Signs the economy is bad: May 15, 2020 Special COVID-19 edition

Welcome to another edition of "Signs the Economy is Bad" here at The Itinerant Librarian. This is the semi-regular (as in when I have time and/or feel like doing it) feature where I scour the Internet in search of the oh so subtle hints that the economy is bad. Sure, pundits may say things are getting better, but what do they know? And to show not all is bad, once in a while we look at how good the uber rich have it.


Here we are with a COVID-19 special edition of our "signs the economy is bad" series. Yes, we know the virus has wreaked havoc on the economy. The signs are everywhere, so the challenge for me is to find the more subtle signs that things are bad, the ones many of the pundits may not be as attentive about. So let's what is going on.

Education News

 Some items via The Hechinger Report:

• Now, as I am sure many know, a lot of people are working from home. This includes parents, especially women, who not only have to try to work from home, but they also have to home school the kids that they used to send to school, or if very young, send to a child care center (plus, if the husband is home, and he is kind of a useless tool, she has to deal with that too, but I digress). Now as things gradually open, mom may want to try to go back to work, except she might not find child care since recent reports are saying that at least half of all child care centers could close. . .permanently.
• A lot of the coverage you see about higher education is the loss of  undergraduate students. However, colleges and universities are also worrying about losing graduate students, which for many campuses with graduate programs, those grad students are the real cash cows. 
• This is an item I found interesting: college towns are suddenly realizing that yes, those college students do contribute and often keep a college town's economy afloat. Now many of those towns may be struggling as the sheep they often fleece the college students are now gone. In my college town, the local yokels were pretty much rejoicing when the students got sent back home (and I mean really rejoicing within minutes of the announcement), and while our student demographic may be different than other colleges (i.e. more poor, spend less in town as a result), our students still make a contribution to the town.

Rural News

•  The USDA recently announced they will start buying up farm products so they can distribute them to food banks. Via The Rural Blog. That sounds great, except, well, keep reading and see the stories below about certain food shortages. 
• However, not all is terribly bad. The gun trade often does rather well in disaster times, and COVID-19 is no exception. In Appalachia, gun sales are going up, which I am sure makes the gun sellers happy. Via Yes! magazine.

Health and Medical News

•  Meanwhile, a recent study showed that 27 million Americans lost their health insurance when they lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Via Boing Boing, which includes links to the Kaiser report. You would think that would make a good argument for universal health care in the United States, but since most Americans would rather watch their brethren die than pool resources to make it happen, well, there you have it.

The Bad Economy Around the World

• Overseas in Europe there is concern that football clubs (as in soccer, clarifying for the gringos) may start going bankrupt as a result of the pandemic. Story via Al Jazeera. FTA: "Clubs across Europe have been denied commercial revenue with no games in most countries for at least two months and empty stadiums look likely for months ahead." I have not checked but I wonder if some of this situation could be applicable to big sports in the U.S.
• Venezuelans in the diaspora are unable to send money home to relatives. Story via Latino Rebels.
• The virus has disrupted the mining industries around the world as well. Story via Salon. Now some of you might not think about this until you need certain metals or minerals to make something complex like, oh, I don't say, say your newest iPhone. Shortage of certain minerals and suddenly either the price of said iPhone becomes even more obscene that it is now, or worse, there would be a shortage of iPhones. If you thought the toilet paper shortages were bad, imagine if there is a major shortage of iPhones, as well as cell phones and mobile devices in general.

In Other News of the Bad Economy

• A big piece of news, but not quite big enough to make it into my "Big News of the Week" heading is the rising shortage of meats be they beef, pork, or poultry. It has been in the news, but aside from some grousing about prices going up at the grocery stores and some grocery stores placing limits on how much you can buy, this has mostly been a quiet topic. Sure the workers are seriously exploited and underpaid, often undocumented, but as long as ground beef and other meats make it to market, who cares, right?
• This article on Vox gives a pretty good overview of why this issue is a big deal. It is way more than you just not being able to get some hamburger at the grocery store or not being able to get a burger at Wendy's.
• Naturally, in the U.S., land of the stupid and the greedy, there may be a domestic meat shortage, but meat companies are actually ramping up meat exports to China. Story via Reuters. Part of the issue: "Meat buyers in China ramped up imports from around the world as a pig disease decimated its herd, the world’s largest, and pushed Chinese pork prices to record highs. The supply shock drove China to pay more for U.S. meat than other countries, and even U.S. consumers, since late 2019." Yes, the Chinese are willing to pay way more for the meat than even Americans do, so you know, money talks, shit walks, and meat gets exported even if people starve in the U.S. Mother Jones looks at the issue a bit further, drawing in part from the Reuters investigation.
• However, not sure how long the meat companies keep exporting as plants close down and farmers start slaughtering animals they can't get to market. Yea, there is the other big issue. For instance, millions of pigs will be slaughtered, and not at the meat plant, because farmers, unable to send them to said meat plants, are starting to get a surplus and have nowhere to send those hogs to. Story via NPR. In an ideal world, I don't know, it would be nice if you could process that meat for people in need rather than destroy it, but I am not the guy in charge. 
• Via the Food Politics blog, an interesting twist on the meat shortage. It could actually be a boon for pet food makers. Yes, you read that right: pet food. Down the road, your pet might end up eating better than you do. That is because if meat packers close, well, one option is to send the surplus meat animals to a rendering plant. 
• Casinos are also really feeling the effects of the pandemic. 
•  New rules are coming to casinos in Las Vegas. Story via Hollywood Reporter (with a hat tip to Boing Boing). Those fancy legendary buffets? Gone. How bad? FTA: "The bottom line: The days of gambling like James Bond in a heated game while people crowd the card table to admire your winnings are a thing of a past." Kind of makes you wonder what's the point of even going to a Vegas casino anymore. 
• And no, it is not going to be better if you go to your local Native American casino. The pandemic means their casinos have shut down, and they are suffering the impact of losing that revenue. Story via Indian Country Today.

Uber Rich

•  Even the Uber Rich are suffering as investment bankers are getting laid off. Story via Dealbreaker. Because like every capitalist endeavor, you exploit your workers all you can til you figure out how to dump them because you can do the job with less bodies. In this case, well turns out you do not need that many investment bankers to do whatever it is investment bankers do to make money. How bad is it? "Even some non-troubled investment banks have gotten into the fun, just to be safe." Oh well. This is a group that I cannot say I am terribly sympathetic about.