The "Re-Opening" the Economy Thread

[tshile]

Ugggggggh

echostage is opening with zedd and the following weekend tiesto 

and I have family birthdays both weekends

 

Ugggggggggggggh god damnit 

[China]

'The final straw': Pandemic pushes restaurant workers over the edge

 

Jim Conway started working in restaurants in 1982, making $2.13 an hour, plus tips.

 

And though the world has changed significantly in the nearly 40 years since then, his hourly wage has not. At the Olive Garden outside of Pittsburgh where he worked when the pandemic hit last year, he was making $2.83 an hour, the minimum wage for tipped workers in Pennsylvania, plus tips.

 

So after being furloughed for months last spring, Conway, 64, decided to retire.

 

Being paid the rough equivalent of a chocolate bar an hour from the chain was little incentive for him to stick it out longer in the industry after so many years, especially with tips no longer a reliable source of income and lingering health concerns about covid-19.

 

"The main issue for me was safety," Conway said. "There are lots of people who don't want to participate in the old ways."

 

Conway is one of the millions of workers who left the restaurant industry during the pandemic and haven't come back. The industry has 1.7 million fewer jobs filled than before the pandemic, despite posting almost a million job openings in March, along with hotels, and raising pay 3.6%, an average of 58 cents an hour, in the first three months of 2021.

 

Restaurant chains and industry groups say a shortage of workers like Conway is slowing their recovery, as the sector tries to get back on its feet amid sinking covid cases, falling restrictions and resurgent demand in many areas around the country.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[China]

New York Relaxes Most COVID-19 Restrictions After Reaching 70% Vaccination Rate; Cuomo: ‘A Momentous Day’

 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo relaxed the statewide COVID restrictions Tuesday, calling it “a momentous day.”

 

The announcement came as a result of more than 70% of adults receiving at least one dose of the vaccine.

 

“It is the national goal and we hit it ahead of schedule!” Cuomo said, adding, “We can now return to life as we know it. The state mandates that have proven right and correct and brought us through the pandemic are relaxed as of today, effective immediately.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

On 5/15/2020 at 11:38 AM, Kosher Ham said:

Perhaps, Darwin was right when he spoke of natural selection.

 

Two Dead After C8 Corvette Carrying Three People Crashes Into Pool

 

On Wednesday, a Chevrolet Corvette convertible crashed through the backyard of a home and into a pool. The crash killed two of the vehicle’s occupants while a third is critically injured.

 

Video of the scene shows the car missing much of its front end and car parts are strewn all over the area:

 

 

Police in a Fox 11 report state that the corner in question has a speed limit of 15 mph. They believe the Corvette tried to take the turn at more than 150 mph.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

$73,499-Per-Guest World Cruise Sells Out In Less Than 3 Hours

 

Now, that's a long — and expensive — trip.

 

A 132-night "world cruise" sold out in under three hours, despite pandemic worries that have hobbled the cruise industry and steep prices that start at $73,499 per guest — and range up to $199,999 per person for a master suite.

 

Regent Seven Seas Cruises released the fares for sale at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday. By 11 a.m., all the spots had been snapped up by people eager to spend more than four months on a cruise ship. The strong interest may be a positive sign for the cruise industry as it tries to rebound from the pandemic.

 

The voyage, which will span 34,500 nautical miles, includes 66 ports of call, as the Seven Seas Mariner will visit 31 countries and four continents. Passengers will also see 61 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

 

The epic round-trip cruise will depart from Miami in January 2024. The company also has round-the-world cruises slated for 2022 and 2023, but it says the tickets for its 2024 trip sold out faster than for any other year.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

So it'll depart from Miami where DeSantis has decreed proof of vaccination isn't necessary.  $74K to contract Covid seems expensive to me.

[China]

Frustrated industry groups see Biden’s Covid czar as obstacle to reopening travel

 

The White House is resisting lifting U.S. travel bans on a broad swath of foreign countries, despite a rising chorus of voices both inside and outside the administration questioning whether they are still necessary in the fight against Covid-19.

