The World going MAD!

[rotting sea cow]

I suppose it is time for a thread like this. Over almost two years we have dedicated our attention to a sole big problem: The COVID-19 pandemic

This has obscured other problems that are becoming more evident as the pandemic lags on: Supply chains, inflation, energy crisis, climate change, chip shortages, geopolitical problems, internet. etc.

The idea of this thread is post and discuss news of things that are causing trouble around the World for which there aren't obvious solutions.

[rotting sea cow]

I will shot first

Hacker steals government ID database for Argentina’s entire population

 

[rotting sea cow]

Is America experiencing an unofficial general strike?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/13/american-workers-general-strike-robert-reich

[Luzifer's right hand]

Well chip shortages have been on my mind I got a PS5 and a RTX 3080 because I did expect prices to not come down(they have actually risen significantly) and sold my 1080 Ti for an frankly insane sum for such an old piece of hardware. A true first world problems focus in my part I must say... But the only problem I could solve at least for myself by acting early and ignoring the optimists.

The pandemic has shown that next to nobody is willing to accept as long term reduction in quality of life which makes me think that the ship on climate change has sailed and maybe supply chain issues too.

Edit:Also the job market has never been better around here. People in my circle have been able to get significant pay raises without changing jobs in the last few months. There is an employer crisis because they are now forced to pay more not a job crisis. Not treating people who do the actual necessary work in our society has started to backfire (many employers tend to  treat only the profit maximizing/cost reducing  management part of the workforce that makes life for rest of us worse well). Good employers with good managers with people skills are not having big problems.

[rotting sea cow]

5 hours ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

The pandemic has shown that next to nobody is willing to accept as long term reduction in quality of life which makes me think that the ship on climate change has sailed and maybe supply chain issues too.

I think that with the energy crisis in Europe and elsewhere, it has became clear that the decarbonization will be slower and more painful than some optimistic projections.

Regarding the quality of life, we need to remember that a big fraction of the world does not have yet access to an acceptable level of life quality and even in developed countries you still have people living in crowded conditions. So, there is still a lot of work to do at that front. Certainly you are right, that a lot of the privileged people are less than willing to make any sacrifices or extra expenses to reduce their climate footprint.

[Spockydog]

16 minutes ago, rotting sea cow said:

I think that with the energy crisis in Europe and elsewhere, it has became clear that the decarbonization will be slower and more painful than some optimistic projections.

If our leaders were anything other than corrupt, dunderheaded morons, it would have the opposite effect. 

In the UK, we have absolutely no need to be burning carbon. None whatsoever. With thousands of miles of coastline, our location, at the very edge of the Atlantic, means we have a potentially unlimited supply of wind and wave power. All we need is the political will to utilise it.

Oh, what's that you say? Ah, well, nevermind.

Please, Mr Putin, can we have some more?

[DireWolfSpirit]

On 10/21/2021 at 2:25 AM, rotting sea cow said:

Is America experiencing an unofficial general strike?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/13/american-workers-general-strike-robert-reich

Lemme get back to this, our work force is possibly going on strike within the month.

[Altherion]

On 10/21/2021 at 9:37 AM, Spockydog said:

In the UK, we have absolutely no need to be burning carbon. None whatsoever. With thousands of miles of coastline, our location, at the very edge of the Atlantic, means we have a potentially unlimited supply of wind and wave power. All we need is the political will to utilise it.

Kind of. The trouble is that the infrastructure needed to exploit this resource is not actually there yet and it takes some time to construct it even if the will there. This is a more general problem: renewables are not available yet in sufficient quantities, but nobody wants to invest in fossil fuels anymore because there are strong suspicions of such investments becoming stranded assets. Here's a somewhat alarmist take on this idea:

Quote

"You're going to get very unhappy people around the world in the emerging markets in particular but in the developed world," Schwarzman said at the Future Investment Initiative. "What happens then, Richard, is you've got real unrest. This challenges the political system and it's all utterly unnecessary."

Part of the problem, the Blackstone (BX) billionaire said, is that it's getting harder and harder for fossil fuel companies to borrow money to fund their expensive production activities, especially in the United States. And without new production, supply won't keep up.

"If you try and raise money to drill holes, it's almost impossible to get that money," Schwarzman said, adding that this is happening on an "extremely wide-scale basis."
Schwarzman called on governments to agree on the rules of the road so society can successfully get through the energy transition.
"There's unanimity something should be done, but how you get from where we are today to a green world is utterly undefined," he said.

 

[argonak]

On 10/21/2021 at 12:25 AM, rotting sea cow said:

Is America experiencing an unofficial general strike?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/13/american-workers-general-strike-robert-reich

At least in the USA, the democrats will probably lose office in 2022 and 2024 because progressives will be sad that Biden was not magically able to accomplish every dream they had, and then we'll have Republicans back in power.  And the GQP will happily starve all those workers into submission and force them back into their poverty wages jobs.   Yay capitalism. 

[argonak]

21 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Lemme get back to this, our work force is possibly going on strike within the month.

Good.  Strikes are the only thing the owner class really cares about when it comes to talking to workers.  hit them in their pocket book or they'll ignore forever.

[BlackLightning]

Amen to this.

This vaccine mandate (deadline is in the first week of December) also isn't going to go over too well with this labor shortage or whatever you wanna call it...

[argonak]

2 minutes ago, BlackLightning said:

Amen to this.

