Home » COVID-19: Panic in the streets and on the Street

Comments

COVID-19: Panic in the streets and on the Street — 51 Comments

  1. I guess it’s still too soon to tell.
    Will this be a new Black Death plague? Or an updated Year2K nothingburger?

    There’s a PowerLineBlog piece that presents the “not that big a deal” case, recommended to hear that side of things.
    I also recommend scanning the South Korea numbers from time to time. They seem to have done gobs of testing, so their numbers show trends of infection and death rates more accurately than the consolidated numbers for all nations (I’m not an expert and this is a personal opinion).

    Personally, I’m not too upset to see panic buying or people wearing masks. That seems better than people who are just ignoring everything. If you’re wrong, maybe you can learn more and become correct. If you’re just a member of the herd … there’s no hope for you.

    Tomorrow I’ll book a flight to attend a family event in Ohio in mid-April. At this point, I’m not worried. I will keep alert and see if I’m wrong LOL. My wife is nervous because all her social media friends are posting photos of empty Costco shelves, etc. She keeps asking me when we’ll go out and buy up a bunch of rice and canned goods … so far, she’s been accepting of my position of calm. We’ll see how long that lasts …

  2. I’m not terribly concerned about the stock market, though my attitude would probably be different if I were closer to needing my 401k for retirement. My perspective has always been that if the market can lose this much value in just a few days, that value was never real in the first place. The financial markets have become frighteningly disconnected from the economic realities they’re supposed to represent. Restoring that connection and shrinking the financial industry back down to a healthy size is going to take a lot of very determined effort.

    Mike

  3. JimNorCal:

    So far all the data for COVID-19 points to this being no worse and probably better than H1N1 in 2009. And yet this is sparking terrible panic while that did not. That’s of great concern to me.

  4. We are IN retirement and still not too concerned about the market numbers. I don’t think the virus is a “nothingburger,” but I don’t think it’s a biblical-level plague, either. I’m healthy but in my seventies, so I’m doing some moderate social distancing and washing my hands. I may do this every flu season from now on.

    Since I don’t think the virus is apocalyptic, I think the market will recover, and it will do so before the election, probably considerably before.

    Today’s crash is much more about the Saudi-Russian oil feud. This will also pass, since the Chinese need oil and their economy is beginning a recovery from the virus now.

  5. MBunge:

    The thing that worries me about the market is if it keeps spiraling down, and in particular how the press and the left will use the downward trend in an attempt to hurt the right. In 2008, a market problem helped Obama get elected, even though the problem was not caused by the right.

  6. Like your quote from the doctor in the following post, my fear is the level of irrationality and global hysteria. That’s what will bring the world to an economic crisis. Truly we are seeing the big downside of instantaneous news helped along by a media trying to spread the panic further just to get more clicks and viewers.

  7. @neo:Not only hand sanitizer, but anything remotely related to it and all ingredients that might go to make homebrew sanitizer.

    Denatured alcohol is super cheap, it’s practically 100% ethanol and I see the hardware stores fully stocked (it’s in the chemical section with the paint strippers, sometimes labeled “Fuel”).

    Today the stock market is down. Way down.

    Wall Street is having a sale.

    Seriously if this is panic, awesome, buy and then sell when people come to their senses.

    People are always making money, whether the market is up or down–it’s just different people. Every single stock that is for sale has a buyer, no stock goes unsold. Everyone knows you should buy low and sell high, but in practice most people buy high and sell low…

  8. JimNorCal

    Personally, I’m not too upset to see panic buying or people wearing masks. That seems better than people who are just ignoring everything. If you’re wrong, maybe you can learn more and become correct..

    Your either-or dichotomy is not quite accurate. What about those who have made the effort to become, if not super-informed, at least somewhat informed about the virus, and conclude that there is not yet a pandemic?

    If you’re just a member of the herd … there’s no hope for you.

    Which is worse? Those who ignore the news media as full of lies, or those who spend 10-30 minutes uncritically absorbing the narratives de jour of the MSM?

