'BradCast' 4/9/2020 (Guest: Financial journalist David Dayen on 'irrational exuberance')
On today's 'BradCast':\xa0 The U.S. economic outlook continues to quickly degrade in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Another record 6.6 million applied for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total number of jobless claims to a record 17 million, with an estimated unemployment rate of 12% -- leading some independent economists to refer to the numbers as the "Great Depression II". Yet top Trump Administration officials continue to dispense happy talk, including Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin, who absurdly suggested today that "we could be open for business" by May. Stock market indexes spiked on Mnuchin's statement, ignoring the record high jobless numbers and the mounting toll of dead Americans killed by the COVID-19 virus. The Federal Reserve announced another $2.3 trillion in new funding schemes to shovel money to large companies with up to 10,000 employees -- creating money out of nowhere (no Congress needed, thanks!).\xa0 Yet none of the paltry $1,200 checks promised to individuals in the relief bill have been delivered, and the $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses is an abject failure mired in red tape. Investigative financial journalist DAVID DAYEN, Executive Editor of The American Prospect and author of the daily, indispensable "Unsanitized" report joins us again to help unpack the details on all of the above, new related failures, and a what we should be expecting in the days ahead. Plus, Desi Doyen has our latest 'Green News Report.'