TUCSON, Ariz. (CBS Local) — A classic Looney Tunes cartoon plot played out in real life last weekend when a university professor shared video of a coyote chasing a roadrunner.
Feb 11, 2021 An eagle-eyed parkgoer spotted a coyote bounding through a snow-covered Central Park— one of several recent sightings of the fleet four-legged animal. 'I spotted a COYOTE at the Conservatory. The gag is another one of Wile E. Coyote's many mishaps in capturing Road Runner when a failed scheme, a Road Runner scare, a feeble ledge, or a chase mishap causes Wile E. To be flung off the edge of a cliff, and he plummets down into a canyon, where he crashes to the ground in a cloud of dust. The cause of his fall varies between scenes,. Feb 23, 2020 The guy they apparently used as the model for Wile E. Coyote was killed doing stupid shit. The guy was a flat earther who apparently thought gravity was just a silly concept. The end result was as expected, look for it Discovery channel later this summer.
Michael Thomas Bogan, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona's School of Natural Resources and the Environment, captured the drama on camera on the Santa Cruz River in downtown Tuscon on May 9.
READ MORE: Alpena Woman, Margaret Suszek, Celebrates 100th and Recovery From COVID-19'There is literally a coyote chasing a roadrunner. I can't believe it. That is a straight up cartoon,' Bogan is heard saying in the video, referring to the classic cartoon feud between Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
OMG coyote vs roadrunner is real and it's happening right now y'all!!! #Tucsonpic.twitter.com/a64qEbcCdv
READ MORE: Kroger Warns Customers Personal Information Was Stolen From Pharmacy Database— Michael Thomas Bogan (@mtbogan) May 10, 2020
The video didn't end with an explosion, someone falling off a cliff or getting hit by an anvil, but it still went viral, earning over 244,000 views, 2,700 retweets and 11,000 likes by Wednesday afternoon.
MORE NEWS: Governor Whitmer Declared State of Emergency To Bring More Energy To Michigan HomesBogan said he's seen plenty of coyotes and roadrunner on the river. He says, true to the Looney Tunes formula, the real-life roadrunner escape without a scratch.
1. Don't look down: Ben Bernanke fears that the American economy will soon look like a Looney Tunes episode.
The former Federal Reserve chief questions the wisdom of Congress for waiting until the economy looked healthy and then hitting the gas with massive corporate tax cuts and a burst of spending.
'What you're getting is stimulus at the very wrong moment,' Bernanke said last week at an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute.
He's got a point. The unemployment rate is 3.8%, matching the lowest in half a century. Stimulating the economy further could overheat it, ending the recovery prematurely. And by expanding the federal deficit, Congress has left itself less room to borrow money to fight the next recession.
The other challenge is avoiding a nasty crash when the sugar rush fades from tax cuts.
'It's going to hit the economy in a big way this year and next,' Bernanke said. 'And then in 2020, Wile E. Coyote is going to go off the cliff and look down.'
Of course, it's difficult to forecast that far out. And investors will recall that Bernanke famously said in March 2007 that the impact of the subprime mortgagecollapse was 'likely to be contained.' The Great Recession began nine months later.
For now, Wall Street doesn't seem worried about a recession. Powered by blockbuster earnings, the Nasdaq raced back to a record high last week. The Dow and S&P 500 have recovered most of their losses from last winter's sell-off.
Go to casino games. Still, Bernanke's warning underlines Washington's peculiar sense of timing. Congress hit the brakes on the economy by cutting spending and letting tax cuts expire during the fiscal cliff standoff in 2013 — just as the slow-speed recovery needed a boost.
'I begged Congress,' Bernanke said, 'not to raise taxes and cut spending as they did. It was the wrong time to do that.'
This Congress is making life more difficult for Jerome Powell, the current chairman of the Fed. The central bank, which meets on Wednesday, needs to keep inflation in check by raising interest rates, but not so quickly that it exacerbates a potential slowdown.
That's not to mention the deep uncertainty and higher expenses for businesses caused by President Trump's tariffs and trade threats.
Lindsay Piegza, chief economist at Stifel, told CNNMoney's 'Markets Now' last week that she already sees signs that economic momentum is 'beginning to wane.'
Wile E Coyote Motorcycle Crash
'The risk of recession rapidly rises as we look out to the second half of 2019 and into 2020,' she said.
2. AT&T-Time Warner decision: A federal judge is expected to rule Tuesday on the fate of AT&T's $85 billion bid to acquire Time Warner.
The Justice Department sued to block the deal. It argues that the combination would give AT&T(T) the power to charge its competitors more for Time Warner's content, or to block the content entirely from the likes of Comcast, Verizon and Charter.
Time Warner owns HBO, Warner Bros. and the Turner networks, including CNN. AT&T and Time Warner say they need to join forces to compete with new competitors such as Netflix(NFLX) and Amazon(AMZN). AT&T has argued that prices would not necessarily go up, and that it would have no reason to keep its content from competitors.
Wile E Coyote Acme
3. Rate hike coming: The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates this week for the second time this year. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will take questions on Wednesday after the announcement.
Investors will be listening for clues about whether the Fed will raise rates once more this year or twice.
The markets will also be eager to hear what Powell says about trade and the economic risk from President Trump's tariffs.
4. Tariff details: By Friday, the Trump administration is expected to release the final list of Chinese products that will be subject to tariffs — about $50 billion in all. The White House says the tariffs will take effect 'shortly thereafter.'
The United States reached a deal last week with ZTE, a Chinese tech company, and lifted a ban that blocked the company from buying American parts. New casino game online. The deal drew backlash, but some experts think the Trump administration was trying to win goodwill in trade negotiations with China.
5. Coming this week:
Wile E Coyote Crash
Monday — Net neutrality ends
Tuesday — H&R Block(HRB) earnings; AT&T-Time Warner decision
Wednesday — Fed interest rate decision and Powell press conference
Thursday — US retail sales for May
Friday — Deadline for White House to publish tariff list
Wile E Coyote Crash Report
