see what they make and can’t tell if they’re cheating.

That’s how many of the top 1 percent get away with paying virtually nothing.

It’s estimated by serious economists that that number is about $160 billion collectively owed each year that doesn’t get paid.

It’s not an even playing field.

My plan would help solve that.

For example, it would give the IRS the resources it needs to keep up with the lawyers and accountants in the super — of the super-wealthy.

It would ask just for two pieces of information from the banks of these folks: that amounts — the amounts that come into their bank accounts and what amounts go out of their bank accounts, so that the wealthy can no longer hide what they’re making and they can finally begin to pay their fair share of what they owe.

end quotes

Ah, yes, a fishing expedition through the bank records of anybody in the United States of America whose wealth Joe Biden wants to nationalize, because it’s the right thing to do, and we all know that because it is what the science says, and when the science says something to Joe Biden, it is never wrong, so he is always right!

Isn’t science just wonderful?

Joe thinks so, anyway.

http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/w ... ent-428168
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

Post by thelivyjr »

THE DAILY MAIL

"Is the end finally in sight? New model predicts COVID cases will decline through winter and drop to 9,000 per day by March 2022 - with daily deaths falling below 100"


* A new model combined nine different models from U.S. universities looking at the trajectory of the pandemic

* In the best case scenario, COVID-19 cases are projected to decline from currently 141,897 per day to 9,054 per day

* Deaths are also projected to drop from the current 1,651 deaths per day to 59 fatalities per day

* Another scenario, which predicts the emergence of a new infectious variant, sees cases and deaths fall, by not by as much

* In that model, cases would fall modestly to 66,786 daily infections and deaths would drop to 703 daily fatalities


By MARY KEKATOS ACTING U.S. HEALTH EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 12:48 EDT, 22 September 2021 | UPDATED: 13:53 EDT, 22 September 2021

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic may be near with cases and deaths declining to levels not seen in more than a year by next spring, a new model predicts.

The analysis, conducted by the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), looked at different scenarios regarding the trajectory of the pandemic.

Researchers predicted that the U.S. has reached the peak of the fourth wave fueled by the Delta variant and will see all indicators improve.


This includes the number of virus cases dropping to about 9,000 per day and the number of daily deaths falling below 100 by March 2022.

'Any of us who have been following this closely, given what happened with Delta, are going to be really cautious about too much optimism,' Dr Justin Lessler, a professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, who is part of the Hub's Coordination Team, told NPR.

'But I do think that the trajectory is towards improvement for most of the country.'

For the new model, which was published on Wednesday, the team amalgamated nine different models from universities across the U.S.

Researchers came up with four different scenarios depending on whether or not children between ages five and 11 are authorized to get vaccinated and whether or not a new variant starts spreading.

The model does not advocate for or against childhood vaccinations, but merely suggests they will begin occurring by fall 2021.

Lessler told NPR that the most likely scenario sees kids being approved for Covid shots against and no highly transmissible strain being identified.

According to the model, this will result in weekly COVID-19 cases declining from the current 993,279, or 141,897 per day, to 63,383 weekly cases, or 9,054 per day by March 2022.

Deaths would also fall from 11,563 weekly deaths now, or 1,651 per day, to 415 weekly fatalities, or about 59 per day.

These are figures not seen since late March 2020, when states first began shutting down and implementing stay-at-home orders.

Experts have previously the decline in cases be attributed to two things: vaccines and the 'true' number of people infected by the virus.

As of Wednesday, 63.9 percent of the entire U.S. population, or 212 million - has received at least one dose of the vaccine and 54.7 percent are fully vaccinated.

This means that nearly two-thirds of Americans have at least some level of protection against the virus.

Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that far more than 42.2 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19 and the true figure stands at 120.2 million.

Combine this 120.2 million statistic with the number of people who have been vaccinated and the virus is running out of vulnerable bodies to infect.


Notably, the model predicts there won't be a surge in winter as was seen last year, but the researchers tell NPR there will be variability between states.

