Transcripts For FBC After The Bell 20240712

Possible and on testing the American People really deserve to know that when we began, as you said, mr. President it, was literally a standing start. We didnt have information on the coding of the coronavirus until midfebruary but americas cdc labs and Public Health labs did their level best. By the end of february we had done less than 10,000 coronavirus tests but as you Just Announced a few moments ago, last week we cleared 100 million tests all across the country. It is extraordinary. We have the capacity to do three million tests a day. It is a testament to American Innovation and the leadership youve provided. Also, mr. President , weve delivered to nearly 14,000 Nursing Homes in america point of care tests already and are making it possible for us to really keep focus on the most vulnerable. As you know only 8 of those who have contracted the coronavirus are in Nursing Homes but 40 of those that have lost their life have been in Nursing Homes. So weve surged those resources and surged them to vulnerable populations. But with the announcement today of this Abbott Laboratories test, we began a process first announcing 50 million tests to go to vulnerable communities, to minority communities, Indian Health services but as we told all the nations governors today we begin the process this week of distributing 100 million tests to state and territory in the country free of charge so they can deploy those tests on the priority the state has set, but mr. President , giverren the extraordinary capacity we have in testing today we expressed a hope to all of the the today use these abbott bio next tests to open up americas schools and keep them open. We heard about the enthusiasm of governors on both sides of the aisle about what this test will mean in helping to process, helping to process the testing that will get our kids into school and keep our kids in school. Mr. President , let me just close by saying this is a, weve passed through a challenging time in the life of this nation in 2020 and our hearts, i know your heart is with all the families that have suffered loss. But as you said, cases are declining. Hospitalizations have been declining. Declining dramatically, particularly in the sunbelt. In louisiana where not long ago 50 parishes had more than 10 positivity rate, only three parishes are testing positive over 10 . Arizona was testing 20 positivity rate. Now it is less than 4 consistently. With cases positivity rising in 10 states in the midwest and the near west, and with this historic advance in testing that is being distributed, 150 strong around the country, mr. President , the American People should anticipate that cases will rise in the days ahead. But as we, as we more readily identify those who have contracted the coronavirus, the American People can be confident because of this extraordinary and historic public and private partnership that you have forged. Because of this whole of government approach were ready. As we prove through the outbreak in the sunbelt this summer, well make sure that any community, any state that is impacted with rising cases, any school that is impacted will have the ppe, will have the supplies, will have the medicines. As you said, mr. President , we will continue at your direction our relentless drive toward achieving the first, safe, effective vacs soon so which can achieve the day, we once and for all put this coronavirus in the past. So mr. President , with thanks to our industry partners, thanks to this team, thanks to you for your strong leadership, i hope for that day and the American People can be confident we will not rest, we will not relent until we put this coronavirus in the past. President trump thank you very much, mike. Scott atlas, would you say a few words please, how were doing and where you see us going, please. Okay. Thank you, mr. President. And i also want to echo the congratulations to the team, the task force, admiral giroir in particular who worked very hard on the testing. This is a remarkable day because we have state of the art testing. This is not the typical point of care test even. This is new. This does not require any kind of machine. It is very rapid and. This is not one of those deep swab things that people are reluctant to use. So i think were, were really making an advance here to do what testing is supposed to do, that is to save lives. As the Vice President mentioned we know that there are areas of the country that have more cases. This is to be expected with more social mingling and the testing but particularly protecting the vulnerable is the key here. We have not seen hospital overcrowding. Were doubling down now with testing to protect vulnerable people, not just inside of nursing hopes but in residential settings, senior Daycare Centers this is a remarkable advance. I anticipate as, as this virus, as we get toward the end of this pandemic, and the vaccine is being developed as quickly as it has been, america will be in a different position and there really should be, as i said many times, the fear is not the issue here. We really have a handle on whats going on. We know what to anticipate and there is remarkable advances being made as we see today. Thank you very much. President trump well, thank you very much. Tremendous progress is being made. I say it, i say it all the time. Were rounding the corner. Very importantly vaccines are coming but were rounding the corner regardless but vaccines are coming. Theyre coming fast. We have four Great Companies already. It will be added to very rapidly. Theyre in final stages of testing and from what were hearing the results are going to be very extraordinary. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. And thank you very much, great job by abbott. Great job from the beginning by abbott. