Will Corona Cause America To Crash and Burn?

The CoronaVirus will be around until mid-summer. No, it won’t, the President is going to reopen the economy and ramp up by Easter.

This scientist says that we will suffer through potentially 3-rounds of this virus spreading violently throughout society. The Dow Jones rises today by 2,000 points; then tomorrow crashes 1,800. So what’s the truth? What is really happening here? 

With major metropolitan areas resembling an Arizona ghost town, airlines parking thousands of commercial liners, and getting soaked for millions in losses daily, this “New America” is certainly on shaky ground. Tens of thousands out of work at auto manufacturing companies, tens of thousands of mom and pop small companies shuttered, and a hundred thousand restaurants and bars closed down nationwide, there is zero doubt that our economy is reeling from this plague. 

Few dare to talk about what happens next week across our land. The House of Representatives voted yes on the Corona stimulus package costing our nation over $2-Trillion, and the President signed it into law.

Then how long does it take to get the money into the economy?

That is the $64 question. Each taxpayer under the limit is supposed to receive some $1,200; then, there is money for low interest or zero-interest loans for small businesses, corporate money to save various major corporations, as well as funding for many liberal causes.

Currently or as of last night, some 1-million corona test kits were sitting on a dock at the port of Houston. New York is now ground zero for the heaviest hit city and state, and Governor Cuomo has the state at a virtual lockdown. 

The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has contracted this virus along with Prince Charles, several United States Senators as well as many staff members on Capitol Hill. This proving that nobody is immune to this virus. 

The tragic bottom line is that the United States is currently for all intents and purposes paralyzed by this rapidly spreading virus that is killing thousands of people. Is it worse than the flu, not now, but it certainly has the potential to crush flu deaths and do so in very short order if it cannot be stopped. 

Think of this for a moment. How many people in your city work at a mall?

How many works at movie theaters? How about all the clothing stores, barbers, beauty salons, restaurants, night clubs, ballparks (during a game), factories who are manufacturing bumpers for pickup trucks, and the pickups themselves. How about Detroit Diesel and Cummings, who build diesel engines? Steel companies who mold and fabricate steel beams are currently shut down. Elkhart, Indiana is once again being decimated as nearly all of the companies who manufacture RV’s are shut down. There are thousands out of work currently in this small midwest city.

Let us now circle back to April 1st for a minute.

How many millions will not be mailing in their rent or house payment checks? Because of this anomaly, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Bank of America and dozens more, will be missing billions in home mortgage payments, not to mention credit card payments, auto loan payments, and the list goes on. How about the Pizza by the slice vendor at the food court at the local mall. They aren’t paying any employees in addition to missing their monthly rent payments to the owner of the mall. 

You can now get a small glimpse into what happens when an economy shuts down.

This CoronaVirus has the potential (if this drags out into late May or June) to very near decimate what was once the most powerful economy on the planet. 

Tradition states that “As the auto and building industries go, so goes America.” The auto industry doesn’t just affect the lost trucks rolling out the back door of the Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan. It affects the local hotels, restaurants, bars, Firestone, Goodyear, the company that manufactures the stereo systems, and many, many more corporations.

For instance, there is a medium-sized company in Winterset, Iowa (my hometown) who manufactures all of the fuel filters for the automakers. It is now shut down and has put over 100-employees out of work who will not be making their rent and house payments to the local banks in Winterset.

This is why the President is so utterly panic-stricken over the long term ramifications of shutting everything down.

Over 100,000 airline employees are now watching reruns at home. This past week, over 3,000,000 unemployment claims were filed across America, this set a new record for the most claims in our history.

Lest you think or believe that this virus is only killing the elderly, think again.

This past week many reports began coming in that 35-year-olds who were two weeks ago perfectly healthy are now dying from Corona. Reports that even a few teenagers have died from it, as well.

Whether it be the uncertainty of what will happen that is hampering things, or whether it be the actuality of events that is doing so much damage, the reality is, America is under siege and we are not currently winning the battle.

President Trump is doing his best at fighting this war.

He is trying to keep a positive spin on things (as best he can), but the truth is, we might win the war of ventilators, but people are still getting sick, the numbers are still climbing, and we are still losing citizens to this virus. 

America is resilient, and we will come back from this. We are truly a “CAN-DO” nation. However, if the President opened us back up for business today, we are a couple of months away from bouncing back and there are thousands of small companies that have already shut down permanently. If this drags on for several months, we will be years from truly coming back to where we were when this began. That is just the sad truth of the matter. 

Hang in there America, stay positive, stay healthy, and we can win this thing in the end.

By Ken Crow

###