No Excuses

I use the "Thanks" one for that.

The Simpson’s really nailed the GOP and Dem difference.

Power and excercising it effectively is a concept foreign to liberals and progressives.

The problem is that opening up without having the proper measures in place will just prompt another shutdown and cause more economic damage in the long run. Becoming bioterrorists to own the libs.

Wasn’t the DOTARD bragging about some agreement he reached with MBS and Putin to stabilize oil prices? Could it be that he is in fact an idiot and a pathological liar?

Is this new? Wasn't taught at FCPS when I graduated in the 2000s.

People like Elizabeth Warren have been correct about the fundamental flaws of our economy for the past twenty years, yet they remain out of influential power and the ghouls who support this very flawed system keep finding themselves in control of economic policy again and again. Larry Kudlow is still somehow a thing after he wasn't completed disgraced in 2007 for laughably wrong statements. Larry Kudlow is still somehow a thing after he wasn't completed disgraced in 2020 for more laughably wrong statements.

This is a topic too complex to be hashed out on this medium, because many cultural and policy issues intersect here. It's not surprising that people spend themselves into debt on housing and transportation in America when the options and cultural values promoted to them continuously push them towards it. And government policy is heavily tilted towards promoting the idea of home ownership, where not being a home owner puts you at a significant disadvantage compared to people who are (on everything from safety to the quality of local public schools). And then we have an entire culture of bipartisan NIMBY'ism that protects the interests of existing home owners, which leads to policies that further increase housing prices. If we had tenants rights laws like they do in some European countries, where home ownership doesn't put you at a significant advantage over your peers, I'm sure you'd see less people making the financially risky choice of investing in things they aren't financially stable enough to afford over the long run. People typically aren't going to wait for policy change, when they are actively trying to get ahead and improve their lives in a market economy. And we see time and time again that millions of people are making risky choices to do this and bad government policy/risky bank behavior always has a role to play in driving it. There is a real chicken or the egg issue here, whether the fault is with the consumers or the with the institutions that promote and thrive on rampant consumerism and we will go in circles forever about who shares the burden of the blame. Also, I think the poor person who buys a house they can't afford with a Hummer in the driveway isn't necessarily representative of the very real demographic that is people who are not poor but not financially stable enough to afford the American lifestyle that is pushed towards them from the moment they start earning a paycheck. People in food bank lines are probably in debt and can't survive an economic downturn even if they make the economically less risky choice of buying a used Toyota.

I don't disagree with you that change is necessary and I'm not saying that we shouldn't push for it. Consumer choices need to be re-evaluated in this country but I don't think shaming people for their behavior is really ever an effective strategy in changing habits (although all of us engage in public shaming to various extents, still doesn't change that its ineffective usually at changing minds). Their has been wage stagnation in this country for decades at this point, while costs for essential and non-essential needs have all gone up disproportionately. The finger should be pointed at the economic system, backed by government policy (like dismantling labor unions that fought for better wages) and often government inaction (like not raising the minimum wage) that has for the most part, forced people to go into debt. I mean we can say that since we are a democracy, people should have made better voting choices. But this is a country where in any given election, 50% of the eligible voters don't cast a vote, and a substantial majority of those who do cast votes are low-information voters. A better strategy than shaming is getting people to understand that voting has consequences and government policy is needed to fix the problems. Maybe the sudden of shock of record unemployment and bread lines will get people to think about why we are where we are and what role they have to play in this. Having people shame them for their past choices probably won't get the job done.

It's very encouraging because it seems to be working well in the cohort that needs it the most:

He can say whatever dumb thing he wants. Most sensible people are going to avoid crowded places until a vaccine is available.

Like 2k, I also cut meat out of my diet recently and you definitely feel the improvement physically. Mentally and emotionally is a whole another issue. Every time I across a picture of a delicious meaty meal:

Expansion of unemployment insurance benefits.

Our economy for the most part is built on people spending beyond their means. Some people spend frivolously on cars. Others on electronics. Some on homes. Clothes etc, whatever. And this system works for the most part until there is a large scale financial collapse. There are very few people in this country whose jobs don’t rely on widespread consumer spending, that for the most part is financed by people taking on and living in debt. We can argue the merits of such a system and most would agree that it shouldn’t be this way. But I also don’t see the point in dunking on people for consumer choices that in normal times sustain the jobs of millions of people. We’d probably be living in a shrinking economy if people truly started living within their means.