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. [applause] melissa President Trump wrapping up a News Conference on the testing strategy now for a vaccine as well as stocks rebound after four straight weeks of losses saying there, that was doctor dr. Scott atlas. The big news from the president and Coronavirus Task force team, they were going to start shipping out, there were a lot of numbers thrown back and forth, 100 million, 150 million, theyre sending them to states immediately. They are going to be free. They are the tests that can be administered by yourself or an adult. Just swab your knows. Not the one that goes up are up into your brain. This is gamechanger. It is targeted at schools where you instantly can test people. Instantly got the results. You dont need a doctor. To focus it at schools and the most vulnerable population. The president is saying this should really change things. They will let the state deploy all of these tests theyre sending out, hundreds of millions of tests, let the states decide where they should go so they can open the schools as quickly as possible and they can focus on the population that needs the tests the most. A lot to absorb there. Im melissa francis. This is after the bell. Hello, connell. Connell hey there, melissa. Im connell mcshane, reporting from saginaw, michigan. Well get back to that story on testing in a moment. First tell you where we are for the shoaf. On the floor of a manufacturing company, continuing our swing state economy series ahead of the first president ial debate which takes place tomorrow. At this point a month ago, just over a month until the election. We were out and about as much as we can speaking to voters about issues that matter to them and their families. This time around no state was closer than michigan. This county had the tightest race in the entire state. It is such an important area. Well spend more time telling you about it. Back to the top stories of the day. We have fox Business Team coverage to cover it for you all. Edward lawrence in washington. Gerri willis following the market rally. We saw the dow climb 410 points. Gerri, well get back to you. Edward on the testing story well begin with you. Reporter the big issue is the testing. Theyre telling the American People to get the testing out, to reassure them they know where the virus is going, where it has been, possibly contain it with any hot spots there. As you heard 100 million tests have been purchased, and will be sent out to states free of charge. That is from at 760 milliondollar contract the federal government made with abbott labs. These are the rapid tests you get the answer if you have the coronavirus or not within 15 minutes or not. But again Nursing Homes. They say this will be targeted. Nursing homes, schools, the governor of mississippi if you were listening there, to get up he could have every teacher test themselves with these tests each day before the school starts. It is something that he would like to see, he said to make sure that students feel come comfortable. Get in the classroom. Mississippi is 70 in class. He wants to get it to 100 in class. Something im sure parents across the nation would like to see. But again 14,000 Nursing Homes will get these tests were told this week is what the Vice President said. He said he was on a meeting, a Conference Call with governors across the nation to let them know exactly how this testing procedure is going. What we did not see, we thought we would get questions from the president or president asking reporters to ask him questions about the news of the day today. There were two big topics. Obviously the Supreme Court nominee and also taxes. The New York Times report saying that the president has not paid federal income tax in 10 of the last 15 years because he is showing massive losses on the documents that they have, claiming they are his tax returns. Showing losses offsetting the income that the president s made. The president made it clear on twitter and yesterday saying that is not true. The story is inaccurate. He has paid hundreds of millions in taxes but again today, they wanted to refocus this about the coronavirus. The president showing the United States exactly what he is doing going forward. Back to you. Connell you could tell, edward by the setup in the rose garden there was no plan to take questions. The reporters were kept behind the rope where supporters and staff were closer to the president. Didnt give them any opportunity to ask the questions. Lets get to the markets. While the president was speaking gerri willis, we closed quite a market rally up 400 plus points on the dow. Reporter thats right, connell, up 410 points on the dow. Stocks rebounding after four straight weeks of losses. The jump coming after the longest weekly losing streak in more than a year. Take a look at the numbers, the s p up 53 points. The big winner today, the nasdaq composite up 203 points. That is 1. 87 . Digging now into the dow, 29 of 30 dow stocks ending higher, boeing, dow, jmp, j. P. Morgan, chevron. This was financials, industrial, broad swath of companies. Love to see the broad rallies than just tech doing well. Microsoft, facebook, all of ending in the green. Tech has been the big selloff candidate over the last four weeks. Not today. Just the opposite. The two big sectors really fueled the cyclicals, which speaks excitement what is going on in the economy, tech stocks, they boosted the averages more than 1. 