Coronavirus:

[MurphOnMillerAve]

At a minimum, I would just really like to be physically present at The Mass, again, along with the physical presence of our congregation , able to receive and minister The Eucharist.

Lots of things I'd like but not at the risk of myself or at the risk of endangering others.

Congregation met in Ark.; 36 members test positive and they are tracking down the rest to quarantine them. Another church met and last I heard they were pressing charges against the minister.

I see no rational reason to put others at risk particularly when it's totally unnecessary.

Pretty sure that God, he, she it, plural or otherwise is probably going to understand and be forgiving.

I didn't say (where did you get that?) I wasn't being cooperative or obeisant, or "irrationally reasoning " ; rather, that I just didn't like the arrangement and missed the contact(s).

As a matter of fact, regarding that unfortunate congregation in Arkansas, my church is part of the Church of Rome - the Roman Catholic Church - so when a bishop says each parish will shut its doors, and will not celebrate Mass, the "No" is final and not open for debate. Period.

I'm simply not happy about it. But I know when it is time to accept what's-what.

[HONDO74]

Well apparently all the countries that have superior health care to ours also dismantled/discontinued their pandemic response offices.

The CDC has 15000 employees. WTF were they doing, Sitting around with their thumbs up their posteriors. Nobody there saw it coming, right

And it also appears the the World Health Organization. (WHO) is in the back pocket of China. They kept the info suppressed along with China for as long as they could. China supply's WHO with millions of dollars

Maybe if the democrats and the country had not been so preoccupied with impeachment it would have been different. The democrats were also saying that Trump was going to get us into a major war with Iran. Iran is so hooked up with China they will be lucky to survive this.

[healey36]

Smart people have been saying we were ripe for a pandemic for years. Americans, however, especially their political leaders, do nothing until it's a drop-dead crisis. Well, here we are.

Wow, the Dow advances nearly 500 pts on a day they announce weekly unemployment filings of 6.6 million. Pennsylvania got crushed, second only to California. What am I missing? We are headed to a bad place.

[chuck]

What am I missing? We are headed to a bad place

This isn't like 2008. The money has been parked elsewhere while people try to adjust to the situation. 2008/2009 the money literally disappeared. It wasn't real so it went back to unreality.

The stock market isn't that great a barometer of economic strength, it's just easy to read and not that hard to manipulate. To be completely honest, where are the investors going to put their money if not here? What other country has the assets. What commodity could you buy that could adsorb that kind of influx of cash and not be significantly reduced in value. All the markets were looking for was some sense of direction/sanity aka a realization that this is going to be bad BUT there are people working very hard to make it less so. They are adjusting to the sad fact that the leadership at the top is severely lacking (on a global scale) but they are encouraged by the second and third tier government responses and the way businesses and private citizens are working the problems.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Smart people have been saying we were ripe for a pandemic for years. Americans, however, especially their political leaders, do nothing until it's a drop-dead crisis. Well, here we are.

We had a pandemic response office that was eliminated by Bolton.......

Wow, the Dow advances nearly 500 pts on a day they announce weekly unemployment filings of 6.6 million. Pennsylvania got crushed, second only to California. What am I missing? We are headed to a bad place.

All relative - 500 points up after what has been weeks going down 20% is just a spate of misplaced optimism.

But here's some cheer - your check will be in the mail in ~10 weeks.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[healey36]

We all knew the market was due for a haircut, just didn't expect this to be the trigger. If this continues for another 6-8 weeks, there's going to be some serious destruction in the economy.

It'll be interesting to see how quick it all comes back. "It's different this time"...I've heard that before.

[HONDO74]

We had a pandemic response office that was eliminated by Bolton.......

Did President Trump Dissolve the Pandemic Response Office?
https://www.cagw.org/thewastewatcher/di ... nse-office

Tim Morrison, who was the former senior director for the counterproliferation and biodefense team within the National Security Council (NSC), discussed what really happened
Morrison joined the NSC in 2018 and inherited a team of “strong and skilled staff” within the counterproliferation and biodefense office. He cites how this group of experts drafted the National Biodefense Strategy of 2018, which included an executive order “to modernize influenza vaccines; and coordinated the United States’ response to the Ebola epidemic in Congo, which was ultimately defeated in 2020.” The National Biodefense Strategy was announced by President Trump on September 18, 2018.

He admits that the administration decreased the size of the NSC staff because the “bloat that occurred under the previous administration clearly needed a correction. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, congressional oversight committees and members of the Obama administration itself all agreed the NSC was too large and too operationally focused (a departure from its traditional role coordinating executive branch activity).”

[HONDO74]

We all knew the market was due for a haircut, just didn't expect this to be the trigger. If this continues for another 6-8 weeks, there's going to be some serious destruction in the economy.

It'll be interesting to see how quick it all comes back. "It's different this time"...I've heard that before.

You are right. After 2008 the experts said this will cause the people to save more. The people went right back to their old ways. Drove the price of real estate through the roof again. Check out the prices in California and New York.

Will coronavirus reverse globalisation?
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52104978

Will globalisation be reversed? Probably not, it is too important an economic development for that to happen, but it could well be slowed down.

The bigger question is, however, have we learnt the lessons of this crisis? Will we learn to spot, control and regulate the risks that seem to be an integral part of globalisation? Because the cooperation and leadership necessary to make that happen seem to be in short supply.

[Roy]

Far too many of our prescription medications come from China. I wonder where most of our ventilators are made.

[healey36]

Will coronavirus reverse globalisation?

Probably depends on how much overhang there is after this virus fades, meaning what, if any, threat remains. I could certainly see some stuff whose manufacture was shifted overseas being pulled back into this country...medications, medical equipment, hospital supplies maybe, but not a wholesale pullback. I don't think the American public would stand for it...we like cheap stuff from Asia too much.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

We all knew the market was due for a haircut, just didn't expect this to be the trigger. If this continues for another 6-8 weeks, there's going to be some serious destruction in the economy.

It'll be interesting to see how quick it all comes back. "It's different this time"...I've heard that before.

You are right. After 2008 the experts said this will cause the people to save more. The people went right back to their old ways. Drove the price of real estate through the roof again. Check out the prices in California and New York.

Prices there barely blinked; several other high priced areas barely blinked.

Back to their old ways? Never left them at all - 20-30% could not put together $1k in cash in a day, but they carry $10-15k on credit cards carrying 18-25% APR.

Give people "easy money" and they will take it -- there's no consequences......and now you see the consequences on a grand scale in the stock market where the huge debt is coming due.

The bigger question is, however, have we learnt the lessons of this crisis? Will we learn to spot, control and regulate the risks that seem to be an integral part of globalisation? Because the cooperation and leadership necessary to make that happen seem to be in short supply.

No. It's easier and more expedient to just blame the other side. Anyway, the banks and insurance companies are calling the shots; they have no reason to change anything at all; still making money either way it rolls.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Far too many of our prescription medications come from China. I wonder where most of our ventilators are made.

Lot are made in US and big company in Australia; more than one source. GE makes some.

Not final prescriptions meds but precursors and intermediates come from China; final conversion to GMP amd formation is not in China

[MurphOnMillerAve]

If some public and medical authorities want everybody to "stay home," who is going to harvest the crops ?

[robert.]

If some public and medical authorities want everybody to "stay home," who is going to harvest the crops ?

In these current conditions nobody. California's crop growers were on tv last night. Begging for help. Nobody wants to work for $2.00 an hour with a health risk of corona. Legal migrant workers can not come into the usa without a 14 day quarantine but don't worry. we can buy more veggies from china!