In the worst case scenario, in which children aren't approved for vaccination and a new variant that is 1.5 times more transmissible starts circulating, cases and deaths would still decline - but not by as much.

The model predicts this scenario would led to weekly cases falling to 467,507, or 66,786 daily infections, and 4,922 weekly deaths, or 703 daily deaths by next spring.

These numbers are similar to levels that were seen during summer 2020, amid the second wave of the pandemic, and in April 2021, following the deadly third wave.

The team warns Americans not to led their guards up and to keep following mitigation measures, such as wearing masks in public.

'We have to be cautious because the virus has shown us time and time again that new variants or people loosening up on how careful they're being can lead things to come roaring back,' Lessler told NPR.

'I think a lot of people have been tending to think that with this surge, it just is never going to get better.'

'And so maybe I just need to stop worrying about it and take risks.'

'But I think these projections show us there is a light at the end of the tunnel.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/arti ... -2022.html
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

Post by thelivyjr »

THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 AT 8:27 PM

Paul Plante says:

And staying with the timeline here, because timelines are important to our understanding of Joe Biden’s dangerous COVID lies and distortions, let’s go back to the following, to wit:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Remarks by President Biden on Fighting the COVID-⁠19 Pandemic


SEPTEMBER 09, 2021

5:02 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: So before I outline the new steps to fight COVID-19 that I’m going to be announcing tonight, let me give you some clear information about where we stand.

First, we have cons- — we have made considerable progress in battling COVID-19.

The week before I took office, on January 20th of this year, over 25,000 Americans died that week from COVID-19.

Last week, that grim weekly toll was down 70 percent.

end quotes

According to the statistics, on 3 January 2021, the day Nancy Pelosi guaranteed to her fellow Democrats that when the sealed boxes containing the results of the electoral college were all opened three days later on 6 January 2021, Joe Biden would be the president, the total number of deaths in the U.S. on that date was 371,921.

Three (3) days later, on 6 January 2021, when the violence incited by Joe Biden in his toxic and poisonous political partisan Pittsburgh Speech on August 31, 2020 calling for the overthrow of Donald Trump as president was taking place in Washington. D.C. at the Capitol, the number of deaths had risen to 381,901.

On 20 January 2021, the day the peaceful transfer of power from the Trump administration to the Biden administration took place pursuant to OUR Constitution, the number of COVID deaths had increased to 429,080.

On September 9, 2021, the date of Joe’s speech above, the COVID death toll stood at 677,925.

On 3 January 2021, the number of daily deaths that day was 1,523.

January 4, 2021, the count was 2,005.

January 5, 2021, the count was 3863.

On January 6, 2021, the daily death count was 4112.

In the week before the peaceful transfer of power on 20 January 2021, the daily death count according to the COVID tracking project at The Atlantic was as follows:

13 January 2021: 4087

14 January 2021: 3915

15 January 2021: 3679

16 January 2021: 3709

17 January 2021: 2053

18 January 2021: 1395

19 January 2021: 2141

Which equals out to 20,979, not over 25,000.

On 9 September 2021, the date of Joe Biden’s above speech, the daily death count was 2261.

In the week before, it was as follows:

2 September 2021: 2021

3 September 2021: 1876

4 September 2021: 1361

5 September 2021: 1027

6 September 2021: 850

7 September 2021: 1204

8 September 2021: 1987

Which equals out to 10,326.

However, on 9 September 2021, this is what Joe told us: Last week, that grim weekly toll was down 70 percent.

If it was down seventy percent of the total for the week before 20 January 2021, that would be would be 14,685 deaths lower, for a total of 6,294, not the actual 10,326.

So is Joe blowing some smoke there, people?

And of course he is, because he is Joe Biden, and that is what Joe Biden does – blows torrents of smoke!

And let’s look at the week after Joe’s 9 September 2021 speech to see what it is we see:

10 September 2021: 1991

11 September 2021 1460

12 September 2021: 867

13 September 2021: 1014

14 September 2021: 2113

15 September 2021: 2417

16 September 2021: 2065

Which equals out to 11,927, 1601 deaths higher than the 10,326 deaths in the week before!

