How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected you?

Because one can trust a linked-in article by a white collar criminal CFA failing to cite a single legiimtate source for his data other than himself and his own FINANCIAL company... much less that "it's working, we can stop now" is probably the most idiotic thing I've heard since the last time I heard Ken Ham talk about ... anything.

As the joke goes -- and as most physicians will tell you -- opening it up now is like not finishing your bottle of antibiotics just because you feel better... which is why we're just begging for a second wave of infections. "Oh it's working so we can stop now" is 100% grade A herpa-freaking-derp when we're not below the required threshold for not spiking back up again.

Particularly when this bad boy does not appear to automatically grant you immunity from reinfection just because you already had it!

-- edit -- also nice card stacking in said article, given said suicide rates are not out of the ordinary when there is no virus or layoff since it fails to subtract the median or projected... which has been a near straight line increase for two decades. Whoddathunk a Chartered Financial Analyst for airlines would know how to lie by omission; much less manufacture false conclusions from falsified/incomplete data. But yeah, mainstream's the fake news, of course it is.

Oh, by the way a-holes screaming for things to re-open.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/05/02/who-us-just-reported-deadliest-day-for-coronavirus.html

Anyone else remember what the US did last time we had a situation this bad, finanically, socially?

It was called a 92% top marginal tax rate. I have an idea, how about we try that for a decade and pay off everything everyone claims we can't afford to pay for, including the national debt?

But no, Bernie suggests 47% everyone runs around screaming "communism"... because when I think the pinnacle of communism in American politics, I think the Eisenhower Administration. NOT!

 

Yes, but we should base the shutdown/breakdown of society on public health statistical models that have been wrong, continue to be wrong, and will be wrong in the future...

LOL, "most physicians"??? I assume that you have a citation for this "fact" or did you do the polling yourself? You have a habit of creating facts on the fly to buttress your flawed assumptions and I suspect that this is just one more example of this.

This is a GREAT example of how the Fake News wordsmiths a sentence to drive their narrative to the low-information readers. Note that what the public health officials have actually said is: there have not been any clinical studies to show that a prior infection gives a person immunity. They did NOT say that it does or does not, just that there have been no clinical studies. So, let's just use a smidgen of common sense in this discussion for a change: why are plasma infusions from formerly infected patients being used successfully with the most serious patients, right now? Are all of these medical personnel and caregivers falling prey to snake oil and/or false cures? Or is it likely that it is working and they see it working every day?

Keep pushing the Fake News narrative. Fortunately, I have hope that the adults in the room will take back control shortly and stop this madness.

I do remember the stagflation and economic malaise caused by Jimmy Carter's inept and leftist approach to government. Closest to what we are undergoing right now. The cure: Reagan's massive tax cuts, including the reducing the highest tax margins. Worked like a charm for the next decade and until the Left got control again and began raising taxes, regulations, etc. The only better economy since then has been Trump's which, again, was the result of tax cuts.

Of course, the Bernie Bro's like you are not prohibited from directly writing checks to the government Treasury yourselves. Why don't you tax yourselves at the higher rates (pick any you like) and watch how well the government spends your money for you. I am sure that they will be efficient and productive.

 

In all fairness to @jrbiz what about the way @deathshadow discusses stuff with members? *I will admit that I get a big laugh out of it though

 

I purposely matched the tone and derision of the poster I was replying to.

 

Let us agree that both members contribute very well in their own unique way.....And recognizing that it is their own way, then what other way could they wade in?

 

Since we now seem to have digressed to offer reviews of posters and their writing and how it may stifle people from posting in threads, how do we feel about the following two posts:

The first post from this thread is excerpted from a member who decided to clearly display his ignorance and intolerance in the form of religious bigotry and hatred:

The above inflammatory screeds against those who believe in religion or faith was no surprise in this post. This member has unmasked his ignorance, bigotry and hatred many times before in many different threads. But I am now sure that this was a great, inclusionary post that will encourage participation in the thread, however, because it immediately received a hearty endorsement from the very member who is criticizing my commentary as being too belligerent and causing people to avoid posting as a result:

"Belligerence" is obviously in the eyes of the beholder and their own particular prejudices and bigotry.

 

The mods on here do a good job overall. They are unpaid volunteers who ought to be applauded and appreciated but....they are human when all is said and done, and as humans sometimes display bias and certain leanings.

