(Understatement alert!) President-elect Joe Biden will have his work cut out for him with the ongoing unifying seditious actions of right- wing domestic terrorists and their co- conspirators sabotaging his legislative agenda, but two numbers today add to the enormity of the challenge.
The latest weekly initial jobless claims soared to 965,000 last week, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Labor, as the economy struggles to contain the fallout from rising coronavirus infection rates across the country.
Last week's figure is far higher than economists' forecasts of 800,000 claims, and is the largest total since Aug. 22, when the economy started a brief recovery over the summer. Initial jobless claims for the week ended Jan. 2 came in at 784,000. (our emphasis)
The United States reported more than 4,200 deaths Tuesday, bringing the nation’s total to more than 381,000 deaths since the onset of the pandemic, according to Washington Post data.
The single-day death total, which is a record, and peak levels of new infections and hospitalizations are grim milestones for a country still reeling from the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week. (our emphasis)
The Biden-Harris team, at its outset, has been handed perhaps the worst political, economic and national security situation in recent decades. Fortunately, they're starting with an electoral mandate, plus competence and realism completely lacking in the last regime, so there's hope. There's always got to be hope.
