Bleak House: As the House considered the $2 trillion coronavirus bailout, the government reported a shocking $3.2 million unemployment claims last week and the US became the country with the most infections in the world, surpassing even China where the pandemic originated.

  What a day.

  The US is the third most populous country in the world. Combined with lack of preparation for a pandemic and a slow response, scientists predicted the US would eventually become the hardest hit.

  This morning the US has 85,991 cases and 1,296 deaths, 237 of them reported in the last 24 hours.  China has 81,894 cases. Italy leads in fatalities with 8,215.

  We remind you that on February 26^th President Trump said this: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” Nonetheless, he said yesterday that, “We got very lucky when we made a decision not to allow people in from China at a very early date.”

  Since then he has bragged about what a great job he’s doing.

  Encouraged by the near certainty that the bailout will pass, the markets rocketed upward for the third day in a row. The Dow Jones was up 1,351 points, more than six percent, up more than 4,000 points for the week.

  Boeing is up nearly 90 percent this week. American Airlines has jumped almost 50 percent. Carnival cruises, devastated by the pandemic, has shot up about 46 percent.

  That doesn’t do anything for people who lost their jobs. A NY Times editorial says, “The federal government’s first and best chance to prevent mass unemployment was to keep the new coronavirus under control through a system of testing and targeted quarantines like those implemented by a number of Asian nations. But even after it became clear that the Trump administration had failed to prepare for the pandemic, policymakers still could have chosen to prioritize employment by paying companies to keep workers on the job during the period of lockdown.”

Breathing Trouble: As state and local governments call for more ventilators to treat deathly ill coronavirus patients, a deal the federal government is working to make 80,000 machines has stalled because of the $1 billion cost.

 The joint venture with GM and a company called Ventec was originally planned to turn out 20,000 ventilators quickly, but that optimistic figure dropped to 7,500 and even that number is in doubt.

 General Motors would be paid hundreds of millions of dollars upfront to retool a parts plant in Kokomo, Indiana, to make the ventilators.

  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been in the forefront on this issue, said yesterday at his daily briefing that, “The number of ventilators we need is so astronomical. It’s not like they have them sitting in the warehouse in the federal government. There is no stockpile available.”

  President Trump said last night on Fox News that, “I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they are going to be. I don’t believe that you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes and they’ll have two ventilators.” Now all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’”

 New York City has been experimenting with putting two patients on one ventilator. 

 The Bulletin Board: Today, the British government announced that Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the English Trump, has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. — Federal prosecutors charged President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela with participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy, a major escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to push him out of office. The State Department also offered a $15 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest.  Re-elected under questionable circumstances in 2018, Maduro has destroyed his country’s economy and caused millions of people to leave.

The Obit Page: Actor Mark Blum, who was a familiar face but never a marquee name, has died at age 69 of complications from the coronavirus. Blum starred in the 1985  “Desperately Seeking Susan” with Madonna, and also had a major part in “Crocodile Dundee.” — Singer/songwriter Phil Phillips, who immortalized himself with “Sea of Love,” died in his hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana, at 94. — Fred “Curly” Neal, the bald basketball magician who demonstrated blinding ball handling skills with the Harlem Globetrotters for 22 years, has died at 77.

Enough About You: The National Restaurant Association estimates that three percent of all restaurants in the country are closing for good. Asked about that, President Trump said, “Well, I hate to … I know the business very well. I understand the restaurant business is a very delicate business. It’s a business that is not easy. I always say, in a restaurant business, you can serve 30 great meals to a person or a family and they love it. One bad meal, number 31, they never come back again. It’s a very tough business, but they’re great people that run restaurants.”

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