It’s long been known that people in this country have funky spending habits. And that these habits to a large extent, support a consumer spending and debt driven economy that rests on top of a really flimsy social safety net. We’ve collectively made the choice to live in a society like this, and we all benefit from it when things are going well.

I believe they added support for gig economy workers in the UI expansion. There's probably millions of people whose hours have been cut or salaries reduced though. The next relief package needs to pump a lot more money directly into the hands of individuals.

Also want to add that I read in WSJ about how a huge number of white collar workers are being laid of, whose jobs otherwise may have been deemed safe since they could work from home. Lawyers etc. These might be people who in their 2018 or 2019 tax returns showed a lot of income so may not qualify for really stringent distribution quotas. But if they are out of work, savings can start running out quick if they have high mortgages, lots of children and other expenditures. You may end up with a subset of high income individuals who had lifestyle creep and can't afford it anymore or people who stop their normal expenditures and start dipping into savings and only spend on essentials. The expenditures of these people support a lot of vital industries that employ lots of people. There are a lot of downstream effects of the incoming depression and I think it will be useful if we don't view monetary assistance to American families as "bailouts" or "handouts".

Different economic brackets will spend money on different sectors of the economy. Disposable income for higher earners could mean money they can pump into home repair, non-essential retail etc. That means jobs and money for people who may go unemployed otherwise. For instance, I sent my hair stylist money for my next five appointments to help her stay afloat since she runs her own small salon. Something like 70% of the employers laying off employees say they will rehire people if there is consumer demand. This is unlike other depressions where the financial collapse isn’t due to structural issues. Keeping the economy afloat by pumping money can prevent it from becoming a totally hopeless situation. The more we do now, the better we are positioned to get back to normal when we can confidently go out again and get back to pre-pandemic life.

There are going to be a lot more protests as unemployment rises and people see the tragedy that is our social safety net programs and the systems that disburse it. I get why people are feeling frustrated enough to go out and protest. They're taking it out on the wrong people however.

They truly have such contempt for the intelligence of their viewers and voters. KellyAnne knows what the “19” refers to and yet...

I agree, although China has taken a far more draconian turn under Xi Jinping than previous leaders.

I have nothing against the Chinese people who themselves are victims of the Chinese Communist Party. But the CCP is as close to an “evil empire” that currently exists in the world. There isn’t a more authoritarian, racist and genocidal political entity in the world than the CCP. The entire world is paying a steep price for their surveillance state that suppresses dissent and curtails peoples basic freedoms to an unimaginable extent. Because in a hypothetical democratic and free China, we would have heard from Chinese doctors and scientists as early as November about an emerging SARS like illness. The entire world, including the WHO, was shutout from a factual understanding of SARS-Cov2 in the most critical period of time for containing a new viral outbreak. I have no interest in excuse making for the deadly incompetence of the Trump buffoons and I really have no interest in the downplaying of the CCP’s gross negligence and trampling of human rights that we are all paying for now.

That's because we have people on the ground in Africa, we have military bases there, research institutions in the US work closely with African health agencies and the WHO has open access to African countries. China on the other hand has largely shut itself out to foreign institutions and tightly controls information flow within its own communities. China is an opaque country with a sprawling surveillance system more advanced than any other country on Earth. Yes, our IC knew of a likely viral outbreak in China by November. That does not mean we were aware of the characteristics of the virus, which is only possible if you have people on the ground collecting good data. By most reports, China wasn't even letting its own medical professionals report on this or taking it very seriously, so its doubtful that our IC understood the magnitude of what was actually happening. The first IC official IC report on this submitted in the first week of January according what little we know.

Two really difficult years ahead. Would be nice to have people who aren't complete idiots in charge of the recovery post January 2021 unlike Wilbur "coronavirus will lead to a jobs boom in the US" Ross or Larry "buy stocks!!!" Kudlow.

The eyes are a window into the crazy that lives inside.