We have all gone very off topic here. I have often had posts deleted for being "off topic". Odd that when convenient all is allowed. But then again, this is *General Chat*. Hmmm, I've had posts deleted on here for "chatting".......confusing to say the least.

 

I agree that the DP Mod's do a great job and should be appreciated, applauded, etc. In fact, I was just going to drop the entire issue and move on, but then I found this morning that I could not resist pointing out the irony of this whole episode. Probably a character flaw on my part.

 

As CEO and inventor why oh why, are you not wearing the Character Enhancer model tinfoil hat?

 

I don't know, over the years, I have kind of come to get used to my character flaws...

 

Can it be called bigotry when it's based on being intolerant of bigots?

Much like the "I have the right to be a bigot because Jesus tells me so" cake seller homophobes, crying "my faith is under attack" and wondering why after decades if not centuries -- FFS millenia -- of the noodle doodle halfwitted LIE that is religion being used to attack anyone and everyone who doesn't meet up to the ideal of the bald faced lies.

But I started a separate thread if you REALLY want to get into that... because you're right about one thing: This is going far too OT and we need to stop threadjacking and keep this to discussion of the virus, how it's impacting all our lives, and possibly all the dirtbags out there who seem to be more than willing to send others to their death just because they can't get a haircut, go to Starbucks, or possibly realize that it's not that we can't afford to pay for the lives of the masses, but that our sociopathic obsession with greed means we choose not to.

Actually I'm happy to retract that. It's based on a meme all the doctors and nurses I know keep sharing, and whilst I trust doctors and nurses more than I do the "internet Karens" and religious whackjobs screaming that "my close personal relationship with Jesus will protect me", it is still 100% anecdotal.

Still waiting for you to provide something more than a CFA who quotes himself as a source like a cut-rate Russian bot.

Oh so when it's religion, a lack of proof is proof, but not when people's lives are on the line. Gotcha. With the number of possible reinfected cases, contradicting information on if it's false positives or not, and all the claims of them being false positives coming from one specific slanted sector of the news media, one would think it's better to err on the side of caution.

But no, let's all go out there as socialize, who cares who it kills. (sarcasm)

Though pure comedy how those who seem to scream "fake news" loudest seem to be the biggest consumers of it.

Nothing like blaming Carter for Nixon and the republican agenda, and the GUTTING of the top marginal tax rate that started a decade before Carter inherited that mess. Mind you, I never agreed with Carter's politics, but to say Reagan was any better by FAKING 6 years of prosperity so that the entire economy could stagnate for the next 3 decades is hardly something to hold up as a virtue.

But you should know damned well what I was referring to, the fallout from the Great Depression and World War II. For all the claims of foreign industry being destroyed and the need for American goods, you look at ANY of the nations who lost, they were back on their feet by 1950. Between the German and Japanese re-industrialization (that made the UK look like it had one foot in the grave) that is more myth than fact.

You'd almost think the massive American prosperity of the 1950's and 1960's was from a 92% top marginal tax rate, socialist programs that made sure the "great generation" could afford houses and cars, and the paying of livable wages all had something to do with it.

But again, it's not that we can't afford to provide care for those in isolation, or those with the virus, or those on the frontlines fighting the virus. It's that we as a nation out of a worship of greed and sociopathy choose not to.

Fueled only further by all the sociopaths who are out there threatening cops (I guess blue lives don't matter anymore), trying to run over nurses and doctors who are fighting back against the "protests", religious leaders basically murdering their flock just to keep the colleciton plate full, and all the other know-nothing ingorant "re-open society NOW" slime who scream "fake news" whilst believing every word broadcast on Fox, or worse that of even sleazier bigoted racist dirtbags like Alex Jones or Rush Limbaugh.

But yeah, I'm the one pushing the fake news narrative. Of course.

 

I answered all of you other nonsensical and bigoted rambling in the new thread you created. LOL, about the Carter/Nixon issue. You must also think that it was the Kenyan that created the Trump economy? No Democrat or their liberal lackeys like you, wants to talk about what happened while a Democrat was actually in power and could affect taxes, regulations, etc. It's always someone else's fault. Just a longtime example of Fake News and rewriting history.

BTW, I would LOVE to have many more years of the "fake" Reagan economy because I lived and prospered throughout that period. Bring it on!

If your screeds were briefer and more logical, I would suggest we continue to explore. But, I suspect that everyone else is tired of this mini-thread that is going nowhere. You have not made a single convincing point to me (in fact, you have made your case worse and worse as you spewed more and more word salad hate) so I suggest that we agree to disagree and drop the discussion for the sake of everyone else.

