Новости за 07.05.2020

As oil and gas companies falter under the weight of Covid-19 shutdowns, price wars, and their own massive debt burden, an unlikely beneficiary seems to be emerging: geothermal power. Ordinarily, geothermal is the runt of the renewable power litter. But because it uses much of the same infrastructure as is used in fossil fuel extraction, geothermal might offer an appealing off-ramp for some of the tens of thousands laid off in the oil and gas industry, while helping build a low-carbon future.

It has been about three weeks since Donald Trump announced that his official task force on reopening the economy had been upgraded to—or perhaps superseded by—an advisory committee of America’s Top 200 Economic Minds. They represented all facets of society and potential sources of expertise, from the commissioners of the major sports leagues to the head of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka (who, it turned out, had not been notified that he was a member of the committee in advance of the announcement).

Last month, the military turned itself inside out over an aircraft carrier captain who pleaded for better care for his coronavirus-stricken crew. This month, the military has made coronavirus a disqualifying condition for military service.

No one anticipated that when the fabric of society finally unraveled, in March 2020, everyone would turn into June Cleaver. People made all their meals from scratch, gloated over their sourdough starter, and sewed their own face masks. Secular urban professionals scoured Mormon blogs for homeschooling tips. Actually, a Leave It to Beaver–style arrangement was about the best you could hope for: Most people’s lives abruptly deteriorated into far more dystopian scenes than those associated with the iconic housewife. Читать дальше...

Justin Rohrwasser, a placekicker who played at Marshall University and the University of Rhode Island, was such an obscure prospect by the standards of the National Football League that ESPN didn’t have a highlight package on hand to run after the New England Patriots selected him in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Naturally, viewers at home searched online to learn more about the player, and their casual research quickly revealed a rather disturbing fact: Rohrwasser had a Three Percenters symbol tattooed on his forearm. Читать дальше...

Earlier this week, public health researchers projected that one in four Americans would experience hunger and food insecurity in the coming months as a result of the economic crash and mass unemployment set off by the pandemic. Even now, up to 71 percent of people who applied for unemployment benefits haven’t yet received them, and food bank lines are overextended, with car lines stretching for miles in some cases. In the new economic downturn, which so far shows every sign of approaching or even surpassing the Great Depression in severity... Читать дальше...

The Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on Wednesday since March, and the coronavirus pandemic made it a surreal affair. Senators in the chamber spaced themselves far apart from one another; others contributed by videoconference. Most of the lawmakers and their staffers wore masks when they weren’t speaking. So did the only witness who appeared before the committee as well as the only spectator who sat in an otherwise empty gallery.

I’m working from home while writing this. Maybe you’re working from home while reading this. For the workers in this country lucky enough to have jobs that don’t require a commute or in-person contact right now, the home office (or “office” created haphazardly in some corner of the home) has become a new normal. And while that time has been a chance for many to reconsider whether their physical presence is a crucial aspect of their job—the kind of flexibility long denied to workers who needed... Читать дальше...

The Covid-19 pandemic interrupted the usual functioning of the national economy with shocking speed and violence. Now, as states around the country move to “reopen”—in most cases far earlier and faster than is safe—and politicians hold forth about how best to restart economic activity, it seems imperative to consider the nature of the economy getting restarted. Do we really want to go back to the pre-pandemic status quo? How can we remake the system so it works better for everyone?

Just before the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed into law, Republican Senators Tim Scott, Lindsey Graham, and Ben Sasse issued a press release demanding an “immediate fix” to what they regarded as a “life-threatening drafting error.” The proximate cause of their hyperbolic concern was the flat $600 in enhanced unemployment insurance set to be tacked on to pre-existing state payments. The senators feared the added benefits, which in many cases would mean recipients... Читать дальше...