So what’s up with that, people?

I thought Joe had this whole thing under control!

And from 13 June 2021 to about 18 July 2021 there was a definite trough where the daily deaths were down around 300 per day, so this excuse that this is a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” doesn’t cut it, at all.

But again, this is Joe Biden we are talking about, so should anybody be surprised that he has his own set of numbers to tell us to make himself look good?

http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-428237
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

Post by thelivyjr »

NPR

"Is The Worst Over? Modelers Predict A Steady Decline In COVID Cases Through March"


Heard on Morning Edition

ROB STEIN

September 22, 2021

Americans may be able to breathe a tentative sigh of relief soon, according to researchers studying the trajectory of the pandemic.

The delta surge appears to be peaking nationally, and cases and deaths will likely decline steadily now through the spring without a significant winter surge, according to a new analysis shared with NPR by a consortium of researchers advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


For its latest update, which it will release Wednesday, the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub combined nine different mathematical models from different research groups to get an outlook for the pandemic for the next six months.

"Any of us who have been following this closely, given what happened with delta, are going to be really cautious about too much optimism," says Justin Lessler at the University of North Carolina, who helps run the hub.

"But I do think that the trajectory is towards improvement for most of the country," he says.

The modelers developed four potential scenarios, taking into account whether or not childhood vaccinations take off and whether a more infectious new variant should emerge.

The most likely scenario, says Lessler, is that children do get vaccinated and no super-spreading variant emerges.

In that case, the combo model forecasts that new infections would slowly, but fairly continuously, drop from about 140,000 today now to about 9,000 a day by March.

Deaths from COVID-19 would fall from about 1,500 a day now to fewer than 100 a day by March 2022.

That's around the level U.S. cases and deaths were in late March 2020 when the pandemic just started to flare up in the U.S. and better than things looked early this summer when many thought the pandemic was waning.

And this scenario projects that there will be no winter surge, though Lessler cautions that there is uncertainty in the models and a "moderate" surge is still theoretically possible.

There's wide range of uncertainty in the models, he notes, and it's plausible, though very unlikely, that cases could continue to rise to as many as 232,000 per day before starting to decline.

"We have to be cautious because the virus has shown us time and time again that new variants or people loosening up on how careful they're being can lead things to come roaring back," Lessler warns.

William Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, notes there is a fair amount of uncertainty in the models.

"I would be concerned about interpreting these in an overly optimistic fashion for the country as a whole," he says.

He agrees that overall the pandemic will be "comparatively under control by March," but says "there could be a number of bumps in the road."

Last winter, the worst surge of the pandemic in the U.S. hit midwinter when weather was cold and more people spent time indoors.

"If you look at the seasonal dynamics of coronaviruses, they usually peak in early January."

"And in fact, last year we saw a peak like that with SARS-CoV-2," he says.


Both Hanage and Lessler note that there will be regional variation with some states continuing to surge for possibly a few weeks.

Essentially, things could still get worse in some places before they get better.

Lessler says he is especially worried about Pennsylvania, for example, and he notes that in some Western states like Idaho and Utah, there's a risk of resurgence.

Hanage notes that places with cold winter weather may be susceptible to some increase in cases later in the year.

And hospitals are going to continue to get flooded with patients for a while before infections taper off, and many are already being pushed past the breaking point.

Another caveat: This scenario assumes that the U.S. doesn't get hit with a new variant that's even more contagious than delta.

If it does, a bleaker scenario from the Modeling Hub projects far worse numbers: just below 50,000 cases a day by next March.

But Lessler emphasizes this is very hypothetical.

He's hopeful that the most optimistic scenario is the most likely.

"I think a lot of people have been tending to think that with this surge, it just is never going to get better."

"And so maybe I just need to stop worrying about it and take risks."

"But I think these projections show us there is a light at the end of the tunnel," he says.

Lessler thinks that at this point there's enough immunity in this country from a combination of enough people getting vaccinated and enough people having been exposed to the virus.

"The biggest driver is immunity," he explains.

"We've seen really big delta waves."

