The Partisan Divide on Issues

[pbrower2a]

(04-04-2020, 08:32 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(04-03-2020, 06:51 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: Hmm.  About the time the coronavirus exploded, this thread seems to have died too.  Classic seems to have vanished from the forums.  He is not here to defend the ignoring of science by crying hoax or fake news, the inability to solve problems in the name of low taxes and small government.  Why not?  Save money by firing the people who prepare for pandemics?  With global warming and bridge infrastructure being slow problems that can seem prudent to ignore by elderly leaders, the virus is a much faster acting problem.  It brought things to a head.

In many ways the virus seems designed to wake up a self oriented populace to focus on the country rather than themselves.  The only answer, other than dropping dead, is for big government to throw lots of money at the problem while telling the populace how to respond.  The alternative is to watch grandma drop dead.

Is there anyone ready to speak up now for the Red pattern in it’s extreme?  I am not saying LBJ’s Great Society didn’t take things too far.  We were really into throwing lots of money at big problems in those days.  Even the G.I. generation needed a selfish do nothing break.

But is anyone left who thinks the break’s time isn’t at an end?  What do Classic’s ‘Americans’ become in the face of a real threat?

Unfortunately, we look to leadership (insert your name of choice) to, you know, lead!  Trump is leading us on a lemming march to hell, and Biden is camped out at home recommending small things for dire times.  Bernie is out of the game. It's sad that the only voice crying for action isn't viable.  Anything I missed here?

Events can force the right choices. First, catastrophe discredits bad leaders -- the corrupt and incompetent. Second, institutional failures (usually happening as businesses with outmoded ways of doing business) go under. Visiting a teller at the bank? Probably unnecessary if one has an ATM card and gets direct deposit. It could be that physical currency has become a relic. Brick-and-mortar stores for books, video, and recorded music? Amazon is more efficient than such entities as Blockbuster Video, Sam Goody, Borders Books, and Tower Records. People under economic stress cannot buy on impulse that was necessary for making profitable retailing of their old wares. Casual-dining restaurants that offer mediocre fare no better than what one can zap in a microwave oven or cook on a grill? 



Bye, bye, Big Boy! (As I told someone as the local eatery folded, "Oh, you haven't eaten there recently? You haven't missed anything!)

Things will get back to normal -- with some twists. Businesses that went from thriving to struggling to moribund because their methods of operation went obsolete will die. People will be back on the road again (mobility is part of our character). Stores will reopen after COVID-19 is no longer a menace. People will insist on having several months of savings again instead of being in debt and at risk of another shutdown of big sectors of the economy. We could have our voting going 100% postal. I expect aircraft manufactures to retrofit ventilation systems to kill viruses and bacteria (I understand that copper is about as lethal to viruses and bacteria as cyanide is to us). We may see much the same with HVAC units.

We will also have major reforms of the system, and practices that got us into this mess will die. 

Are we over-responding to COVID-19? We didn't respond fast enough, and we responded unevenly. But with different leadership from the execrable President and his flunkies, we will fare better the next time. We will close the beaches rather than let "Jaws" devour swimmers and boaters. Money was everything in the 3T, but it might not be so much so now.

...as for people like Classic X'er -- I frankly hope that they stay busy with well-paid work and come to the realization that Donald Trump was an unmitigated disaster as a political leader.