Anonymous wrote:Let's stay shutdown for the next 18 months.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty certain that at least some people who aren’t part of the “ruling” class would benefit if some businesses opened up if it was deemed safe by reasonable governors of their respective states.

They will benefit right up to the point that they are infected with coronavirus.

Anonymous wrote:there's no magic pot of money for perpetual government assistance. High unemployment and prolonged lockdowns will cause civil unrest. You don't care about job losses because you can afford to hunker down in your comfortable house with your adequate savings while millions suffer.

Mortality rate less than 2%. We have ramped up our medical preparedness, and there are empty beds and unused ventilators even in "hotspots". Drug overdoses, suicide, influenza, heart disease, cancer kill more people annually. Crazy anti-vaxxers will never immunize. We need herd immunity to squelch the virus, not hiding in our homes.

The WHO is in China's pocket, the director is corrupt. If they are squealing about funding, let China fund them. China pays about 10% of what we pay the WHO, and they can afford more.

Since you had to make it about Trump, I'll flip the script. This plan to control everyone's movements, make people dependent on government payouts, and destroy civil liberties is a leftist wet dream. Don't pretend you're not enjoying this.

Anonymous wrote:So much nonsense.

Let's see. What's the mortality rate for children? And for healthy adults under 50?

Based on actual data already available, covid-19 is less lethal than the flu for those huge groups of people.

Anonymous wrote:So much nonsense.

Let's see. What's the mortality rate for children? And for healthy adults under 50?

Based on actual data already available, covid-19 is less lethal than the flu for those huge groups of people.

Anonymous wrote:there's no magic pot of money for perpetual government assistance. High unemployment and prolonged lockdowns will cause civil unrest. You don't care about job losses because you can afford to hunker down in your comfortable house with your adequate savings while millions suffer.

Mortality rate less than 2%. We have ramped up our medical preparedness, and there are empty beds and unused ventilators even in "hotspots". Drug overdoses, suicide, influenza, heart disease, cancer kill more people annually. Crazy anti-vaxxers will never immunize. We need herd immunity to squelch the virus, not hiding in our homes.

The WHO is in China's pocket, the director is corrupt. If they are squealing about funding, let China fund them. China pays about 10% of what we pay the WHO, and they can afford more.

Since you had to make it about Trump, I'll flip the script. This plan to control everyone's movements, make people dependent on government payouts, and destroy civil liberties is a leftist wet dream. Don't pretend you're not enjoying this.

Anonymous wrote:Pretty certain that at least some people who aren’t part of the “ruling” class would benefit if some businesses opened up if it was deemed safe by reasonable governors of their respective states.

jsteele wrote:Here are a few things that I think are readily apparent:

1) Without a vaccine, near universal testing, or sweeping use of PPE, "opening up" will spread the coronavirus. We don't have to guess about this. Just look at the Smithfield Foods meat processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Nearly 600 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. In addition, 135 others have caught it from those employees. The plant has now been forced to close.

2) Many of the loudest voices calling for "opening up" will not be putting themselves at risk. Higher income folks will continue to telework and socially distance themselves. Trump and Pence dispute the need for widespread testing, but require anyone coming into contact with them be tested beforehand. This sort of hypocrisy will extend throughout the ruling class. "Opening up" means telling working folks to risk their lives for the stock portfolios of those who will remain safely protected.

3) It is true that job losses and economic suffering are being caused by the shutdown. The impact of this can be reduced through government assistance. There is no cure for death.

4) Trump, by offering public support for those protesting shutdown polices, is willing to sacrifice even his own supporters. Similarly, with deaths heavily weighted toward the elderly, Trump willingly endangers the most dependable source of Republican votes.

5) The "original sin" of the US response to COVID-19 was the failure to introduce widespread testing. This, combined with a lost six weeks while Trump attempted to deny the reality of the epidemic, has caused a deep setback for the US response and led to countless unnecessary deaths. Trump is simultaneously pushing testing responsibility to governors and supporting protests against those same governors. He may well have calculated that renewed disease outbreaks in Democratic-led states would help him politically. He is desperate to place blame on everyone from mayors, governors, and members of Congress, to the WHO, or to the media, but will accept no responsibility himself. He is driven by political expediency and willing to sacrifice lives in the process.

The bottom line is that if someone wants to "open up", tell them to go first. Don't put yourself at risk for someone else's stock portfolio or Trump's political goals.