by John Walters
Starting Five
Let It Bleed
–The latest job report (today’s) shows that 20.5 million jobs were lost in April (worst month ever).
–The unemployment rate is at 14.7%, the highest since The Great Depression.
–Since early April, at least 1,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 every day and on at least 14 days, more than 2,000 died.
–The stock market is up big, again, today, for the fourth consecutive day.
What’s going on?
The President and his cronies, many of whom appear on CNBC in the mornings as “guests,” have decided to “move on” from the pandemic and “focus on the economy.” Hmm. America is going back to work and they’re all betting, and assuring Americans, that the worst is behind us.
Not so fast, my fiend.
What’s Really Going On
The President and Vice-President are being tested daily (just yesterday Trump flashed his most recent display of shocking ignorance by calling testing an “imperfect art” because you can test negative one day and positive the next) so they’re not worried. We imagine Steve Mnuchin and those types also have access to tests.
Meanwhile, at the current rates of mortality in the U.S., you have about a 1 in 215,000 chance daily of dying from the coronavirus. Of course, if you are elderly and/or in a nursing home, or live in New York City, or are black, the odds for your survival are much worse. If you’re not any of those things, the odds for your survival are much better. Is this beginning to become clearer as to why MAGA is not all that concerned about the virus? (in fact, many actually welcome it ‘cuz it’s “culling the herd“).
What Will Happen
As the country “reopens” without any vaccine in sight, people will continue to die at a rate of at least 1,500 per day. But don’t worry, nobody that you know. That number will probably escalate, though, and it should increase among those who aren’t careful about masks and social distancing, which is to say Trump-ers, which will somewhat level the playing field.
Meanwhile, doctors and nurses and physician’s assistants and lab technicians and the like—Remember them? The people for whom you bang pots and pans every night at 7 p.m. in large metro areas?—will continue to be overworked and exhausted and far more susceptible to the disease than anyone else in their age and income demographic. And maybe they’ll begin to wonder as to why they’re not being supported by their government, are in fact being thrown to the wolves.
Is it worth dying for, many (more) will begin to ask themselves?
The pandemic isn’t serious to millionaires and billionaires of the Trump Elite because it isn’t affecting them. Like this writer, they are safely ensconced in some nice location and Zoom’ing those who need to be Zoom’ed and still able to follow the markets on CNBC or play golf. It’s an inconvenience, at worst.
Kinda like how health care and education is terrible for the majority of the nation, but not for them, so what’s the problem? That’s how they feel about the pandemic.
But of course, their behavior here will only exacerbate the situation. Meaning way more deaths than there might have been and eventually the peeps who work in meat-processing plants or hospitals or other types of vulnerable spots will go all Dee Snyder on the White House and cry, “We’re not gonna take it! No, we’re not gonna take it! We’re not gonna take it… any MORRRRRE!”
And that will be that.
The markets are up? The markets will crash again.
Elon Musk said Tesla stock is overvalued and yet it’s risen 7% since he said that? I’d listen to Elon Musk, myself.
We’re going to have 100,000 dead Americans by the end of May, basically a three-month span. It could wind up being half a million between March 1, 2020 and March 1, 2021, which would put it right behind heart disease (650,00 per annum) and cancer (600,000), which each are at least three times as deadly as the next major cause of death in the U.S. Who knows, Covid-19 could top both of those. It will definitely be in their class.
And yet the stock market continues to soar. You have to, in a perverse way, admire the utter callousness of the big Wall Street investors. Not even massive death totals will sway their lust for green.
The bills will come due. Here’s hoping we’re all alive to see it.
This is the part of The Big Short where the two d-bag asshole mortgage lender bros are telling an incredulous Steve Carell and his colleagues (“They’re not confessing; they’re bragging“) that they keep on making bad-faith loans with no consequences because the housing market always goes up.
And there’s little ol’ Michael Burry in his office continuing to short the housing market as his investors demand their money back and he just ignores them because Burry understands nature (and economic realities) and understands that just because the plane is nosediving you can’t keep telling the passengers that the good news is “that we’ll be arriving early.” Eventually the plane actually crashes and someone notices that while, yes, you made good time, the plane didn’t actually arrive at the airport and everyone aboard is dead. Soooooo…..
Umm, What The F***
The Justice Dept. headed by William Barr has decided to not pursue any legal action against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who only pleaded guilty—twice.
America is broken. The rules are being broken right in front of us now. They don’t care.
Sports Year 1888
Realizing that friendly fixtures do not draw crowds, especially those held at neutral sites, which means that it is more difficult to pay pros, a dozen teams agree to play home and away matches and form an English Football League. The 12 teams: Accrington F.C., Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers (teams in bold are currently in the Premier League).
***
In football, tackling below the waist is legalized. In baseball, it is established that four balls will be a walk and three strikes a strikeout.