5 . I just got to show you airlines here. Take a look at this, if you think somebody is not excited about the economy, look at those stocks. Airlines, this is an industry that really has been decimated amid coronavirus doing so much better. Hey, even Carnival Cruise lines was higher today. So good news in the markets. Just one final fact i will leave you with, among nyse stocks for everyone stock of the New York Stock Exchange stocks that went down today, closed lower, seven closed higher. Back to you. Connell seven to one, not bad at all. Gerri, thank you. Melissa. Melissa all right. Here now is Dan Henninger from the wall street journal he is also a fox news contributor. So, dan, how much of a gamechanger is this . Obviously the president comes out and makes this very big announcement, 100 million tests free of charge going out today. Going to states. Teachers can do it themselves, get a test result immediately. They can test themselves every single day, get schools back open. The white house, d. C. Is sending these out free for the states. You have abbott labs there. He didnt take any questions, didnt want to muddle the question or muddle the moment, get other news in there. Get everybody to focus on the fact that he has a big plan and testing to get kids back to school. What do you think about this . Well i thought it was very positive development in of its own right. Testing has been a huge part of the battle against coronavirus and now we have a rapid, easy, obviously general giroir doing extraordinary demonstration on himself, rapid test to see within 15 minutes whether one is infected with coronavirus and if i can say very quickly, melissa, this is an extraordinary achievement by Abbott Laboratories. I mean six months, the base of scientific knowledge in the United States that is able to do something to this is something i think we should all be very proud of but to get back to the politics of it make no mistake what is happening tomorrow night a debate between joe biden and donald trump and one of joe bidens primary points of attack in his words, that the president has botched the handling of the coronavirus and the response to it. The president s numbers on handling the coronavirus have not been very good. So needless to say, mr. Trump is going to want to put as much positive information out there in advance of that debate as he can to neutralize the biden attack and what he did today was something substantive. This is real. These tests are indeed going to go out there. So it is part of a good story for the president but make no mistake, it is part of the politics well going through here in the next 36 hours. Melissa yeah. Speaking of politics, one of the other things that we saw land over the weekend was a very similar attack to last time around saying something has seen the president s tax returns and it shows that he isnt paying his quote fair share of tax. He took advantage of legal opportunities to depreciate this, that be the other, so he only paid roughly 750 doll dollars in taxes. Im paraphrasing the article. It is similar to what we heard about the same time four years ago. The bottom line the New York Times isnt providing the evidence and they can say weve seen evidence that you know, Donald Trumps tax returns shows he is a child molester and the only way that he could really refute that would be to release his tax returns which he doesnt want to do. So this is one of those situations where you kind of have to expect it if youre not going to release your tax returns. They can say they show anything they want and if youre not prepared to prove the inverse, what are you going to do . Should he release the tax returns . Does it make a big difference . Well, at this point he is not going to release his tax returns, melissa. We at the wall street journal editorial page wrote back during the 2016 campaign that the president should release those returns, get this dispute behind him. He didnt take our advice and so here we are. I do not think it is a gamechanger in terms of peoples opinions about the president. I suppose it is notable that the times is reporting that he didnt pay taxes because he took years and years of losses which perhaps is the president s biggest embarassment here. That he is socalled savvy businessman was losing money year after year. But nonetheless you may assume, i have assumed that the times dropped this story within a day of the president ial debate so that joe biden can press the attack on mr. Trump that he has somehow failed to pay taxes and perhaps consumed 15 or 20 minutes of valuable debate time arguing over Donald Trumps taxes and putting him on the defensive. Melissa does it matter that weve seen you know, so many articles, so much reporting about joe biden, you know, making himself an scorporation and using a loophole that he has vowed to get rid of . He himself has used to avoid paying massive amount of taxes too . Also legal, just like the president but, you know, is it hard for him to, can he hurl insults at the president for taking advantage of the tax code that he himself takes advantage of . Yeah. Well he will do that and the president will hurl insults back at him. He will bring up hunter biden, ukraine, the rest of it, one has to ask, melissa, is this what the American People want to tune in tomorrow to see, mudslinging match between joe biden and donald trump, issues not related to the governance of the country. Chris wallace will try to pull it back to issues like the connie, coronavirus, china and the rest of it but you know, trump doesnt take insults sitting down as we know. He gives as good as he gets and joe biden has built a lot of his campaign against attacking trumps character and attacking him personally. It will be a lot easier for joe biden to do that than to talk about details substance which he really has not done much in the last several weeks. Joe biden tries to stay away from hose subjects because he gets tangled up in them. I expect biden to press the personal attacks. Or