Politics of Why We Are All at Home Right Now

[Vagabond]

We should probably have a separate thread for the politics of a pan d*m ic (but we can't use that word in the title)

@MacMadame How's this for a title?

 

[MacMadame]

Here's an article about the debate over economy vs. public health:

The debate over ending social distancing to save the economy, explained

Is the cure worse than the disease?

tinyurl.com

 

[MacMadame]

I actually would like to address this Tweet:

https://i.redd.it/fnckir3bsjp41.png

I think it has a point but it also is showing some misunderstandings (perhaps on purpose) of what socialism is.

Libraries, a Universal Healthcare System, the Fire Department, etc, are not socialism. Co-ops, government-run factories and things like that are socialism. Socialism is when the government owns the means of production. (The dictionary defines it as: a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.)

That said, capitalism is about letting the marketplace decide. So from that POV, we should never have bailouts. Of course, the human cost of that when it comes to an entire industry or a very big corporation is very great. So we have bailouts.

Personally, I think the root cause of these issues is not capitalism. It's unfettered capitalism. Unfettered capitalism leads to monopolies and to the destruction of the middle-class IME.

 

[snoopy]

Coronavirus: American Airlines to seek $12bn in state aid

The US carrier says it will ask for government help to survive during the coronavirus downturn.

www.bbc.com

American Airlines asking for 12 billion. Asking the government to fund a restructuring that includes early retirement packages. What a money grab. I hope the government tells them to go pound sand.

 

[MacMadame]

I hope the government tells them to go pound sand.

I fear they won't.

 

[skatemomaz]

Coronavirus: American Airlines to seek $12bn in state aid

The US carrier says it will ask for government help to survive during the coronavirus downturn.

www.bbc.com

American Airlines asking for 12 billion. Asking the government to fund a restructuring that includes early retirement packages. What a money grab. I hope the government tells them to go pound sand.

it's part of the CARES act, and it means we get to keep our jobs. The early retirement is a fairly generous offer as is the temporary leave offer.

 

[canbelto]

Ok I am really really sick of comments on SM that say that this virus will hopefully kill off more people in "blue states."

Like this popped up on my FB feed:

The virus is killing the most people in the blue sections of the country. Maybe this is what the media meant by the "BLUE WAVE"?

Wtf??

 

[ballettmaus]

I hope the government tells them to go pound sand.

The same government that is lead by a President who's been saying that they need to help the tax-evading cruise lines and the stock-back-buying airlines more or less since this started and that would have passed a bill bailing out big money while everyone else would have fallen off the radar had it not been for Democrats?

 

[MacMadame]

This is an interesting article that says that the US is unique in how it's not protecting people's jobs. It gives some suggestions too:

Opinion | Jobs Aren’t Being Destroyed This Fast Elsewhere. Why Is That? (Published 2020)

It’s not too late to start protecting employment or to make medical care for Covid-19 free.

tinyurl.com

 

[Reuven]

Ok I am really really sick of comments on SM that say that this virus will hopefully kill off more people in "blue states."

Like this popped up on my FB feed:



Wtf??

Those are the clowns trying to own the libs by having “corona parties” and things like that because they believe it’s all a liberal hoax, that it’s just a flu bug. Yeah, karma, bitch, and all that.

 

[clairecloutier]

Here are some articles from yesterday detailing the Trump Administration's ongoing failure to effectively manage this crisis.

Trump Administration declines to open special ACA enrollment period during coronavirus crisis

The Trump administration has decided against reopening Obamacare enrollment to uninsured Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, defying calls from health insurers and Democrats to create a special sign-up window amid the health crisis.

Trump rejects Obamacare special enrollment period amid pandemic

President Donald Trump and administration officials recently said they were considering relaunching HealthCare.gov.

politi.co

Trump Administration has used Defense Production Act extensively for military and other purposes but barely at all to fight the coronavirus

Chemicals used to construct military missiles. Materials needed to build drones. Body armor for agents patrolling the southwest border. Equipment for natural disaster response.
A Korean War-era law called the Defense Production Act has been used to place hundreds of thousands of orders by President Trump and his administration to ensure the procurement of vital equipment, according to reports submitted to Congress and interviews with former government officials.
Yet as governors and members of Congress plead with the president to use the law to force the production of ventilators and other medical equipment to combat the coronavirus pandemic, he has for weeks treated it like a “break the glass” last resort, to be invoked only when all else fails.

Wartime Production Law Has Been Used Routinely, but Not With Coronavirus (Published 2020)

The Defense Production Act has been invoked hundreds of thousands of times in the Trump years. But with the pandemic, the president sees it as a “break the glass” last resort.

nyti.ms

Pentagon ready to provide 2000 ventilators, but Trump Administration has not requested them

Despite having committed to transferring 2,000 ventilators in military stocks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the coronavirus outbreak, the Pentagon has not shipped any of them because the agencies have not asked for them or provided a shipping location, the Pentagon's top logistics official said Tuesday.

