kscarbel2

Reuters / April 1, 2020 WASHINGTON - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged the U.S. Treasury on Wednesday not to hold up $25 billion in cash grants [free taxpayer money] approved by Congress last week to airlines for payroll costs. “We do want them to honor what our conversation was, which is this just a stopping off point for the check. It goes to the airline and directly to the employee,” Pelosi told reporters. A major aviation union and some airline officials are concerned the U.S. Treasury will demand too much in warrants or equity as a condition of the grants [free taxpayer money] for airline payroll costs [Why? Is responsibility and accountability a problem?].

Common symptoms of the Coronavius (COVID-19) include: Fever Cough Shortness of breath Upset stomach, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea Managing Fever Do not use NSAIDS (Advil, Motrin, Ibuprofen or Aleve) to manage fever or pain. Instead, use acetaminophen (Tylenol). Current research indicates that using NSAIDS, such as Ibuprofen, can extend or worsen COVID-19 symptoms. Managing Cough and Shortness of Breath Over-the-counter medications used for upper respiratory infections may help alleviate symptoms. Those medications include guaifenesin (Mucinex), pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) and dextromethorphan (Robitussin, Delsym).

MarketWatch / April 1, 2020 Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday that the White House Coronavirus Task Force is giving “serious consideration” to broadening the existing guidance on face masks, but he said first priority must be given to health-care workers who are currently experiencing a shortage of masks. Currently, the Centers for Disease for Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend that the public wear masks [only because there's oddly not enough for the general population]. “The idea of getting a much more broad, community-wide use of masks outside of the health-care setting is under very active discussion at the task force,” said Fauci. “The thing that has inhibited that is to make sure that we don’t take away the supply of masks from the health-care workers,” he said. “But when we have enough masks, I believe there will be some very serious consideration about broadening this recommendation of using masks.” “If, in fact, a person who may or may not be infected wants to prevent infecting someone else, one of the best ways to do that is with a mask,” Fauci said. N95 medical-grade masks help filter viruses that are larger than 0.1 micrometers. The Coronavirus is 0.125 micrometers. Asian countries, where wearing face masks is relatively common, have had more success effectively “flattening the curve” than western countries.

https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-heritage-archive/Featured_Innovations/Dodrill_GMR_Mechanical_Heart.html .

A military cargo plane (Antonov An-124) carrying medical supplies to help the US combat the coronavirus outbreak has taken off from an airbase in Russia, after President Trump accepted an offer of assistance from Vladimir Putin. .