"The virus has eaten up the susceptible people."

"So there are less people out there to infect."

The virus is still fighting back, he says, but "immunity always wins out eventually."


But transmission is still very high and will remain so for a while, so precautions are still called for until new infections come down to moderate levels.

Natalie Dean, an assistant professor of biostatistics at Emory University, notes that even though we may see a decline this fall, we will still see "a lot of cases and deaths."

Getting everyone who is eligible vaccinated is still key to preventing further deaths.

Even in this optimistic scenario, the U.S. is projected to reach a cumulative total of more than 780,000 deaths by March.

Modeling is an imprecise science, but the Modeling Hub brings together many of the the top disease modelers around the country, doing their best to look far down the road and make sense of a very unpredictable, complicated pandemic that's thrown one curve ball after another.

"I hope it's true, obviously, but I can't shake a little unease I have about what could be coming," says Dean.

So like many Americans, Dean is keeping her fingers crossed.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... ough-march
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

Post by thelivyjr »

CNBC

"Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady, says tapering of bond buying coming ‘soon’"


Jeff Cox @JEFF.COX.7528 @JEFFCOXCNBCCOM

PUBLISHED WED, SEP 22 2021

KEY POINTS

* The Fed kept benchmark interest rates anchored near zero.

* Officials indicated they expect to begin reducing monthly asset purchases “soon,” but did not say when.

* Economic projections pointed to slower overall growth this year but higher inflation than previously projected.


The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held benchmark interest rates near zero but indicated that rate hikes could be coming sooner than expected, and it significantly cut its economic outlook for this year.

Along with those largely expected moves, officials on the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee indicated they will start pulling back on some of the stimulus the central bank has been providing during the financial crisis.

There was no specific indication, though, as to when that might happen.

“If progress continues broadly as expected, the Committee judges that a moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted,” the FOMC’s post-meeting statement said.

Respondents to a recent CNBC survey said they expect tapering of bond purchases to be announced in November and begin in December.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, at his post-meeting news conference, said the committee is ready to move.

“While no decisions were made, participants generally viewed that so long as the recovery remains on track, a gradual tapering process that concludes around the middle of next year is likely to be appropriate,” he said.

For now, the committee voted unanimously to keep short-term rates anchored near zero.

However, more members now see the first rate hike happening in 2022.

In June, when members last released their economic projections, a slight majority put that increase into 2023.

Powell said the Fed is getting closer to achieving its goals on “substantial further progress” on inflation and employment.

“For inflation, we appear to have achieved more than significant progress, substantial further progress."


"That part of the test is achieved in my view and the view of many others,” he said.

“My own view is the test for substantial further progress on employment is all but met,” Powell added.

Markets shaved some of their gains following the Fed news initially, with major stock averages still showing strong gains and government bond yields mixed.

There were some substantial changes in the Fed’s economic forecasts, with a decrease in the growth outlook and higher inflation expectations.

The committee now sees GDP rising just 5.9% this year, compared with a 7% forecast in June.


However, 2023 growth is now set at 3.8%, compared with 3.3% previously, and 2.5% in 2023, up one-tenth of a percentage point.

Projections also signaled that FOMC members see inflation stronger than projections in June.

Core inflation is projected to increase 3.7% this year, compared with the 3% forecast the last time members gave their expectations.


Officials then see inflation at 2.3% in 2022, compared with the previous projection of 2.1%, and 2.2% in 2023, one-tenth of a percentage point higher than the June forecast.

Including food and energy, officials expect inflation to run at 4.2% this year, up from 3.4% in June.

The subsequent two years are expected to fall back to 2.2%, little changed from the June outlook.

In another move, the Fed said it would double the level of repurchase of its daily market operations to $160 billion from $80 billion.

Markets had been expecting little in the way of major decisions from the meeting but have been on edge in part over when the Fed will begin reducing the pace of its monthly bond purchases.

Powell said during the Fed’s annual August symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that he and others were of the position that the central bank had met its inflation target and could start reducing the minimum $120 billion a month in buying of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities.