 

Critics of the bans point to Jeff Zients, the coordinator of the White House’s coronavirus pandemic response, as the main obstacle standing in the way of easing the longstanding restrictions, according to five people familiar with the matter. And some of them have grown so frustrated with Zients that they said they have begun discussing ways to go around him and take their case to other top administration officials instead.

 

President Joe Biden is under intense pressure from members of Congress, European governments, the travel industry and stranded individuals to lift the restrictions — particularly on Canada and much of Europe, where vaccine rates are relatively high. They argue that the bans are costing billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of jobs, and separating families.

Just last month, Europe eased restrictions for vaccinated American travelers, and Canada announced this week that it could open its border to fully vaccinated Americans for nonessential travel as early as mid-August.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

The Republican labor-shortage fix looks like a bust

 

Republican governors thought they had some deft counterprogramming with a strategy to spur workers back to their jobs: At least 25 GOP governors canceled federal jobless benefits for their citizens before the program expires in September.

 

That was supposed to eliminate the incentive to stay home and collect benefits, while helping businesses lure badly needed workers. It also gave Republicans a pro-business policy alternative to the expansive government President Biden and Congressional Democrats are pushing.

 

But the Republican plan doesn’t seem to be working. As data comes in, there’s scant evidence that canceling the extra $300 per week federal jobless payment is boosting employment in Republican-led states. “There is little sign that workers are flooding back into the labor market in states where unemployment benefits have been cut,” Moody’s Analytics explained in a July 15 analysis. “The preponderance of evidence suggests that reduced benefits are not the cure for worker shortages.”

 

Moody’s Analytics looked at four different sets of data, including weekly unemployment claims, Google mobility data, job search trends and small-business payrolls. There’s some evidence red states are recovering economically faster than blue states—but that has been the trend all year and hasn’t changed since red states began canceling jobless benefits. One reason may be that blue states tend to have more big cities that continue to struggle with residual Covid outbreaks, such as Los Angeles.

 

First-time claims for state-based unemployment insurance, for instance, fell 22% in blue states from May 2 through July 10, and 35% in red states during the same time period. That makes it seem as if employment has been recovering faster in red states as governors have been canceling federal jobless aid. But the gap between red and blue states was the same from February through May, before any Republican governors began killing benefits. So there’s been no change since the governors blocked those $300 weekly checks. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[skinsmarydu]

I'm still living on savings.  It sucks, but I'm not quite ready to die yet, and ATL is full of idiots. 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Drawing conclusions based on a couple

months of data is somewhat foolish.  But even if we allowed ourselves to draw conclusions, I find the articles conclusions highly suspect.
 

 

I find it interesting that they admit that “red states” are recovering better economically over all, but chooses to ignore the data and instead offers an excuse that democratic states have cities that are dealing with outbreaks... when actually it is red states with scores of unvaccinated people who are dealing with the outbreaks.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by CousinsCowgirl84

[TheDoyler23]

Taking a garbage job in some garbage state for some garbage company that has no interest in protecting you doesn’t sound appealing. 
 

The visage of bootstrap capitalism is fading mightily amongst younger Millenials and emerging Zoomers. More and more people are taking a long look at an exploitative labor market and are holding out.

[Larry]

1 hour ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

 

I find it interesting that they admit that “red states” are recovering better economically over all, but chooses to ignore the data and instead offers an excuse that democratic states have cities that are dealing with outbreaks... when actually it is red states with scores of unvaccinated people who are dealing with the outbreaks

I think you mean "having outbreaks because they are intentionally not dealing with outbreaks."

 

1 hour ago, TheDoyler23 said:

 

The visage of bootstrap capitalism is fading mightily amongst younger Millenials and emerging Zoomers. More and more people are taking a long look at an exploitative labor market and are holding out

In short, there is a labor negotiation going on. 
 

(Which is why the GOP is fighting so hard to try to tilt things in favor of one side.)

Edited July 18, 2021 by Larry

[TheDoyler23]

10 minutes ago, Larry said:

In short, there is a labor negotiation going on. 
 

(Which is why the GOP is fighting so hard to try to tilt things in favor of one side.)

These GOP govs were turning down free money for their people. Indirectly for their state but DIRECTLY for their people. Indefensibly stupid. And many of those red states are already government dependent ones! 