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The Welterweight division (140-147 lbs) is established and the first world champ is yet another mick, Paddy Duffy (not to be confused with Paddy Ryan).
****
In Deadwood, Dakota Territory, on July 4th, the Great Hub-and-Hub Race is staged between two Chinese Hose Teams. Don’t ask. Oh, but you wanna know? Something about pulling fire carriages through the streets.
I’ve been saying for weeks that the GOP-NAZIs had decided some time ago that hundreds of thousands of American DEATHS are acceptable so the rest can “live their lives” (including work for a poverty-level wage, piss their money away in casinos, go wherever & whenever they damn well please, withOUT some “commie mask” & with no concern or liability for making any & all they come into contact, sick &/or dead. Livin or Dyin in Amerika…). At least until they or their parents succumb. But as you state – most of these deaths are of the elderly, poor & or black, many of which depend on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid & or Welfare. What four things do GOP-NAZIs hate most of all (besides Obama)? Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid & Welfare…. In fact, if one was conspiracy-minded, they’d say this virus was NOT “created in a Wuhan, China lab” but in a GOP-NAZI funded lab.
IF the election was not but 6 months away, it’s possible they would have faked concern & extend the “close-down” a bit longer but does ANYONE think the party in power will willingly let the country slide into The Great Depression 2.0 with tens of millions out of work right before a Presidential election? LOL, they would sacrifice MILLIONS of human lives to stay in power! They are NAZIS! That the majority of these deaths would remove a financial “drain” from America and most especially, THEIR OWN pockets? Dream come true!
After being down 33% on 3/23, at the close yesterday my 401-K was ‘only’ down 10%. The only explanation I can think of is that “the market” only cares about what WILL happen & it seems to think the current economic & health disaster bottomed back in March when everything was still so unknown. NOW that we know only the non-working (i.e. aged) or ‘weakened’ die, who cares, right?! Two birds, one stone…
Folks in their 20s-40s today will one day be asked by their grandkids (i.e. IF they survive) – what was it like for America to be taken over by the Nazis; how did it happen “right out in the open” & “no one say anything?!”
The stock market has averaged 10% a year since 1926, through wars, depressions, recessions, massive inflation, etc. COVID19 and 500,000 deaths will just be another blip in the market 20 years from now.
On a day when we learned that unemployment rate in the U.S. was the worst since the Depression, and that the Attorney General had destroyed the credibility of the U.S. Department of Justice by dropping the case against a presidential advisor who had admitted to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia, there was one other piece of news that surprised me more than any other. Doctors Without Borders, the humanitarian organization that provides care in the most war-torn and poverty-stricken corners of the world, is now sending doctors to Arizona. The United States, the leader of the world for a century in terms of wealth, medicine, and industry, is now so incapable or uninterested in dealing with the problems on the Navajo reservation that international care organizations are having to take action.
It’s all too much to take in. This is our 1861, our 1940, our 1968. What are we going to do?
I was looking at the MD COVID site today & noticed that 70% (SEVENTY!) of the cases are of folks UNDER the age of 60. However, 83% of the deaths are those 60+.
And sorry I wasn’t able to respond to you quicker, Jacob. I spent Tuesday in my actual office (there are some work tasks I cannot complete at home). I saw some cars in our parking lot but no actual person the entire day but did hear a few. I miss being in my office! However, I was scared too. Your comment a few days ago was very informative & the opposite of “incoherent”. 🙂 I do quibble with your belief that NE pretty much did what the other states did. Uh, no. All our “non-essential” businesses were shut down or the workers had to work from home as of 3/23. Masks for ALL in public places was made mandatory 4/17. Gyms were CLOSED. Still are, as are restaurants’ dine-in & other non-essential businesses. This may be “relaxed” soon but since the numbers of cases are NOT going down, why? And the goal of the close-down was not just to “not overburden the hospital system”, it was to PREVENT sickness & death. I worry for your brother & especially your sister-in-law. And hopefully, none of your 8 fellow gym-goers work in one of those meat plants. Be careful, Jacob! Your fellow Nebraskans will need your services 6-8 years from now. 🙂
And BTW, since you actually live in Omaha, have you invested in BRK.B? 🙂 I bought some shares several years ago).
In other “personal stock news”, in March I had invested in several things – added to some existing & opened positions in 4 new stocks. The 1st of the new was TWLO & the last was MDB. The latter is up 87% & the former, 98%. 🙂 However, before you think I’ll, er, “blow this pop stand” to mingle with the other “rich”, I bought 10 shares of TWLO & only 6 of MDB. 🙂 I was running out of money! And I had PLANNED to add more if they kept going down. Still, it almost makes me stop crying about missing on SHOP. Again!
And jdubs, what you think is coming for the market makes perfect sense. I just don’t know if I should move some of my 401-k mutual fund monies to cash now or wait. The Nazis will do ANYTHING to at least temporarily boost the economy. I have changed my allocation so that 83% of future 401-k investments go into cash. For now.