Can anyone make a case for health insurance companies not getting absolutely slaughtered in the next few months? I feel like some of them are at serious risk of going to zero. I’m befuddled that they aren’t getting crushed on the market and are bouncing back nicely the last few days.
It seems to me that they, the hospitals/healthcare system, or both have to go under from this.
Oh you sweet summer child.
I know we’re going to bail them out, but that still should take their stock prices waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down.
But I must say I’m very much looking forward to bailing them out to the tune of trillions of dollars that nobody will ask HoW wIlL yOu PaY fOr It???
Most people in the US watch and listen to extreme right wing propaganda like all day. Fox News is bad but a lot of the guys on talk radio are much worse. Where I grew up in Western Pennsylvania people literally listen to that all day while driving around or working. So do their colleagues and neighbors and thepeople in their church, then there grows a social benefit from adopting these positions and talking about them which further cements the propaganda into their world view. If you just turn on Fox news as a citizen of an EU country who is somewhat up to speed on world affairs and US politics, it’s obvious what it is, but for people who have been ingesting it for a decade it is part of their identity. Deep down they don’t care whether it is true or not, it makes them feel exceptional.
Also you have to remember that education is valued much less in US than in Europe. One of the things I have learned since moving to Germany is that educational titles are much more important here as they are linked to social status, where in the US no one outside of acedemia cares about your level of education, money and connections to old money are what confers social status. Among the poorer classes and religious groups there is a very strong anti intellectual movement. Smart people are actively distrusted as having a liberal agenda. Someone who is not a medical doctor but a Phd would be looked down at in many circles by calling themselves a doctor or expecting someone else to use such a title. People would trust the opinion of a random enighbor just as much of a scientist. These attitudes exist everywhere to some extent but in the USA they are much stronger than anywhere else I have been.
Funny how growing up I was convinced this sort of thing couldn’t happen here and in the age of the Internet because it would be too easy to get the truth out, but in reality the opposite is true. It is too easy to drown out the truth in a flood of propaganda and once people get into it, it becomes self reinforcing.
It should scare you. Those people would gladly end freedom of the press, and believe the flimsiest excuse for why the minorities they see getting dragged off to death camps every day are really just going to a safe place for their own good.
You can show them something Trump just said, on video or tweet, and they still refuse to believe it. Perfectly normal people who are otherwise decent neighbors, parents, coworkers, etc. But when it comes to Trump, they’re immediately and enthusiastically willing to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears.
By most, I think you mean about 5% of the population, maybe 10%, though right wing propaganda does get disseminated to people who are not active consumers, as in the South. I believe Hannity/Tucker have around 5M viewers a night, which is less than 2% of the population.
There is also a ton of conservative talk radio in the US that is just as bad, and probably a least doubles the number of consumers. Also lots of social media addicts that absorb steady infusions of Fox News and other related media through Facebook. My guess is the 5 million is just the floor.
Well, 5% of the population is like 16.5M. I was including things like talk radio in my estimate. In 2016 Trump received 62M votes, of which probably less than 1/3 (pulling a number out of my ear) are daily consumers of right-wing media.
I really object to the statement that, “Most people in the US watch and listen to extreme right-wing propaganda like all day.” If you believe that you probably have a completely false understanding of US politics.
Fair enough, just wanted to emphasize that there are many channels of right wing propaganda in the US, Hannity/Tucker is a big part of it but there’s a lot more. And some of the other stuff like Rush L and Facebook memes are even more deplorable than Fox, which is scary.
Local news is generally right-wing by a reasonable definition that includes almost all commercial radio, but certainly overly conservative media like the 294 Sinclair Media TV Stations.
I misspoke, I should have said many people, not most people. But I think it is way more than 10% of voting age adults who are getting some propaganda on a regular basis, either via radio, TV, online via Brietbart or the like. In some areas like small towns in the south or rust belt it is probably a majority.
That’s why Rush is always number 1 on my “list”. 30+ years of spreading racism, hatred and lies on a national platform. He’s contributed more to ruining this country than any other single person I can think of. I can’t wait to celebrate his death.
I think it would be fair to say that many people in the US consume right wing media, and those people have a disproportionate electoral effect due to overrepresentation in the senate/electoral college.
I’m somewhat sympathetic to Microbet’s point, but would not consider most local news, through it tilts conservative, to qualify as “extreme” right-wing (other than Sinclair).
note: funny thing about local news, which I basically never watch but am DVRing now for local corona updates, is that in So Cal it’s the same anchors that were on 30 years ago, before I lived all over the place, just that they are all old as hell now. Thankfully, I’ve stayed the same age.
Regarding investing, moved my portfolio from Schwab’s “same as cash” 1% annual return short term (mostly corporate) bond fund to “cash.” I think there’s too much systemic uncertainty and I want a clearer picture before investing in anything.
I don’t think a lot of well-meaning people understand the magnitude of the media problem. I’ll take Rupert Murdoch #1 in the “ruined America” draft.
Sure, but again people need access to liquidity in their investments in time of crisis, and what good does it do to close the markets for a month and reopen them 20-40% lower? It only makes sense if the sell-off is panic induced and that’s what the circuit breakers are for.
Yeah he’s another good choice along with Rush on the Mount Rushmore of American traitors and despicable pond scum.
Inflationary policy is always better than deflation in times of economic contraction. This is perhaps the most clear lesson of the great depression. Deflation causes a feedback loop that is incredibly difficult to escape.
Politicians would be bailing out industries and specific companies regardless of whether people could trade options or other derivative investments, crony capitalism is influenced by special interest lobbying not day trading. Furthermore, the bailouts are pallatable to much of the public due to legitimate fear of lost jobs and ripple effects to creditors, suppliers, and other economic entities tied to the fate of these companies. The economic and market response to the current situation sucks in a lot of way for a lot of reasons but I really don’t think your medicine fits the disease.
Don’t forget Roger Ailes, maybe more instrumental than Murdoch in making his media empire what it is.
I’ve got Rush #1 just because he was the pioneer, demonstrated the market and has a following as large as Fox.