Transcripts For RT Boom Bust 20240713

The state of global infections and where the fight against the pandemic stands plus the title will meet this week to decide on how to tackle some issues facing the u. S. Economy what moves will they make following recent rate cuts well take a look and later in the midst of shortages due to the outbreak we take a look at the surge in prices for some products and the reports of profiteering with a boom bust panel with a packed show today so lets dive right in. As we continue to discuss the prospects of returning to normal life in reopening economies the truth is many experts dont believe that will fully happen until there is a working vaccine but there is some promising news out of Oxford University in the United Kingdom according to a report in the New York Times scientists at the university of jenner in. The 2 are ready to move forward with trials of an inoculation tested against previous versions of the krona virus which were harmless to humans researchers at the National Institutes for health Rocky Mountain laboratory in montana tested the oxford vaccine on 6 monkeys now the animals were given a single dose and exposed to the current corona virus and after 4 weeks the monkeys are all healthy while other monkeys which were not inoculated and exposed to the corona virus did get sick speaking with the Economic Club of washington d. C. The United States top Infectious Disease specialist Dr Anthony Fauci said he was cautiously optimistic about these tests and spoke about the broader process of developing vaccines there are going to be a lot of candidates out there as you know a few of them are already well into phase one studies in humans to determine if its safe and hopefully we can move along rather rapidly to get. A safe and effective in a timely manner which ive said right from the beginning would likely be a year to a year and a half and then the challenge will be to scale it up enough to be able to distribute it meaningfully both in this country and throughout the world. Well the oxford team says they will not finish the human trials of the vaccine until september but doesnt mean the Worlds Largest vaccine maker is waiting to start production of the oxford drug now the Serum Institute of india says they will produce 5000000. 00 units of the vaccine per month for the next 6 months to get ahead of demand hoping to have 20. 00 to 40000000. 00 doses by september or october when asked about making the vaccine before trials were complete the c. E. O. Of the Serum Institute told the times of india the decision at her own risk and cost has been solely taken to get a jump start on manufacturing to have enough doses available if the Clinical Trials prove successful and the United States now has officially surpassed 1000000. 00 confirmed cases of the coronavirus thats nearly a 3rd of global clay says so lets take another global look at the trends and spread of the corona virus with our key correspondent science have where we today so branded with much of the u. S. Asia and europe in the beginning stages of managing their outbreaks and pretty much deciding in the next steps in their response to the pandemic some countries are actually just starting to see a jumping cases now amongst those countries still struggling to slow the rate of infection we have russia iran saudi arabia brazil and a single poor who are all just experiencing Enormous Growth because as you recall on monday would discuss countries actually flattening the curve and actually seeing less cases but these countries there are still going up so in more detail in russia the majority of the cases are in moscow all the patients have now been confirmed in every one of russias 85 regions and at the moment russia has almost 95000 cases with over 867 deaths and 7000 of those cases have just been reported in the last 24 hours now. Russia is also now the 8th most affected country in terms of infections having surpassed china and iran this week this is also had russia a lot worse economically as oil prices could pull lapsing which is significantly reducing moscows income from crude exports but now lets move lets move over to iran thats right now facing the worst outbreak in the middle east with almost 6000 deaths and over 92000 confirmed cases but even as the country deals with a jump in cases some mosques are actually scheduled to open later this week now and top of the deaths related to the virus more than 700 people died after ingesting methanol thinking it could cure the virus so its very unfortunate brand and now lets move over to iran neighbors saudi arabia that has over 20000 confirmed cases and 100152 deaths you know even with huge jumps in cases 1400. 00 of which have been reported in the last 24 hours saudi arabia has actually relaxed curfews at the moment due to ramadan and not only that but at the annual muslim pilgrimage to mecca is still of officially scheduled for late july now the kingdom has asked muslims to book to postpone their trips but has not officially closed. And every year more than 2000000. 00 perform the pilgrimage to mecca brand and now over to south america and brazil is actually emerging as the next hot spot for the virus and brazil of firstly reported about 4600 that and more than 68000 confirmed cases and and and but the true numbers are there as in many other countries are actually believed to be a lot higher you know some. Scientists even think that over 1000000 people in brazil are probably infected and you know and that crisis could escalate even more as brazil heads into winter which can worsen respiratory illness and lastly i want to discuss singapore which is one of asias small as population thats emerging with the regions highest number of current of ours cases and just over a month ago brand singapore had been praised for its response to the pandemic and the increase in numbers is because singapore did not integrate the migrant population in containing the spread of the virus and now the majority of them factions are the Migrant Worker workers living in extremely close quarters so a really really major setback for singapores early success brant r t correspondent saya tavenner thank you so much for that insight for report and as a reminder you can always find the latest news and information regarding the krona virus on portable t. V. s coronavirus tracker the u. S. Federal reserve is meeting this week and it appears unlikely they will take any action after cutting rates to near 0 in march but has the feds intervention since the start of the economic crisis actually work to stabilize markets and prop up the economy to discuss were joined by todd for which chief strategist ed bubba trading cohost christine thank you both for joining us today chrystia want to start with you are we going to get anything substantial out of this weeks meetings from the fed. Well the markets only arent expecting anything substantial to come out of the fed me next week theyre not likely to insure any new directives until we actually have more data points and how they calmly is reacting and digesting the latest images thats already implemented right now with so many of these past weeks and this is a result of really the fed put this is the widespread belief that the u. S. Fed can always fresca the economy whether its by decreasing rates on the make you know in the monetizing everything in sight basically so we recently saw them take on president step by an unlimited amount treasuries and more to securities. When it launched in march the fed announced a floor of 700000000000. 00 but no ceiling it made very clear that the Market Conditions will then determine the level of purchases so thats basically what the number that were going to keep an eye out during this meeting and whether or not to see if they issue more explicit guidance on how long these rates will stay low and the announced monday its going to widen the number of local governments which it will buy debt in its upcoming Lending Program and really i just want to say thats just more action that theyre taking it in reality to kristis point you know theyre making all this q. E. There is these rate cuts there is this injection way is any of this actually making an impact we talk about this financial crisis that we are in that was kind of not brought upon by the coronavirus but made worse by the coronavirus. I brought to you and i listen the bottom line is that the only hope good thing they could do tomorrow if anything is to end the fed that would be the best thing they could do theyve done absolutely nothing theyve now intervened about 8 times into this and all theyve really done is torched the middle class once again because theyre going to pay for all this when its all said and done the best thing they could have done is to does that make a Lending Program and lower the rates and give them extended time to pay for it and giving away more free money that is that is artificially kept the stock market higher and really chris. Did nothing nor growth you know that this isnt changing and till the country opens were not going anywhere and all this money is not going to help anybody because at the end of the day we need a growing and a moving economy where the velocity of money goes through the economy right now the money goes into the hands of individuals and sits there ok plus the the few people who have taken advantage of the program dont deserve to be in the program so at the end of the day this is a benefit in my opinion a total bust and of course the fed in their usual stead has really created a lot more issues down the road than theyve actually tried to cure where were at right now and to your point but i know its a huge surprise as when theres free money handed out by some organization whether its the government the fed whoever it might be theres going to be some people who take it who dont deserve it and weve seen that with the Small Business program i mean now what there were reports are that the Los Angeles Lakers got several 1000000 in the in the stimulus so i mean its all ridiculous here now christie equities i have been mostly stable today although some would say thats volatile but you know their body of it what are we seeing in markets around the world and all the markets around the world is to say are having a relatively good day what are you seeing on tuesday or. Well on the surface the market hasnt really moved much where about half to one percent but there is quite a fair bit of volatility in between the sectors right now you see the biggest tech stocks that have held up the market the founding stocks theyve turned sharply lower today while investors shift into undervalued names names that have actually sold out the worst during the peak of the outbreak so its basically a rotation day the russell in next is gaining double the s. And p. In those markets are known for the high risk high reward scenarios and right now investors are piling into that high risk betting on the economy reopening and in addition just as you also see me tell its like a pretty holdings th and others that rally double digits today meanwhile theyve sold off the war strain the outbreak and theyre still down you know great so this is a bit of a relief balance so today getting in the allocation of funds investors are cashing out of the coronavirus when i was names like mark dr pepper the fang pfizer and actually start to bottom pick the cheaper names the names that will bounce in the event of a real thing not a recovery but a reopening markets done a down today dragged down by the nasdaq as most investors theyre selling out into tech arnies that we had this week out from that just requires day that we have facebook and the like as well in the above what are you seeing in markets i mean like i said were relatively stable today although it appears that we might be ready for another sell off i dont know what the catalyst for thats going to be but what are you seeing today. Well i mean if you look at the Bigger Picture a mark is a really good stock in a very wide consolidation range and theyre going to break out big one where the other and again theyve made a couple of attempts to break out to the upside and have failed now again that doesnt mean that were going down right now but theyre on the range and look at the end of the day big tech has been on fire until the last couple of days and its been a pressure but youve got Google Facebook apple amazon and a host of others that are report the next 3 days so it is not a surprise that maybe there is some profit taking it out of these but overall the market looks fine i mean it looks like it wants to go higher and of. Keep getting free money why not let it go higher end but i want to touch on Something Interesting and quickly here before we end this today that was reported on monday the government of saudi arabia a Sovereign Wealth Fund disclosed they bought a 5. 7 percent stake in live nation thats the Parent Company of ticketmaster that was worth roughly 500000000. 00 the fund also took a nearly 800000000. 00 stake in Carnival Cruise lines as well recently what do you make of the saudi investment are buying up pieces of these Companies Hit hard by the pandemic. Is that theyre making a great bet you dont you have you got that kind of capital to play with which they do youre making a great bet youre saying that the American Economy is going to come back and that were going to go back to theater concerts and things like that for a live nation and were going to go back and occasionally go back on cruises so my opinion listen theyve made a great bet theyre not going to get out tomorrow theyre not kind of panic this is a phenomenal play for them that will probably double or triple their money over time for beat making this investment at the absolute bottom thats a Warren Buffett they havent played by a company you know is going to be better and buying it for cheap shot or as chief strategist at bubba trading in bus goes kristie i thank you for that expert analysis. Thank you. And time now for a quick break but hang here because when we return in the midst of a shortages due to the outbreak we take a look at the surges of prices for some products and reports of profiteering with a boom bust panel and as we go to break here the numbers at the close. To. Use. The. Well google who are legal birth. Mother which should out. Here definitely walking into words all in all we no longer know what were walking into i cant see march. What she needs to break she little bit. Nervous. But also more sensible. The world is driven by a dream shaped by one person those better. Than. The dares thinks. We dare to ask. Somebody. Yes lets see i guess. I was on the floor somethings in my basket you know trying praying. Its just come. Back. I want to. Test its time for us think that were still i was having children fever i didnt have any sense of taste or smell. Most young. Girls would you. Please to wish you know son the older sisters. That last time he was on the ground to go for. Didnt. Push myself into the main the. Welcome back in the midst of this corona d virus pandemic there is still a huge need for p. P. Or personal protective equipment now peepee includes everything from face mask to gloves protective clothing and i wear there are now a large number of reports indicating that p. P. Sales are being taken advantage of by profiteers who in some cases have raised the price of the equipment by as much as 1000 percent and in some cases equipment that has been marked up by 10000 percent so joining us now to discuss is our boom bust cohost christine and ben swann thank you both for being here with this again now ben lets start with what is actually going on here what are some of the worst examples of these markups and this type of profiteering off of the coronavirus. Yes so essentially the story now is you know for several weeks theres been talk about you know you can go on amazon and you would find Hand Sanitizer for 300. 00 a bottle or facemask you know a box of 50 of them for Something Like 500. 00 so those have existed out there and amazon said they were going to crack down but the new angle to this story brant is the fact that hospitals are having to buy a lot of protective equipment right now face masks and p. P. E. Like gallons and gloves those kinds of things hospitals have to have this now the way new york law is written essentially in new york state you cannot and then when i read it to you you cannot increase the price of the Consumer Product by an unconscionably excessive price during an emergency but thats a Consumer Product for individual consumers those are personal family or household purposes thats the way the law is written in this case what were seeing is hospitals saying wait a minute as as a professional into tea we cant get this stuff because those prices that been marked way up for instance the one hospital says this they say that the price of a gallon that should normally cost about 0. 50 to create is costing 7. 00 and a shield a face shield thats worth about a 1. 25 its being sold for 25. 00 a shield so the hospitals are saying that they are going to try to buy equipment and the pricing on them has gone like off the charts and now kristie i mean some would say that this is truly a supply and demand issue and that the price of these items has that really gone up as they become more and more scarce but were talking about 15. 00 times what they normally cost but we also know that a doctor 3rd of doctors treating her about his patients and hire a settings are still unable to get all the protective equipment that they actually need have leaders have warned this is also a moral issue and not just an economic one what do you make of this whole situation. Sure it is a moral issue and that these doctors should get all the people even a need in order to save lives but people also need to understand the how the entire supply chain works so yes the price and manufacturing has gone up because of the price of Raw Materials latex for example there is a worldwide shortage of latex right now Chinese Manufacturing Companies cant produce enough nitrile gloves they source the latex and 1000. 00 Manufacturing Companies are bidding up the prices themselves in order to try to fulfill the millions and millions of quantities that are ordered and thats the same thing with the filtration materials used for the mass and. The volume of the orders coming through is producing backlogs and remember these manufacturing plants just are operating at full capacity now so with everybody starting to get production going at the same time you now have backlogs and orders backlog that barge backlogs at the at the air freight station and that increases the price of shipping as well so really the price increases at the manufacturing level has been consistent its the price of the Raw Materials and the price of transportation and that makes sense given the principles of competition there are thousands of factories in china so if you try to price gouge at the production level the consumers will just shop somewhere else so really a lot of price gouging where thats coming in thats in the middleman and thats here on u. S. Soil. And youve also called the generally a supply demand issue to a certain extent but theres also another issue here of heavy demand leading to other issues whats going on there yes so you know the supply the main issue is one but the bigger issue is this when you have a huge demand for things like p. P. E. This personal protective equipment what happens is you have government going out and trying to secure this stuff whether its a State Government a local government a federal government what they say is hey we have a stack of money we need supplies very quickly and as a result of that you get all these companies that come in and say oh i got you i can take care of that i can supply you with the masks that you need and then you get you get a contract written up you send money to them they create mass they sell them to you and the mass dont work properly or they never come in at all but theres a company. That essentially got a huge government contract saying that it could procure facemasks from the department of defense because they were sitting in a warehouse someplace but those mass never came in theres also a company that Bethany Frankel remember her from the real housewives series she was actually in touch with a warehouse owner who claimed that he had a warehouse full of these masks and made a lot of news in new york that all of a sudden the masks never showed up and so one of the things that you find right now is theres a lot of scammers who will go out there and promise they can provide this because theres such a lack of supply out there that everybody is jumping on board because basically when you when you get a demand like this you get stupid money and government source throwing stupid money at everything not realizing d that theres a lot of people out there who will say they can provide it in fact they cant you know i kind of wanted to add on top of that then because right now as you said the problem is supply and the reason for that is because the trump and ministration they quietly in both the defensive protection act in order to force medical suppliers to sell to it 1st ahead of states hospitals or foreign contracts so this is a cold war era law that is federal officials the power to edge out the competition and force contractors to provide supplies to them before filling in orders for their customers and theres absolutely no transparency about what the federal government is doing with the equipment that they do purchase even when they are states and hospitals so in fact now you have reports from fema seizing imports of private companies without pain that they have been dozens of requests from famous even cry some importers and employers are out millions and millions of dollars and their lives have been lost his father and yet it still continues so now private companies that are actually out 1000000. 00 these importers that are actually getting all these facemask their product has been seen so with them losing money on c s because they just decide to flout stop importing further contributing to the shortage and the price hikes. Not to not to cut you out of this conversation in print no problem they go by because he replied that to because also another report an issue that people are saying christians have the right which but the other important issue is this you know. When there was the swine flu issue a few years ago the government had a similar response at that time demanding the need for masks and they said how badly we needed them and there were mass creators in the United States companies that bought equipment they started producing these masks and then from one day to the next it all dried up and so what has happened since then is before the swine flu the u. S. Was creating about 90 percent of all of the medical facemasks in the world 90 percent within one year china was creating 95 percent of those face masks right now theres a lot to complain about china saying well theyre holding the equipment they will send it to us it is not chinas fault that the u. S. Is not producing its own equipment or producing its own masks and that has been going on now for years and theres been a lot of warning about that and it has not been heated kristie got a last word 20 seconds here. Well exactly what ben said the u. S. Needs to be able to stockpile their goods and right now with the destruction of the private insurance its important that needs to be an important w2w masks on a weekly basis but because that out of caution a female seen in a pos right now they their supplies are going down to only 300500000 masks so the fact is the federal government is actually exacerbate in situation making it worse. Cohost Christine Benz one excellent segment thank you know so much. And finally distillers are also helping fight the coronavirus and for quite some time and they have been creating hand sign of ties or to fill the void now a whisky distillery in new england is getting creative with increased amounts of stale craft beer on the market the Craft Beer Industry has a 29300000000. 00 market here in the United States and the plunge of on site consumption has greatly impact the business causing hundreds of thousands of kegs to lose their luster for instance highly hopped i. P. A. Is are known to lose their identity in just weeks well distiller whistle peg so they have been receiving stale beer from breweries throughout the region free of cost to turn that skunky brew into high end whisky whistle pig c. E. O. Jeff kozak said of the situation where tentatively calling the project the great beer rescue adding as the liquid develops in the cask well work with each brewer on an aging strategy that best benefits that specific beer so when life throws you lemons you make lemonade or in this case stale beer its time to make some whiskey and thats it for this time you can catch boom bust on the brand new portable t. V. Apple built on smartphones through google play and the Apple App Store by searching portable t. V. Or you go to portable t. V. To get more information and as always check it out on you tube dot com slash 2 by start to see next time. The Economic System known as capitalism has generated more wealth than any other system in history in many ways it is to find the journey itself hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty however capitalism has also witnessed growing income inequality the appeal of socialism currently on the rise in capitalism. Seemed wrong on one old rules just dont hold. The world to get to shape out just because the ticket and engagement equals betrayal. When so many find themselves worlds apart. Just to look for common ground. We go to work so we stay home. Greetings and sal you take shit you know i opened up the Merriam Webster dictionary today and found some of the many definitions of liberty they are the power to do as one pleases sort of the power of choice 11 definition that has been tossed around in political circles and rallies for the definition of liberty a lot these days is that liberty is the freedom from arbitrary or despotic control and it was apparently this particular definition that led hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of us citizens across the country from michigan to minnesota down to texas and up to colorado to throw down their face masks and rubber gloves and take to their streets their capitol buildings and their governors residences in protest of the social distancing policies and stay at home borders that have affectively closed businesses build