  9. Frederick:

    From the Safety Data Sheet on Denatured Alcohol

    http://www1.mscdirect.com/MSDS/MSDS00034/41071424-20121004.PDF

    Inhalation Acute Exposure Effects: Vapor harmful. May cause dizziness, headache, watering of eyes, irritation of respiratory tract, irritation to the eyes, drowsiness, nausea, other central nervous system effects, spotted or blurry vision, dilation of pupils, and convulsions.

    Skin Contact Acute Exposure Effects: May cause irritation, drying of skin, redness, and dermatitis. May cause symptoms listed under inhalation. May be absorbed through damaged skin.

    Ingestion Acute Exposure Effects: Poison. Cannot be made non-poisonous. May be fatal or cause blindness. May produce fluid in the lungs and pulmonary edema. May cause dizziness, headache, nausea, drowsiness, loss of coordination, stupor, reddening of face and or neck, liver, kidney and heart damage, coma, and death. May produce symptoms listed under inhalation.

    Denatured alcohol is not as bad as straight methanol (wood alcohol) but I wouldn’t recommend using it as a hand sanitizer. YRMV

  10. In terms of percentage this was the 17th worst day in the US market at -7.6%.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_daily_changes_in_the_S%26P_500_Index

    The oil spike lower also stands out distinctly on the chart. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ESqYIiFWsAAnJM8?format=png

    For the US market the lower oil prices are a great stimulus delivered across the board to all segments of the economy except the oil sector where this will lead to consolidation of industry with major firm acquiring these assets. Geopolitically this is a mess for a lot of countries because oil exports are a major source of revenue. It will tighten the screws on Iran perhaps leading to reduced tension. Lot of the ME countries need price oil to be above $40 to have a reasonable budget. Maybe somebody has done a study examining correlation between reduced oil revenue and upheavals in the ME.

  11. Market ended down just under 8%. Some brutal numbers.

    My best guess is about 2/3 to 3/4 of this was driven by the oil drop. Oil had been going down before for the obvious demand reasons in China and other places but this weekend was totally against the laws of supply and demand. If you don’t have as much demand the logical move is cut supply but instead they pledged to increase supply by a lot hence the 25% drop in oil futures.

    Many people have said this is good because we will have lower gas prices and that’s probably true but the very big downside is that many of our domestic drillers have tons of debt and it’s going to be hard for lots of them to survive if this continues and that is hundreds of thousands of high paying blue collar jobs.

    The semi positive way to look at this is this was a political move that can be reversed or at least moderated by the Saudis. And when the flu hysteria passes and China gets back up and running the demand should return to some level.

    And the Dow and S & P are now back to about the end of 2018 levels. For a long term view this isn’t the end of the world in my opinion.

  12. Good post Neo.

    The narrative, ahem, about the secondary effects of OPEC’s failure to stem oil price declines is that the U.S. fracking industries are highly leveraged to large U.S. banks. So if some of these energy companies fail we could be in for another round of bank failures or near failures. The 07-08 credit crisis still lurks in people’s memories.

    One investor wag has suggested using the headline of the front page of the NYTimes as a market sentiment indicator He says you don’t start buying until the negative sentiment has really penetrated down to the average mom and pop investor. You know that has happened when you see the pessimism in the headline of the NYTimes.

    Today’s front page headline: “Stocks Plunge, Rattled by Oil Market and Coronavirus”
    _____

    The market hit circuit breakers and shut down for 15 min. this morning. It flirted with a net 20% bear market decline but didn’t quite hit that level.

    “The stock market has been inflated (in my opinion) for a long time, and it’s still pretty high, but you can smell the fear.” — Neo

    Where is the valuation of markets right now? Extremely difficult question. I don’t much like the following metric, but it is often discussed.

    The Price to Earning ratio (P/E) of the entire S&P500 is around 15.5 today. It was as high as 24 in the big run up before and after Trump’s election. It was around a low of 14 near the end of 2010.

  13. @om:From the Safety Data Sheet on Denatured Alcohol

    Uh huh. Below is rubbing alcohol, the one that’s in hand sanitizer. For fun look up bags of sand sometime.

