COVID-19 Thread

[adambr2]

I think we have pretty much collectively decided at this point that the deficit doesn't matter anymore. But yeah, right now isn't the time to worry about it.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Flattening the curve is great, but that also means we are slowing killing people financially, the economy, and many businesses. You are telling me many hourly workers are going to not be able to work till August? I can't fathom what that means not only for those employees, but the (often times) small businesses they work for.

Should the situation get any worse, the federal government needs to step in and guarantee a basic income of $1,000 for every adult for 6 months. That’s $6,000 for 200 million adults or $1.2 trillion. Rates are so low right now, the US could finance the stimulus at < 1% for 10 years. Considering the national debt is $23.3 trillion another $1.2 trillion for some semblance of stability seems prudent.

 

I keep seeing this floating around and can't we just do this with qualifiers? Do software developers really need $1k a month? I mean I don't need it. I think we can come up with something helpful and a tad more responsible.

[nodakfan17]

Flattening the curve is great, but that also means we are slowing killing people financially, the economy, and many businesses. You are telling me many hourly workers are going to not be able to work till August? I can't fathom what that means not only for those employees, but the (often times) small businesses they work for.

Should the situation get any worse, the federal government needs to step in and guarantee a basic income of $1,000 for every adult for 6 months. That’s $6,000 for 200 million adults or $1.2 trillion. Rates are so low right now, the US could finance the stimulus at < 1% for 10 years. Considering the national debt is $23.3 trillion another $1.2 trillion for some semblance of stability seems prudent.

 

I keep seeing this floating around and can't we just do this with qualifiers? Do software developers really need $1k a month? I mean I don't need it. I think we can come up with something helpful and a tad more responsible.

If you don’t need it, then spend it at your favorite local businesses so it gets into the pockets of those who do. I just don’t see a fair or easy way for Congress to decide who should get it and who should not.

[homer]

One thing we can do to help out restaurant industry is buy gift cards. They get the cash infusion now, then you turn them in later on after this is over. We plan on getting take out at least two or three times a week until this is over.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

If you don’t need it, then spend it at your favorite local businesses so it gets into the pockets of those who do. I just don’t see a fair or easy way for Congress to decide who should get it and who should not.

 

Probably a good point. I supposed you could make it so people have to claim it and anything unclaimed could be re-dispersed. Although I guess if people who don't need it still spend it, still achieves the goal.

[MrTPlush]

Maybe this will finally teach people to have an emergency fund and save.

 

LOL, probably not.

[pacopete4]

Whether people have an emergency fund or not, this is going to hit a lot of people hard. And it's going to affect them for quite some time.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I haven't let my kids watch TV yet which feels like some sort of triumph at this point.

[LouisEly]

If you don’t need it, then spend it at your favorite local businesses so it gets into the pockets of those who do. I just don’t see a fair or easy way for Congress to decide who should get it and who should not.

How about just increasing unemployment benefits?

 

When I've collected unemployment benefits in the past, it was a fraction of my income. Increase the maximum payout. Then those who need it will get it.

[adambr2]

I think the biggest lesson that we as country need to take from this is that our health care system has some major deficiencies and we need better preparation for a situation like this.

 

We can't afford to have less than 3 hospital beds per 1,000 people and shortages of equipment and supplies.

 

Lives being lost is tragic, but any pandemic will come with that price. We need a full pandemic preparedness system when something like this happens to find out ways to minimize that price without tanking the entire economy and losing all semblance of normal life.

[homer]

If you don’t need it, then spend it at your favorite local businesses so it gets into the pockets of those who do. I just don’t see a fair or easy way for Congress to decide who should get it and who should not.

How about just increasing unemployment benefits?

 

When I've collected unemployment benefits in the past, it was a fraction of my income. Increase the maximum payout. Then those who need it will get it.

 

Ignorant question here....can you get unemployment as a part time employee?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

You usually can even if PT, I imagine right now most UE requests are getting rubber stamped.

[MrTPlush]

If one is actually considered unemployed during this stoppage...yes, I believe it would fall under the unemployment rules. This obviously varies by state.