Pentagon says it still hasn't sent ventilators because it hasn't been told where to send them

Despite having committed to transferring 2,000 ventilators in military stocks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the coronavirus outbreak, the Pentagon has not shipped any of them because the agencies have not asked for them or...

cnn.it

 

[clairecloutier]

Sorry for the double post, but this is on another topic, so I didn't want to just add it into the previous post.

Apparently, there is a whole disgusting shitshow going on right now with manufacturers of medical masks and PPE either selling masks out of the country, declining to sell to hospitals unless they have cash on hand, or raising prices on said masks. Theoretically, according to the Defense Production Act article that I linked above, Trump could potentially stop all this by invoking part of the Act: "A rarely used authority of the law also allows the administration to control the distribution of a company’s products and determine where such materials go."

I spent a day in the BB-driven feeding frenzy of N95 mask sellers and this is what I learned

I Spent A Day In The Coronavirus-Driven Feeding Frenzy Of N95 Mask Sellers And Buyers And This Is What I Learned

For a day I watched the psychology of market pressures play out in an ultra-fast game of finding and selling masks in a pandemic-driven market. My assumptions going in changed after getting an embedded view of what's really going on.

bit.ly

Someone says they have 2 million N95 masks for sale. The asking price is 6 times the usual cost

Someone says they have 2 million N95 masks for sale. The asking price is six times the usual cost.

As health care professionals beg for supplies to protect themselves from COVID-19 infection, a Texas company found a seller with at least 2 million masks and quietly offered them for sale at $6 each. Before the pandemic, they cost around $1.

bit.ly

Meanwhile the Trump Administration, in its typical incompetence, has been at cross purposes, with one of its agencies (USAID) continuing to send medical supplies out of the country, until Pence ordered it to stop.

Pence task force freezes coronavirus aid amid backlash

Pence task force freezes coronavirus aid amid backlash

The review came after officials discovered that aid to foreign countries wasn't being coordinated with U.S. requests.

politi.co

 

[MacMadame]

Well, at least Pence did something. He's supposedly in charge of the WH response but he just sits in the back most of the time and says nothing.

 

[AxelAnnie]

I heard a financial guy talking about the steps we normal folk should take to get through this:

Chris Hogan = Personal Finance Expert

• Make a list of all the recurring bills.
• Account number
• Amount Due
• Total due
• Get rid of all non essential payments
• Very intentional about what you are spending
• If you don’t have the money to pay be intentional.
• Get them on the phone.
• Do not wait for them to call you
• Tell them about your situation and what is going on.
• You have to become your own best advocate.
• This could go on for months.
• Change mindset
• Look at all resources
• Focus on needs
• Take care of housing, utilities, transportation and food on the table

I am going to do all that.

As to the government, I understand that they are balancing a lot of moving parts..........industry, jobs, families.

I am not sure about the airlines. I understand that we need the airlines to move goods around. And in a few months when we start to come out the other end...we will need air travel. But, there must be some middle ground in helping them. The employees can all get unemployment. Planes can be parked. And some planes will need to be used for moving stuff from A to B.

I do have to say that I am ROYALLY ticked off about the Kennedy Center. I have no idea how that one gets rationalized. Hate to be krass, but surely the Kennedy's could scrape together enough money for security of the building, and payroll.

Big kudos to the celebrities and millionairs who are donating money, masks, etc. And to the various heads of companies like PG&E, My Pillow, Jockey, Hewlett Packard, etc, who are re-tooling their factories to make masks, scrubs, ventilators, etc, and lending their call centers to Covid 19 hotlines.

And the people in Florida need to get a grip. The Governor was saying that they are still scooping people up off the beaches. Evidently the stay at home order is optional in Florida.

And is seems to be optional at a law firm in CA I just talked to.

 

[MacMadame]

And is seems to be optional at a law firm in CA I just talked to.

They can get in trouble for that if you report them.

 

[snoopy]

I do have to say that I am ROYALLY ticked off about the Kennedy Center. I have no idea how that one gets rationalized. Hate to be krass, but surely the Kennedy's could scrape together enough money for security of the building, and payroll.

Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the building of the national cultural center in the 1950’s and it was built with tax money. It wasn’t called the Kennedy center until after JFK was shot, when it was renamed in his memory. The Kennedy's did not build, nor do they own, nor did they ever own, the John F Kennedy national cultural center. Google it.

 

[mag]

I do have to say that I am ROYALLY ticked off about the Kennedy Center. I have no idea how that one gets rationalized.

Why are you royally pissed off about this entity getting money but not cruise ships, oil companies, hotels, etc etc?

 

[PRlady]

Why are you royally pissed off about this entity getting money but not cruise ships, oil companies, hotels, etc etc?

Both the Kennedy Center and Howard University are federally chartered entities who get regular government funding. So are the Holocaust Museum, Smithsonian, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Dumbarton Oaks and other DC landmarks. It goes back to when there was no city government here and DC was owned and operated by Congress.

 

[attyfan]

...

Evidently the stay at home order is optional in Florida.

And is seems to be optional at a law firm in CA I just talked to.

