It's Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020, just after market close in New York.

This is the Real Vision Daily Briefing.

I'm Ash Bennington in New York, joined shortly by our managing editor, Ed Harrison.

Also, later in this show, we're joined by James Altacher,

who talks about his controversial essay about the death of New York City.

But first, the day's stories with Nick

Correa. Thanks Ash. Today the Australian government announced that the

nation had fallen into recession in the second quarter after almost

nearly three decades of economic growth.

The 7% contraction in GDP is the sharpest decrease Australia had experienced

since record keeping had begun in 1959. In the first quarter of this year the country had experienced a 0.3% drop in GDP.

The severity of this recession was even worse than was expected.

Economists had estimated a 5% to 7% contraction, and before this year, the biggest contraction in Australia's GDP was in the second quarter of 1974, at 2%.

The drop in GDP is attributed to the global pandemic as well as to policies enacted to contain the spread of COVID-19.

At this time, Australia's second most populous state, Victoria, is still under lockdown as it continues to struggle in warding off a surge in infections

that occurred from returning travelers. End officials have extended the state of emergency in

Victoria for six months. In this time, Australia has reported that welfare payments have increased by

41.6 percent, a record amount, to support an increase in recipients as well as doling out additional

payments. Their unemployment rate stands at 7.5%, which is the worst that has been in

22 years. In July, more than a million Australians were unemployed. Spending on services fell

by 17.6%, and hours worked had fallen 9.8%, which was also a record amount.

Just as the global recession has devastated millions upon millions worldwide, this also is consequential for Australia, relative

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