The WSJ observed a record unemployment rate of around 15 percent in April.
Ahead of the announcement of the U.S. GDP in the first quarter of the year, some warn that the U.S. economy will record its worst performance since the 2008 global financial crisis. White House Senior Advisor Kevin Hassett, President Donald Trump’s economic book, also warned ABC on the 26th that worsening economic indicators are inevitable for the time being, saying, “The unemployment rate could come close to the Great Depression in the near future.”

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Wall Street experts expected U.S. growth rates in the first and second quarters to be -3.5% and -25.0%, respectively. U.S. negative growth is the last in the first quarter of 2014 (-1.1 percent).

Second-quarter GDP is expected to suffer a bigger slump. Wall Street financial firms such as JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs have already forecast that the second-quarter growth rate will be in the -30 percent range. It is predicted that the unemployment rate for April, which will be announced early next month, will also exceed 4.4 percent in March and reach around 15 percent.

Major conglomerates’ first-quarter earnings are also unlikely to be free from the Corona 19 shock. Google’s parent companies Alphabet and HSBC Bank on Friday and Microsoft Airbus on Tuesday will unveil their report cards. Apple’s Amazon McDonald on Thursday and Exxon Mobil and Chevron on April 1.

Prospects are mixed after the second half. Some predict a “V-shaped rebound” and others say that “the slump will continue throughout this year.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox News that a third-quarter rebound will emerge when economic normalization begins next month. In the WSJ survey, 85 percent of the respondents also said the Corona 19 crisis will subside in the second half and the economy will show signs of recovery. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, on the other hand, predicted CBS that the U.S. economy will only recover to its pre-19 level later next year.

The European Union, which will announce its first-quarter GDP on Thursday, is also likely to post negative growth. International credit rating agency Fitch Ratings on Tuesday presented its growth forecast for Italy and the eurozone as a whole this year at -8.0 percent and -7.0 percent, respectively, with the highest number of deaths in Europe.

Since the Corona 19 crisis began in earnest, as many as 350,000 people have applied for unemployment benefits in Nevada. It marks the fifth consecutive week that jobless applicants have broken new records, marking the highest figure in Nevada’s history. Las Vegas market research firm “Apply Annalis” estimated that the unemployment rate in Las Vegas would reach 25 percent. The figure is twice as high as the Great Depression, and the figure continues to rise. Jeremy Aguero, CEO of Applied Analysis, said it is “unprecedented from an analytical point of view” and that “there is no quasi-base on the current situation.”

Nevada pays unemployment benefits for 26 weeks, up to $469 per week. However, the recent surge in demand for unemployment benefits has paralyzed Internet sites that manage them, and delayed work. “We received 28,000 calls a day last month,” said Rosa Mendes, spokesman for Nevada’s Employment and Training Rehabilitation Bureau. “This is the first time in state history.” Complaints such as “the waiting time for phone calls alone was nine hours” are rising in various social networking services, while criticism is mounting that “the authorities focus only on those who are confirmed to be Corona 19 and don’t care about those who have no money to buy medicine because they lost their jobs.”

As the unemployment problem spreads out of control, the Las Vegas and Nevada governments are also agonizing. It would be nice to ease the evacuation of homes right away in consideration of deepening economic wrinkles, but there are also many counterargument that it could encourage the spread of Corona 19. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said in a broadcast interview last week that casino and other non-essential facilities should be reopened. Las Vegas hotels and casinos are also seeking to resume operations from the 15th of next month, offering heat tests on guests as an alternative. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, however, does not specifically mention the timing of easing the evacuation of homes, saying, “It is not yet time to resume operations.”

The numbers have been released and Netflix nearly doubled the amount of new subscribers they were anticipating. Netflix added nearly 16 million paid subscribers in the first quarter compared to the 9 million they added this time last year. The stock closed in at a record high on Monday of $437.49 per share. Despite all the new streaming services that have been released this past year like Disney plus, peacock, and the upcoming release of HBO max, Netflix has been able secure its foothold in the land of streaming thanks to the optimal releasing of exclusive programs like tiger king, Ozarks, and money heist. Luckily for the subscribers Netflix also said they have over 200 projects in postproduction that are getting worked on by employees remotely at their houses. The second quarters is expected to unveil another flood of content to its platform.

Article: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/netflix-adds-more-than-15-million-new-subscribers-stock-rockets-higher-2020-04-21 Image: https://www.binged.com/news/netflix-stock-price-hits-all-time-high-as-more-people-than-ever-flock-to-netflix-amidst-coronavirus-quarantine/

Fear can make people do terrible things, like tracking people and infringing on citizens rights in the name of national security. Fear also makes people more susceptible to suggestion making it one of the most exploitable human emotions. China was the first to encounter the corona pandemic so china is also the model for how to deal with the virus.

China uses a variety of tactics to control its society of over a billion people these include the worlds largest Internet censorship program dubbed “The Great Firewall of China”, an AI centered facial recognition program, and a mandatory social credit system that can affect a persons way of life by limiting travel based on a poor social score. All this data is collected to assess a person’s loyalty to china and the novel coronavirus provides justification to expand on these controversial activities around the globe.

Countries like hungry are also using this crisis to expand surveillance, hungry passed a bill that allows their Prime Minister to rule by decree. 23 other countries have implemented “contact tracing apps” allowing countries to keep record of person’s social relationships. In Hong Kong people are forced to wear wristbands that alert authorities if a person leaves their place of quarantine. In all the world powers are noticing this is a chance to rein in control over their citizens and so far we have been compliant.

Article: https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/repression/rise-of-coronavirus-surveillance/

Image: https://theday.co.uk/stories/1984-at-70-still-relevant-says-orwell-s-son

Facebook is helping users find their love during quarantine by boosting their dating service. They plan to enable virtual dates so users can do video chats on Messenger without having to add one another. Essentially, users can video chat with strangers to try and find a connection.

Facebook is trying to allow users to go on virtual dates because in-person dates are not an option during the COVID-19 pandemic. Facebook said in a blog post that the purpose is to, “help people find meaningful relationships even when they can’t meet in person.”

The process is as soon as the virtual dating option is active, users can invite matches to video chat. If the recipient agrees, Facebook Messenger will connect them with each other. Facebook hopes their users can find love this quarantine.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/04/26/coronavirus-facebook-adding-virtual-dating-tool/3030311001/

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused change in a lot of industries, especially the movie industry. Films are being available at home, and may never return to the theaters.

Disney recently announced their movie “Onward,” will become available digitally for $19.99, then will soon be available on Disney+. Typically, a movie recently released in theaters would not be available to watch at home for some time. The closure of theaters is convincing studios to break what’s known as the “window,” which is the three-month period between when a movie hits theaters, and when it’s offered as an on demand purchase or rental, and then later on streaming devices. 

Universal announced on Monday that they are going to make movies available at home on the same day as their theater release, starting with “Trolls World Tour.” Universal starting this may cause other companies to follow in their footsteps.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/20/how-coronavirus-could-permanently-change-the-movie-industry.html