COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US) (14 Viewers)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Part of the problem is that most Americans spend every penny they make and have no emergency savings. A lot of this "my freedom!" crap is code for "I'm financially irresponsible and don't have any cash reserves and I'm about to lose the McMansion and BMW that I shouldn't have bought on my salary to begin with!".

Same goes for businesses. Owners milk their businesses for every ounce of liquidity to buy the aforementioned McMansions and BMWs and don't leave anything in there for disasters or business interruptions. I don't think there should be any bailouts for any business of any size. And I think the income limit for personal bailouts was way too high. We as a society continue to encourage people to live beyond their means and act financially irresponsible. Why would anyone stop doing that if they know there's a bailout every time?

And the funny part is that right now a lot of the people panicking because they've been living beyond their means and a two month interruption in pay is disastrous are the "pick yourselves up by the bootstraps!" crowd. Huh.

There is a ton of inequality going on right now with Covid-19 funding:

Unemployed - $600/wk
Everyone under $75k - $1200
Businesses - 2.5 months payroll expenses

My girl is a sole proprietor who just got her PPP payment of $18k. Mid March to Mid April she made 1/6th and mid April to mid May made 1/3 her typical earnings. She expects to be 100% by mid June. Most likely there will be a back log of demand in July and she will end up pocketing $4-6k more than what she would have made when it converts to a grant. Lot's of businesses are going to make huge profits off this. North Dakota was the highest recipient of PPP money per capita and received twice the amount of CA and NY. If your business lost no income, then you just got 2.5 months of free payroll by the government.


I think it's fair to question the $1200 and PPP/EIDL funding. The $1200 payment is the scraps that government gives to people to keep them from getting irate about the huge payouts to businesses. There is no reason to give businesses 2.5 months of payroll and workers less than 1 week of pay.

The income limits were not too high for some metro areas. I also think the unemployment and $1200 should have been scaled to cost of living especially since urban areas are the worst hit for Covid-19
 
It is a shame that this has become such a bipartisan issue, because it really should not be. It has really made it difficult to post thoughts on this thread for many, given the rules of the forum, but now that we are in the re-opening/decisions phase of the pandemic, it keeps naturally creeping back into the discussion because the political figures are the ones making the decisions.

Unfortunately right now I believe we can all agree that there is a lightning rod in the White House that has created an odd dynamic where he is either loved immensely or hated immensely, so the ones that love him will follow his every word and the ones that hate him will want to do the exact opposite, no matter what. The truth is, if this President, like I'd imagine most other Presidents, would have played this thing a bit more down the middle, listening to both sides rather than being so dug in on one side from the get-go, then you'd see the bipartisan politics almost completely removed from the discussion. If he was to suddenly, out of the blue, do an about-face on the entire issue, then you'd see much less harsh discussions on this topic here and on other social media outlets.

I mean, think about it, how else in the world is it that almost all Republicans (or the most vocal among them) are on one far end of the spectrum and almost all Democrats (or the most vocal among them) are on the opposite end for such an unprecedented, "no right answer" topic? It is mind-blowing. Does this dynamic exist in other countries, where people's feelings on the topic are so politically-based?
 
"If you can work from home you should work from home . . . for the foreseeable future" is going to be the reality for many businesses and sectors in the economy.


 
I'm not going to call people out but there have been a few.
I'd also point out, we all are connected to the general public and our friends, MANY people are parroting the idea of "open up the economy" with little to no nuance.
 
"If you can work from home you should work from home . . . for the foreseeable future" is going to be the reality for many businesses and sectors in the economy.



The one lingering aftermath of this will be the office/cubicle jobs will be moved strictly to at home.
Trust me, Millennials and Gen Z won’t let this turn back.
 
There is a ton of inequality going on right now with Covid-19 funding:

Unemployed - $600/wk
Everyone under $75k - $1200
Businesses - 2.5 months payroll expenses

My girl is a sole proprietor who just got her PPP payment of $18k. Mid March to Mid April she made 1/6th and mid April to mid May made 1/3 her typical earnings. She expects to be 100% by mid June. Most likely there will be a back log of demand in July and she will end up pocketing $4-6k more than what she would have made when it converts to a grant. Lot's of businesses are going to make huge profits off this. North Dakota was the highest recipient of PPP money per capita and received twice the amount of CA and NY. If your business lost no income, then you just got 2.5 months of free payroll by the government.


I think it's fair to question the $1200 and PPP/EIDL funding. The $1200 payment is the scraps that government gives to people to keep them from getting irate about the huge payouts to businesses. There is no reason to give businesses 2.5 months of payroll and workers less than 1 week of pay.

