WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Monday’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes.
· It was the best of times, it was the … well let’s not depress ourselves and just leave it there. After all, this week there are two Prime Days, Tuesday and Wednesday, and it all kicks off at midnight. Twenty percent off on Cheez It and Rice Krispies Treats. And more, says Amazon.
· Stock market investors caught the wave, bidding up the S&P 1.6% Monday. The Nasdaq rose 2.56%, not too shabby, and tech was winning again. Analysts were wondering why the switch from cyclicals back to tech, why the rally, what was it about Monday? There were signs of some underlying weakness in the options markets, some said. Little hints of negativity. Always the urge to be naysayers.
· Down at Orlando Sanford International Airport, a crowd of people at a MAGA rally Monday evening expressing their confidence in the future, not intimidated by the virus into socially distancing, cheering the president’s recovery and looking forward to the virus’s disappearance, or at least the vaccine and antibody cocktails that will neutralize its hazards. No voter apathy there. As Geraldo Rivera said on Fox, “He beat the disease.” The White House physician did say earlier that using the rapid-type tests, Trump has indeed tested negative “on consecutive days.” Whups, Geraldo drifted a bit off the reservation Monday night, by wishing “for a bit more humility,” a bit more empathy for those others who are suffering. Host Sean Hannity cut him off. For Trump’s part in his first in-person rally since testing positive, “It’s risky. It’s risky, but you got to get out.” Also on Hannity, Newt Ginrich tapped his prognostication skills, saying he sees Trump winning a second term 70% to 30%.
· So, generally speaking, everything was looking up. Well, almost everything. Yes, virus hospitalizations are up 10%. Fourteen states had record high virus case counts. The Sunday death count was only about half what’s been typical the past week, just 419 (NYT Tracker). Weekend counts are usually lower than average. Expert Tony Fauci, who ABC said was blocked by the White House from appearing on the Sunday public affairs program, was on CNN Monday saying it is “very troubling” to see the high numbers going into cooler temperatures. Fauci also said, in objecting to his out-of-context video clip inserted into a Trump campaign commercial, that if it happens again, “that could actually come back to backfire on them” leading to a “game we don’t want to play.”
· Trump ads were gently pillorying candidate Joe Biden as “radical, corrupt, extreme and dangerous … a swamp creature.” Fox’s Laura Ingraham added, “This is about power and it’s about money, taking it from you and giving it to the elites.” Biden can’t wait to make “lockdowns the weapon of choice.” Meanwhile Biden, whom Fox kept running a clip of having a hard time remembering Mitt Romney’s name, somehow labored under the burden of maintaining his decisive lead in the polls. “You know, we have to come together,” Biden said Monday. “That’s why I’m running. I’m running as a proud Democrat for the Senate,” Biden said, leaving out the vitriol but again leaving himself open for Fox’s gaffe collector. Fox also had fun rerunning the clip of Biden calling for a $15 million minimum wage.
· What about the main event? Amy Coney Barrett’s first day of confirmation hearings was mostly taken up with the opening statements of Senate Judiciary Committee members. Her own statement had been previewed and like the opening statements of Republicans and Democrats, contained no surprises. Democrats stayed away from making a point of her religion and several Republicans accused them of doing it anyway. The Democrats did spend their time tying Judge Barrett to what they said is an effort to help the Trump administration use the Supreme Court to destroy Obamacare. The high court will hear arguments in mid November. The decision won’t be forthcoming until months later. Committee Chair Lindsey Graham said in the end, all the Republicans will vote for her, using their majority to confirm her, while all the Democrats will vote against, and lose. What’s the point of the four days of hearings? To introduce Barrett to the American people, he said.
· Tuesday marks the three-week-till-election day point, with 45 states and the District of Columbia already voting. Lines were hours long in some places Monday with voters saying they just did not want to depend on the mail to make themselves heard. Again, voter apathy seems to have been banished in 2020.
· A marathon of economic statistics as Tuesday brings the government back to life, including the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index at 6a ET, the CPI at 8:30a and the Redbook weekly read of same-store retail sales at 8:55a. Again, Kevin Kastner has previewed the entire week’s data, including the PPI and retail sales report, elsewhere on this macenews.com site.
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This story was corrected to say Dr. Fauci was blocked from appearing on ABC’s public affairs program, not CNN’s.