US Politics: Mad Max Beyond Corona Dome

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

21 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

Nobody knows how this is all going to play out, but IMO it would take a minor miracle for unemployment to be that low in 7 months. 

I heard would estimate from a trustworthy source that it could rise by as much as 2% this month alone.

[sologdin]

 hoping he infected the entire Republican Senate caucus.

i need to scold you for this; i think the plague has always been and must always be hostis humani generis, even for those who appear to be traitors to humanity on its behalf.

that said, i must be naive in believing that the sudden deprivation of medical treatment on the basis of triage principles for those who have health insurance but oppose single payer public health insurance should be an enlightening experience.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

35 minutes ago, sologdin said:

i need to scold you for this; i think the plague has always been and must always be hostis humani generis, even for those who appear to be traitors to humanity on its behalf. 

I am at the point where I tentatively believe that political right themselves are enemies of mankind themselves. So, this Corona versus Senate Republicans is like a boring medical version of Aliens vs. Predators. If you say, well, Alien vs. Predator itself was pretty boring, then I'd say this is a fair point. However, the predators like the Corona virus did leave at the end of the movie (after taking out the aliens with the help of Sanaa Lathan). Of course Rand spreading the virus among his Republican Brethren would be more like the silly Alien leaving the cave open for a gang of Predators.

[Fragile Bird]

Oh, there is going to be a Task Force briefing after all. Will the orange one appear, after his Fox performance?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Well something must be going down because they’re now exploring how we could work from home. The higher ups have to have inside information, and I think it’s telling that non-mandatory medical staffers might be going home.

[Mudguard]

7 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Well something must be going down because they’re now exploring how we could work from home. The higher ups have to have inside information, and I think it’s telling that non-mandatory medical staffers might be going home.

Do you work at a hospital that treats or would treat covid-19 patients?  If so, it's beyond idiotic that they haven't already moved to work from home for all non-essential workers.  

Edited to add: Are there separate entries for patients and employees?  That would make it better, but still stupid.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 minute ago, Mudguard said:

Do you work at a hospital that treats or would treat covid-19 patients?  If so, it's beyond idiotic that they haven't already moved to work from home for all non-essential workers.  

Yup, and I have called management out on it several times, but they have no idea how to handle this. I just oh so love being lectured on social distancing from a group of managers that are standing shoulder to shoulder. Had fun mocking them for that in front of the entire staff.

And to be clear, patients who potentially have the virus would not be entering our clinic, but the social workers that go to sick people's houses all work here as do most home care workers and as I've tried to repeatedly explain to said managers, if this thing can live on a surface for three days, and we get mail everyday from the clinics that are treating potentially infected patients, put two and two together and if it's not already here, it will be soon enough, especially if a real outbreak hits the Twin Cities. 

[Fragile Bird]

Geez, Trump just bragged how the US has done more testing than Korea. The US has 327 M people and Korea has 51 M people.

Your churches are going to be packed for Easter. 
 

Bloody hell no.

[Darth Richard II]

We;re doomed.

[Jace, Extat]

11 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

 

Your churches are going to be packed for Easter. 

That just made my day.

[Martell Spy]

Quote

That is not actually how the program will work. The current draft bill, which was sent to me by a Democratic policy aide, offers jobless Americans a flat weekly payment of $600 on top of the ordinary unemployment benefits they would usually receive, for up to four months. It also extends regular unemployment insurance for an extra 13 weeks and makes more former workers eligible. The spending is federally funded. Another Democratic aide familiar with the negotiations summed it up this way:

The New Stimulus Bill Gives Unemployed Workers an Extra $600 per Week. That’s Huge.
Democrats negotiated a big bump in unemployment insurance.

https://slate.com/business/2020/03/coronavirus-stimulus-bill-democrats-unemployment-insurance.html

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

36 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

That just made my day.

There's blood coming out of your eyes!

[Ormond]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

Yup, and I have called management out on it several times, but they have no idea how to handle this. I just oh so love being lectured on social distancing from a group of managers that are standing shoulder to shoulder. Had fun mocking them for that in front of the entire staff.