A.J. Baime, Car & Driver / March 31, 2020 Trivia question: Who said this? "Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now." It was Franklin Roosevelt in his "Arsenal of Democracy" speech, delivered on December 29, 1940, to the largest radio audience ever up to that time. But it sounds like a sentence any of us could utter today. Back in 1940, Hitler's armies were rampaging across Europe, the Nazis seemingly unstoppable. A fact that often slips through the cracks of our national consciousness is the degree to which we were losing World War II desperately for roughly the first year and a half of the fighting. We had the soldiers, but we lacked the tools. Ultimately it was the automobile industry far more than any other that created the arsenal that allowed the Allies to win. Now once again we face an existential crisis, and once again our government is asking our auto industry for help. Automakers are plunging forward to build ventilators and masks in this new scenario that feels almost like science fiction. "Ford, General Motors and Tesla are being given the go ahead to make ventilators and other metal products, FAST!" President Trump said on Twitter on March 22. "Go for it auto execs, let's see how good you are?" Days later Trump was attacking General Motors, using the Defense Production Act, as a tool to press GM forward in the ventilator effort with greater speed. It was like FDR's "Arsenal of Democracy" speech recrafted by the pugilistic president. GM was "wasting time," the president said. Can the automakers pull this off? Can they do it fast enough so that their work will be useful soon? We don’t know yet. However, a look in the rearview might give us some clues. 50,000 Airplanes, 130,000 Engines . . . When FDR first asked private industry for help during World War II, he knew the auto industry was key. The industry had a bigger economy than every nation on earth except Britain, Germany, France, and possibly the Soviet Union. The war was shaping up to be a contest of mass production; in this newly mechanized kind of warfare, the side that could produce the most war machinery the fastest would win. FDR brought William Knudsen, GM's president and the highest-paid executive in the country outside Hollywood, to Washington to serve as production czar, with a salary of $1. At the 1941 New York auto show, Knudsen pleaded with his colleagues, the powerhouses of Motor City, in a dramatic speech in which he asked the auto industry to build 50,000 airplanes, 130,000 engines, 17,000 heavy guns, 25,000 light guns . . . "Bombers, big bombers," Knudsen said, "are needed sooner than we dare hope to get them under present circumstances. We must build them at once! You've got to help! The first half of 1941 is crucial. Gentlemen, we must outbuild Hitler." The conversion to wartime desperately rattled the U.S. economy—another parallel to what we are seeing today—as businesses that were not able to serve the war effort largely disappeared. Business Week called this phenomenon in 1943 "the most severe contraction in the business population that we have ever experienced." Sound familiar? It took the auto industry a solid 18 months to get up and running, producing bombers and Jeeps and amphibious vehicles. Ultimately, GM became the largest military contractor on earth. GM made 119,562,000 shells, 206,000 aircraft engines, 97,000 bombers, 301,000 aircraft propellers, 198,000 diesel engines, 1,900,000 machine guns, 854,000 military trucks. Cadillac tanks, Oldsmobile bullets, Buick airplane engines. Chrysler had never made tanks; in a factory built from scratch, the Detroit Tank Arsenal, Chrysler made roughly as many tanks during the war than all the Nazi factories combined. Ford—which became the nation’s third largest military contractor—built a production facility called Willow Run, the largest factory under one roof in the history of the world, churning out 18,482 B-24 Liberators. So many laborers worked at Willow Run, the government had to build a city from scratch—"Bomber City"—to give these people homes and infrastructure near the factory (rubber tires were rationed, so commuting was all but impossible). At the start of the war, the B-24 Liberator was the biggest, fastest, most destructive bomber in the American arsenal. Still today, because of Ford, the B-24 remains the U.S.'s most mass-produced military aircraft of all time. It is no exaggeration to say that the auto industry saved the world. Said Donald Nelson, head of FDR's War Production Board: "The American war production job was probably the greatest collective achievement of all time." The Big Three Were Medical Innovators Back Then, Too The story of Detroit’s efforts during World War II is well known today. What is not is the fact that the auto industry also has a history of innovating medical products. On November 30, 1955, GM announced that it had developed "an ingenious mechanical sterilizer" called a Centri-Filmer. The company partnered with medical researchers at the Michael Reese Research Foundation in Chicago to create this device, which spun liquid vaccines in a centrifuge into a layer 1/20th the thickness of a human hair. Ultraviolet light then blasted through the film, "killing" viruses in vaccines (making the virus unable to replicate, so vaccines could do their jobs without making people sick). In 1979, GM researchers developed a new "ostomy appliance system" consisting of a plastic pouch assembly, an elastic belt, and a soft seal ring. The system aimed to make colostomy bags easier to wear and maintain. The medical feat for which GM is most-known is nothing less than the first mechanical heart. The story begins in the 1940s, when a cardiologist at Detroit's Harper Hospital named Forest D. Dodrill had an idea. At the time, heart surgery was largely palliative because the heart had to function during the operation. Dr. Dodrill had the idea of creating a machine that could pump blood like an engine pumps fuel, so blood could circulate while surgeons worked on the heart. He turned to GM to design the thing (GM's president, Charles E. Wilson, was at the time chairman of the board of the Michigan Heart Association). A team of GM engineers went to work under the leadership of one Edward V. Rippingille Sr. "We have pumped oil, gasoline, water and other fluids one way or another in our business," Rippingille figured. "It seems only logical we should try to pump blood." A Heart Pump Built Like a V-12 On July 3, 1952, Dr. Dodrill and a team of surgeons operated on the heart of 41-year old Henry Opitek at Harper Hospital while a machine that resembled a V-12 engine (it had six pumps on each of its two banks) pumped Opitek's blood through his body. As the New York Times put it in a 2018 article, "Detroit muscle powered a heart and gave Henry Opitek another 29 years of life." Both Ford and GM have history innovating health-care systems. Henry Ford saw in the early years of his company that the massive movement of people to the Detroit area to work in his factory was going to require healthcare infrastructure, and so in 1915—the heyday of the Model T—Henry Ford Hospital opened to the public. Today the Henry Ford Health System employs over 1200 physicians. In the 1940s, Alfred Sloan (the longtime chief of GM, often called the father of the modern corporation) and Charles Kettering (head of research at GM for decades) joined forces to create the Sloan-Kettering Institute, a biomedical research unit which today is known as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In 1941, the Ford Motor Company's engineers innovated a movable, affordable infant incubator that aimed to reduce infant deaths in hospitals. Seven years later, engineers at Ford's Rouge factory developed a new iron lung to aid polio victims during a terrifying epidemic. And History Repeats Itself Now today, the auto industry is going to work to build ventilators, respiratory masks, and who knows yet what else. On March 24, Ford CEO Jim Hackett told CBS News that his company is designing two to three versions of breathing apparatuses for front-line medical workers, but also, "hundreds of thousands of the simplest [masks] will be started to be produced in the next week or so." One challenge that engineers did not face during their heroic work of World War II is how to put workers on assembly lines without putting a lot of people in one place and thus creating potentially hazardous virus-spreading conditions. "A factory is all about working together on a line," Hackett said. "So the way these teams are designing the production of this [ventilator] is building subassemblies in smaller groups and having them come together to be assembled." As it was in wartime, the future today is a question mark. How long will this new plague stick around? Will it come back next flu season? One thing is for sure, however: the U.S. auto industry can help. Said Hackett: "We are ready to go." And, as in World War II, time is of the essence and lives hang in the balance. Photographs: GM and medical researchers with Centri-Filmer, a vaccine-purifying machine. GM - Developing the heart pump, 1952