 

I don't see why this should be handled different than any other unfortunate time in society. Unemployment is unemployment. It isn't going to be a pleasant time, but at least you can pay the necessities and not have a big ole zero coming in.

[nodakfan17]

I believe unemployment insurance maxes out at $370 per week. It’s just not going to go that far for most families.

[JosephC]

I think the majority of people will end up getting this virus.

 

If China's numbers are to be believed, they have had 81058 confirmed cases out of a population of 1,433,783,686...a rate of 0.0057%. I think it's reasonable to question these numbers though, as early estimates out of China put the casualty rate of this in the range of 1-3% and it looks more and more like the casualty rate will actually be more in the 6-8% range (obviously still to be determined).

 

Italy has been hit the hardest of the 12 countries with the highest number of infections. Even so, they have had 27980 confirmed cases out of a population of 60,550,075...a rate of 0.046%

 

China's numbers are waning, and as of now 1 out of every 17688 people in China have been infected. Even if those numbers are off by a factor of 100, then we are looking at 1 in every 175 people being infected.

 

I'm not trying to minimize the pandemic because there are lives lost and the economic impact will be significant. But at the same time, we need to keep some perspective.

[LouisEly]

I believe unemployment insurance maxes out at $370 per week. It’s just not going to go that far for most families.

Exactly. Instead of sending everyone $1000, bump this up to $1000/week. These are the people who need it.

[paul253]

Mod edit Take it to the political board.

[Thurston Fluff]

Mod edit Take it to the political board.

[Thurston Fluff]

If you don’t need it, then spend it at your favorite local businesses so it gets into the pockets of those who do. I just don’t see a fair or easy way for Congress to decide who should get it and who should not.

How about just increasing unemployment benefits?

 

When I've collected unemployment benefits in the past, it was a fraction of my income. Increase the maximum payout. Then those who need it will get it.

 

While that has to be part of the strategy it isn't enough on it's own. It doesn't do anything for a large section of the population. The self employed, gig or freelance workers are all ineligible for unemployment. Some of it also has to be sharing the pain. For instance all of the businesses who rent their space can't be expected to pay full price when they can't even open their doors.

[JackNicholson1974]

One thing we can do to help out restaurant industry is buy gift cards. They get the cash infusion now, then you turn them in later on after this is over. We plan on getting take out at least two or three times a week until this is over.

 

Good idea. Except my two favorite restaurants - who were not at all hurting for business - have already closed due to this shutdown.

[PeaveyFury]

One thing we can do to help out restaurant industry is buy gift cards. They get the cash infusion now, then you turn them in later on after this is over. We plan on getting take out at least two or three times a week until this is over.

 

Good idea. Except my two favorite restaurants - who were not at all hurting for business - have already closed due to this shutdown.

 

Like out-of-business closed? That seems quick. These restrictions weren't even in place just a week ago!

[JackNicholson1974]

How long can we do this?

 

There are what, 5,000 cases right now? Some experts have said that 1 in 3 Americans can expect to get this sickness. That's 100,000,000 people. Even if we add 100,000 new cases A DAY going forward, that's 1,000 days of being shut down?

 

If its 10,000 new cases a day then we are looking at shutting down society for 10,000 days.

 

How long are we prepared as a society to do this? THat is my question.

[JackNicholson1974]

One thing we can do to help out restaurant industry is buy gift cards. They get the cash infusion now, then you turn them in later on after this is over. We plan on getting take out at least two or three times a week until this is over.

 

Good idea. Except my two favorite restaurants - who were not at all hurting for business - have already closed due to this shutdown.

 

Like out-of-business closed? That seems quick. These restrictions weren't even in place just a week ago!

 

No, not out of business. Just not going to try to stay open.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

We'll have to adapt as we go but if the sicknesses are dispersed evenly we won't have to be in full isolation mode for the duration. Any news coming out of China is kind of hard to gauge in reality but it feels like people go from not taking this seriously to overdoing it and back again every other day. We'll have a better idea within a couple of weeks.

[paul253]

I’m sure in the next few months a vaccine will be developed. Once that happens the cases will begin to lower rather quickly.