Who Pays the Coronaman? - Covid #8

[Tywin Manderly]

Please continue.

[BigFatCoward]

although Spain had another record day for deaths there does seem to be a slowing down, last week has been 288 - 391 - 539 - 680 - 656 - 718 - 763.

[Jace, Basilissa]

33 minutes ago, Arakan said:

Maybe just a sense of integrity. It’s easy to say we have to take it on the chin when you can expect the best medical treatment there is in the world if you are affected. No triage for BJ. 
 

It’s the same with sending people into war, when one oneself never has to fight or dodged the fight (GWB, DT). Very easy to make such decisions  when one oneself will not face the same consequences. 

I'm sorry, but I don't follow exactly. Are you rebuking me for wishing death upon my enemies or instead suggesting he might have a Come to Liberal Jesus moment of some kind?

If it's the former, man the fuck up. If you have an ideology, a worldview, you have enemies. And hugs ain't how they're gonna go away. Don't wanna shoot nobody, that's fair I guess. I don't wanna shoot nobody neither. But when a virus strikes and you're rooting for someone like Boris Johnson's recovery then you're either a supporter, an idiot, or mentally disabled.

And if you're thinking he might grow or change, just walk into the ocean. It's the only place you'll do any good.

Edited March 27, 2020 by Jace, Basilissa

[larrytheimp]

1 minute ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

I'm sorry, but I don't follow exactly. Are you rebuking me for wishing dear upon my enemies or instead suggesting he might have a Come to Liberal Jesus moment of some kind?

If it's the former, man the fuck up. If you have an ideology, a worldview, you have enemies. And hugs ain't how they're gonna go away. Don't wanna shoot nobody, that's fair I guess. I don't wanna shoot nobody neither. But when a virus strikes and you're rooting for someone like Boris Johnson's recovery then you're either a supporter, an idiot, or mentally disabled.

And if you're thinking he might grow or change, just walk into the ocean. It's the only place you'll do any good.

Well in this situation hugs might just be lethal

[Jeor]

18 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

although Spain had another record day for deaths there does seem to be a slowing down, last week has been 288 - 391 - 539 - 680 - 656 - 718 - 763.

Although this will sound statistically callous, it does seem that the daily death rate is not too bad - in Wuhan, Italy and Spain we're probably talking a peak death rate around 1000 per day - not in the tens of thousands, and certainly not in ways that would add up to millions of deaths worldwide like some people have been saying. I don't mean to minimise any of those individual deaths, but looking at the big picture that is not as disastrous as some of the projections/scenarios people have espoused.

Edited March 27, 2020 by Jeor

[The Marquis de Leech]

FFS.

Boris is not a nice man. But he is the British Head of Government. The UK actually needs a functional Head of Government in such a time. Sure, there are procedures for Acting Prime Ministers, but in the circumstances, you don't want the Actual Prime Minister to drop dead.

[Liffguard]

2 minutes ago, The Marquis de Leech said:

The UK actually needs a functional Head of Government in such a time.

Right, but the problem is we have Boris Johnson.

[Jace, Basilissa]

Just now, The Marquis de Leech said:

FFS.

Boris is not a nice man. But he is the British Head of Government. The UK actually needs a functional Head of Government in such a time. Sure, there are procedures for Acting Prime Ministers, but in the circumstances, you don't want the Actual Prime Minister to drop dead.

Why, exactly? If he's dead you don't have to campaign against him.

[Jeor]

To go a bit with the thread title, who's going to pay for all the deficit spending?

To be sure, quite a few Western countries have had prolonged deficits with no ill effects for decades (I'm looking mainly at the US, which has a built in advantage given it's the reserve currency of the world), but some of the numbers being used in the last few weeks may test that, particularly for other non-American countries.

[Arakan]

3 minutes ago, Jeor said:

Although this will sound statistically callous, it does seem that the daily death rate is not too bad - in Wuhan, Italy and Spain we're probably talking a peak death rate around 1000 per day - not in the tens of thousands, and certainly not in ways that would add up to millions of deaths worldwide like some people have been saying. I don't mean to minimise any of those individual deaths, but looking at the big picture that is not as disastrous as some of the projections/scenarios people have espoused.

Hopefully yes. Though so far those have all been mostly localized hotspot outbreaks. Milan metropolitan area, Madrid metropolitan area (in both cases accounting for 50%+ of casualties), Wuhan. I don’t know about Iran. In France the Grande-Est Region (for France relatively densely populated) is heavily affected. Hopefully due to the lockdown measurements it will stay this way. In two weeks we will know more. 

[Arakan]

2 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Why, exactly? If he's dead you don't have to campaign against him.

Ah I understand :)). You are anti Boris. Lost in translation. Mea Culpa. 

