COVID-19 - Part 2

[Chuck Murray]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

We were able to give the wealthiest tax break after tax break. We were able to bail out Wall Street, banks, allow corporations to pay virtually nothing in taxes. The economy will disintegrate but we have $6T to throw around to boost it back up. Funny we never had that for infrastructure, health care, education...

Infrastructure should have gotten done, but it died on the rocks of "Russia Russia Russia" and the phony Ukraine whistleblower impeachment gambit, which BTW Congress was still wasting its time with when COVID-19 was gradually sneaking up on us all.

Education funding - at the college/university level, it arguably is THE problem, since the increases in the cost of higher education has FAR outstripped the increased costs of living everywhere else in the economy. Student loan availability, tuition rising well over the cost of living, over 40 years now at least (first year tuition at a private college in '79 for me was $3,750 - it was almost double when in graduated in '83, and it's hardly abated since), higher education has been subsidized by the Feds, and prestigious colleges amass billion dollar endowments, while students often leave mired in six figure debts that stymie things like families, homes, etc.

The best thing the Federal Government can do education-wise is to reallocate funds for colleges instead to pre-college schooling.

And yes, I just posted that on US College Hockey Online. I sense a long suspension looms …

[Darius]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

The government is missing the point, should provide an income stream ($500/week/adult, $250/week/dependent child) to individuals for two months. Hopefully the money is spent locally giving small businesses and individuals some day to day stress relief. I shudder thinking about the extraneous crap each side has inserted to the bill.

Using the airline industry as an example and BTW, Boeing's CEO is leaning to NOT taking government aid IF it means giving the government an equity position in Boeing*, IF the airlines were to fail, then what? The crappy airlines like American and United? Going with the old person dying analogy, maybe it is their time. Airlines like Southwest, Jetblue with viable business models? They likely emerge as less than they were 2 weeks ago, but they emerge as viable business entities. If they all fail? Well, there will be lots of opportunities for start ups to find good deals on planes, gates, ground equipment and non (legacy) union labor.

Right now, the government needs to nationalize the airline industry, consolidate planes and routes to keep cargo and mail moving, eliminate all but 100% certifiable essential passenger travel. That someone can currently can fly from New York to any of the relatively unaffected parts of the country is unconscionable. I would think someone like Steve Bannon is telling the President that he needs to keep the infection where it is, with the coastal liberal elites, not let it move to the the heartland base.

* - I'd love to sit down with Bernie over a beer and hear his Socialist take on this.

[Darius]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

Given the revved up partisanship on here this morning...

Yeah, who started that anyway?

[HockeyRef]

Yeah, who started that anyway?

Not me...I just want to live long enough to have grandchildren..😄

[French Rage]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

This thread makes me even happier that the Nats won the World Series last year.

[joecct]

Not me...I just want to live long enough to have grandchildren..😄

6.875 and counting

[Slap Shot]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

(Sung to The Doors Touch Me)

Don't Touch Me

Yeah! Come on, come on, come on, come on
Don't touch me, babe
Can't you see that I am super afraid?
What was that promise that you made?
Social Distancing is what she said?
What was that promise that you made?

Now, I'm going to love you
From at least 6 feet away
I'm going to love you
'Til the covid falls from the sky for you and I..

[NCAA watcher]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

BTW Congress was still wasting its time with when COVID-19 was gradually sneaking up on us all.

So the guy who dismantled the preparedness team (was it him, I don't think so, he doesn't remember doing it, so let's ignore that), and then called it a hoax for the first two months instead of preparing, is now excused, and it is "Congress" is to blame -- presumably the obstructionist democrats, amirite?

You realize if we had prepared the response today wouldn't need to be as broad, and could be more surgical, but the lack of testing made it 300 X worse?

[Chuck Murray]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

So the guy who dismantled the preparedness team (was it him, I don't think so, he doesn't remember doing it, so let's ignore that), and then called it a hoax for the first two months instead of preparing, is now excused, and it is "Congress" is to blame -- presumably the obstructionist democrats, amirite?

You realize if we had prepared the response today wouldn't need to be as broad, and could be more surgical, but the lack of testing made it 300 X worse?

