This is a great example of Democrats being impotent at messaging and controlling the narrative in the modern era.
Republicans invent bad faith, BS talking points but manage to keep them at the tips of their base’s tongues evermore. Democrats introduce real laws under the valid process and Republicans sit back and chuckle.
And most progressives aren’t even aware this happened; we just gain the (valid) sense that our side sucks at this, even if we take the wrong route to get there.
Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but today I happened to walk by the TV while some PBS show was on. It pointed out the symbolism of the equals sign having two lines of the same length. Mind is blown because somehow I’ve never thought about this before.
It was Nova - Einstein’s Mind.
Huh it’s like their covid party was a “covid” party
https://twitter.com/sportsradiowip/status/1272567891225907203?s=21
I think my girlfriend is close to hitting a breaking point and I’m not far behind. It seems like she’s been getting herself through this by depending on the fact that it’s only a couple of weeks or a month til things are back to normal. But now, her work has moved back the “back in office” date by two weeks for a fourth time, while cases in our county are starting to rise again.
I just don’t see how we get through this without a massive recession, one that makes 2008 look quaint. There’s gotta be an ongoing, gigantic economic slowdown currently occurring and it’s driving me crazy that we’re all just going about our lives like nothing is happening.
For some reason though The Spanish Flu didn’t really tank the market. And that killed like 5% of the people it infected or something.
Day 1 update: Me and 1 other person are the only one wearing masks. What the fuck is the point?
Vox Fermi Paradox article by poker player and “Split or Steal” hustler Liv Bouree
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/7/3/17522810/aliens-fermi-paradox-drake-equation
I don’t think there is much similarity between the economy in 1918 and today. And the Spanish Flu wasn’t that much more deadly than Covid-19 likely is. It had a fatality rate of around 2% which is what? 2-4x as deadly as Covid? So it was definitely worse by a significant amount but Covid is in the ballpark.
I am still in the camp that says our economy is in big trouble right now and that it is likely to only get worse as we blunder our way through Covid. Now the stock market is not the economy so could we see several quarters of a recession + double digit unemployment and not see stocks take much of a hit? Possibly. I tend to agree with you that the biggest risk for the stock market is a second wave of shutdowns triggered by hospitals filling up. Whether or not that will happen or not is up in the air at this point.
As to Jerry’s point it seems like there is no chance we get back to anywhere near full employment by 2021 or sooner. That is going to have some pretty bad consequences even if STONKS aren’t really affected.
My aunts the same, her oldest daughter was planning her wedding this year in August, down in Kent where her boyfriends family is from and had to cancel the whole event while they both continued to work for the NHS.
There such a nice couple too, she does the pharmaceutical work in the hospital after refusing the big pay day, she was 2nd in her class for her degree, I think it was a degree given in distinction? And her boyfriend went to work in the Ambulance service after turning down his dream job of Marine biology study and had a placement to go to sea with major funding.
Our family is not rich and had to chip in to get the wedding on as proud Scots we don’t let others pay, we saved up and now Poof it’s gone, hopefully her soon to be Mil will pay back the funds we paid her EVENTS company, we’re not holding our breath and my Aunt has not spoken with the new soon to be Mil about the situation yet as there in denial.
My Aunt and her family are distraught, they know of all the dangers of a novel Virus, are in 24 hour lockdown and don’t want to leave the stringent regime the’ve set for themselves until a vaccine is produced and if we get pushed back to work in the coming months I think it will break her, alough at times I’ve been a naughty boy, this part of my family is all about doing the right thing for everyone around them, supplying food banks and constantly doing charity work for them etc.
I don’t have words to help people atm and for me that’s a 1st, Im truly at a lost looking in at reality, it’s a weird time line to be in. All the kids are out playing here too, it’s so so sad.
The point is to protect yourself and to make a point. It’s up to you whether that’s more important than the other factors you mention.
Wife’s 29 year old cousin died in a car accident yesterday, setting me up for the whole “travel from NY to FL for a funeral” smackdown. I said absolutely I wouldn’t go, she says she hasn’t made a decision. We both have been home for the last 3 months, with only a couple outdoor get togethers with similarly-quarantined friends. Her family in NY is very much OFB in an extremely rural part of the state with almost no cases.
We are absolutely the crazy ones at this point, and it’s going to be very, very messy. My sympathies to anyone caught up in this nightmare, which can only be attributed to a complete and total failure of national leadership.
ETA-wear your seat belts, folks. I can’t believe it is still a thing to say that in 2020, but trees are not just the flu.
There is a chance a bunch of people in your office get it and you don’t. I don’t even care if it has anything to do with the mask, I’d keep the mask on just so I can taunt these trash vans–by video, of course-- as they cough and hack their final breaths.
Leaders lead from the front
I’m sorry for your loss. This sucks. 29 is a good age and you still have 3 or 4 good years left.
I’d just say something like “I’m doing it because there are a lot of older folks here who would be at a high risk were they to catch it and I don’t want to be the source of an office infection” as dual explanation-and-shaming.
This will be their counterpoint though
https://twitter.com/wendywoo6089/status/1271574551927930887
The thing that blows my mind is I’m in blue city and state with strict face covering requirements and even the republicans I know mostly have no problem wearing a mask, but for some reason you go to a red state everyone thinks you’re a nazi if you want them to wear a face mask.
Before traders could short stocks as easily as now.
But you also had pump and dump and investment trusts and a bunch of really shady stuff going on.
I could 100% see the market tanking. But I could also see the market shrugging it off like we shrugged off the great devastating pork shortage that was coming a couple months ago. Both parties are as committed as politicians can possibly be to propping up the stock market - which will probably work until we can’t print our way out of trouble anymore. When does that happen?
I never would have guessed the furniture market would be going apeshit instead of collapsing. But it happened. I wouldn’t guess my ex-trainer turning it into the biggest financial windfall he’s ever had by opening his gym 2 weeks before it was legal.
One constant from history seems to be the market does not care about human life. WWII was by most accounts a huge boon to the US economy.
My point is I don’t think any of us really have any idea how this is going to shake out wrt to the economy. The range seems to be Great Depression II to Dow 50k. The market almost doubled from 2016 to 2020.
I agree, and I think that’s usually the case with economics.