Free Republic

The coronavirus economic freeze could cost 47 million jobs and send the unemployment rate past 32%, according to St. Louis Fed projections. There are nearly 67 million Americans working in jobs that are at a high risk of layoffs, according to the analysis. Economists at the Fed’s St. Louis district project total employment reductions of 47 million, which would translate to a 32.1% unemployment rate, according to a recent analysis of how bad things could get.

New epidemiological model shows vast majority of people suffer little or no illness The new coronavirus may already have infected far more people in the UK than scientists had previously estimated — perhaps as much as half the population — according to modelling by researchers at the University of Oxford. If the results are confirmed, they imply that fewer than one in a thousand of those infected with Covid-19 become ill enough to need hospital treatment, said Sunetra Gupta, professor of theoretical epidemiology, who led the study. The vast majority develop very mild symptoms or none at all. “We need...

Regulators accuse him of misleading shareholders when he said he had funding for a corporate buyout Securities regulators on Thursday sued Elon Musk for fraud and sought to remove him from Tesla Inc., TSLA -0.67% raising doubts about the future of an electric-car maker synonymous with the audacious entrepreneur. The SEC’s lawsuit—sparked by Mr. Musk’s August comments that he had lined up funding for a corporate buyout—seeks civil penalties against Mr. Musk and asks a court to bar him from being the officer or director of a public company. [Emphasis mine] “These misleading statements, none of which were pre-cleared or...

Ah, so now we have it... Ford, a 51-year-old registered Democrat who has published in academic journals and has trained students in clinical psychology, described the alleged incident in The Washington Post on Sunday, saying it occurred during a summer day in the 1980s at a Maryland house where teens had gathered. Ford claimed she headed upstairs to a bathroom when she was suddenly pushed onto a bed, as rock-and-roll music blared. However, Ford told The Post she did not recall exactly who owned the house, how she came to be at the house, or how the gathering was arranged....

Breaking news

WASHINGTON—House Republicans, seeking the biggest transformation of the U.S. tax code in more than 30 years, aim to permanently chop the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%, compress the number of individual income tax brackets, and repeal the taxes paid by large estates starting in 2024, according to a detailed summary of the plan reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. To partly offset that lost revenue, Republicans plan to curtail the deductions individuals take for state and local tax payments and the ones businesses get for the interest they pay on debt. But the plan being released Thursday morning...

...The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he has talked to President Donald Trump twice this week about 401(k)s. "He'd like to raise the limits so people can save more in those plans. So do I. I think that's a good start," Brady said....The amount workers can contribute to a 401(k) rises to $18,500 next year, up from $18,000 in 2017. People age 50 and older can tack on a so-called catch-up contribution of $6,000. But lawmakers are now looking at raising that limit to $20,000 or more.

NEW YORK—Trump administration officials said Saturday the U.S. wouldn’t pull out of the Paris Agreement, offering to re-engage in the international deal to fight climate change, according to the European Union’s top energy official. The shift from President Donald Trump’s decision in June to renegotiate the landmark accord or craft a new deal came during a meeting of more than 30 ministers led by Canada, China and the European Union in Montreal. “The U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this...

The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's nominee, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday in a mostly party line vote.

Ford canceling plans for $1.6 billion plant in Mexico, investing $700 million in Michigan expansion instead

Subject: Cruz on CNN CNN is looking for questions. Please send some topical/interesting ones. Maybe a couple on Fiorina. Someone please take point and send them all together by 3pm.

...registered Democrats saw their total ballots slip from their same-day totals in 2012 (down 1.5 percent), registered Republicans are 13.4 percent ahead of their same day totals from 2012 while the big news continues to be the surge in registered unaffiliated voters casting ballots: they finished 41.2 percent ahead of their same day cumulative totals from 2012. In reviewing the race of voters who have submitted absentee ballots, 71 percent have come from white voters, an increase of 18 percent over their same day totals from 2012, while 22 percent have come from black voters, a decrease of 9 percent...

Donald Trump has moved into the lead over Hillary Clinton, 44% to 43% with two days left before Election Day, according to the latest IBD/TIPP presidential tracking poll. And the number of states in play is expanding. The GOP and Democratic nominees had been tied for the prior four days. Libertarian Party pick Gary Johnson is at 5% while the Green Party's Jill Stein is at 2%.

This year's ballots is 13.4 percent ahead of where things were on this same day in 2012..... Democrats have hit their same totals from four years ago on this same day, but registered Republicans are 13.8 percent ahead of their same-day 2012 totals and registered unaffiliated voters are 43.4 percent ahead of their same day totals Black voters have been making up their deficit from four years ago, now down only 8 percent from their 2012 same-day numbers (down 59,200 ballots), with white voters up 19 percent and all other races up 53 percent [my note: Up 53% on a...

An abbreviated version of today's posting: all North Carolina absentee ballots have hit over 1.7 million, with nearly 1.6 million accepted as early votes for the November 8 general election. All Absentee Ballots: The 1.7 million ballots, which accounts for all absentee ballots (mail-in and in-person) by sent date, represents a 6.8 percent increase over the same-day cumulative total from 2012's general election absentee voting period (1.59 million). Total Early Votes: Registered Democrats are 4.2 percent behind their same day 2012 total numbers, while registered Republicans are 4.5 percent ahead of their numbers. Registered unaffiliated voters are 36.9 percent ahead...

Registered Republicans are 7 percent ahead of their same-day totals for in-person voting, while registered Democrats are 8 percent behind their numbers from four years ago. Registered unaffiliated voters are 35 percent ahead of where they were four years on this same day; Registered Democrats are 44 percent of the total ballots so far, with registered Republicans at 31 percent and registered unaffiliated voters at 25 percent. However, both registered partisan groups are below their same-day totals from 2012: registered Democrats are 7 percent behind, while registered Republicans are 2 percent behind. The surprise this year continues to be registered...

In comparison to the 2012 cumulative totals, this year's in-person absentee ballots are where things stood four years ago (733,269 compared to 2012's same day total of 733,745). In terms of party registration performance, registered Republicans have met their same numbers from four years ago, while registered Democrats are down 11 percent, and registered unaffiliated voters are 30 percent ahead of where they were the same day in 2012.

Anyone else notice the new BS Daily Tracking poll that ABC launched on Sunday showing Trump down 12 that the MSM wouldn't shut up about (despite 4 other polls showing tie/lead) from ABC website - "This is the first in what will be daily ABC News tracking poll reports from now to Election Day". Only issue, it didn't actually update today at all. Why?

In 2012, the polls coming out were relatively tight. I pulled in the last week and change from RCP for 2012 and here is what I show. 2012 Poll Margin / Obama Lead Politico/GWU/Battleground 0% IBD/TIPP 1% Rasmussen Reports -1% CNN/Opinion Research 0% Gallup -1% ABC News/Wash Post 3% Monmouth/SurveyUSA/Braun 0% NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl -1% Pew Research -3% FOX News 0%Standard Deviation 1.5% Now, compare to the same time period today 2016 Poll Margin / Clinton Lead IBD/TIPP Tracking -2% Rasmussen Reports -2% PPD -1% LA Times 0% Economist/YouGov 4% Reuters/Ipsos 4% ABC News/Wash Post 4% FOX News 6%...

Trump: 42.7% Clinton: 41.3% Johnson: 7.1% Stein: 4.2% Undecided:4.7%