Saturday Snippets is a regular weekend feature of Daily Kos.
• Economic Policy Institute predicts another monster week for new unemployment benefit claims: In the three weeks ending March 28, 10.1 million U.S. workers filed initial claims for benefits. If there had been no economic shutdown in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus, we could have expected somewhere in the neighborhood of 775,000 workers to file for benefits over that period. At the left-leaning EPI, Aaron Sojourner and Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham have estimated that for the week that ends today, new claims will fall in the range of 4.7-5.7 million. Even at the low end, if 4.7 million is added to those 10.1 million, and the 5.8 million Americans who were already out of work before the coronavirus-related lay-offs began are added, the total is 20.6 million unemployed. That comes in at 12.2% unemployment. But, of course, not everyone who has been laid off has applied for unemployment benefits either because they couldn’t get through to their state’s unemployment offices to file, or they aren’t eligible even under the federal government’s expansion of who gets assistance while they are out of work during the coronavirus spread. So, without doubt, the real unemployment figures are higher. How high they ultimately go depends on a zillion variables. A team at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank says unemployment could reach 32.1% by summer. Although gathering and analyzing job statistics wasn’t very sophisticated until 1948, it’s been estimated that unemployment in the Great Depression reached 25% in 1933. It reached 10% in the Great Recession in 2009.
• Joe Biden told Bernie Sanders he will vet possible running mates and cabinet picks in mid-April: The former vice president, who has what many close observers say is an insurmountable lead in delegates for the Democratic nomination, told supporters Friday night that he had spoken about this to Sen. Bernie Sanders, the only other candidate still in the running for the nomination. “I am in the process and I’ve actually had this discussion with Bernie because he’s a friend,” said Biden during a fundraiser made virtual because of stay-at-home orders in response to the novel coronavirus plague. “We’re competitors. He’s a friend. I don’t want him to think I’m being presumptuous, but you have to start now deciding who you’re going to have background checks done on as potential vice presidential candidates.”
• The Kansas Supreme Court tells utilities they cannot charge higher rates for customers who use green energy: In a 14-page opinion by Justice Caleb Stegall, court overruled an appeals court decision and said that proposed rate increases by two Kansas utilities for customers who generate some of their electricity from the sun and wind violates the state’s anti-price discrimination law. “By its plain text, [the state law] clearly prohibits the utilities from price discrimination against [customers who generate their own power], something the utilities admit they are trying to do,” Stegall wrote. The lawsuit against the utilities was filed by the Sierra Club and Vote Solar.
MIDDAY TWEET
• Bernie Sanders outlines priorities for the fourth phase of coronavirus relief legislation: On Friday, in a list from his presidential campaign, the Vermont senator called for a $2,000 monthly "emergency payment" to every person in the country "until the crisis has passed." Sanders said in a post on his campaign website: "We must provide direct, recurring, monthly payments to every person in the country, regardless of income, tax filing, or immigration status. That means reaching every person in the United States, including the undocumented, the homeless, the unbanked, and young adults excluded from the CARES ACT." In addition, he said the fourth relief bill should: use Medicare to cover healthcare costs; provide hazard pay for front line workers; freeze monthly rent and mortgage payments; impose a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures; ban utility shut-offs; cancel student debt; suspend medical payments; and provide $600 billion for cities and states facing revenue shortages from reduced sales and lodging taxes.
• San Francisco bans reusable shopping bags to defend against coronavirus: In 2007, the city was one of the first in the nation to ban single-use plastic bags, which are a serious ocean trash problem that kills sea creatures who ingest bags or pieces of them, mistaking them for food. San Francisco Department of Public Health issued the March 31 order to halt the spread of the virus by barring customers from bringing their own bags, mugs, or other reusable items to stores that California authorities have categorized as “essential” and allowed to remain open under the statewide stay-at-home policy.
• An orca captured 50 years ago should be allowed to return home says Native writer.
• South Africa outlaws fake news about the coronavirus, but enforcement won’t be easy:
“African blood and black skin prevent Covid-19.” This is one of the many claims that the fact-checking organization Africa Check has disproved since the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 emerged in December 2019. In South Africa, where Africa Check is headquartered, there are rumors that the virus only affects white people, leading some residents to ignore warning signs that they might be infected. [...]
In response, South Africa made it a criminal offense to spread disinformation about the disease. Whether through traditional or social media, it is now illegal to publish any statement that intends to deceive people about the virus, a person’s infection status, or “any measure taken by the government to address Covid-19.” If found guilty, violators could face a fine, jail time, or both.