virus

Foreign views of Chinese economic priorities are often trapped in the image of an export-led model; a statist system that imports inflation and exports deflation, hostage to foreign market access. But China’s exports in 2018 accounted for about 20 percent of GDP—a 16-percentage point drop from the 2006 peak, according to the World Bank. As …

An obviously better solution than sinking the world economy into a great depression is a greater use of “laissez-faire”. The current coronavirus strategy of most governments is a recipe for a worldwide economic disaster. In many countries, the strategy of confinement and forcing shops to close is a sure-fire path to large-scale business failures. The …

COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on American jobs. State shutdowns and social distancing have resulted in 26 million people being laid off and furloughed. Policymakers in some states are starting to loosen business restrictions and are hoping for a strong jobs recovery. But a quick rebound in jobs will be undermined by government policies. The federal government has …

Activists slathered “Protect Amazon workers” in paint on a street outside CEO Jeff Bezos’s Washington mansion to protest the online retail giant’s treatment of workers during the coronavirus crisis. The protesters covered the road in giant red and yellow letters along with silhouettes of three masked faces. It took about an hour for them to …

An additional 3.8 million Americans filed jobless claims in the past week, the Department of Labor reported on Tuesday, amid continuing economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Total U.S. unemployment since the start of the pandemic has soared to 30 million, or 18 percent of the workforce. States are currently formulating plans to reopen businesses …

Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a new coronavirus plan based on the GI Bill to give front-line workers free college tuition, billing it as the first program of its kind in the country. Those eligible under the “Future for Frontliners” plan would be workers including “the ones staffing our hospitals and nursing homes, stocking the …

Macy’s plans to reopen 68 US stores on Monday in states that have loosened coronavirus lockdowns, the department store operator said on Thursday, as more retailers sought to get business going after a crushing month of closures. Cincinnati, Ohio-based Macy’s, the largest US department store operator by sales, said it expects to have all of …

The Oscars and streaming have reached a detente. For one year and one year only, streaming-only films can be nominated for the 2021 Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this week. How generous of our Hollywood overlords. Their saintly flip-flop is, like everything else, caused by the unprecedented disruptions of …

Kourtney Kardashian is doing the Lord’s work. The 41-year-old reality star supported her ex-boyfriend Scott Disick on Wednesday — and sent a message about the importance of social distancing — by slipping into a look from his Talentless clothing line. Kardashian modeled Disick’s black “Stay Home” hoodie ($129) and matching sweatpants ($129) on Instagram while …

Zoom shares continued their two-day slide on Thursday after the company backtracked on a claim that it had 300 million users. The video-conferencing platform made the embarrassing admission in a quiet update to last week’s blog post where it had said that its user base has grown 50 percent to 300 million amid the coronavirus …