Among other consequences of the pandemic and national politics, notable records were set recently for federal budget deficits, e-commerce, and early voting in the U.S.
$3.1T Federal Deficit: NPR reported that the U.S. budget deficit hit a record $3.1 trillion, following a surge in government spending aimed at containing the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. The deficit for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was more than triple that of fiscal 2019 and easily eclipsed the previous record of $1.4 trillion recorded in 2009.
Online = 16% of Total Sales: As reported by US News & World Report, online retail sales as a percentage of total sales rose from April through June, jumping to 16.1% from 11.8% in the first quarter of the year. Cited as the “most dramatic jump in the last two decades of steady increases”, the coronavirus pandemic has “accelerated a shift toward e-commerce this year amid lockdown orders that kept people home and a lingering wariness of in-person shopping.”
Early Voting Up 296% over 2016: According to tracking by NBC News, mail-in ballots and in-person voting to date are up 296% over the same point in 2016.
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