The Economy Under COVID-19: Notes From the Trenches

There are currently two crises underway simultaneously. The advance of the novel coronavirus is taking a terrible toll in terms of physical and emotional well-being. At the same time, job losses resulting from ‘social distancing’ are sending the economy into a tailspin. To fight on both fronts, governments are advancing rescue packages of never-seen-before dimensions. Every day, the tremendous number of factors in play reconfigure in a new way. These ‘from the trenches’ notes attempt to shed some light along a murky pathway.

The first impacts from coronavirus-caused shutdowns of factories in China cropped up in the February foreign trade statistics. The U.S. goods and services trade shortfall down-scaled to less than half a trillion dollars for the first time in three-and-a-half years, dating back to September 2016. China accounted for only one-third of the deficit in the latest month, versus its usual 45% to 50%. Mexico’s slice of the U.S. trade deficit, however, climbed above 20%, a historically high bite.

It’s taken for granted that if we all stay home for a while, at least we’ll have plenty to watch on Netflix, Crave, Prime, etc. The downloadable and quick-steaming entertainment sites do have vast inventories of movies, series and documentaries to catch up on. As for new material, though, film and TV productions have been shut down just like other industries throughout the economy. For example, taping of Gray’s Anatomy wrapped up several episodes before its ‘de rigueur’ season-ending cliffhanger. Certain ‘tinseltowns’ are especially vulnerable as Klieg lights are dimmed (Hollywood, Atlanta, Toronto and Vancouver).

YouTube and its other lesser competitors have just become the primary sources of do-it-yourself and sharable entertainment. Given that actors shouldn’t be mingling for the moment, who among the producers in Hollywood (U.S.), Bollywood (India) or Nollywood (Nigeria) will be first to make a film starring only holograms? CGI (computer graphic imagery) has ‘virtually’ taken us there anyway.

Here’s an activity that’s just been made a little more dangerous. You were probably thinking it would be okay to go up to some tigers and pat them on the head, right? Since two tigers at the Bronx Zoo have recently tested positive for the coronavirus, you may want to rethink the idea.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with our dogs and our cat lately and through mainly silent discourse ‒ although Socratic nonetheless ‒ they’ve nearly convinced me they should have ‘the vote’.

Read the previous article here: The Economy Under COVID-19: Notes from the Trenches – April 9, 2020.