Based on personal experience, I urge everyone to wear a mask when out in public. Industrial masks, even a scarf, whatever you can get. The government has steadily said that face masks won't help. But you'll never fine evidence to support the ridiculous claim because it doesn't exist. The truth is, there aren't sufficient quantities to provide for the masses. They barely have enough for medical facilities. There is abundant proof that masks do help prevent viral infections like the Coronavirus. For example, wearing a mask in public resulted in a 70% reduction in the risk of catching SARS, which like Covid-19, is a respiratory illnesses caused by the same family of viruses called coronavirus. Masks work !

Ford to build respirators in Michigan near home of Mustang Michael Martinez, Automotive News / March 31, 2020 Ford Motor Co. plans to build respirators using paid UAW volunteers assigned to an idled assembly plant in Flat Rock, Mich., beginning the week of Monday, April 6, according to the union local representing those workers. The automaker will build respirators on three shifts at a building near the factory, according to a Tuesday post from UAW Local 3000. Ford said last week it is partnering with 3M to build respirators but didn't disclose details. Flat Rock workers typically build the Mustang and Lincoln Continental, but all of Ford's North American plants have been temporarily shuttered to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. It's unclear how many paid UAW volunteers Ford will use to build respirators. "This is a call to action for a cause that transcends everyday comforts," according to a transcript of a robocall to workers. "It is an opportunity to make a bad situation better and help our medical professionals, first responders and all affected by COVID-19." Ford, in a statement late Tuesday, did not confirm the details released by union officials. "Ford is humbled to work with 3M, GE Healthcare and the UAW to manufacture medical equipment to help those on the front lines fighting COVID-19," a spokeswoman said. "We'll have more to share about this in the future." Ford is working with 3M to boost output of respirators 3M is producing while simultaneously building its own respirators using a makeshift design that includes fans from F-150 pickup seats, hoods from assembly plant paint shops, 3D-printed parts and portable-tool battery packs that could allow the devices to run for up to eight hours. Some components and subassemblies are being made at Ford's advanced manufacturing center near Detroit in Redford, Michigan. Ford last week said it initially would be able to make up to 1,000 respirators per month, helping 3M boost production of them tenfold. Ford also is working with GE Healthcare to build 50,000 ventilators between late April and early July at its Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Mich. In addition, the automaker is building face shields at a rate of roughly 100,000 per week at Ford subsidiary Troy Design and Manufacturing's center in Plymouth, Michigan.

Not exactly. People who had it have caught it a second time.

Today, the White House was more upfront than anytime before on what they know of the Coronavirus, stating that 100,000 to 240,000 people might perish. Unlike previous briefings. the tone was serious, somber and grim. The president warned America to brace for a “very, very painful two weeks” "I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. We're going to go through a very tough two weeks," Trump said. “It’s absolutely critical for the American people to follow the guidelines for the next 30 days. It’s a matter of life and death.” White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx displayed charts demonstrating data and modeling that showed an enormous jump in deaths to a range of 100,000 to 240,000 people from the virus in the coming months even with mitigation measures in place. Asked if Americans should be prepared for the likelihood that 100,000 will die from this virus, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: “The answer is yes. As sobering a number as that is, we should be prepared for it." .

