quote:

Originally posted by scsigs:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Predictions on economic impact?

I'm guessing domestically we are looking at a losß of 20% of GDP.

Under- and unemployment will go up dramatically, to 12-15% in the short-term.

Our economy is going to get hurt, but not as bad as Italy will be.

It's going to have a big impact.
My wife and I are going to close our business for at least 3 weeks, not our choice.

It’s already devastated the live events world. With sporting events, concerts and conventions cancelled the industry is in trouble. Many folks who work in this industry are freelance workers who haven’t had jobs in a month or more already.

My company laid off several people, cut hours for hourly workers, initiated pay decreases for some salary employees and converted other salary employees to hourly. I got converted to hourly so as of Monday I am not getting paid unless I’m working. And being a remote guy, I’m not working unless I’m on a show. I do have a show coming up next week so that’s good. As long as they don’t cancel.

Thankfully I live pretty much debt free and have a savings account so I’ll be okay for a while. But if this thing lasts 3 months or so I’m going to really start sweating it.

Interesting video... UK response

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=...Ci8&feature=youtu.be

Had to make an emergency run to the market.

I've been wondering, is it better to get it over with early? If you get it now, and need hospitalization, you'll get hospitalization.

Not sure what's going to happen two months from now. Will hospitals be in triage mode?

OAN is carrying a live briefing by VP Pence and his team.
It looks like they have made a tremendous amount of progress mobilizing resources over the last three days.

All the major effin' media is broadcasting old sports programming.

quote:

Originally posted by fwbulldog:
I've been wondering, is it better to get it over with early? If you get it now, and need hospitalization, you'll get hospitalization.

Not sure what's going to happen two months from now. Will hospitals be in triage mode?

I doubt it. If everyone simply got it now, there would not be enough beds, ventilators, etc. for all of us. Need to stretch out our resources as much as long as possible.

And yes, if no drastic measures are taken to curtail exposure (like Ohio and Illinois have done), triage is a real possibility, as it was in Italy. Not comparing our system to theirs, I just use it as an example of supply and demand, where demand exceeds supply.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
I’m puzzled by the run on really perishable stuff like raw chicken, and bananas, from the local grocery. WTF are people thinking?

Bananas are kinda tough. You can’t get more than you’re going to eat before they get overripe, unless you are going to use then to make banana bread or banana nut muffins (as my wife does when we don’t keep up and they get overripe). If you’re baking with them, freezing them once they get to the level of overripe you prefer doesn’t seem to hurt them. Raw chicken freezes well and is one of the things we checked our freezer stock on to make sure we had plenty for several meals. Steaks, tri-tips, roasts (beef & pork) all freeze well and last a good long time in the freezer.

quote:

Originally posted by RAMIUS:
Well, my wife’s now newly pregnant again.

Sounds fun. Not really social distancing, but I dig it!

quote:

Originally posted by fwbulldog:
I've been wondering, is it better to get it over with early? If you get it now, and need hospitalization, you'll get hospitalization.

Not sure what's going to happen two months from now. Will hospitals be in triage mode?

I had this very discussion with a radiologist today. In the context, mostly jokingly, of finding a COVID-19 patient and going to rub faces with them.

Final analysis was we've past the window for that to be an effective strategy with assurance of proper care on the backend.

Sorry.

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:
One works for a 800 room Marriott property. The other works for a 1,000 room Hilton property.

That's poor diversification! Well, I've not done much better with a retired full-time mother as my better half.

We'll see more of this over coming months. The family impacts, not retired moms hopefully.

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:
That's why I'm asking, what if someone says no?

Only the foolish show up this week and take themselves out?

The world has gone crazy!! Our local school has closed starting Tuesday for 30 days.

Can you imagine what impact this is going to have on working families?

I'm taking it all in stride, and I'm near being a high risk. Thank you media for making everyone panic!!

Yep. Bonkers.

Four months from now, we'll be patting ourselves on the back for "defeating" the Wuhan Virus, but the truth of the matter will be ignored. Oh, how brave we are, oh, how determined and capable. Fuck yeah.

Stupid panicky cattle

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Illinois pretty much just shut it all down...

Pritzker closes bars, restaurants across Illinois

Pritzker seems more interested in politicizing this and taking shots at Trump than anything else.

