I had to look this up...

Circuit breakers are designed to give the market time to cool off when price swings get too volatile. They halt trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) when the S&P 500 hits predetermined levels. Here are the levels to watch before trading is halted again or canceled today. Level One (7% drop) – a 15 minute pause. Level Two (13% drop) – a further 15 minute pause. Level Three (20% drop) – Trading is closed for the day. There is one caveat. The circuit breakers only kick in if the S&P 500 hits these levels before 3:25 pm ET. If the plunge accelerates past these marks after that time, there is no safety net until the closing bell.

So if things go to hell after 3:25, all bets are off.

Lessons Taught But Never Learned

 

I don't wish it but if this epidemic expands we are going to learn that we basically have a failed state. Those weird historical blurbs you read in museums about how the leeches didn't work will be funny because, well, that's us. We didn't even have a leech stockpile.

 

A country people have called "Greece" has existed forever. They are used to failed states. They pick up the pieces and keep moving. We don't have that long history of surviving utter failure. Plus we have all the guns and all the weirdos who think guns are the shit.

An oval office address to the nation is supposed to be this big important, well considered statement - but this is Trump...

The White House scrambles to clarify key details from Trump's speech announcing his coronavirus response

To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight.

These restrictions will be adjusted subject to conditions on the ground. There will be exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings and these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval.

Correction 2) An hour after his speech ended, Trump sent out a tweet announcing that "trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day restriction on travel from Europe," Trump: 

Earlier this week I met with the leaders of health insurance industry who have agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments, 

Not much to say about that Trump performance. After weeks of pretending that it was nothing, he blamed Europe (but not Britain) for the coronavirus in a stammering, flat, orange monotone.

Alby has had the last word on this Presidential election. There is no point in taking part in or entertaining any "analysis" beyond this.

Joe Biden can beat Trump for the simplest of reasons: People like Joe Biden. People don’t like Donald Trump. That doesn’t mean Trump can’t cheat his way to victory — we still don’t know if hackers, Russian or not, can change votes — but it’s not going to be Clinton all over again, because Biden isn’t Hillary. - Alby

Time for everyone to find a local candidate they like and work like hell for them.

Sublety? I don't need your steenkin' subtlety:  

Like it or not, liberals are a part of the Democratic coalition. Biden's recognition that they exist is a step in the right direction. At least Biden seems to understand that pushing Sanders supporters away wasn't in the longterm best interest of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

“I want to thank Bernie Sanders and his supporters for their tireless energy and their passion,” Biden said. “We share a common goal, and together we’ll defeat Donald Trump. We’ll defeat him together.” Biden allowed only that his own campaign “is taking off, and I believe we’re going to do well from this point on.” “Take nothing for granted,” Biden added. “Want to earn every single vote in every single state.”

I'm seriously asking - did Jane Brady, Ken Simpler, Brian Pettyjohn or any of our other Trump loyalists attend CPAC this year? If so, are they self-quarantined? Doesn't anyone know? I don't keep up with Delaware's wingnut twitter or blogs since the DEGOP has become a political afterthought in the state.

The Flu is seasonal. There are research papers on why this happens, and it is very possible that COVID-19 will be seasonal too. Here is an optimistic paper that suggests…

A correction from yesterday. I think I said the stock market took 13 months to bottom out last time. It was a jiggety-jaggity 16 months full of false starts and stops. October 8th 2007: DJIA 14,000 March 2nd 2009: DJIA 6,626 You'd have to be a fool to think that the Trump brain trust has any answer for this.

Most of us here have known that Bernie supporters are not uniquely cruel. Now it is proven by science.

Here is what economists were saying about Coronavirus three days ago:

Leadership is key in a crisis.  In order to avoid a recession, information should be clear, transparent, and accurate.   Action should be proactive. My sense is the administration will slow track a fiscal response and try to embrace ineffective policies. For example, enacting corporate tax cuts would be bad policy - it would take many months to have an impact, and the cuts would target the wrong segment of the economy.

Here is Trump yesterday, saying Coronavirus is "not our fault":