    Potential Health Effects:
    Inhalation Inhalation of vapors irritates the respiratory tract. Exposure to high concentrations has a
    narcotic effect, producing symptoms of dizziness, drowsiness, headache, staggering,
    unconsciousness and possibly death.
    Ingestion Ingestion can cause drowsiness, unconsciousness, and death. Gastrointestinal pain,
    cramps, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also result. The single lethal dose for a
    human adult = about 250 mls (8 ounces).
    Skin Contact May cause skin irritation with redness and pain. May be absorbed through the skin with
    possible systemic effects.
    Eye Contact Vapors cause eye irritation. Splashes caused severe irritation, possible corneal burns and
    eye damage.

  14. Andy,

    Yep, there were 4 days worse than this between Sept. 29 and Dec. 1, 2008. I think I’ve blocked those days out of mind for sanity’s sake.

    The large number is what is eye popping. Of course I believe the largest up day was last week.

  15. Fall 2008 (shudder)… We lost most of our net worth that fall, thanks to my husband’s being in the oil industry and his company’s stock-selling window being closed because the company was in the middle of a deal and any trading the execs did would have employed insider information. We sat by helplessly and watched as his stock – the majority of his compensation – dropped to pennies.

    Company reorganized in the aftermath, and he alone of the executives was kept on to facilitate the reorg. Company reemerged in great shape. Three years passed; a bunch of new stock was awarded us; and then the board decided to “change courses” and let him go, luckily with a good exit package. His stock was released just in time for us to sell most of it, so we’re sitting on mostly cash right now. I never thought I’d be so happy to see my husband out of work.

  16. What’s not being mentioned here is supply chains. The Wall Street free-trade crowd ballyhooed outsourcing of production to China, so we are now in effect a colony of China. China produces, US consumes. 80% of precursor chemicals used to make pharmaceuticals come from China, for example. Are you confident your blood pressure prescription can be refilled in 2 months, thanks to corona hysteria?

    What Trump has done/attempted to do about obscene trade imbalances is long overdue, but the Wall Street crowd hates him for that. Chinese stocks are and have been a good buy, they say. Huawei is just another Big Tech company, honest; its promises never to misuse its 5G power for Xi and the Chicomms are surely credible, no?

    xxxxxxxxxx

    We have become a chronically agitated society, often on the verge of hysteria. Someone touches someone “inappropriately” and it makes news. The stock market’s crashing is a reflection of built-in societal hysteria. The chairman of the NY Port Authority “tests positive” for corona today and Fox News flashes this to millions. But is he ill? Who knows? Does it matter? And why?

  17. “In 2008, a market problem helped Obama get elected, even though the problem was not caused by the right.”

    Well, the Right didn’t cause it but Republicans in government certainly deserved as much blame as anyone else. And the face of the GOP at that moment was the economically ignorant John McCain.

    Today, to the extent there’s anything real pushing the market down, the problems are much more solvable. I mean, the arrival of spring is less than two weeks away and the change in seasons could put the kibosh on COVID-19 until next fall. And if there’s one thing we can say about Donald Trump it’s that he’s not going to be the scapegoat. He’s going to make someone ELSE the scapegoat.

    Mike

  18. Cicero,

    I’ve been thinking about some of your comments for some time. I think we are in an era where major events are going to be blown up to the extreme no matter what they are. This goes from school shootings to natural disasters (I.e. Australian bush fires) to economic issues to health matters like this flu.

    I think it’s a combination of the decline of our education systems to the hyper partisanism all topped off by social media.

    I wish I were better at pulling big ideas into a coherent piece but there is something to this I think and it’s not good.

  19. I suggest reading Alfred Crosby’s book on the 1918 “Spanish Influenza”. Far, far worse than anything that COVID-19 has brought about. The USA entered and won the First World War in the full fury of the epidemic. Then came the roaring twenties and the good times rolled.

    The true plague of contemporary culture is the mainstream media.