The income limits were not too high for some metro areas. I also think the unemployment and $1200 should have been scaled to cost of living especially since urban areas are the worst hit for Covid-19

The implementation of PPP has been a disaster. But I do sort of understand the reasoning behind not means testing it. Should a business that managed cashflow well and has plenty of running room be punished for enriching its owners slightly less in the name of financial stability?

A good friend of mine owns a small business. He didn't need the PPP loan, he has 18 months of runway in pure liquidity (not receivables/contracts). That 18 months of runway is in the 6 figures of distributions he could have taken out to buy a nice car or a boat or whatever. Should the business owner across the street who bought the boat should get financially rewarded and the guy who responsibly built a cash reserve for his business not? My good friend doesn't think so.

My friend also doesn't begrudge your girl for receiving the funds even if she didn't need them. Good for her for managing her business well. That shouldn't mean that she has to subsidize those that didn't.
 
Wow, that would seem to be rather major news. We're not talking about cases on the coasts, but very much inland and north. These days, that's not eye-opening, but back in January this stuff was "just getting here" or so we thought. It seems that it has been around and more widespread than we realized. I'd see that as good news because it means more people have likely been exposed and didn't even know it.

Here is Trevor Bedford’s latest update on tracking the arrival and distribution of the virus in the US. Bedford has been analyzing the viral genome beginning with the Washington state outbreak in February.

Thread:
 
I called our Dr today to just see if antibody testing would be available for my daughter. They're going to call me back. I'm not real hopefull but doesn't hurt to look into it.
 
Wow, that thread is incredible.

Not only just the follow-up tweets by the governor, but also the reaction from his constituents. Crazy.
He's feeling the pressure.

I just got a card from my optometrist, who is now being allowed to open "under certain conditions." Needless to say, I made the first appointment I could. This is a 2 woman business, the optometrist and her receptionist/optician and one of the best practices in the area according to Philadelphia Magazine from a few years ago.

It is actually going to seem weird to go out without my surgical gloves, but I can't imagine inserting and taking off contact lenses while wearing surgical gloves. It would be worse than that scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." :hihi:

Maybe dentists will be allowed to open soon. A lot of medical stuff is being postponed. I've postponed a dr. appointment twice now. These so-called elective things are not helping people with preventative medicine.
 
He's feeling the pressure.

I just got a card from my optometrist, who is now being allowed to open "under certain conditions." Needless to say, I made the first appointment I could. This is a 2 woman business, the optometrist and her receptionist/optician and one of the best practices in the area according to Philadelphia Magazine from a few years ago.

It is actually going to seem weird to go out without my surgical gloves, but I can't imagine inserting and taking off contact lenses while wearing surgical gloves. It would be worse than that scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." :hihi:

Maybe dentists will be allowed to open soon. A lot of medical stuff is being postponed. I've postponed a dr. appointment twice now. These so-called elective things are not helping people with preventative medicine.

I think dentists have been open for emergent cases - at least in S.C. and N.C. they have been. My good friend is a dentist in Charleston and he said they never really closed. But all of the protocols they had to develop and practice during the “emergency only” period will remain in place.
 
I work on the admin side of a Colorado based national law firm that has strong political connections at the fed, state and local level (i.e. I expect that we have people as much "in the know" regarding government decision making as one could hope for). We had a management meeting today, and one of the big topics of course was the "Return to Office Strategy," with three phase approach announced -- I figured some people might find this informative from an anecdotal perspective as far as the steps we'll be taking.

Now keep in mind that the state and local (Denver) stay at home orders have expired in favor of "Safer at Home" directives, but despite that the firm is taking a slow approach to returning to the office. For at least the next month we'll be continuing to work remotely with only a handful of "essential" allowed in the office, just as we have for the last eight weeks, and no determination has been made of when we expect to begin Phase I

Phase I is "Office as a Resource." People aside from essential personnel will be allowed to go to the office, but must justify their reasons for being there (i.e. for purposes that can't be handled remotely) and must be asymptomatic. There will be limited office support, so people in the office will need to be self sufficient. Kitchens will be closed, conference room usage must allow 6 foot distancing, and employees will be required to wear masks at all times except when alone in a private office. To that end, the firm is attempting to acquire and stockpile masks, cleaning products, hand sanitizer, etc. and also reviewing what distancing and cleaning protocols will need to be in place (for example, our Denver building is only allowing two people on an elevator at a time, so they might need to stagger office hours so there's not a logjam in the lobby). Otherwise, business travel will still be prohibited.

Phase II is "Cautious Return," whereby once we're fully comfortable with Phase I maybe 25% of the firm will be allowed to return, likely under the same circumstances in Phase I.

Phase III is still under development, as it's "too soon to say."

So basically even without stay home orders things will be continuing status quo indefinitely.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom