"Lockdown"

Things are about to get a little bit weird.



At 5pm today, the governor's state wide "stay at home" order goes into effect. This is intended to get a handle on the virus's terrifying rate of spread in Louisiana which is projected to overwhelm health care capacity within the next week or so. While it's imperative that people do their best to stay put, it's worth noting that, once again, the actual rules the governor has put in place are not a significant change from the mayor's order on Friday. What this means, in practice, is that even as the public is advised to stay at home, many people, servers and kitchen staff at restaurants offering "take out" for example, are still at the mercy of their employers. Come to work under dubious circumstances or face the prospect of losing your job. Until (unless) Congress takes significant action to mitigate these fears, that is not going to change.

The problem is the Congress, especially the Republicans there, have no interest in relieving the pressure on people, even in the midst of a crisis. This thing where people have no choice but to put themselves and others in danger for the sake of a boss's or a landlord's profits, is a core feature of capitalism.  The Republican Senators playing a sinister game of chicken this morning over a federal relief package know this. In fact they are counting on it.

Hours after Senate Democrats blocked movement on a massive stimulus package Sunday evening, injecting fresh uncertainty over whether and when lawmakers will reach a bipartisan deal to deliver relief amid the devastating coronavirus pandemic, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ramped up the pressure on Democrats.

Taking to the Senate floor late Sunday night, he announced another procedural vote on the package timed for 9:45 a.m. Monday — minutes after the stock market opens — but it was blocked by Democrats who don't want to be forced to take the vote.

 

"I think there's a good chance we'll have an agreement. But we don't need artificial deadlines. We will get this done. We will come in at noon and hopefully we will have an agreement by then," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who made the objection, said on the Senate floor.

 

McConnell blasted Schumer's move as reckless and warned the markets will now be open for three hours before they can get some certainty a stimulus bill will pass the Senate.

 

A vote in the Senate is now expected at 1 p.m.

McConnell's bill issues billions of dollars in bailout money to major corporations while restricting and stigmatizing the badly needed relief to Americans currently agonizing over the Hobson's choice of reporting to work in a dangerous pandemic or suffering job losses and evictions. Today his strategy is to use the crashing stock market as a "ticking time bomb" to force the Democrats into going along with his bailout plan. They should not fall for it.  There are tools the federal government has at its disposal  that allow it to send direct relief to people immediately. Rep. Waters outlined several of them last week.  Rep. Tlaib has submitted a bill that takes advantage of the Fed's power to send cash payments to people. But there are other actions the Congress can take to protect people which they should be moving on.  Above all the Senate must stop McConnell's cruel bill.  Signs are the Democrats (even the bad ones) are rallying to do that this morning.  Let's see how well they hold together.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans we will have to just sit tight and hope, and above all, stay home if possible. Trust me, if you go out, there's not much of anything to do. A short bike ride yesterday afternoon (while practicing strict "social distancing") confirms this. Aside from grocery stores and the occasional "take out" window, there isn't anything to see or do.

The front door is boarded up at Ms. Mae's.  There is speculation this is because nobody even knows if it locks. 



Other famously 24 hour operations like Igor's here are also shuttered.



The French Quarter is a virtual ghost town of boarded up windows and empty streets all under an eerie silence.









The people you are most likely to encounter are police and the city's numerous unhoused population who also are in dire need of protection.  The mayor says here that she has a plan for that.  Hopefully it is a good one.  No one should ever be left to live out on the streets in this absurdly wealthy country.  This shouldn't even be a problem but well, like a lot of things.....

Anyway, for those of you who can stay at home, stay at home. Leave the streets to the "crazy rats" for now.