And to be clear, patients who potentially have the virus would not be entering our clinic, but the social workers that go to sick people's houses all work here as do most home care workers and as I've tried to repeatedly explain to said managers, if this thing can live on a surface for three days, and we get mail everyday from the clinics that are treating potentially infected patients, put two and two together and if it's not already here, it will be soon enough, especially if a real outbreak hits the Twin Cities. 

The organization you work for seems incredibly bad for a medical one.

I ended up giving some money to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville a couple of years ago because my sister volunteers there, and as a result got on their email list. There was an email several days ago linking to a YouTube video where the head of VUMC said, among other things, that all the managers there were tasked with figuring out which employees could do the majority of their work from home, and all of those persons were going to be required to work from home. Seems like just the opposite attitude from your place. 

 

[sologdin]

48 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said:

We're doomed.

or as farscape has it:

Quote

Crichton: Oh hell, we're screwed.
Rygel: Should I disrobe so it's memorable?

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

9 minutes ago, Ormond said:

The organization you work for seems incredibly bad for a medical one.

I ended up giving some money to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville a couple of years ago because my sister volunteers there, and as a result got on their email list. There was an email several days ago linking to a YouTube video where the head of VUMC said, among other things, that all the managers there were tasked with figuring out which employees could do the majority of their work from home, and all of those persons were going to be required to work from home. Seems like just the opposite attitude from your place. 

 

I can say in no uncertain terms that it's the least professional place I've ever seen. We provide great medical care, but everything else is shit, and it has really opened my eyes to the sheer amount of waste, fraud and abuse in the system at every level. 

But you see, management's bonuses depend on meeting certain thresholds, so the show must go on. 

Also, regarding working from home, I can tell you that it would be 100% impossible. The fact that they're even trying to figure out a plan reveals how idiotic they are, and I feel bad for the one smart manager. I can be blunt with him and I broke down how it couldn't work. He didn't disagree, but his boss just told him to try harder.

Oh, and one more fun thing. Seems like there's been panic buying on various ventilators, and I haven't seen any evidence that more have come in. I don't work in the warehouse, but I walk down there from time to time to talk sports with the guys, not that that goes anywhere these days.

[DMC]

4 hours ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

A 6% unemployment rate at the time of the election will probably have a higher impact on reelection than a 44.5% approval rating right now.

In terms of economic indicators, GDP growth is a much better explanatory variable than unemployment - or even change in unemployment - in models trying to predict the two-party vote share in presidential elections.  In fact, the best models usually use change in GDP growth during the first two quarters of the election year (meaning January-June, NOT October-March which would be the first two quarters of the FY).  If that holds for this cycle, Trump is already screwed.  But, this is a pretty extraordinary case, so I wouldn't put too much stock in that as of yet. 

I also agree that Trump in all likelihood is still simply enjoying the rally round the flag effect right now, dissatisfaction during crises usually has a lagged effect.

[Jace, Extat]

36 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

There's blood coming out of your eyes!

That's just tequila. The hemoglobin stains it red.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

7 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

That's just tequila. The hemoglobin stains it red.

Jokes aside, how does your hospital look? 

[Zorral]

31 minutes ago, DMC said:

I also agree that Trump in all likelihood is still simply enjoying the rally round the flag effect right now, dissatisfaction during crises usually has a lagged effect.

You're missing the constant drumbeat to be back to normal at Easter -- his nonstop message is to pack the churches at Easter.

Jim Jones.

Why is this insane monster not being taken out RIGHT NOW? Why is fnoose not unplugged RIGHT NOW?   Without this constant drumbeat the asshole base would deflate.

[OldGimletEye]

58 minutes ago, DMC said:

In terms of economic indicators, GDP growth is a much better explanatory variable than unemployment - or even change in unemployment

That's interesting. Do you know off the top of your head how much of a better model fit you get when you add in unemployment? Or does it really add anything once GDP is present?