The contract of employer - employee is changing. The companies that realize that are going to have an advantage. The race to the bottom ones will continue to complain about nObOdY WaNtS tO wOrK. 

[NoCalMike]

There's definitely been a "disturbance in the status quo force" as we attempt to come out of the pandemic.  There are a lot of factors producing today's realities and it is hard to boil it down to any one things.  I do think however that people are seriously looking at work-life balance and other conditions of previous employment and saying no thanks to it, and the companies are not happy that younger people are not taking the same "just happy to have a job of any kind" attitude.  Good on them I say.  We are long over due for a "righting of the ship" when it comes to labor in this country.  It's been a long almost 40 years in the opposite (and I would say wrong direction) so reversing some of the losses and weakening of the labor side of things is good. 

 

Reckonings are sometimes due to create real change, and they come in all forms.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

11 hours ago, TheDoyler23 said:

10 hours ago, TheDoyler23 said:

These GOP govs were turning down free money for their people. Indirectly for their state but DIRECTLY for their people. Indefensibly stupid. And many of those red states are already government dependent ones! 

The contract of employer - employee is changing. The companies that realize that are going to have an advantage. The race to the bottom ones will continue to complain about nObOdY WaNtS tO wOrK. 

I would agree with you if it wasn’t the government providing massive amounts of money.  The contract isn’t really changing it’s just that now instead of working some people will choose not too, and get paid to make that choice.

 I don’t think this status quo will last for very long. Companies aren’t just going to find a way to pay people more they will just find a way to pay less people, I think.

 

We will see how things play out.  I think suggesting that companies will start giving employees a fair share is a little niave...

Edited July 19, 2021 by CousinsCowgirl84

[TheDoyler23]

38 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

I would agree with you if it wasn’t the government providing massive amounts of money.  The contract isn’t really changing it’s just that now instead of working some people will choose not too, and get paid to make that choice.

 I don’t think this status quo will last for very long. Companies aren’t just going to find a way to pay people more they will just find a way to pay less people, I think.

 

We will see how things play out.  I think suggesting that companies will start giving employees a fair share is a little niave...

The enhanced unemployment had a ending date. GOP Govs we’re just harming their people because “**** em, that’s why.” There was no economic benefit in refusing that money. No sane economist would advise a Gov to end that. It’s grandstanding. 
 

Companies try and pay the least amount possible for labor. It’s a function of capitalism. Maybe things will go back to normal soon. But after major world health situations and wars, there has been significant labor and employment changes that took place in the years after. 
 

But I think we’re going to see a significant white collar migration starting this fall. Many companies are going to stay remote and attract better, more talented staff who have left antiquated work systems. I also think they’re are LOTS of companies that are talking about how they’re going to move to a “hybrid” system as a way of getting people back in the door and then closing remote work off entirely. Guess we’ll see! 

[NoCalMike]

1 hour ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

 

 I don’t think this status quo will last for very long. Companies aren’t just going to find a way to pay people more they will just find a way to pay less people, I think.

 

 

 

Well the last 30+ years would suggest you're correct and it will keep trending in that direction until the constant bending turns to breaking. 

[tshile]

Part of the problem with the discussion on the extra federal unemployment money is the absolutism - which is a problem in most discussions 

 

it’s possible, and I would argue likely, there are people not returning to work because of it. 
 

it’s also possible, and I would argue also likely, there are a lot of other reasons other people aren’t returning to work. 
 

but we operate on a 3rd grade reading level and a piss poor excuse for critical thinking, so we’re reduced to only discussing whether this one thing is or isn’t “the problem”, and whether doing something about it did or didn’t fix the whole problem. 
 

[Warhead36]

48 minutes ago, tshile said:

Part of the problem with the discussion on the extra federal unemployment money is the absolutism - which is a problem in most discussions 

 

it’s possible, and I would argue likely, there are people not returning to work because of it. 
 

it’s also possible, and I would argue also likely, there are a lot of other reasons other people aren’t returning to work. 
 

but we operate on a 3rd grade reading level and a piss poor excuse for critical thinking, so we’re reduced to only discussing whether this one thing is or isn’t “the problem”, and whether doing something about it did or didn’t fix the whole problem. 
 