Also depends upon what kind of law they practice .... because some matters are considered essential. For example, by law, arraignments in criminal cases need to take place within fixed time limits ... and it is at arraignment (if not sooner) that the accused gets a lawyer. So, arraignments are essential ... and that means criminal defense attorneys are essential.

 

[Vagabond]

State funds have been used to pay for performing arts venues and productions ever since there were governments. Anyone who has a problem with that is a philistine.

 

[canbelto]

Sad but predictable: Dr. Fauci needs security because he's been getting death threats.

Nation's top coronavirus expert Dr. Anthony Fauci forced to beef up security as death threats increase

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top medical expert on the coronavirus pandemic and a member of President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, is facing threats to his personal safety and now requires personal security from law enforcement at all times, including at his home, a source confirms...

www.cnn.com

 

[Louis]

With the airlines, I'd be OK if the government included some type of "covid-19 recovery fee" as a condition of help - something like $10 added to every ticket - to recoup the costs. Maybe it can replace fuel surcharges, which the airlines have nerve continuing to charge. Ideally, this would be time-boxed. We could do the same for hotels and other consumer industries that are more of a luxury -- e.g., maybe cruise ships face a $500/person recovery fee on new bookings. I'm also open to higher fees on higher-end products, like business class flights or cruises with a high price point, or a percentage-based fee.

I have no problem asking the airlines and their consumers to help pay for the recovery. And while I think a certain US senator is crazy, I am OK with a number of commonsense conditions like no stock repurchase for a number of years (and future stock repurchase disqualifying aid for a number of years), minimum 10% compensation cuts and elimination of variable compensation for the top 20% of earners (or similar), and institution of other "too important to fail" criteria. Let's focus on that v. board diversity (which is important but a different conversation and not just one for firms needing bailouts), employee representation on boards, and weird fetishes like throwing executives in jail.

Although I am among the most pro-business person on this board, I don't have a problem with intelligent regulation, and think much of the "too big to fail" financial services regulation helped the regulated companies in a number of ways. The various privacy legislation, while not perfect, has also been a net positive in my view.

 

[topaz]

Well unemployment claims were listed as 6.6 million today. However, I believe that is not a true representation of the real numbers. Many claims have not been entered or counted because of the backlog of claims and some people have not filed UI claims yet.

Fed. government are out of town for 3 more weeks and by that time I think we'll see UI claims at around 20 million folks. UI claims will probably be around 35% of the workforce by July 1.

We'll see if we'll get a good stimulus bill for more than 10 Trillion dollars in May. Because this is what it will take.

 

[Louis]

Scary statistic today:

Nearly half of UK companies will furlough between 75% and 100% of their workforce over the next week because of coronavirus, according to a survey. The British Chambers of Commerce revealed 32% of businesses will temporarily lay off staff. The survey showed a majority of firms had just three months of cash or less in reserve as companies across the country suffer a sharp fall in sales and lockdown measures weigh. The Treasury has estimated that about 3 million people, or 10% of the private sector workforce, would be laid off temporarily.

The UK government response is not bad, paying 80% of salary up to 2500 GBP per month for workers if companies do not lay off workers, but for a lot of people that's still going to present a cash crunch. I'm not sure how many people can take a 20%+ pay hit and still meet their bills.

I saw another statistic that 40% of people don't plan to pay rent this month -- that's going to have a knock-on effect. With people not paying rent, landlords can't pay mortgages, utilities, etc. In the UK (and I believe in select US cities), eviction is banned and people cannot be required to pay rent, but the debt doesn't go away. Eventually someone will be left holding the bag.

 

[canbelto]

Um why is Jared Kushner at today's briefing?

 

[Vagabond]

Um why is Jared Kushner at today's briefing?

To get more exposure?

 

[mag]

To get more exposure?

With the number of people in that stage the question might be exposure to what?

 

[skatingguy]

Well at least some people have done well with the stock market down turn.

Kaivan Shroff
@KaivanShroff
GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler sold more stock than originally known — $18.7M— after being privately briefed on Coronavirus.

She divested from retail & invested in a company that makes Coronavirus protective gear.

Then she lied & told Americans not to worry.

https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regi...O873nuzNKa44K/

jmartin @jallnet12
·Apr 1 Replying to @KaivanShroff and @deejay90192
She was appointed by Georgia Gov Brian Kemp, an election he stole, on on December 4, 2019 and sworn in on January 6, 2020. Loeffler was briefed on coronavirus on January 24, 2020 and began selling stock the same day.

BTW here is her husband:

Jeffrey Craig Sprecher is an American businessman, and the founder, chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.

 

[Vagabond]

Oh, what's $18,700,000 between friends?

 

[VGThuy]

I don’t think Fox News will be inviting Dr. Rishi Desai on their program again:

Joshua Potash on Twitter

“Somebody decided to invite Dr. Rishi Desai onto Fox. I don’t think they’ll be asking him back. https://t.co/7BGXo5Le9r”

twitter.com

Her prolonged silence says everything. And that’s accounting for the delay.