10 MILLION JOBS GONE
Plunge pace worse than in Depression
Federal agencies will distribute 192,000 N95 masks in New York and New Jersey that were seized from hoarders trying to sell them at inflated prices during the coronavirus crisis, officials said.
The Health and Human Services agency and the Department of Justice are teaming up to distribute the confiscated personal protective equipment.
The FBI learned of the supplies during an investigation by the Department of Justice’s COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force on March 30 and told HHS.
In addition to the N95 respirator masks, the supplies found included 598,000 medical grade gloves and 130,000 surgical masks, procedure masks, N100 masks, surgical gowns, disinfectant towels, particulate filters, bottles of hand sanitizer and bottles of spray disinfectant.
“Cracking down on the hoarding of vital supplies allows us to distribute this material to the heroic healthcare workers on the front lines who are most in need,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “The seized resources were distributed in days to the doctors, nurses and first responders who need them.”
HHS plans to pay the owner of the hoarded equipment pre-COVID-19 market value for the supplies and has begun distributing to meet the need for the supplies among healthcare workers in New York and New Jersey.
“This is the first of many such investigations that are underway,” said Peter Navarro, DPA Policy Coordinator and Assistant to the President.
“Our FBI agents and other law enforcement agencies are tracking down every tip.”
More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, doubling an all-time high set just the week before as the U.S. economy continues to crash because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Labor Department’s devastating unemployment report suggests the U.S. is headed for a deep recession, according to economists, with nearly 10 million Americans thrown out of work in the span of two weeks.
Economists had expected similar numbers to the 3.3 million unemployment claims reported last week, or maybe a modest increase.
Instead, they got a shocking tsunami of jobless claims — 6,648,000 in total — as entire U.S. industries shut down and small businesses close up shop amid the worsening pandemic.
The news was particularly grim in New York, with 366,000 workers filing unemployment claims last week — up 350% since the week before. California’s claims also skyrocketed to nearly 900,000, up from 186,000 the week before.
President Trump did not immediately comment on the economic carnage.
He did, however, boast about his chats with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He claimed the two oil producers have agreed to ease their squabble that sparked a disastrous price plunge in oil.
“Will be great for the oil and gas industry!” Trump gushed on Twitter without mentioning the devastating job losses.
Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden blamed Trump for failing to respond early to the pandemic and blasted Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for saying last week that the massive job losses were “not relevant.”
“Try telling that to any one of the millions of Americans who are now out of work because of this crisis,” Biden said in a statement.
The U.S. economy has to suffer two consecutive quar