Landi Renzo Receives CNG Certification for Ford 7.3L Engine Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / March 27, 2020 Landi Renzo USA received U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certification on compressed natural gas (CNG) for the Ford 7.3L engine covering Class 4-7 vehicles. These Ford vehicles are included in the EPA certification: F-450/550 F-650/750 F-53/59 E-450 The Landi Renzo USA eco-fuel CNG system for the 7.3L engine is used in airport and hotel shuttle buses, delivery trucks, service trucks, large package trucks, as well as other vocational offerings. Many of these vehicles will be able to take advantage of various grant funding opportunities, according to Landi Renzo. "Our EPA certification is result of the tremendous work of many individuals. We also want to recognize Ford's support in helping us produce a world class CNG product," said Paul Shaffer, EVP for Landi Renzo USA. During this 18-month effort, Landi Renzo USA conducted extensive engine and vehicle testing to meet the stringent Ford Q-185 gaseous prep guidelines and demonstrate full useful life durability. CARB certification on the 7.3L is expected in late Q2 2020. Landi Renzo USA is approved as a Ford QVM System Developer and Installer for gaseous fuels, offering the largest selection of eco-fuel systems for commercial fleets. By fleets utilizing the Landi Renzo USA system, the Ford warranty remains fully in place.

Ford Trucks International Press Release / March 27, 2020 Ford Trucks' Active Emergency Brake System (AEBS) measures the distance from the vehicle in front and brakes in an emergency to ensure that the vehicle slows down safely. We developed this technology for your safety on the road. Now it’s your turn to keep your 1.5 meter social distance with the people around you to protect yourself from Covid-19 and stay healthy & safe. .

Ford Trucks sets the benchmark for promoting trucking safety during the Coronavirus outbreak.

Ford Trucks Safety Notice Release / March 31, 2020 We remind you of the essential points to disinfect just before you get in your vehicle. .

Political parties should be banned, because they are a massive distraction. Elected government officials should only speak for themselves and their populace.

Bloomberg / March 31, 2020 President Trump called on Congress to provide $2 trillion for U.S. infrastructure, seizing on the coronavirus outbreak to try once again to advance one of his longest-standing priorities. Trump said Tuesday that timing is good for a massive infrastructure bill -- a measure to fund construction and repairs of roads, bridges, railroads or other public works projects -- because interest rates are close to zero. Trump has long advocated for an infrastructure plan but has never settled on how to finance it. His new push comes as the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits is forecast to set a record for the second straight week, following 3.28 million in last week’s data. The darkest predictions are for that figure to almost double, the result of business closures and government efforts to keep people at home to prevent spreading the virus. The American Society of Civil Engineers has said more than $2 trillion in additional funding is needed for U.S. infrastructure by 2025 alone. The World Economic Forum this year ranked the U.S. 13th in matters of infrastructure, according to its global competitiveness report. Nations listed higher included Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Japan, Korea and Spain. The White House and Congress have begun circling the idea of a fourth round of stimulus to combat economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. Both Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have begun floating ideas for such a measure, just days after Trump signed a $2 trillion bill. Trump pledged in his 2016 campaign to seek $1 trillion in infrastructure spending and called on Congress in his 2018 State of the Union address to dedicate $1.5 trillion in new investment. But the plan Trump proposed in 2018 went nowhere because of disagreement over how much federal funding would be included. Any hopes for a federal bill ended last May when Democrats said the president walked out of a meeting on a $2 trillion proposal and vowed not to work with them unless they stopped investigating him and his administration. Lawmakers who attended a closed-door meeting with Trump in February 2018 said he told them he’d support a 25-cent per-gallon increase in gas taxes, but Trump never publicly endorsed the idea. The plan drew opposition from Republicans who don’t want to raise taxes and Democrats worried about the impact on low-income residents.