Investors also were looking to the meeting to see where Fed officials stand on the inflation outlook.

The Fed’s preferred inflation measure — the personal consumption expenditures index less food and energy prices — accelerated by 3.6% in July, the highest level in 30 years.


However, Powell has said repeatedly that he expects price pressures to subside as supply chain factors, goods shortages and unusually high levels of demand return to pre-pandemic levels.

Projections for unemployment were a bit more pessimistic, with the end-year unemployment rate now at 4.8%, from the current 5.2% and the June estimate of 4.5%.

That comes on the heels of a disappointing August payrolls report that showed job growth of just 235,000.

However, Powell said it would not require blockbuster jobs numbers to get the Fed to begin removing policy accommodation.

“For me it wouldn’t take a knockout, great, super strong employment report."

"It would take a reasonably good employment report for me to feel like that test is met."

"Others on the committee, many on the committee, feel the test is already met."

"Others want to see more progress,” he said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/22/federal ... -soon.html
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

Post by thelivyjr »

BLOOMBERG

"Powell Draws Scorn From Key GOP Senator Over Politicized Fed"


Steven T. Dennis

20 SEPTEMBER 2021

(Bloomberg) -- The Senate Banking Committee’s top Republican sharply criticized Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell Tuesday for tolerating what he considers to be the politicization of the nation’s central bank.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, unlike many other Republicans, did not endorse Powell for another term as Fed chair.

His criticism comes as President Joe Biden deliberates over whether to renominate Powell, or pick someone like Democratic Fed Governor Lael Brainard, the favorite of some outside liberal groups.

Powell, a Republican, was nominated to the Fed Board by President Barack Obama and elevated to chair by President Donald Trump.

“I think he has tolerated a politicization of the Fed, generally, that is very detrimental to the Fed, and in the long run, jeopardizes the independence of the Fed, because people ask themselves, ‘Well, maybe they shouldn’t have this independence if they’re going to use it to become a political body,’” said Toomey, who has criticized the central bank for weighing in on issues like climate change or racial justice.

“I don’t think he’s been by any means, you know, leading the effort, but I think he’s tolerated a politicization -- the Fed wandering into the social and cultural areas where the Fed doesn’t belong.”


A number of prominent Democrats as well as liberal advocacy groups have said they want the Fed to more aggressively counter the financial risks of climate change, pursue racial justice issues and the like, which Toomey called “anti-democratic” and “even somewhat authoritarian.”

“I wonder if the left would just kind of shrug if Republicans took complete control of the elected government and said, O.K., now the purpose of the Fed is to advance the pro-life agenda, make sure that we are staunchly pro-Second Amendment,” Toomey said.

“Their heads would explode, and rightly so."

"That would make no sense."

"But they are doing exactly the equivalent with their preferred issues.”


Toomey also warned that the Fed’s bold actions to support the economy during the pandemic had fanned bubbles in some corners of the financial market.

“I have been very clear, I think we should have normalized a long time ago,” Toomey said.

“And the idea that to this day, we’re still buying $120 billion of securities per month, and maintaining negative real interest rates is a very dangerous experiment that I’m really concerned is already going badly.”

The central bank slashed interest rates to nearly zero as the pandemic spread in March 2020 and aggressively bought bonds to calm panicked markets.

Some Praise

Fed officials began a two-day meeting on Tuesday.

Economists expect they will signal a plan to start scaling back those purchases later this year in their policy statement to be issued Wednesday afternoon.

Toomey praised Powell, however, for regulation of the financial markets -- an area where he has faced intense criticism from Democratic senators Sherrod Brown, chairman of the Banking Committee, and Elizabeth Warren.

“I will say he is accessible and he’s responsive,” Toomey said.

Asked about possible endorsements, Toomey said he doesn’t plan to comment on potential Fed picks until Biden makes them.

Powell’s term as chair expires in February.

White House advisers are considering recommending to Biden that he renominate Powell, who has broad bipartisan support, as chair and naming Brainard the vice chair for supervision.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... hp&pc=U531
Post Reply