  20. And the face of the GOP at that moment was the economically ignorant John McCain.

    If I’m not mistaken, McCain ca. 2004 had been a co-sponsor of legislation meant to compel Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to improve their accounting practices. Among those working to block it was Barney Frank (whose butt-buddy du jour was a high official of Fannie Mae). The cascade of problems began when the Treasury and the Federal Reserve had to place the mortgage maws in conservatorship because they were insolvent. Who gets stuck with the bill? McCain. Who stays in Congress and supervises the lobbyist bull sessions which generate the new regime in banking law? The sociopathic Barney Frank, in a double-act with Friend of Angelo Christopher Waitress-Sandwich-Maker Dodd. If elections assist us in generating satisfactory policy, it’s over looooong cycles.

  21. To add to my last comment we see this with things like people claiming net neutrality would literally kill people and countless other examples. This kind of agitating is not good for a society as a whole because if everything is the worst thing ever then nothing is.

  22. Here’s a good article about the hysteria accompanying this outbreak. It suggests that there are treatments being tested and will be used as more data becomes available.

    “Vaccines are preventive. Right now, the treatment of people who are already sick is important. There are already more than 80 clinical trials analyzing coronavirus treatments. These are antivirals that have been used for other infections, which are already approved and that we know are safe.

    One of those that has already been tested in humans is remdesivir, a broad-spectrum antiviral still under study, which has been tested against Ebola and SARS/MERS.

    Another candidate is chloroquine, an antimalarial that has also been seen to have potent antiviral activity. It is known that chloroquine blocks viral infection by increasing the pH of the endosome, which is needed for the fusion of the virus with the cell, thus inhibiting its entry. It has been demonstrated that this compound blocks the new coronavirus in vitro and it is already being used in patients with coronavirus pneumonia.

    Other proposed trials are based on the use of oseltamivir (which is used against the influenza virus), interferon-1b (protein with antiviral function), antisera from people who recovered or monoclonal antibodies to neutralise the virus. New therapies have been proposed with inhibitory substances, such as baricitinibine, selected by artificial intelligence.

    The 1918 flu pandemic caused more than 25 million deaths in less than 25 weeks. Could something similar happen now? Probably not; we have never been better prepared.”

    You can read the whole article here:
    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/coronavirus-ten-reasons-not-to-panic/
    I found it very reassuring.

  23. so we are now in effect a colony of China.

    Imports from China in 2018 amounted to $563 bn, or about 2.7% of gdp. You need to get a grip.

  24. Frederick:

    Rubbing alcohol can be isopropyl alcohol or a mix of ethanol and isopropyl alcohol with water and a bittering agent. They aren’t the same. Don’t drink them. If you want to play compounding pharmacist at home, good luck to you and yours. You want silica (SiO2) caused lung damage, inhale lots of silica sand (quartz) dust (occupational exposure). The dose makes the poison, BTW.

  25. Market ended down just under 8%. Some brutal numbers.

    See Casey Mulligan’s remarks during the financial crisis in 2008. “Wall Street will drown alone”. It’s brutal for people who make their living from some sort of price arbitrage or who purchase securities on margin.

  26. Don’t drink them. I

    Remembering that Michael Dukakis histrionic wife wrote a memoir about her ‘struggles’ with alcoholism, claiming that she drank nail polish remover at one point.

  27. J.J.,

    Interesting article. Some of that is why I have tried not to get so hysterical. We in the US are not China or Italy and we are much more spread out than South Korea. It seems only logical high density population combined with general poor health and lousy leadership will increase the cases of any infectious disease.

  28. The US is a service economy, Art. Hairdressers, dentists, auto mechanics all living off one another.
    ” In 2017, agriculture contributed around 0.9 percent to the GDP of the United States, 18.2 percent came from industry, and 77.4 percent from the service sector.”
    Services don’t make things, don’t add value.

    Your trade imbalance number paints a false picture. Aircraft (Boeing) are our single greatest manufactured export. We just stopped making stuff for domestic consumption, and our middle class took it on the chin.

  29. Watching Pence right now. Super smart move putting him in charge.

    Pence is steady, calm and boring. Best of all he speaks with lawyerly precision, unlike Trump.

    The Left and Fake News will never be satisfied. They will say or do anything to get rid of Trump.

    This thing has been totally blown out of proportion. It is astounding how irresponsible the Fake News has been on this. Fake News just wants to whip people into a frenzy.