[Arakan]

1 minute ago, Jeor said:

To go a bit with the thread title, who's going to pay for all the deficit spending?

To be sure, quite a few Western countries have had prolonged deficits with no ill effects for decades (I'm looking mainly at the US, which has a built in advantage given it's the reserve currency of the world), but some of the numbers being used in the last few weeks may test that, particularly for other non-American countries.

And here it will get interesting. 2008/09 must not repeat itself. The system question will be asked or should be asked. Western countries like the US, UK, France, Germany are incredibly rich. Just a question who has all this wealth. We should think out of the box. There are simple yet not easy solutions. I cannot speak for other countries but in Germany the Gini coefficient has been growing since 1990. No rational justification for this. 

2008/09 the „little guy“ was taken for a ride. And nothing of consequence changed. Not this time. The burden will be way to big. 
 

If I were Bundeskanzler I would introduce a progressive Corona solidarity premium. I would enforce all large corporations to pay their fair due in taxes. The same corporations who are now profiting by the public safety nets around the world. No more tax evasion by profit transfer to Luxembourg or some islands. There is money and wealth enough in the Western system. 
 

In Germany the combined wealth of every German with at least 100 millions is 2000 billions. They won’t really miss 10-15%. 
 

The poorer countries in have to be supported as well. There are ways. 
 

The economic costs of this crisis are gargantuan. Italy and Spain will be bankrupt when all is said and done. BAU approach even XL BAU approach like 08/09 will not suffice. The Domino stones are falling. 

[Fragile Bird]

Some notes on retail trends.

First the hand sanitizer, the disinfectants, the soap, the gloves and the masks sold out.

Then the food items sold out, the beans, the pasta, etc etc.

The third wave? Pajamas.

The fourth - shirts. Because teleconference calls.

[john]

19 minutes ago, Arakan said:

Ah I understand :)). You are anti Boris. Lost in translation. Mea Culpa. 

That was a quick transition for Johnson from being somebody that @Jace, Basilissa only knew about as a well read American to being one of her enemies that death is wished upon.

These are trying times indeed.

[john]

2 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Some notes on retail trends.

First the hand sanitizer, the disinfectants, the soap, the gloves and the masks sold out.

Then the food items sold out, the beans, the pasta, etc etc.

The third wave? Pajamas.

The fourth - shirts. Because teleconference calls.

I just found out that our local supermarket has sanitiser that you’re supposed to ask for at the checkout. How long has this been going on!

[Jeor]

2 minutes ago, Arakan said:

The economic costs of this crisis are gargantuan. Italy and Spain will be bankrupt when all is said and done. BAU approach even XL BAU approach like 08/09 will not suffice. The Domino stones are falling. 

While I think some countries may rebound quite quickly, there are going to be some that struggle under the debt burden and the deficit spending for years to come. Some countries will probably be okay - the US is spending the most, but they've got cushy status with the dollar, and countries like Australia don't have much of a debt burden so they can take on more.

Globally there will probably be a reasonably quick rebound from this, but I wonder if this crisis is going to secretly lay some sovereign debt time bomb that will blow a few more years down the track.

[Jace, Basilissa]

4 minutes ago, john said:

That was a quick transition for Johnson from being somebody that @Jace, Basilissa only knew about as a well read American to being one of her enemies that death is wished upon.

These are trying times indeed.

As a well read American I've read enough to know where Johnson falls on my shit list. He's a smarter, handsomer, articulate version of Donald. Or in other words an ignorant, repulsive, jackass who dick trips his way to bigger and bigger cons. 

Been wishing him dead since Brexit.

Edited March 27, 2020 by Jace, Basilissa

[Jen'ari]

@BigFatCoward That’s a really tricky question, I don’t agree with his politics,find his general outlook on things is horrible and obviously would rather he wasn’t president but I don’t wish him to contract the virus either, I think I just have a thing about people suffering and dying from disease, it’s something I couldn’t wish on people .

 

[Tywin et al.]

6 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Some notes on retail trends.

First the hand sanitizer, the disinfectants, the soap, the gloves and the masks sold out.

Then the food items sold out, the beans, the pasta, etc etc.

The third wave? Pajamas.

The fourth - shirts. Because teleconference calls.

Kill me when the run on socks and underwear occurs.

Also, @Jace, Basilissa, I did not realize the Olympic torch passing was a Nazi idea. And apparently the interwebs wants to downplay it as much as possible, just saying it originated at the 1936 Berlin games.

[Tywin et al.]

5 minutes ago, john said:

I just found out that our local supermarket has sanitiser that you’re supposed to ask for at the checkout. How long has this been going on!

During the initial run on TP, smart restaurants were offering a roll with any takeout order. Hell of a marketing scheme.