by John Walters
What’s The Worst That Could Happen?
That’s the question many people asked, some sincerely and others facetiously, after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election.
Yesterday, according to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. set a new single-day record for deaths (for this country and, by logic, for any country) with more than 2,670. It may be less than one week before we’re up to 3,000 daily and those numbers should remain steady the next few months. On MSNBC last night a doctor told Brian Williams that he expects 700,000 dead by the end of July.
The number of U.S. dead from coronavirus–again, the count officially began on Leap Day but probably extends to before then—at more than 273,000.
Remember, the number of dead Americans on 9/11 registered at 2,977 and this nation went apeshit. We’re now nearly doing this daily and the virus will have claimed ONE HUNDRED TIMES that total by Christmas day, likely.
And yet you and I both know someone who doesn’t want to wear a mask.
What is it about some Americans who take the vague threat of Muslims so seriously as to embrace a WAR ON TERROR and yet when 100 times that many Americans die in just nine months these same people don’t want to have THEIR RIGHTS INFRINGED?
I know people, you probably do, too, who flippantly note that the coronavirus dead register less than 1/10th of 1% of this country’s population. Which is true. But on that same note the 9/11 dead register less than 1/1,000th of 1% of this country’s population and we passed a Patriot Act and created a Dept. of Homeland Security over that.
Why the disparity in reactions when one threat is so much deadlier than the other? Ignorance. Fear. Xenophobia. And the ability to award government contracts to defense companies. But mostly xenophobia.
And maybe the fact that most Americans think that the people who die of COVID-19 somehow have it coming. They’re old. They’re obese. Diabetic. Thinning the herd. It can’t happen to them.
We’ll see.
Rafer
Olympic decathlete gold medalist Rafer Johnson passed away yesterday at the age of 86.
It’s not fair to sum up a gargantuan life in a few sentences, but here’s what you need to know: in 1960 Johnson became the first African-American to carry the U.S. flag into the opening ceremony of an Olympics, in Rome; he would win the gold medal in the decathlon; a UCLA alum, he would later light the torch for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles; and on the night Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, also in Los Angeles, he was the first on the scene to grab Sirhan Sirhan and subdue him.
This LA Times obituary on one of the city’s favorite adopted sons goes into greater detail. For instance, like something out of a Frank Capra film, Johnson saved his brother Jimmy from drowning when they were both lads. Jimmy Johnson would grow up to play cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers and be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Porter House Stakes
Watching congresswoman Katie Porter (D-Cal) destroy insidious and condescending gasbags is our favorite new spectator sport. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was punching way over his weight yesterday when he took on the Yale (undergrad) & Harvard (law school) alum and, of course, being at Trumper, humility and kindness never occurred to him. Only corruption and avarice. He paid the price.
Not A Good Day For Mile 1 of the NYC Marathon
Monday in New York City: wet, cold and blustery. Welcome to the final day of December. A lot I miss about NYC, but not so much the weather.
Juno Who You Are
*The judges will also accept “Turn, The Page”
If you remember actress Ellen Page, the star of Juno (wait, did that really come out 13 years ago?), a film about a quirky and independent teenage girl who gets pregnant, well, she’s now identifying as Elliott Page and is transgender. Certainly there’s a Michael Cera joke in here somewhere but we are not smart enough to unpack it.
What about that convicted FELON that was just pardoned by the Sociopath & called for martial law & to “temporarily SUSPEND THE CONSTITUTION” so as to ” re-do the election”?! Se-di-TION! Arrest him again! And this guy was actually a GENERAL!
Ready to call em’ NAZIS yet?
Anyhoo, did you buy any CRSP when I mentioned it back in Feb/Mar? If you had, you too would be 5% away from a 4-bagger…. in 8 months. Bitcoin, schmitcoin.
And you didn’t answer my market query of last week – do you foresee a crash soon & then recovery once the vaccine starts rolling out to more than health workers? I’m thinking it’s probable, maybe after Xmas or early in January as the death numbers keep soaring but I don’t really “know”.
BTW, I heard a Dr last week on one of the night time news channels say that 50% of the patients in his ICU suffering severely from COVID are UNDER AGE 50 & HAD NO PRE-EXISTING HEALTH PROBLEMS.
Susie B.
I did not answer your question because I have no idea what the answer is. I try to avoid (now, more than I used to, because I’ve learned the hard way) market predictions. Maybe a particular stock or two, but that’s all. So The Gap was a quick two-bagger and I noted that. Congrats on the CSRP.
Your proofreading for today:
“Welcome to the final day of December.”
Huh? It’s not the final day of anything today, though it was the final day of November on Monday when the bridge was closed.
On another note: I understand the number comparison between 9/11 and daily COVID-related deaths. But, it’s a bit disingenuous to ask why people aren’t having the same reaction. In the case of 9/11, people were watching it unfold on live TV and the vast majority of the deaths occurred all at once. Whereas, with COVID, these deaths are occurring in private.
Otherwise, I completely agree with your point that people ought to be taking this way more seriously that they are currently.
In reference to “Turn, the Page” did you have this Bob Seger line from “Turn the Page” in mind? ‘ All the same old cliches, “Is that a woman or a man?” or was it only the title of the song?
I cannot take credit for that, Shane. That’s serendipitous. Thanks for pointing it out.
Go to CBS 60 Minutes and watch the Covid Long Haulers segment that aired Nov 22. That should scare markets for years to come.