Ford indefinitely delays reopening N.A. plants; third worker death reported Michael Martinez, Automotive News / March 31, 2020 DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is postponing for a second time the reopening of its North American manufacturing facilities amid the global surge in coronavirus cases. The automaker said Tuesday it will indefinitely delay the restart of production at plants in Mexico, Canada and the United States and refused to offer a restart date. It was previously aiming to begin work at Hermosillo Assembly in Mexico on April 6 and a handful of U.S. plants on April 14. Those dates came after it pushed back original projections of returning to work March 30. "The health and safety of our workforce, dealers, customers, partners and communities remains our highest priority," said Kumar Galhotra, Ford president, North America. "We are working very closely with union leaders -- especially at the UAW -- to develop additional health and safety procedures aimed at helping keep our workforce safe and healthy." Meanwhile Tuesday, Ford and the UAW confirmed that a third union worker has died from the virus. The employee worked at Dearborn Diversified in southeastern Michigan, according to the union. "It is a tragic reminder that the coronavirus crisis is everywhere and requires the attention of all of us,” a Ford spokeswoman said. “Our thoughts are with their families, friends and co-workers during this difficult time." Ford and the union over the weekend confirmed two other employees had died from the virus: a worker at Dearborn Stamping, which was among the plants slated to reopen April 14, and a skilled trades member of the Ford Data Center in Dearborn, Mich. "Today's decision by Ford is the right decision for our members, their families and our nation," UAW President Rory Gamble said. "Under Vice President Gerald Kariem, the UAW Ford Department continues to work closely with our local unions and Ford to make sure that as we return to production all members are safe, and our communities are protected from this spreading pandemic." Gamble and union leaders originally pushed the Detroit 3 automakers to shutter their plants earlier this month. Gamble also expressed concern when that target was announced. Despite the indefinite closure, Ford will open its Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., the week of April 20 to begin production of ventilators in partnership with GE Healthcare. The automaker will use 500 paid UAW volunteers on 3 shifts to build 50,000 ventilators by July 4, then 30,000 per month after that. Coronavirus Plant Closings - https://www.autonews.com/topic/coronavirus-plant-closings

Car & Driver / March 30, 2020 Ford and GE Healthcare announced a collaboration today to begin production of ventilators beginning the week of April 20. Together, they plan on building 50,000 of the systems in the following 100 days, or by July 4. The ventilators will be built at Ford's Rawsonville plant in Ypsilanti, where 500 United Auto Worker employees will construct them, working 24 hours a day to hit the production goal. The companies aim to produce the first 1500 ventilators by the end of April. “The Ford and GE Healthcare teams, working creatively and tirelessly, have found a way to produce this vitally needed ventilator quickly and in meaningful numbers,” Jim Hackett, Ford’s CEO, said in a statement. “By producing this ventilator in Michigan, in strong partnership with the UAW, we can help health care workers save lives, and that’s our No. 1 priority.” .

Ford aims to start making ventilators with GE in 3 weeks Reuters / March 30, 2020 Ford said on Monday it will produce 50,000 ventilators over the next 100 days at a plant in Michigan in cooperation with General Electric’s healthcare unit, and can then build 30,000 per month as needed to treat patients afflicted with the coronavirus. Ford said the simplified ventilator design, which is licensed by GE Healthcare from Florida-based Airon Corp and has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), can meet the needs of most COVID-19 patients and relies on air pressure without the need for electricity.

Jason Cannon, Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / March 24, 2020 Paccar plans to suspend truck and engine production at its factories worldwide for more than two weeks due to the economic fallout from the global coronavirus pandemic, the company announced Tuesday morning. Truck and engine production will be halted effective today through April 6, 2020, but Paccar said it “will continue to provide aftermarket support to its customers who deliver essential infrastructure services to our communities.”

Ford Trucks Spain / March 30, 2020 The Ford Trucks Spain dealer network remains operational to meet the needs of transport professionals who continue to do a fantastic job at this difficult time. We leave you a list with the phones and emergency emails and 24 hour service: https://lnkd.in/dx93GsP. We are at your service. .

The news would indicate they didn't refuse. The politicians that engineered the GM bailout deceived the American taxpayer, knowing they were never going to be paid back in full.

The Coronavirus illustrates the massive mistake of allowing "big business" to offshore the production of vital products, be it masks, gloves or medicine.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached an 18-year low overnight of $19.92. I expect WTI to fall to the low teens, worsening a disaster for the U.S. energy sector.

Good news. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization for the drugs Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin to be taken together in treatment of the Coronavirus. https://www.france24.com/en/20200330-us-fda-gives-emergency-approval-of-anti-malaria-drugs-chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine-for-coronavirus