The @VaSenate Finance & Appropriations Committee begins with a presentation from @RichmondFed Renee Haltom with an economic update. She says the scale of things we're seeing is truly unprecedented. http://virginia-senate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&event_id=1241

Renee Haltom: We can expect the second half of this recovery to be much slower than the first. That's because the longer this goes on the more fundamentally relationships change. Recessions tend to be unequal but that's especially true of this one.

Renee Haltom: It has disproportionately affected low income people, minorities, people already struggling. GDP fell 5% in the first quarter, then fell 31.4% in the second quarter (this is an annualized rate). We gained 33.1% in the third quarter but didn't make up loss.