NWSOFA Indivisible Fiscal and Economic Issue Team July Meeting

NWSOFA Indivisible July Fiscal and Economic Issues Meeting

RSVP: https://act.indivisible.org/event/local-actions/153927/signup/?

While our physical meetings were held in the northwest suburbs of Chicago from 2013 through February 2020, we are now meeting virtually. This will be our 5th virtual meeting. Shorter commuting times for all, but missing the Oreo’s and other snacks at the meetings and the pizzas, tacos, and beers after the meetings.

We continue to live in interesting times as over 130,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 and millions are still filing new unemployment claims each week–over 40 million since March. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) June employment report released July 2nd showed a stronger than expected recovery of some of the more than 21 million jobs lost in March and April. We are still down over 13 million jobs versus February 2020.

First quarter real GDP growth has been revised down to an annual rate of negative 5.0%. We anticipate a bigger drop in the 2nd quarter when it is reported at the end of July. If things go well we should should see some growth in the 3rd quarter.

To offset those job losses, federal, state, and local governments have enacted assistance programs–over $2 trillion at the federal level alone. These are designed to assist both people that have lost jobs and companies that have lost customers. We will update what assistance has been enacted and the forecast effect on the economy and the projected fiscal year (FY) 2020 and 2021 budget deficits.

Special guest speakers at this meeting will be State Senator Ann Gillespie and State Representative Mark Walker. They will be discussing the Illinois budget for fiscal year 2021 which began July 1, including how potential additional federal funding and the proposed Flat Tax amendment could affect Illinois’ budget. They may also discuss other new laws in Illinois, including how Illinois is trying to control and test for Covid-19, and how Covid-19 affects Illinois’ budget.

We will also be discussing other economic releases and forecasts. We note that all forecasts are educated guesses and are dependent on the actions being taken by the various levels of government to reduce the harm of the virus and how the virus behaves. It looks like the number of new infections and deaths have started to level out and deaths have actually declined. Hopefully the lifting of restrictions won’t lead to another increase in infections and deaths as this would likely lead to a reinstatement of restrictions.

A draft of last month’s PowerPoint presentation can be found at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cH01PJ6l41SKBGVjQ3StGKnSdx9mpBp5/view?usp=sharing

Come join us online and contribute to these discussions.

NWSOFA posts copies of past meetings on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nwsofa

Videos of the June meeting are now available at this site.

We appreciate those who have donated in the past to help sustain our NWSOFA organization (and pay for the snacks). We can’t pass the hat in a video meeting, but if you would like to help us please make a donation at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/indivisiblenwsofa606065512#

Link to event information: https://nwsofaindivisible.my.webex.com/meet/ofa.nws