  30. Cornhead:

    How many people watch Pence? How many people believe him? How does that compare to the number of people reading frightening things on Twitter, or hearing them from their friends?

  31. Neo,

    The problem the administration has is they are damned if they do damned if they don’t. If they wanted to go big they hold a press conference exactly like this at say 8 or 9 pm eastern on all the networks. That would give them the widest audience to show all the people what they are doing but people would complain about that preempting The Bachelor or something all while the same people tweet about how Trump is doing nothing.

  32. @om:Rubbing alcohol can be isopropyl alcohol or a mix of ethanol and isopropyl alcohol with water and a bittering agent. They aren’t the same. Don’t drink them. If you want to play compounding pharmacist at home, good luck to you and yours.

    Nobody said they were the same, and no one said anything about drinking either or playing pharmacist..

    You want something to sanitize surfaces including your hands. Rubbing alcohol will do that safely, and so will denatured ethanol, despite your fear-mongering using the MSDS, which I pointed out contains the nearly identical warning for what’s in hand sanitizer. Yes I know inhaling silica is bad for your lungs, but that doesn’t mean a sand bag used for what sand bags are used for is even though the MSDS warns you about the hazard. And denatured alcohol is no more and no less unhealthy to use for sanitizing hands and surfaces than rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer.

  33. Rubbing alcohol is intended for use on skin. Denatured isn’t. Denatured specifically means poisons added so you can’t drink it.

    Just the first thing that popped up on my web search:

    Rubbing alcohol is specifically intended to be rubbed on the skin, whereas denatured alcohol is not necessarily made for topical application, and often has additives that are not good for the skin, such as gasoline and acetone. Denatured alcohol is nothing but ethanol (ethyl alcohol) which has undergone denaturing.

    Acetone will penetrate your skin and hit your liver with some cumulative impact, as well as causing serious de-fatting and cracking of the skin. Cracking of the skin can create infectious agent pathways into your body.

    Rubbing alcohol is not a bad choice, but I’d stick with only that or possibly drinkable ethanol.

  34. Sorry Frederick, you don’t know what denaturalizing agents they have put into the denatured alcohol (propriety and trade secrets). Methanol is one. There are others.

    Six months ago I bought buy 99% IPS (isopropyl alcohol) sold for vet-grade at $27 a gallon. I doubt that I could buy it for that now. I use it every day (electronics applications). The electronics cleaning grade is much more expensive BTW.

    You are proposing using an industrial solvent from the hardware store as a topical sanitizer. Ever heard of oral/manual transmission or contamination/exposure? For cleaning disinfecting non-biological surfaces there are more effective less expensive products than alcohols (alcohols are also flammable).

    Fear mongering? Hold my beer and watch this, eh?

    Not too bright Freddy.

  35. Griffin, you and I are near ground zero here in WA. It pays to keep your wits about you. I’m in the aged, compromised health group, so I need to be careful but not paralyzed. Still going shopping as needed, but avoiding crowds. And sanitizing my hands……frequently. 🙂

    OM and Edward: A pharmacist told me that high proof vodka makes a good disinfectant for home made hand sanitizer. Expensive, but any port in a storm, I guess.

  36. For the DIY crowd. A couple more commenters have Youtube video links.

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/03/infectious-disease-expert-warns-of-the-consequences-of-needless-coronavirus-panic/#comment-1021490

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital | March 9, 2020 at 5:55 pm
    How to make disinfectant wipes

    3 cups distilled water.
    ¾ cup rubbing alcohol.
    6 tsp Dawn dishwashing soap (adjust the amount to suit)
    10 drops Lemon Essential Oil.
    10 Washcloths.
    Glass jar.

    homemadelovely.com
    You can of course use paper towels – which is what most of the other sites include instead of “washcloths.”
    The other sites also leave out the dish washing soap and lemon……

    JusticeDelivered | March 9, 2020 at 9:12 pm
    Tea Tree Oil is great for enhancing the effects of alcohol, having strong anti fungal-viral-bacterial properties. It can be used in conjunction with other essential oils.