 

Mentally and Physically we all are facing challenges in the pandemic period. However, its upon us how to be positive, how to keep control on ourselves, how we all stay and fight together. Following the health guidelines can take us from 2020 to 2021 or else we will not be able to see 2021

 

I actually do think Obama created the shit-show that is the Trump economy, and Dubya. They all contributed to this slow decline and massive income inequity.

Though thanks for outing yourself as a "birther", shows just what type of bullshit nonsense you believe as well as your embracing true bigotry. In one word you've outed yourself as a racist who believes in Trump's bald faced lies. Well done.

Notice I said I didn't support Carter, even if I was in middle school when he was in office. I fully recognize that he was a bad president -- even if he was (and continues to be) one of the most decent human beings to ever hold the post.

But the simple fact is the decline of the US economy started around 1965-66, during the first wave of "lower the top marginal" tax and "burden" upon the rich; the time where Dem's were the conservatives before that oh so lovely "southern strategy" courted the bible-thumpers and bigots in the deep south. Nothing at all like today where the Dem's are trying to shove a 1960's southern democrat down our gullets the same way they did Billary. You know what someone with the values and positions of a 1960's southern democrat should be called in 2020? Alt-right, that's what.

There's a reason Henry Ford II said the change would ruin the economy for decades. Aka the guy who put Ford on top by refusing to take home more than the highest paid employee on the production floor... and then threw money at being #1 at LeMans.. It's complicated.

Reagan and the red wave of 1980 dropped it to 50% in an attempt to prop up the economy in the short-term. Yes, it worked, but it was a short term answer more akin to "can't we just print more money", which is why when the economy faltered again and they dropped it again to 28.5% by 1987 the cracks were showing. Whereforto by the time George Sr. came in the economy was in ruins, and the only thing that even came close to pushing things back from the brink was the increase back to 39%. It should have gone and stayed higher.

Part of why today when people bitch about their "tax burden" I think they all need a quadruple helping of sierra tango foxtrot uniform. The last time taxes -- particularly on the wealthy -- were lower than this Herbert Hoover was being kicked out of office with a gutted economy.

The new deal being the start to recovery, and the endless slew of post WWII social programs -- like the GI Bill -- being the things that gave Americans the level of comfort to which they have grown accustomed and being what carved out the societal and historical abnormality known as the middle class. It sure as shine-ola wasn't the massive national debt and credit mentality that continues to destroy the modern American working class that started under Kennedy, was doubled down on by Nixon, and quadrupled down on under Reagan; by which time such gutting of taxation and social programs was akin to burning the candle at both ends. It might give you more light, but it won't last as long.

Whilst it is somewhat faulty to assume that correlation is causality, if you look at how things were going for normal people -- and not "investors" or their ilk -- there has been a painful correlation between the top marginal tax rate, national debt, income inequity, and the quality of life of the lower and middle classes. For every person these tax cuts make rich are a gross of people it screws over.

But one shouldn't be surprised that our government is based entirely on the credit mentality at this point, it's simply following the populace. Kissenger was right when he said that America has gone from a nation of savers to a nation of debtors, with "pay more later for something you can't afford now" being a rally cry. When the majority of the population is now guaranteed to die in thousands of dollars in debt, there is something WRONG with this economy. You'd almost think that because people can get loans certain items -- houses and cars for example -- have their prices inflated because you can just get a loan.

Same with insurance and the "mastercharge" list found at hospitals where there's a back-room agreement to artificially inflate prices so that insurance companies can charge more. We wouldn't have half the shit-show of the current medical system if the highway robbery known as privatized insurance were abolished. Just as credit cards, car loans, and mortgages need to stop being a societal norm that normal people have.

And son, don't talk to me about history. I bet you think thanksgiving really happened and the folks in tall black starched hats and bonnets were the Pilgrims. Believe me, I know more than enough about how history has been rewritten. See "The daughters of the Confederation" and the bald faced "states rights" LIE.

Which means you also lived through the shit-show that started late '86 to '87 that led to the near economic collapse (for normal people) of the early '90's... the one I faced head on once I got back from the Saudi Desert after being spit out by a society that "supports our troops"... unless they're veterans, or captured, or homeless, or jobless, or can't feed their family while in active service so let's take SNAP away from them. The typical Y'all queda types screaming "support our troops" seeming to only want to support them at killing people in varying shades of brown, and not a single damned thing past that point. Just as those same folks typically only support "religious freedom" if by that you mean a Christian shariah.