trump tries to move on to something more substantive. Melissa is it about personality and make character or is it about policies and how that will impact peoples lives . Well see what people tune in for and what they hear. Dan henninger, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. No confidence in mayor bill de blasio, big surprise there why the Union Representing the Largest School district in the u. S. Is sounding the alarm on new york citys handling of school reopenings, and what it could mean for students across the big apple. Connell . Connell we will also, melissa continue our coverage from here in the battleground state of michigan. We have a republican congressman coming up, John Molinari represent this is area. Well preview the big debate, round one of the president ial debates. Policies voters especially in this area are concentrating on. Stick around live from michigan. S needed some work sofi was the first lender that even offered a personal loan. I didnt even know that was an option. The personal loan let us renovate our Single Family house into a multiunit home. And i get to live in this Beautiful House with this beautiful kitchen and its all thanks to sofi. Look, this isnt my first rodeo and let me tell you something, i wouldnt be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. 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You can argue it is one of the reasons he won the state. What about now . What is the sense from your constituents in terms of that message whether it is still resonating . President trump was the first republican to win saginaw county since Ronald Reagan did in 1984. I think that support has even grown in strength because when he came here he talked about renegotiating nafta. All the experts were skeptical. Now we have the usmca which helps manufacturers, it helps agriculture with new markets in canada. So he is running on a record that really resonates here in saginaw county. Connell it is always close in this county and we spoke to as many voters we could yesterday, you will hear some later on in the show, the place where my sense runs president runs into trouble with women voters a lot brought up to the response to the virus. I mentioned that because he just had an event in the rose garden we carried live, announcing new testing strategy, that the like, that seems to be an area where he has to make up some ground. Will these announcements help. No question the virus has really shaken people and the fact that a lot of people are not even familiar with the operation warp speed. To me that is exciting news where there is now Rapid Testing as well as new therapeutics that will treat people as they have the virus. As well as development of a vaccine. He had and all of government, all of america hands on approach to getting this done and i think were going to see some very exciting results this is just one of the first results, this Rapid Testing. I think as we have new medicines and a vaccine that will be tremendously encouraging to everybody that wants to see us reopening in a safe way. Connell talk about the debate tomorrow a little bit. Well go down to cleveland after the show tonight. Well talk to voters in ohio tomorrow, another important state what would you like to see what do you think people are looking for . Seems so many people have already made up their mind on this race but in areas like this, there is still some undecideds. What is the key tomorrow night you think. I think it is important the president runs on his record. For michigan there is a new lock being built at the sioux locks. Record trade deal. New funding for great lakes restoration initiative. All those things are huge priority for michigan. Agriculture with the new trade deal. Manufacturing, more jobs here in the United States. He needs to run on his record. A great record of promises made, promises kept. Connell among bluecollar workers, you represent a lot of them, story broke in the New York Times yesterday about the president s taxes, according to the returns that the times said they obtained some years the president didnt pay any federal income taxes as he wrote off losses in some businesses. In 2016 and 2017 he paid 750. The attack from the other side, the Biden Campaign is running ads to this effect, some middle class folks that the president represents they are paying more in federal income taxes than he is. That might resonate, no, for some people . President trump is a businessman, businesses have losses they have revenues and those taxes as long as theyre calculated in a legal way people can respect that. Connell does it hurt his reputation as businessman to have those losses . I think Everybody Knows that President Trump is a risktaker in business. He is someone who does new developments. He is a builder. I think that the bottom line is he did things according to the law and it is something people will evaluate him on his performance here as president. Connell how is your own race going . You are going for the fourth term in congress . Yes. Connell control of the house maybe not is up for grabs as control of the senate, but still important. How are things going . Were work very hard. It is a different environment. Usually you have county fairs, parades, ault sorts of festivals much. You dont have any of that. Connell cant even shake hands, right . Exactly. Were reaching voters and were optimistic and excited about election day. Connell quick word on stimulus, you guys are not getting anything done before the election, are you . We would love the ppp to be extended. We signed a discharge petition Speaker Pelosi to bring it up. Speaker pelosi so far has not agreed on it. Connell businesses talk a lot about it. Congressman, thanks for being on. Well continue much