  37. ICYMI from the Dalrymple commenters:
    https://www.lawliberty.org/2020/03/09/between-complacency-and-panic/#comment-1809041

    gabe says
    March 9, 2020 at 4:25 pm

    It would appear that the ChiComms, following their(not so) tepid ideological accolytes of the Democrat Party have gotten into the “conspiracy” business alleging the the Wuhan virus originated in the US.

    https://www.nationalreview.com/news/coronavirus-chinese-state-media-amplify-theory-conspiracy-theory-coronavirus-originated-in-us/

    AND

    FYI:
    Deaths from the seasonal flu this past month were (as of 37/20) tallied at 74!

    There is a concept known as Farr’s Law which belies the hysterical claims being bandied about.
    From the NY Post and Michael Fumento:

    “China is the origin of the virus and still accounts for over 80 percent of cases and deaths. But its cases peaked and began ­declining more than a month ago, according to data presented by the Canadian epidemiologist who spearheaded the World Health Organization’s coronavirus mission to China. Fewer than 200 new cases are reported daily, down from a peak of 4,000.

    Subsequent countries will follow this same pattern, in what’s called Farr’s Law. First formulated in 1840 and ignored in ­every epidemic hysteria since, the law states that epidemics tend to rise and fall in a roughly symmetrical pattern or bell-shaped curve. AIDS, SARS, Ebola — they all followed that pattern. So does seasonal flu each year.”

  38. Getting worse in Italy & Israel.
    https://apnews.com/e1fe7ed2e111436c68c9673bee1c0d4c

    Italy expands lockdown, Israel tightens entry to halt virus
    By COLLEEN BARRY and ADAM GELLER 2 hours ago

    SOAVE, Italy (AP) — The battle to halt the coronavirus brought sweeping new restrictions Monday, with Italy expanding a travel ban to the entire country, Israel ordering all visitors quarantined just weeks before Passover and Easter, and Spain closing all schools in and around its capital.

    Italian doctors celebrated one small victory after the first patient diagnosed with the illness, a 38-year-old Unilever worker, was moved out of intensive care and began breathing on his own. But the virus’ rapid spread was forcing them to operate like war-time medics, triaging patients to decide who get access to scarce ICU beds.

    “Unfortunately we’re only at the beginning,” said Dr. Massimo Galli, head of infectious disease at Milan’s Sacco hospital.

    Travelers at Milan’s main train station had to sign police forms self-certifying that they are traveling for “proven work needs,” situations of necessity, health reasons or to return home. Ski lifts were ordered to close after students whose classes were canceled began organizing trips to winter resorts.

    Some people are just not getting with the program.

    Now it’s clear the panic is real.

    All St. Patrick’s Day parades were canceled in Ireland, including one in Dublin that typically draws half a million to its streets.

    and soccer authorities said at least four major matches — in France, Germany and Spain — would take place with no fans.

  39. Democrats are not only spreading panic, but stupidity.
    Following a long list of Tweets all with the exact same talking point, Nolte concludes with some facts.
    (Remember that Democrats only want truth, not facts.)

    https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/03/09/nolte-the-term-wuhan-virus-has-been-declared-racist/

    The stupidity, the ignorance behind this is simply astounding, but unfortunately, not at all surprising anymore.

    Naming a virus after the location from where it likely originated, using that as a shorthand, goes back decades.

    “Wuhan” was first discovered in Wuhan, China.

    Ebola was named after a river close to where an outbreak took place in Africa.

    Lyme disease was named after a Connecticut town experienced an outbreak in 1975.

    The Zika virus was named after a forest in Uganda in 1947, where scientists discovered what it was.

    The Marburg virus was first discovered in Marburg, Germany.

    The West Nile virus is what causes West Nile fever… guess where…

    Did you know Legionnaires’ disease is named that because the first notable outbreak killed off a bunch of legionnaires in attendance at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia back in 1976?

    So we literally have decades of precedent in naming diseases after where they were first discovered, including a town in lily-white Connecticut. Good heaven, we have a disease named after a bunch of white, middle-aged legionnaires — but “Wuhan” is now racist.

