Former Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler has been included by US President Donald Trump in the task force that will be responsible for restarting the United States after the Coronavirus.
Kelly Loeffler will thus take part in the Congressional Economic Task Force. It is a team of bipartisan Congressmen and experts who will advise President Donald Trump on the best way to restart the US economy after the lockdown required to curb Coronavirus contagion.Â
Kelly Loeffler announced the appointment with a Twitter post.Â
Thank you, @realDonaldTrump for appointing me to your task force on re-opening America safely in the wake of #COVID19.
With 22 million Americans filing for unemployment, it’s clear we must start working to revive our economy and get the American people back to work safely.
— Senator Kelly Loeffler (@SenatorLoeffler) April 16, 2020
In the post, the former CEO of Bakkt thanked President Trump and added:
“With 22 million Americans filing for unemployment, it’s clear we must start working to revive our economy and get the American people back to work safely”.
The controversy over Bakkt’s former CEO
Kelly Loeffler left the leadership of Bakkt when she was elected senator in the state of Georgia. Her place was taken by Mike Blandina, the new CEO.
Only a few weeks ago she was accused of insider trading: shortly before the collapse of the financial markets, she was allegedly selling shares in her possession. This move would have been made possible by the fact that Kelly Loeffler as a senator had taken part in a confidential meeting on the risks of the Coronavirus.Â
So the accusation is that the former CEO of Bakkt came into possession of information that would allow her to act to contain the losses resulting from the collapse. She has stated that she was not aware of the facts, claiming that decisions on her investments are made by external consultants.Â
Coronavirus, United States and the lockdown
The United States is the country with the highest number of coronavirus deaths. Among the most affected cities is New York. Even the US had to implement the lockdown to protect itself, but this was not enough to stop the pandemic.
Nevertheless, the time is coming for President Trump to resume activities in the United States to curb the consequences of the economic crisis.
The US President has released the “Opening up America Again” document. These are guidelines that illustrate the steps to be taken to allow production to restart. There are no dates indicated, rather it is left to the governors and even counties to decide. The starting point, though, is to reduce the number of infected people.Â
The plan consists of three phases:
- Phase 1: travel and gatherings are prohibited; restaurants, workplaces and sports activities can operate while maintaining physical distances;
- Phase 2: it will start only when there is the certainty of a no return of the Coronavirus, in this case, it will be possible to return to travel, but people will have to maintain social distances; smart working will continue to be encouraged; schools will reopen;
- Phase 3: public events will be able to resume even if it is advisable to avoid gatherings: theatres, sporting events, restaurants will have to guarantee the preservation of social distances.
The document has been branded as vague and insubstantial by Chamber speaker Nancy Pelosi.Â
The emergency triggered by the Coronavirus risks not only overwhelming the US economy but also the regular political and democratic process. As per tradition, on the first Tuesday in November, i. e. on November 3rd, 2020, the United States should hold the vote for the 2020 presidential election.Â
The voting modalities to choose whether to confirm Donald Trump or to hand over the ball to the Democrats (with Joe Biden as the most plausible candidate) are unknown because the emergency does not allow gatherings either for the vote or for the election campaign. And while there are those who hypothesize online voting and blockchain voting, a community of scientists has already expressed its firm “no”.