more from michigan here. Talking to the president of a manufacturing country about how businesses are faring under the president s economic policies in this swing state and one key demographic that could be turning away from the president. Well tell you what voters are saying. Were just hours now from the first debate. I think everybody is split one way or the other but a lot of people dont voice their opinions. You know theyre very quiet about it. And so it is just a matter of waiting for the election and seeing what comes out of it. Melissa testing under fall themed products after generating huge interest in canada. The company says it is bringing pumpkin spiced mac and cheese to the u. S. For a limited time. That is right, pumpkin spiced mac and cheese. Offering 1000 americans the chance to try the concoction for free. Im volunteering. I felt like. I was just fighting an uphill battle in my career. So when i heard about the applied Digital Skills courses, im thinking i can become more marketable. You dont need to be a computer expert to be great at this. These are skills lots of people can learn. I feel hopeful about the future now. Melissa emotions running high in new york city schools. Governor andrew cuomo says that the state will act if the data demands it as the Union Representing the Largest School district in the u. S. Declares unanimous vote of no confidence in mayor bill de blasio. Gosh, get in line and chancellor richard caranzo. Over their handling of the school reopening. What does it mean for tens of thousands of students waiting to get back into their classrooms in new york city . Who better to ask, one of the smartest, most sensible new yorkers i own, our very own david asman. Uhhuh. Melissa david, no kidding we dont have any confidence in bill de blasio and chancellor caranza. What does that mean . Who gets to decide this next . This came as a bubble to the surface the results of a Principals Union, i didnt realize we had on top of a teachers unions. Maybe two unions coming around in education. They were upset at the deal struck between the mayor and de blasio, uft, United Federation of teachers, the teachers union. This new deal describes that there be three designations of teachers. One deals with kids totally at home. Two teachers that deal with the kids that come into the classroom and three, the hybrid students, the students who work at home and sometimes go to school. So it required hiring of about double the number of teachers that we now have and the system is already totally broke as you know. It is a terrible deal. And the Principals Union said it is a terrible deal. They realized it requires hiring a lot more, maybe not double but hiring a lot more teachers than we have money for right now. So theyre crying, crying out saying this is a terrible deal. It cant be done. Particularly on top of what you think of what were already paying for education in the city of new york. This is by the way duplicated in many major cities, in chicago, in los angeles, were spending far too much educating our kids when you consider what we get out of it. The entire cost for one classroom in new york is 633,000 per class that comes down to 28,800 per student. Imagine that, youre paying 28,800 per student, think what you get out of it . Only 160, i say only, its rather remarkable how much theyre getting but the teachers salary and benefits comes to 168,500. That is only 27 of the total. Most of the other costs are administrative costs. All these bureaucrats that shouldnt be getting it. Charter schools we should mention which are booming as a result of them being open while Public Schools are shut, they only charge about half as much per student. They charge 16,000 to educate a student. Melissa yeah. So the point is, its half of what you pay for Public Schools. You dont have to deal with the unions. Dont have to deal with all the bureaucracies. Maybe it is better we go to all Charter Schools rather than have this Public Education system . Melissa or at least you have the choice because as we look at private schools that are back, Charter Schools, those are Charter School in my neighborhood where they have set up hundreds of desks out on their playground. It is not any bigger than a normal playground. They have them all moved around. They invested in a tent over the top. They put heaters out. It is not a great longterm solution. The kids are back. They figured out a way to get them out there and get them going. David, let me ask you this, this is the same problem, i heard somebody talking in ohio today about the same thing. Theyre talking about they have to hire extra teachers in order to make this work. Theyre fighting over it. It is almost october 1st. How are you having this conversation now. The kids arent back in. Where are you going to find the teachers if that is what you need . The virus, the tests are coming out, the vaccination is coming. Right. Melissa they say they need these things. They havent done it what i havent talked about all the number of teachers saying the heck with this. This is crazy because of all the offs and ons come from the School Administrators and the mayor and the City Councils and everything, even the governor chimed in saying its on, its off, a lot of teachers are throwing up their hands, i cant live like this, i will find another career. Despite teachers are leaving they will need to hire more teachers than they have. Its a big problem. It comes back also. We started with this, maybe end with this, looking at mayor de blasio. This city, like new york city, most major cities required enormously skilled manager to keep it all together. You think of rudy giuliani. You think of mike bloomberg. Think what you will of who they are and what they have turned out to be, these are skilled managers. This guy has one disasterous move after the other. He is the opposite of a skilled manager. For him to be a running a school system, costs vary from anywhere from 40 to 60 billion to spend for our education, Public School system. That is just way out of the reach of somebody with a limited capabilities of mayor de blasio. Melissa no. Michael goodwin made a great point, when youre picking a mayor, he was, de blasio was the chief complainer before. He was the public advocate. He didnt run anything. He wasnt responsible. He just was there to kind of complain about stuff, not fix it and find solutions. In all of these cities you need somebody who is actually run something huge or how else can you expect them to get the job done. Bingo. Melissa its a lot to do. David, appreciate it. Connell, over to you. Connell melissa we have update on one Small Business our audience might remember. In may we did a live show village as perk, in long island. Villages perk five businesses completely destroyed by a fire that broke out on sunday morning. Our heart goes out to danny and his wife marjorie. They sent along the pictures. Many other businesses in the area also now after dealing with the covid shutdown, picking up the pieces once again. Well keep you updated on their progress. Well be right back. Keeping your oysters business growing has you swamped. You need to hire. I need indeed indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventyfivedollar credit when you post your first job at indeed. Com promo so youre a small bor a big one. You were thriving, but then. Oh. Ah. Okay. Plan, pivot. How do you bounce back . You dont, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. Powered by the largest gig Speed Network in america. But is it secure . Sure its secure. And even if the power goes down, your connection doesnt. So how do i do this . You dont do this. We do this, together. Bounce forward, with comcast business. I think im going for biden and kamala. Connell tell me why. Im going for them, be honest with you, boils down to the covid19 thing. I usually vote conservative. Im more midline, typically i take as much home from my paycheck as possible. That is the conservative candidate. Connell is that President Trump in this case. It is President Trump. I see a lot of things that happened that trump does that i just do not support. I cant support a president that is blatantly disrespectful to a lot of individuals. Im for trump. Connell tell me why. Because i believe that with all the things he has been saying, he has been getting it done. I think that trump has messed up so much, as far as the covid response, leaving it up to 50 governors, having 50 different policies is just not the way for a country to be fighting. Connell who will you support . Probably trump. So. I dont know. Connell you dont seem 100 convinced . Well, he is the worst ever two evils. Got to vote for somebody. Connell got to vote for somebody. The pulse of the people, michigan voters on issues they say matter the most to them. So we always try to do on the swing state shows to talk to people. Former Vice President joe biden, if you look at numbers is currently leading and has been leading in the polls. Whether among registered voters as we see here, among likely voters. In 2016, President Trump won michigan, barely. He beat Hillary Clinton in very close race. James holman, Mackinaw Center for Public Policy thanks for coming on. We did this is a state. Good to see you again. Connell as i said the pulse of the people. This area changes a lot. I got into this with the congressman a little bit. The president s message was antinafta. Really resonated last time. A couple years later Governor Whitmer wins. Seems like it is changing. What is the area like now . What do you think the focus is . I expect there is lot of uncertainty going on. A lot of that is economics. Michigan took a big hilt during the pandemic. We lost out of one every five jobs during single month. Weve been recovering and recovering strong. In fact the second highest growth in the nation is job growth. How much people are feeling that Economic Growth will dictate how they vote in this election. Connell depends who you ask. Go back to voters on that exact point how they feel about the economy and their state and their own personal situations. Here it is. Then well react. How is the economy. I think it is hurting. I think it is hurting. Grand rapids. Were dealing with medical community. Dealing with a lot of covid and businesses patients a lot of businesses are shut down. It is hurting. It is Getting Better but it is definitely hurting. Connell that last point is what you were getting at. It is hurting but Getting Better. I guess timing is always the tricky thing when it is an election year. We have 10 Million People here are experiencing Different Things working remotely during the pandemic. But people had to wait three months when Unemployment Insurance claims cleared. They will feel a much different thing from this pandemic. That will inform how they vote. Connell it will, right . Depends who you ask who they blame for that. Some, especially the support is of the president , it is fault of the congress. We needed a new stimulus. It doesnt necessarily mean the incumbent takes the blame. It usually does. What do you think will happen . On top of that, if you want to tell another story, talk about whether it is the governor of michigans responsibility. Connell yes, i heard that too. We have had varying orders throughout the state of consistency between them haas has been questionable. If voters want to blame the governor or president or congress. There is good evidence for all three. Connell you get the sense. It will be just as close. The numbers have been, one