    Need I add that “Wuhan” is not even a race?

    And that anti-science thinking is why Trump won the presidency.

  40. Wait – there’s a talking head who isn’t spreading panic?
    https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2020/03/09/and-this-is-how-its-done-brit-hume-makes-panic-inducing-media-look-even-worse-with-1-sentence-coronavirus-tweet/

    While the rest of the media are out and about telling Americans they’re all GOING TO DIE (MSNBC had an ‘expert’ on claiming the mortality rate would be 15-20% … not even joking), Brit Hume took a more measured and rational route and shared something actually useful.

    Sure, it’s not quite as click/tap-worthy as ‘THE END OF TIMES AND IT’S TRUMP’S FAULT’, but it’s a piece that everyone would benefit from reading.

    Crazy, right?

    Imagine how much better off this country would be right now if the media treated the coronavirus like this, something to be careful of and proactive in dealing with, but not a GLOBAL KILLER that will wipe out a fifth of our population.

    Not quite as exciting as the whole ‘apocalypse’ headline thing but definitely better for anyone reading it.

  41. Cicero,

    The trends of; “buy local” and artisinal work, folks rediscovering things like knitting, bee keeping, brewing, blacksmithing… will hopefully continue. I don’t like messing with free markets, but we’ve put our nation at grave risk by emphasising labor costs over national security, and well being. When a nation doesn’t make steel or antibiotics its citizens are at the mercy of those who do. And at risk of forgetting how to do such things.

    Also, many of our 20 and 30 somethings might be happier if we had more craft and homespun work available for a living wage, rather than sitting in cubicles, typing, or driving for grub hub.

    I don’t want a centralized government mandating such things, or controlling prices, but hopefully our citizens will see the value in paying a little more to support industries in our own backyards. It is certainly fair to fight tariff with tariff when countries like China make our goods more expensive in their markets and subsidize their own industries.

  42. Given that far, far more people die every year from the ordinary flu, I’m beginning to think that the OVID-19 virus, as an infectious disease is a “big nothing burger” and, an utter failure as a bioweapon. I suspect cultures lacking in basic hygiene and poor medical infrastructure account for much of the deaths.

    “I Have Coronavirus: Quarantined Patient Details Life Aboard Diamond Princess and in Isolation Units”
    https://weather.com/health/cold-flu/news/2020-03-08-coronavirus-patient-describes-life-on-cruise-ship-in-quarantine 

    Despite spending weeks together confined to their stateroom… neither of the two couples wives contracted the virus… so just how ‘contagious’ can it really be? 

  43. Rufus, I am in sympathy with your sentiments (depending on the definition of “a living wage” of course), but we may be too late.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/03/04/how-many-millennials-does-it-take-to-change-a-light-bulb/

    Has the quintessential handyman become a thing of the past? Homeowners used to take pride in repairing and maintaining their homes all by themselves, but a recent survey of 2,000 young British adults finds that many still need assistance with the simplest of tasks — like changing a light bulb!

    Unbelievably, some respondents even admitted to simply leaving a dead light bulb in place for more than three weeks before finally mustering up the courage to ask for some help. Other simple fixes that respondents said they can’t accomplish alone included putting up wallpaper, draining a radiator, painting, tightening up a loose cabinet door, and fixing a loose screw.

    Less than 25% of survey participants would call themselves “good” at DIY skills, and 13% (about 1 in 8) flat out said their skills are “poor.”

    FWIW, I doubt if it’s really that bad, especially in the US, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a large contingent ignorant of such basic skills as gardening, simple carpentry, real housecleaning, etc.
    We used to be able to do our own car repairs, but the computers and power-everything put the kibosh on that some years ago.

    BTW, a lot of that homespun stuff was done by at-home mothers to earn a little extra case; crafts are very seldom able to support a family unless both parents work at it together full-time.

  44. Rufus, Aesop, incompetency at simple practical tasks: +1

    Note, I can’t fold fitted sheets neatly, but I can actually change a light-bulb all by myself. *smug expression*

    Heh. Forgot this area of expertise: I know how to vacuum behind the couch. (I just hate doing it.) :>)))

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>