Nor have you, simply outing yourself as a racist know-nothing who has likely grown up with far too much privilege, whilst being out to make sure nobody else is afforded the same benefits you grew up under. Greedy, narcissistic, and utterly devoid of empathy. You've GOT to be a boomer.

Whereas I'm an X-er, so... like... whatever. (that was a joke)

 

As I struggled to force myself (and failed) to read your entire, latest crazed screed, I realized the mistake I am making right now: Never wrestle with a pig in the mud. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.

 

Not a whole lot of change for me.

In December California had spike in "flu" cases, probably CV cases, but no one had a clue at the time. There were tens of thousands of Wuhan visitors to California in November and December, so it is VERY likely that that spike was a Wuhan virus spike. Immunology studies in Santa Clara County (near San Francisco) and in Los Angeles show immune response to CV is 50 to 100 times higher in California than in other parts of the U.S. further suggesting the December spike was CV. One further indicator is that even with its large population, deaths and infections are noticeably less than the East Coast even though with much higher contact with China.

In December I had a short bout of "flu" lasting a couple of days. As soon as I started feeling under the weather, I did what I always do, start eating oranges by the dozens. That "flu" did not last long. Since I am relatively close to California (300 miles) I suspect what I really had was a case of the Wuhan "flu" even though there is no way of proving it.

As far as work is concerned I have not missed a beat although by government edicts I am not an essential worker. In my eyes, I am an essential business. Without people like me, the cars and trucks driven by "essential" businesses would eventually grind to a halt due to lack of maintenance and repair facilities and their attendant suppliers.

I am actually in better financial shape today than I was in December, like going from being 2 months behind on bills to being current. The main thing I notice is that the phone is not ringing as much (right now MAYBE getting one robocall per day versus sometimes 20 per day before the lockdown). Customer calls are half or less, but the sales are bigger per call so overall I am spending less time with each customer but bringing in bigger dollars. That gives me more time to sift through the tons of junk I have looking for jewels.

Around me? Traffic is a LOT better. I drive about 500 miles per week. One trip I make is 200 miles each way. Before CV travel time was typically 4 to 6 hours each way. Travel time now is 3 to 4 hours each way. And each trip is significantly cheaper since gas is over a dollar per gallon less now than in December.

Businesses here are spotty whether open or not. Even when open, their hours are curtailed. Except for "essential" businesses, if the business can maintain ANTI-SOCIAL DISTANCING for their customers and their employees, they are allowed to remain open. If not, then they are closed. That can suck. For example my glasses got damaged a few weeks back, but I cannot get them fixed, even though I now get extreme headaches when I wear them. So even though I am required to wear them while driving, when I am on the freeways I often take them off for hours at a time. During the weekend I often don't wear them at all even though I can't see what I am doing without them.

P.S. All of a sudden I thought I was back in Viet Nam. Six shithooks just flew over. It has been OVER 50 years since I have even seen a shithook.

 

I have noticed a sharp decline in both robocalls and spam emails. Not sure why that is as I expected calls and emails to ramp up since the spammers/callers are cooped up at home with nothing else to do like everyone else. Certainly, they do not have compassion or concern for taking advantage of the crisis. Maybe they have found that they are getting no response and it is just not even worth the effort right now.

Yeah, gas prices are great right now. Won't last of course. The funny thing is my gas-guzzling old Lincoln is running weeks on a single tank these days whereas I usually fill it a couple of times a week.

Wow, that is a lot of Chinooks and the noise must have been amazing. We live on a helicopter flight path that leads from a training school here in Rhode Island to one of their other locales in Massachusetts. So, we have a lot of helicopters overhead on certain days. Some of them are really big helicopters (not as big as Chinooks, though) and it some times feels like you can feel the rotor vibrations through the house walls. Never been in a helicopter, myself.

 

Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec have opened back up and shops, stores etc. are now open. In Quebec the leftist mayor has refused to open up the city of Montreal. Up here there is a fight vis a vis the "We are all going to die from the Covid-19 virus" crowd and the "We are all going to die if we shut down the economy much longer" crowd, and it's beginning to get ugly.

As for me I am some where in the middle. Let's open things up and get back to work but wear face masks where needed and wash hands until we get the vaccine in September. (some experts claim we will have it by August)
Up here researchers are 100% convinced that the trial vaccines we have now do work. Many doctors here have injected themselves with it and are doing fine a month later.