Do we have any medical professionals on the board who can explain why these drastic measures weren't necessary during the Swine Flu pandemic which infected 60 million and killed 12,000 in the US?

The easy answer is to ascribe the difference in response to politics, but it's starting to get so crazy that even I can't believe they would go this far for political purposes. Is there a real answer for why they are treating these two outbreaks so differently?

Because we're looking at the H1N1 pandemic in the rear view mirror. We know (approximately) how many people died. And isolation/quarantine measures would have helped reduce deaths - we just traded deaths for economy, globally. We didn't know it, and certainly didn't intend it, but that was the result. Less panic, fewer containment measures, more deaths, less economic impact. We can look at that now in the retrospectoscope. What we should be focusing on now - certainly the current threat too, full speed ahead - is the future. Spillover is guaranteed - always obvious, seldom acted on. We (the US) know our drug pipelines are shaky. We know our reserve medical resources are inadequate (lifeboats on the Titanic come to mind). We know our research funding is minimal, particularly for emerging diseases. And we know - at least researchers know - that somewhere in the jungle Para's comet is waiting - a very tiny, but supremely effective comet. Fix it. And help our world partners to fix it. Before the next, real pandemic wipes us off the face of the earth. We have been warned.

quote:

Originally posted by wreckdiver:
The world has gone crazy!! Our local school has closed starting Tuesday for 30 days.

Can you imagine what impact this is going to have on working families?

I'm taking it all in stride, and I'm near being a high risk. Thank you media for making everyone panic!!

I have to politely disgree with the assertion that any of these actions (closures, etc.) are the media's fault. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination.

If people are panicking, it is because of the actions being taken across the world and in some of our states, all of which are based on sound, scientific principles from trained, experienced, and knowledgeable epidemiologists, who most assuredly are not crazy.

Closures and social distancing should have been done sooner, because some experts are now saying it is too late in the U.S. to do so.

This is quite a serious problem that we are woefully unprepared for.

And now for intermission, a little TP humor.




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/vRlBtabKRFM

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
And now for intermission, a little TP humor.




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/vRlBtabKRFM

The Extra Virgin Birch seems the way to go!

In emergency pandemic move, Fed cuts rates to zero and will purchase $700B in bonds

https://www.washingtonexaminer...d-cuts-rates-to-zero



The Federal Reserve lowered its interest rate target to zero and announced large purchases of goverment bonds Sunday to protect the economy against the coronavirus pandemic.

"The effects of the coronavirus will weigh on economic activity in the near term and pose risks to the economic outlook," the central bank's monetary policy committee said in an unscheduled statement. The Fed will also purchase $700 billion in goverment-backed bonds in the "coming months," a move it said was meant to ensure the functioning of financial markets.

The statement said that the central bank would leave short-term interest rates at a range of between zero and 0.25% until "it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals."

Sunday's surprise rate cut is the second such emergency action by the Fed in the past month as it has reckoned with the economic fallout from the pandemic. Goldman Sachs chief economst Jan Hatzius projected Sunday that gross domestic product would shrink by 5% in the second quarter.

The Fed's fear is that, beyond the short-term cessation of commerce needed to prevent the spread of the virus, fear about the future might be risking a longer-term recession and job loss beyond what is necessary.

One member of the monetary policy committee, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland president Loretta Mester, objected to the decision to lower rates all the way to zero, from a range of 1% to 1.25%. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell announced a press conference for Sunday evening.

"I want to congratulate the Federal Reserve," President Trump said at a coronavirus press conference that took place just minutes after the announcement.

"I'm very happy," he said.

Sunday's action by the Fed leaves them with limited traditional options for further easing money, should they decide doing so is necessary. In recent weeks, yields on longer-term bonds have fallen near zero, leaving little scope for the kind of large-scale bond purchasing, or quantitative easing, the Fed has previously undertaken to spur spending.

The monetary policy committee had been scheduled to have a two-day meeting in Washington, D.C., this week, but determined that the rate cut could not wait until then.

Apart from monetary policy, the central bank also announced several changes meant to ensure credit market functioning, including lowering the rate it charges banks for emergency borrowing for liquidity needs, known as the "discount window."

Awesome video!

quote:

Originally posted by rat2306:

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
And now for intermission, a little TP humor.

The Extra Virgin Birch seems the way to go!

Small batch for me! I'm a sensitive guy. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
Awesome video!

:thumbsup: Agreed!