WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Friday’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes.
· Scroll down Saturday’s White House schedule elsewhere on this macenews.com site. It’s something to see, testament to the whirlwind frenetic campaigning for a president who really, really doesn’t want to lose. First he votes in West Palm Beach. Then it’s off to Fayetteville, N.C. for a hop to Lumberton, a familiar stop for gas on I-95. A MAGA rally and then, off to Columbus, Ohio, for the hop to Circleville, population around 14,000. At the Pickaway County Ag Center, site since 1903 of Circleville Pumpkin Show, another MAGA rally. Whups, the Pumpkin Show’s been cancelled this year for obvious reasons, though maybe not so obvious to the president. He again Friday said the country is “rounding the turn … . It’s going away,” and the virus is in the rear view mirror. Also, he reassured, “We’re not going to put up with … its first Socialist president, Kamala … ,” he said, mispronouncing her first name as he performed for a big crowd with few masks. Hey, its only a little after 5p ET Saturday, time to get moving. Next stop, Milwaukee, Wisc. for a change of transport for the short trip to Waukesha and another MAGA rally. Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and it’s only Saturday. Maybe Donald Trump can ramp up to five rallies a day by Tuesday, a week from Election Day. Busy, busy week.
· The Presidential Debate is history, to get one more set of recaps on the Sunday public affairs programs so surrogates can brag on their champion. Then a steady drumbeat of campaign appearances for both candidates, delivering stump speeches crowds already know by heart. While President Trump is keeping Air Force One in the air, Joe Biden buys more air time that the Trump campaign can no longer afford. Biden, with his “laser focus on working families” and Trump with his conquest of the virus and an economy that someday will be better than ever again, the din will be deafening for those listening. The 57 million who have voted by Saturday and the millions more voting early in the coming week won’t be listening. And the rest, they’ve made up their minds and will be following their hearts into the polling booth. The point? Small margin batches of tens of thousands of votes counted big time in 2016 and remember, Hillary decided not to go to Wisconsin. So back and forth, to Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas and even New Hampshire.
· Meanwhile, the skies get still cloudier over the country with the most virus deaths in the world. Medical experts who plied the cable channels with urgent pleas to wear masks are becoming more resigned to the inevitable. One of CNN’s contributors, Michael Osterholm, repeated his jeremiad late Friday night, about soon “facing some of the darkest days in this nation’s history.” Earlier Surgeon General Jerome Adams said much the same thing. And late Friday, it became officially the worst day ever for new virus cases, more than 80,000. As cases go up, ICU capacity gets used up and, despite the improved treatments, deaths climb. Dr. Tony Fauci repeated, “More than 30 states are having upticks which is a pretty good indicator … of the coming surge.”
· Economic data coming up next week includes the Thursday report on third-quarter GDP. It was a spectacular quarter, rebounding from the second quarter collapse, but not so spectacular as to make up all of that huge loss, as Kevin Kastner previews elsewhere on this site, including a complete calendar of all the data points.
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