29 April 20
We are starting to see some donations come in. Thank you. We are a long way from where we need to be. I deeply regret that we have to go to these extraordinary lengths to pull in minimal financing. I sincerely believe that is misguided.
If RSN is a place you would like to be, start thinking seriously about what it takes to maintain it.
Wishing us luck.
Marc Ash
Founder, Reader Supported News
Founder, Reader Supported News
If you would prefer to send a check:
Reader Supported News
PO Box 2043
Citrus Hts, CA 95611
Reader Supported News
PO Box 2043
Citrus Hts, CA 95611
29 April 20
Paul Krugman | Peacocks and Vultures Are Circling the Deficit
Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Krugman writes: "The only fiscal thing to fear is deficit fear itself."
lmost a decade has passed since I published a column, “Myths of Austerity,” warning that deficit alarmism would delay recovery from the Great Recession — which it did. Unfortunately, that kind of alarmism seems to be making a comeback.
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Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Krugman writes: "The only fiscal thing to fear is deficit fear itself."
lmost a decade has passed since I published a column, “Myths of Austerity,” warning that deficit alarmism would delay recovery from the Great Recession — which it did. Unfortunately, that kind of alarmism seems to be making a comeback.
You can see that comeback in the gradually increasing number of news analyses emphasizing how much debt we’ll run up dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. You can also see it in the rhetoric of politicians like Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, who is blocking aid to beleaguered state and local governments because, he says, it would cost too much.
So this seems like a good time to emphasize two key facts. One is economic: While we will run very big budget deficits over the next couple of years, they will do little if any harm. The other is that whatever they may say, very few prominent figures in politics or the media are genuine deficit hawks, who are actually worried about the consequences of rising government debt. What we mainly have, instead, are deficit peacocks and deficit vultures.
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The U.S. has far more COVID-19 cases than any other country. (photo: Charles Krupa/AP)
US Reaches One Million Confirmed Coronavirus Cases
Lynsey Jeffery, NPR
Jeffery writes: "More than 1 million cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in the U.S., marking a grim milestone in the country with the most reported coronavirus infections in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University."
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Lynsey Jeffery, NPR
Jeffery writes: "More than 1 million cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in the U.S., marking a grim milestone in the country with the most reported coronavirus infections in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University."
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a campaign rally for Sen. Bernie Sanders at Venice Beach, Calif. (photo: Monica Almeida/Reuters)
ALSO SEE: New York Board of Elections Cancels
Democratic Presidential Primary
Ocasio-Cortez Blasts New York Elections Board for Canceling Presidential Primary
Rebecca Klar, The Hill
Klar writes: "Ocasio-Cortez challenged the notion that the decision was made with public health in mind, noting that the state is still holding down ballot elections the same day."
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Rebecca Klar, The Hill
Klar writes: "Ocasio-Cortez challenged the notion that the decision was made with public health in mind, noting that the state is still holding down ballot elections the same day."
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Immigration advocates rally for against ICE. (photo: NURPHOTO)
Trump Threatens to Cut State Coronavirus Aid Over "Sanctuary City" Immigration Policies
Tom Porter, Business Insider
Porter writes: "President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he might withhold federal coronavirus aid from any states refusing to comply with his administration's immigration policies."
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Tom Porter, Business Insider
Porter writes: "President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he might withhold federal coronavirus aid from any states refusing to comply with his administration's immigration policies."
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New York City. (photo: Vice)
New York City Tenants Want the State to Cancel Their Rent. So They're Going on Strike.
Emma Ockerman, VICE
Ockerman writes: "Thousands of tenants in New York City are about to embark on the city's largest rent strike in decades."
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Emma Ockerman, VICE
Ockerman writes: "Thousands of tenants in New York City are about to embark on the city's largest rent strike in decades."
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Hong Kong government CIO Victor Lam Wai-kiu shows a monitoring wristband for people under quarantine during a press conference on March 25. (photo: Li Zhihua/China News Service/Getty Images)
The Successful Asian Coronavirus-Fighting Strategy America Refuses to Embrace
Matthew Yglesias, Vox
Excerpt: "Other countries have had better results putting sick people into isolation instead of sending them home to potentially infect their family."
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Matthew Yglesias, Vox
Excerpt: "Other countries have had better results putting sick people into isolation instead of sending them home to potentially infect their family."
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The Arctic. (photo: iStock)
Record Ozone Hole Over the Arctic Has Closed
Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch
Davidson writes: "An unusual phenomenon happened in March and April when an enormous hole in the ozone layer formed over the Arctic. Last week, though, scientists tracking the hole noticed that it has closed."
Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch
Davidson writes: "An unusual phenomenon happened in March and April when an enormous hole in the ozone layer formed over the Arctic. Last week, though, scientists tracking the hole noticed that it has closed."
EXCERPT:
n unusual phenomenon happened in March and April when an enormous hole in the ozone layer formed over the Arctic. Last week, though, scientists tracking the hole noticed that it has closed, as CNN reported.
Unlike the infamous hole in the ozone over Antarctica, which was caused by overuse of now illegal chemicals containing chlorofluorocarbons, the hole in the Arctic was caused by a combination of factors, including low Arctic temperatures, sunlight, pollutants and a particularly strong polar vortex, according to the Copernicus' Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS), as CNN reported.
"These two are really different animals," said Paul Newman, the chief scientist in the Earth Sciences Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, as Mashable reported. "This [Arctic ozone hole] is not comparable to the Antarctic ozone hole. If this was happening over the Antarctic we would be shouting for joy."
The hole over Antarctica opens up every year from August until October. However, it has improved dramatically since ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons were banned in the 1994 Montreal Protocol. Last year, the Antarctic ozone hole was at its smallest since it was first discovered, as CNN reported.
While the COVID-19 lockdowns have improved air quality around the world and helped wildlife, the drops in pollution did not cause the ozone hole to close up.
"COVID19 and the associated lockdowns probably had nothing to do with this," CAMS said on Twitter. "It's been driven by an unusually strong and long-lived polar vortex, and isn't related to air quality changes."
The hole in the ozone above the Arctic started in March when unusual conditions trapped cold air over the North Pole for several weeks in a row. That triggered a circle of cold air, known as a polar vortex, which led to clouds high in the atmosphere. Those clouds interacted with pollutants from human emissions and depleted the ozone gases above the Arctic. The hole it opened up was roughly three times the size of Greenland.
The ozone layer, which sits between 9 and 22 miles from the earth's surface, shields the planet from the sun's damaging ultraviolet radiation. The hole above the Arctic would have only posed a threat to humans if it had traveled or expanded farther south, as Euronews reported.
"It's unusual but not unexpected," said Newman, of the recent Arctic ozone hole, to Mashable. "It's unusual in that we only have events like this about once per decade."
In 1997 and 2011, there were similar ozone depletions of the Arctic, according to Antje Innes, a senior scientist at the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, who spoke to Mashable. However, the extent of ozone depletion was far greater during this one.
Scientists insist it is too early and too rare to say if the recent ozone depletion portends a new trend. "From my point of view, this is the first time you can speak about a real ozone hole in the Arctic," said Martin Dameris, an atmospheric scientist at the German Aerospace Center, to Nature.
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