thing that is a little bit different than this cycle. Numbers are fairly consistent for Vice President biden. He has been leading throughout. Up and down a little bit, not as much volatility we saw last time. A huge story will come out. It was tied and week before, Hillary Clinton up eight or nine points. We havent seen that. Do you get the sense it will be close as it was last time around. I have no idea. Connell finally an honest answer. Is that what it comes down to you for you, how people viewed the pandemic, how it was handled . That will be a big part of it. That is very different thing we havent had an election deal with this before. Well watch it tomorrow night. Key to the debate well be watching as well. This area is really important im sure. Well see how they do on the stage. Good to see you again, jim. Thanks for coming on. That is a few of the analysis of the economy and how things are here locally, melissa. Back over to you. 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Connell and this is the best quarter you ever had. Started in 2020, and then the pandemic hit. April was a little weak, and then when may hit, it really hit us hard. We were down to probably revenues about 2030 of what would normally be that. Connell so you cut your work force after that . Yes, we did. At the beginning in january, we had 196 employees. When it started affecting us, by the time we got to 1st of july, we had 86 employees. So it really hit us hard during that time. Not only us, but our employees as well. Connell sure. We are extremely concerned about. Connell how are you doing now . Were coming back. Right now were about 120 employees, but about 40 of them are part time whereas before, the 196 were all fulltime employees. Connell so went through this period in the summer, and we do a lot of shows with these Small Businesses, sometimes restaurants will say, well, we had an issue because our workers were bringing in so much in unemployment, we couldnt get them to come back to work. Right. Connell did you have any of that, or did you actually have a different problem with that, when the unemployment ran out . We didnt have a problem with that. When we started, you know, bringing people back, that was not an issue. The unemployment ran out in michigan, the supplemental 600 ended the third week of july. Connell yeah. And so what that we really feel for our employees because we had a lot of longterm employees that lost their employment. And so we are concerned about that, and we literally every week we were waiting for congress to take some sort of action on the 600 supplemental, a lower rate connell something so you could plan for the future. But you heard the congressman earlier in the hour, its not going to happen before the election. I know its not going to happen. But its, again, were extremely disappointed with the inaction that happened over the last several months. Connell yeah. That would have helped you guys out a lot, had they done it really would have. Connell before we wrap up, let me ask you because the debates coming up tomorrow night, the election, everything was so close here last time. The president s message, as ive talked about a number of times this hour, resonated with probably a lot of people who work here. What about this time . What are you sensing politically, and what would you like to see happen yourself . Well, i think, you know, from the people we talk to here that are on the manufacturing end, its still very much positive for the president. The things that have been done for business, again, the amount of equipment that we have here, the amount that were able to write off whenever we acquire equipment is extremely critical to us. Connell so that tax reform, particularly writing off those expenses, that really helped you a lot . It really did. It helped us make the investment that we needed, you know . We have to constantly every year reinvest in our equipment and also in our technology. And so that provided a big boost to us. Connell so your decision is based, it sounds like, more on we were talking earlier is it economics or personality, and i know what your answer is. Its more not so much on the personal the city, but on the policies connell thats a cfo talking right there. That is correct. Connell great insight and have a sense of how people are operating in the state and also nice talking to you both i days. We appreciate it. Gary steele, here in the state of michigan. So were wrapping up here, melissa, in the next, well, 45 seconds or so, and then were going to drive to cleveland where i hear theres a pretty big debate tomorrow night. That should be interesting. Could be a recordbreaker in terms of ratings. Well see. Melissa no, i love it. I love hearing from people in the street, especially the guy who told you that he was going to vote for the worse of two evils. And then he said that was donald trump. So there you go. Theres the American Voter out there. But its great to hear so many different opinions out there. I love seeing the rest of the country, connell. Connell yep. Melissa thank you so much for doing that. We look forward to your big show tomorrow. That does it for us on after the bell. Lou dobbs tonight starts right now. Lou good evening, everybody. Senate republicans are moving at a rapid pace to confirm President Trumps choice to be the new Supreme Court justice. The confirmation hearings for judge Amy Coney Barrett scheduled to begin two weeks from today. The Senate Judiciary Committee Setting october 12th as the date for the beginning of her confirmation hearings. A Committee Vote scheduled ten days later on october 22nd. Senate majority leader membership mcconnell would then schedule a confirmation vote on the full senate floor for barrett, that vote likely to be