WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Tuesday’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes:
- At the end of last week it was noted here that events had chipped away at the credibility of the government and the White House in particular regarding the coronavirus. Now it has taken a figurative karate chop. Convalescent plasma, heralded by President Trump Sunday a week ago as a “breakthrough” significant enough to have gotten an FDA emergency use authorization, is no such thing, the CDC said Tuesday, based on an NIH panel’s review which found no reason to recommend for or against. “Convalescent plasma should not be considered standard of care for the treatment of patients with COVID-19,” the CDC said. The FDA Commissioner Steven Hahn last week had already rolled back his endorsement delivered while at President Trump’s side in the White House.
- The government is about to distribute 150 million rapid point-of-care virus tests to the states, with health experts hoping the fast turnaround – 15 minutes – will make it easier to screen students returning to in-class instruction to prevent mass outbreaks. The Abbott Lab’s BinoxNOW test costs only a few dollars.
- The number of virus deaths ticked up to 488 in the latest 24 hours after the extremely low 397 weekend count, a hopeful sign that the long stretch of days with 1,000 or more each may be over. The total is now 184,200 (NYT Tracker) and with the high daily counts was headed toward more than 300,000 by the end of the year.
- The two White House virus relief negotiators were out and about Tuesday, casting their views of the possibility of some agreement with House Democrats in more optimistic tones while nothing had actually changed. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said he saw “real progress.” But the administration’s view that a total of $300 billion for state and local governments, including leftover funds from the CARES Act, was appropriate was still far from the Democrats’ nearly $1 trillion figure. Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin spent a couple of hours before the House Select Subcommittee on the Corona Virus, saying he was ready to call Speaker Nancy Pelosi to offer more talks after the hearing ended. He did, after which she said there are still serious differences. He recommended a $500 billion bill be passed into law with more done later, another non-starter with the House. Every tick of the testimony was chronicled on the @macenewsmacro twitter feed.
- The White House’s Jared Kushner, in the wake of that first-ever airline flight from the UAE to Israel across Saudi territory, met with the Saudi Crown Prince. The state news service said they agreed Israel should resume negotiations with the Palestinians.
- The president’s physician issued an unusual statement Tuesday saying Trump “has not been evaluated for a cerebrovascular accident (stroke), transient ischemic attack (mini stroke) or any acute cardiovascular emergencies as have been incorrectly reported in the media.” Trump tweeted three times of what he said was a report of mini strokes: “Never happened.” The reference to mini strokes is purportedly in a forthcoming book, the author of which, Michael Schmidt, said he made no such reference. Trump, however, did continue his attacks on opponent Joe Biden’s mental acuity.
- The virus was not on President Trump’s agenda as he went through with his tour of Kenosha’s burned out buildings to make his point that he favors strong enforcement to quash rioting and repeated he blames Democrats there and elsewhere for street violence. He did not mention the name of Jacob Blake, whose death in a hail of police bullets started it all, but when asked said of the family, “I feel terribly for anybody that has to go through” that. Of police, “They have a quarter of a second – quarter of a second – to make a decision. And if they make a wrong decision, one way or the other, they’re either dead or they’re in big trouble. And people have to understand that. They choke sometimes.”
- Stephanie Winston Wolkoff’s book “Melania and Me” came out Tuesday, alleging irregularities in the funding of the Trump Inauguration ceremonies and extensively quoting the First Lady on sensitive topics. She told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Tuesday night she did record conversations with Melania when she was a key advisor and has played the recordings for unspecified reporters who will soon publish an account verifying the quotes. Why? Melania betrayed her, she said.
- The Washington Post, in Wednesday’s newspaper, says federal prosecutors are preparing to charge longtime GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy in connection with efforts to influence the U.S. government on behalf of foreign interests, in one case, trying to stop an investigation of Malaysian government corruption.
- Upcoming economic statistics include the MBA’s weekly tally of mortgage applications at 7a ET, the ADP/Moody Analytics monthly report on private payroll changes at 8:15a, U.S. factory orders at 10a, the EIA’s report on oil stocks at 10;30a and the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book survey of economic conditions at 2p. The morning’s two purchasing managers’ reports on manufacturing, Markit’s and the ISM survey, came in better than expected as detailed by Kevin Kastner at macenews.com. However, he wrote, “Not all the news is positive. (ISM’s) employment index rose to 46.4 in July, indicating a slower pace of contraction but still an indication of further layoffs.”
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