05-02-2020, 02:17 PM
(05-02-2020, 01:14 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(05-01-2020, 11:45 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(05-01-2020, 10:22 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: I'm not sure what the science says about how well masks work. It depends on the quality of the mask, at least. Many of them have to be cleaned after each use or replaced after each use. Because of that doubt, other measures have been taken as well by governments.
Yes. They are less than perfect, but good as part of a multi layered approach to isolation.
That seems to be the difference. If you value people more, you strive to apply as many of the forms of isolation as possible, stacking them to achieve maximum effect. If you value money more, you try to discredit the forms of isolation that get in the way of the economy. Thus, some let their political ideology get in the way of science, come up with weird conclusions that are the opposite of what most think.
Science takes time. Politicians take time. Bureaucratic establishments take time. Systems take time to adjust. While all that time is being taken, the entire money related system is losing money hand over fist. The State of Minnesota is about 5 billion in the hole or short as far as TAX REVENUES with no end in sight as far as the virus goes right now. We have a portion of the workforce out there working and interacting with people/customers and placing themselves at risk as we speak. In short, the shit ain't going away for years and the shit has most likely been around for longer than a month and a half. That's where we are at in my opinion. I think I probably already had it back in late December/early January. I'll let you know for sure whenever the tests that our governor and his team keeps telling us about as being here then telling us why it isn't here yet and then telling us it should be here in a week then extending it being here for another week or two and then extending it another month or so. The job of a doctor or nurse is to advise not dictate. The job of a scientist is to advise not dictate. The job of Democratic politician living of the wealth and success of an American based nation is to lead not follow and not speak to me while in a room with reporters and members of his team without wearing masks themselves. It's hypocritical and sends the wrong message and hurts themselves in the process.
We have an alternative to the pervasive and protracted shutdowns of much of our economic activity:
MASS DEATH!
The costs of COVID-19 in lives and public expenditures are analogous to those of a war. We might as well treat COVID-19 for what it is -- an enemy just as nasty as the Axis Powers of the Second World War. This is the definitive crisis of this Crisis Era. It might not be as horrible as a nuclear exchange that many of us used to fear. The deaths, to come with little recognition of heroism, so there will be no Congressional Medals of Honor for people who cover a live grenade in a fox-hole to save their buddies. The death is real, and protracted as it can be it is no less horrible. Consider this: the people dying of COVID-19 are often the same age as Vietnam-era veterans. In the last two months, COVID-19 has recently posed more danger to Vietnam vets than the NVA and the Vietcong ever did.
If we end the shutdowns we might get a spurt of economic activity, but at a cost of another surge of a costly illness and death. Those who die can never contribute more to the economy.
I trust that once COVID-19 is gone, Americans can resume normal lives again. People will do things that are undeniably human and necessary in the long term, like going to school, dating, marrying, having children, traveling, and working in the 'non-essential' activities that constitute much of the economy. People will be going to concerts, religious services, museums, casinos, and even strip clubs again. People will be having backyard barbecues, parties, and ice-cream socials again. people will take trips to places where there is something to do again or to do safely again. Nobody really challenges the assumptions of a free-market consumer-based economy.
But what if we have mass death instead? If the mass death largely hits the working people who do much of the hard, dirty work such as meat-packing, cleaning, and farm labor we could end up with food shortages. If enough people die, then places that people live in when the population is about 325 million instead of 250 million will be abandoned. Just take a good look at Detroit to see the effects of depopulation that has nothing to do with mass death -- much vacant housing and many open lots in what used to be the most prosperous city in the world. Municipalities that have much bonded indebtedness will be unable to collect property taxes on buildings that landlords can no longer lease. Utilities depend heavily upon captive markets, and with significantly fewer customers they will have costly excess capacity to finance and reduced revenues. People will be commuting shorter distances as outlying suburbs are the places most likely to be abandoned, so that will shrink the revenue of the fossil-fuels industry. Financial institutions and bond-holders will get hurt. So far, COVID-19 seems to be ravaging the elderly and near-elderly, so you can imagine what that does to the lucrative business of nursing homes. Construction activity will grind to a halt.
These are consequences heavily to businesses for which I have no fondness -- but when all of those businesses hurt, we all pay. OK, so rising wages and reduced rents will make life easier, just as after the Black Death. Sure-- there is a silver lining in every cloud. OK, maybe not the Holocaust or the Atlantic slave trade, but I think that you get the idea.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.