Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Coronavirus News (63)

They were together for 73 years and died 6 hours apart -- both from coronavirus
'Heads we win, tails you lose': how America's rich have turned pandemic into profit As 26 million Americans lose their jobs, the billionaire class has added $308bn to its wealth ....... Never let a good crisis go to waste: as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the world, America’s 1% have taken profitable advantage of the old saying. ......

Some of the richest people in the US have been at the front of the queue as the government has handed out trillions of dollars to prop up an economy it shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic.

At the same time, the billionaire class has added $308bn to its wealth in four weeks - even as a record 26 million people lost their jobs.

Dad of NY doctor Lorna Breen says she ‘was in the trenches’ before suicide

Covid-19 has blown apart the myth of Silicon Valley innovation The pandemic shows that the US is no longer much good at coming up with technologies relevant to our most basic needs. ........ the coronavirus pandemic has revealed much of what is broken and decayed in politics and society in America. ...... Big tech doesn’t build anything. It’s not likely to give us vaccines or diagnostic tests. We don’t even seem to know how to make a cotton swab. ........ The pandemic has made clear this festering problem: the US is no longer very good at coming up with new ideas and technologies relevant to our most basic needs. We’re great at devising shiny, mainly software-driven bling that makes our lives more convenient in many ways. But we’re far less accomplished at reinventing health care, rethinking education, making food production and distribution more efficient, and, in general, turning our technical know-how loose on the largest sectors of the economy. ...........

innovation is the only way for an advanced country like the US to grow over the long run ...... a lack of business- and government-funded R&D is a big factor

....... Even before the pandemic, Van Reenen proposed “a massive pool of R&D resources that are invested in areas where market failures are the most substantial, such as climate change.” ....... one of the most important failures revealed by covid-19: our diminished ability to innovate in areas that truly count, like health care and climate change.




Elon Musk Tweets 'FREE AMERICA NOW' As His Coronavirus Predictions Prove Very Wrong
Google Meet, Google’s Zoom competitor, is now free for everyone Google did video before Zoom, but a lack of focus means it wasn't ready for COVID-19.
India should be placed on religious freedom blacklist, US panel says Commission says religious minorities face ‘increasing assault’ under Narendra Modi but state department unlikely to take action
Trump still seems to not understand how bad the coronavirus crisis is
Trump set to travel to Arizona next week amid push to lift coronavirus restrictions
State bankruptcy furor shakes up McConnell reelection bid
FDA reportedly will approve Covid-19 treatment remdesivir, which US-funded trial shows has 'positive effect' on recovery
Half of Americans won’t trust contact-tracing apps, new poll finds Respondents trust public health agencies, but not tech firms, with their data.
U.S. coronavirus outbreak soon to be deadlier than any flu since 1967 as deaths top 60,000



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