1790

Well, the legislation was worked out in Congress. I think that is “the right way” in our system. It’s not Congress’s job to back up every impulse Trump vocalizes.

I don’t think many people would single out an industry that avoids US taxes and labor laws so diligently as one we should worry about saving. Unlike airlines or even hotels, cruise lines are in no way essential infrastructure.

1791

I don’t give a shit about the cruise lines, their stockholders or their owners. I care about the people they employ, the docks that support them, the ports they go to and businesses that are supported by their excursions, and that whole chain just being cut loose as easily and Trump and his goons seemed eager to cut someone who is over the age of 60.

Maybe Strollen’s right and we’re talking about a few thousand instead of almost 400k, but man we have enough people who may not have jobs to return to when this is all done. We can knee-cap the cruise lines shortly after recovery.

1792

I’d prefer proper unemployment or UBI as opposed to industry bailout for a completely unnecessary and tax dodging industry.

1793

Don’t seem to have a problem bailing out the aerospace that sent out planes that managed to kill hundreds of people. Hell we don’t even get to follow that “gem” of a headline anymore since everything else is burying it. Anyone think they’re going to change their behavior after receiving potentially billions, and their problems… they actually caused, potentially illegally.

We’ve got a long list of shit companies getting money from this thing, and again, maybe our government should have an ounce, an ounce of credibility so people can actually trust what’s being said.

1794

There are pretty obvious strategic reasons why countries large enough to promote a domestic aerospace industry, do. You may not agree with the final goal, but the rationale is pretty clear - and different from supporting luxury cruise firms.

1795

I’m sure it more than few thousand, 100K+ won’t surprise me. I know that booking cruise line is a significant source revenue for many travel agents for instance, so I bet the industry figures a few travel agency. But the cruise line workers are covered by unemployment and the $600/week bonus in unemployment will probably make most of the whole. I’m sure the cruise ship will shrink for a couple years. The firms that were financially prudent will survive and the other won’t, but that’s business and since they aren’t US business I don’t care very much.

1796

Yeah, them being excluded from the bailout when they have intentionally played games with their flag of convenience? Fuck them. You want to be treated as a Panamanian company for tax, labor law, and other purposes? Well if you are going to go out of business because you don’t have the American taxpayers bail you out when you didn’t contribute as upstanding members of the country?

Eat shit.

1797

Wondering why Republicans and Trump were so eager to sign that $2 trillion bailout bill? Here’s your answer. The rich will always win.

Under the change, our rich taxpayer couple – and this applies only for individuals, not corporations – can now deduct an unlimited amount of “excess losses” in real estate against income from other sources. So now real estate moguls with lucrative day jobs or bountiful capital gains from other investments can go back to living tax-free, the Kushner way, before limits were put in place as part of the 2017 tax reform bill.

It gets worse, if that’s possible. The change applies to this year – and retroactively to 2019 and 2018. This means rich people can file amended returns now, and get refunds of perhaps millions of dollars, sooner than we can produce the number of ventilators we might need for the coronavirus crisis.

Let’s pause for a moment to review: The new relief provision only benefits those who can list more than $500,000 in excess business losses – typically artificial losses from depreciation that have more than wiped out their business income on paper – AND more than $500,000 in other income from wages or other sources now that the cap on the tax break has been removed. Pity such people in a time of pandemic? Congress did.

1798

Thing about the cruise lines is they have those ships that cost hundreds of millions to build. Someone will operate those as soon as people feel safe about travelling on them again. That’s the key question, though. As long as there are new covid-19 cases being reported it may be difficult to get people to cruise again – especially since many tend to skew older and that’s the higher risk age group.

1799

I about 7-8 years ago, we took a family cruise to Alaska as a present to my mom. She was travel agent and veteran cruiser and loved them. We had a hard time convincing, my sister who was a germaphobe before it was trendy, to get on a ship with 2,000 folks. We all had surprisingly good time.

My sister and her husband are in prime cruising age (69/78) now, but there is zero chance of convincing her of getting on one again. I imagine this will still be true for many people, long after Covid-19 vaccine is available,

1800

Yep, whoever ends up owning the ships will want to reboot the industry. But current shareholders and some banks are going to take a hit.

1801
1802

And yet, at 8:30 PST the stock market is up over 300.

I sense a shortage of used lamposts for stock brokers.

1803

Indeed, we have a lamppost unemployment problem.

1804

We need to stop using the Dow as a stand-in for the economy, or assuming that its day-to-day movements are an accurate reflection of the future. They’re just gambling and guesswork.

1805

Yup.

Wage growth was good this quarter!
Dow drops 500

Record unemployment claims
Dow up almost 500

It is literally the capital class celebrating something bad for the common worker class

1806

The stock market is up because Trump claims that Putin and Crown Prince MBS talked and agreed to stop the oil war. It has nothing to do with the unemployment claims. Or I suppose more accurately the Oil War news overpowered the bad news about the unemployment claims.

Added bonus Putin denies Trump’s claims. No comment on whether or not Trump told a few people he was going to make those claims so they could make a killing on the stock market.

1807

Unemployment claims also translate to more stimulus, which is good for investors. They don’t care about the collateral damage along the way, just the final financial subsidies.

1808

It’s not like when first quarter economic reports come in they will be a surprise to anyone. There is no way the unemployment figures are a surprise to anyone. The market just does what it damn well pleases.

1809

We have got to find some way to see who’s been making a killing on these false claims trump makes. He is manipulating the stock market like no in the history of wall street while him and his buddies laugh all the way tot the bank.