This vaccine mandate (deadline is in the first week of December) also isn't going to go over too well with this labor shortage or whatever you wanna call it...

I think the labor shortage is much more related to the massive gaping hole that 700,000 dead left in our economy than anything else, so the vaccine mandate would theoretically help by trying to keep that number in the six figures rather than 7 figures.

[BlackLightning]

6 minutes ago, argonak said:

I think the labor shortage is much more related to the massive gaping hole that 700,000 dead left in our economy than anything else, so the vaccine mandate would theoretically help by trying to keep that number in the six figures rather than 7 figures.

Theoretically? Yeah maybe.

Almost 46,000,000 people in the US have gotten COVID. That's about 15% of the entire US population. However, only about 1.5-2% of that 46,000,000 have died of COVID. Probably even smaller when you start to scrutinize the smallest details enough to separate the people who died with COVID from the people who died of COVID.

Granted, it's regrettable but -- forgive my language -- it's not as big of a deal as its made out to be. Nor is it the only part of the story.

4,300,000 people quit their jobs back in August remember.

[horangi]

1 hour ago, argonak said:

I think the labor shortage is much more related to the massive gaping hole that 700,000 dead left in our economy than anything else, so the vaccine mandate would theoretically help by trying to keep that number in the six figures rather than 7 figures.

To add to BlackLightning's comment, according to the CDC, 557,000 of those (as of today) were 65+, so largely retired from the workforce and (perhaps a bit morbidly) a large percent would be on their way out anyways and COVID was the last straw.

[Kalbear]

2 minutes ago, horangi said:

To add to BlackLightning's comment, according to the CDC, 557,000 of those (as of today) were 65+, so largely retired from the workforce and (perhaps a bit morbidly) a large percent would be on their way out anyways and COVID was the last straw.

It is far more likely to be the case that a whole large chunk of people - mostly women - lost their ability to have childcare or dependent care during work hours. Some of that is deaths, but most of that is because it is either too expensive or simply not there any more. 

Covid has been excellent in showing inequities in our society, and women's roles in the society is one of the biggest exposures. 

[HoodedCrow]

My life is a big deal to me. I would sacrifice it for a good cause. No, I don’t wanna get a vaccine because I’m special or a Texan. I have already been vaccinated, but I will get a booster to save others, even if it makes me sick. Is that “ vIrtue signaling” or “ liberal”( and crammed into that space). I have been left wing before most of you were born ( shakes my stick).

[horangi]

9 minutes ago, Kalsandra said:

It is far more likely to be the case that a whole large chunk of people - mostly women - lost their ability to have childcare or dependent care during work hours. Some of that is deaths, but most of that is because it is either too expensive or simply not there any more. 

Covid has been excellent in showing inequities in our society, and women's roles in the society is one of the biggest exposures. 

Yes, agreed.  And if there is one tiny silver lining to the pandemic, its been a catalyst for a lot of folks to realize that they actually can get less terrible jobs with the skills they have and some recognition by employers that you dont always need a BA/BS degree to do a lot of them.   At least that's what I hope is going on (along with early retirements) vs just more and more people just living off dwindling savings or choosing a tent is a better alternative to working.   The former could have some healthy improvements to society, whereas the later is going to be a downward spiral for a lot of folks.   Unfortunately, probably a mix of both.  I fear the piper is going to get paid in the next few months with the end of the eviction moratoriums and the cases start running through the court systems.  Moreso than Afghanistan, vaccine mandates, or spending bills, I think this is the issue that really could sink the Dems in the mid-terms. 

[Spockydog]

The world is going mad! My car insurance just halved in price.

Heard one of those financial advice chaps on the radio the other day, talking about forthcoming changes in the insurance markets that mean you will probably be able to find cheaper insurance by cancelling any existing arrangements and getting a new quote.

Just put my details through Compare the Market, and with the same company (Hastings Direct), I get identical cover for less than 50% than I'm already paying them.

Don't ask me what these changes are or exactly why this is happening, but I strongly advise everyone (in the UK?) to reassess their insurance policies.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

15 hours ago, Spockydog said:

The world is going mad! My car insurance just halved in price.

Heard one of those financial advice chaps on the radio the other day, talking about forthcoming changes in the insurance markets that mean you will probably be able to find cheaper insurance by cancelling any existing arrangements and getting a new quote.

Just put my details through Compare the Market, and with the same company (Hastings Direct), I get identical cover for less than 50% than I'm already paying them.

Don't ask me what these changes are or exactly why this is happening, but I strongly advise everyone (in the UK?) to reassess their insurance policies.

Just put mine through,  and the cheapest on offer is £70 more than what I paid in April.  (which I managed to get a fixed rate offer for 3 years - I don't have to stick each year but quote is guaranteed)

 

I remember hearing about car insurance changes.  from what I remeber the change is companies can't offer current customers renewal terms that are higher than those offered to new customers.   If you switch every year (or argue with your current) then its likely not to be any different.  (or I suppose maybe more as they put all prices up a bit.)

 

[Spockydog]

21 minutes ago, Pebble thats Stubby said:

I remember hearing about car insurance changes.  from what I remeber the change is companies can't offer current customers renewal terms that are higher than those offered to new customers.   If you switch every year (or argue with your current) then its likely not to be any different.  (or I suppose maybe more as they put all prices up a bit.)

 

Yeah, I shop around every year when my policy is up for renewal, though I didn't realise I could get a three year deal thingy.

I've been with Hastings for three years, you'd think they might have told me by now.