The supposed "lack of preparedness" thing frankly is a little overstated, and starting to sound like political "talking points" at this point, 'Watcher. There are always going to be some areas where it's worse than others - in Italy, I guess it's in the north, and in the US, it was Washington State and is now NYC/Tri-State region. The percentage of deaths per diagnosed cases in the US is now pretty much on par (1.2%) with the supposedly "most prepared" large countries in the world (i.e. oft-cited South Korea) and per the most recent graph in the attached article, was only behind global leaders Germany:

https://www.businessinsider.com/coro...y-ratio-2020-3

The US death ratio - likely as a function of increased testing activities - has been steadily falling. It's approaching the 1% that most long-range predictions had stated - and nothing even remotely approaching the "Italy Italy Italy" scaremongering tactics many were uttering on these boards at this time last week. I know - it's a morbid topic, and the numbers represent real people - but this is the data we've been left with to measure. And while an overall "lack of preparedness" is a legitimate criticism, it seems most of the larger countries (faced with the biggest logistical challenges) fell afoul of the same thing, yet we're still doing better that virtually everyone except Germany. That's not an opinion - that's data, that's the cold hard math. It's as factual as we get.

As to the "hoax" thing, I believe there is a 120 word gap between Trump's reference to COVID-19 and "hoax" in that bit - not at all unlike some of the creative wordsmithing Pelosi & Co. did to try to construct the Ukraine narrative. But I'll revisit that later ...

Be back later, think positive thoughts folks!!!

[Darius]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

As to the "hoax" thing, I believe there is a 120 word gap between Trump's reference to COVID-19 and "hoax" in that bit - not at all unlike some of the creative wordsmithing Pelosi & Co. did to try to construct the Ukraine narrative. But I'll revisit that later ...

Were they different words formulated into structured sentences resulting in a a cogent thought?

[NCAA watcher]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

The supposed "lack of preparedness" thing frankly is a little overstated, and starting to sound like political "talking points" at this point, 'Watcher.

Really? That the President dismantled the very group supposed to oversee a response is just a talking point?

But a long list of experts, lawmakers and former officials spent the last 18 months warning that the Trump administration needed to reinstate it before it was too late.

“We worked very well with that office,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Congress on March 11. “It would be nice if the office was still there.”

[Darius]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

62,086 infected, 869 dead = 1.4% This is the current Johns Hopkins data we have as of 3/25/20 3:26:24 PM.

US population = 330,000,000, projected infections 70,000,000 - 150,000,000 = 980,300 - 2,100,000 deaths.

CDC estimates that, from October 1, 2019, through March 14, 2020, there have been 23,000 – 59,000 US flu deaths.

edit: New York (CITY) is #9 in the deaths by COUNTRY list.

edit 2: projected infection rate accuracy seems hard to know, what we are working on, wash your hands and stay home.

edit 3: simple math except my trusty TI BA-35 circa 1984 calculator ran out of decimal places.

[Bomber]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

Republican Governor Charlie Baker is keeping MA schools closed until May 4th.

[HockeyRef]

Republican Governor Charlie Baker is keeping MA schools closed until May 4th.

Wondering what NH gov Sununu's plan is...

[Darius]

Re: COVID-19 - Part 2

Wondering what NH gov Sununu's plan is...

Sununu says stay-at-home still not necessary here:
https://www.unionleader.com/news/hea...lock_id=883785
Gov. Chris Sununu rejected a direct plea from one executive councilor for New Hampshire to join the growing number of states whose leaders were shutting down non-essential businesses.

Sununu says he won't sacrifice public health for sake of economy:
https://www.unionleader.com/news/hea...lock_id=883785
Gov. Chris Sununu said if needed, he’ll maintain public restrictions in New Hampshire longer than President Trump, who said Tuesday he wants the country to be back “open for business” by Easter on April 12.

Sununu orders NH public schools closed; 13 cases of COVID-19 so far:
https://www.unionleader.com/news/hea...a5321af1b.html
Remote learning will remain in place through at least April 3, when the state will re-evaluate the situation...