100% correct. There is a big time inability by much of our population to critically think. Stems from the fact that our education system sucks.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

15 hours ago, TheDoyler23 said:

But I think we’re going to see a significant white collar migration starting this fall. Many companies are going to stay remote and attract better, more talented staff who have left antiquated work systems. I also think they’re are LOTS of companies that are talking about how they’re going to move to a “hybrid” system as a way of getting people back in the door and then closing remote work off entirely. Guess we’ll see! 

I don't see that happening much. In many cases, companies either can or cannot offer that perk of remote work. I run all operations for a Federal contractor and we have certain contracts under which we can offer remote work and some under which we cannot. It's black and white. As far as where people work when they aren't obligated to go to a customer, we don't care. That reduces our overhead and costs. That's why I don't really believe there will be many companies trying to get people back in the office unless it's necessary (either for job function or contractually to a customer). 

[China]

Most Americans like remote work — but Democrats like it more

 

Most Americans approve of letting people work from home. But like many things in the US, that perception depends on one’s politics.

 

While Republicans are overall positive about remote work, they were less likely to approve of it compared with Democrats (81 percent versus 89 percent), according to a new poll by Vox and Data for Progress.

 

Additionally, Republicans were less likely to say remote workers labored just as hard or harder than non-remote workers (50 percent versus 75 percent).

 

 

Republicans were also less likely than Democrats to say remote workers were equally or more productive than non-remote workers (57 percent versus 71 percent).

 

 

The survey of more than 1,000 people was conducted online earlier this month and is weighted to be representative of the US adult population.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[tshile]

I can tell you that some people/jobs are fine or even great for remote work. Others are awful. 
 

while it may not be communicated this way to the employees, as someone who sees or participates in behind the scenes decision making and discussions, there are companies making the decision to stop remote work based on the general inability of people to continue to be productive. 
 

ive grown tired of people complaining about it. Because a lot of people treat working from home as though it’s some sort of break or only a half day or whatever. 
 

also studies are showing that people are working more hours and producing less. 
 

general discussions of remote work are worthless. You have to look at individuals and individual jobs to have any real discussion about it. 

[TheDoyler23]

15 minutes ago, TD_washingtonredskins said:

I don't see that happening much. In many cases, companies either can or cannot offer that perk of remote work. I run all operations for a Federal contractor and we have certain contracts under which we can offer remote work and some under which we cannot. It's black and white. As far as where people work when they aren't obligated to go to a customer, we don't care. That reduces our overhead and costs. That's why I don't really believe there will be many companies trying to get people back in the office unless it's necessary (either for job function or contractually to a customer). 

Sure, a good amount of jobs can’t be remote. But I have a family member that went from “Sleep in your car in the parking lot if it’ll snow” to remote. Things can change. 
 

I don’t have it in front of me, but there was some survey that 1/4 or 1/5 people who went remote in the pandemic would look for a new job instead of return to the office. 
 

We’ll see, though. Lot of companies have plans, but we’re not exactly at the actions part. 

[TD_washingtonredskins]

@TheDoyler23 makes sense. I guess all I'm really saying is that I think most companies that CAN honor remote situations will do so. It's better for those companies and better for retention. I don't see the "honest day's work" mentality being the driver here (like I believe it was pre-pandemic). I think the only jobs that will remain in-person will be those that need to be in-person. 

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

The argument that people produce less from home to me is complete BS comprised of anecdotal information.  I mean sure, there are probably folks who work remotely, that are mailing it in and not working very hard.  We can all probably name one or two from our own workplace.

 

I'd be willing to bet those same people don't get much done in the office either.  Every job, be it remote or in the office, should have goals and metrics that need to be met.  When they aren't met, their are action plans and actions that can be taken.  This isn't bound specifically to working in the office.

 

I'm of the belief that those pushing hardest to get people back in the office are old people that only know work as waking up early, getting dressed in work attire, driving in traffic, and being bound to a cube/office for 8 hours minimum.  That's just 'how life is' is how I've heard some of them say it.  They really have no good answers for why life 'needs' to be that way, just that's the way it's been, so that's the way it always should be.  Pretty much your standard GOP voter way of looking at most anything.