COVID-19 Megathread 4: Grandma Got Run Over by the Dow Jones

[Virginiá]

And this is making them richer?  Their situation is more analogous to the airlines after 9/11.  They're getting this money simply to keep their heads above water.

Really can't blame some for feeling negative about this since so many corporations have focused on enriching investors and executives instead of keeping any sort of rainy day fund, or in some cases, even keeping their business solvent when even the tiniest of unfavorable conditions creep up (not to say this isn't massively unfavorable, but point still stands). It's the kind of catastrophe that brings the worst excesses of corporations (from a left perspective anyway) to the forefront. And mind you, even with all of this in mind, Republicans still slammed Democrats as "obstructionists" for having the gall to demand a modicum of oversight over a massive amount of money flowing to these companies - oversight that is now being cast aside by a government oddly hell-bent on disbursing all this money with no accountability. Can't help but find this deeply ironic coming from the party that marches around calling themselves the "fiscally responsible" ones.

[T'Chenka]

People actually got richer off the 9/11 defense spending.  Millions of American jobs are directly supported by the "Military-Industrial Complex".  Who's getting richer off the COVID response?

The coronavirus stimulus had over a trillion dollars in corporate bailouts.

And this is making them richer?  Their situation is more analogous to the airlines after 9/11.  They're getting this money simply to keep their heads above water.

The specific kind of bankrupcy a lot of these businessez would go through would result in new ownership / leadership but a lot of the low and mid level staff staying upon re-opening. Only upper management, board of director, CEOs and stocks (stock holders) lose jobs/money. They aren't bailing out tje airline so the company and employees xan survive by the end, that'll happen anyway. They'll bailing out the stock value and rich people at the top.

[Del Tachi]

People actually got richer off the 9/11 defense spending.  Millions of American jobs are directly supported by the "Military-Industrial Complex".  Who's getting richer off the COVID response?

The coronavirus stimulus had over a trillion dollars in corporate bailouts.

And this is making them richer?  Their situation is more analogous to the airlines after 9/11.  They're getting this money simply to keep their heads above water.

The specific kind of bankrupcy a lot of these businessez would go through would result in new ownership / leadership but a lot of the low and mid level staff staying upon re-opening. Only upper management, board of director, CEOs and stocks (stock holders) lose jobs/money. They aren't bailing out tje airline so the company and employees xan survive by the end, that'll happen anyway. They'll bailing out the stock value and rich people at the top.

Really?  Southwest just announced today that over 800 pilots and 5,000 flight attendants were taking "emergency" time off and getting only half pay for the entire month of May.  That's on top of the more than 2,000 daily flights they've eliminated (their peak was just over 4,000 flights/day, so that's an ~50% decrease). 

The $32 billion in grants the airlines got in CARES is exclusively for maintaining employee payrolls, and any airline participating in the program is barred from issuing dividends, furloughing employees, cutting salaries, or raising executive pay. 

[Joe Republic]

https://twitter.com/the_unsilent_/status/1250255632898367490?s=21

[Sir Mohamed]

https://twitter.com/the_unsilent_/status/1250255632898367490?s=21

A shame. How about Mr. Trump setting a positive example and allowing them, at least some, sleep in his hotels? I'd be the first to give him credit.

[Beet]

We spent trillions of dollars fighting a war that stemmed from 9/11. We did that because we "never again" wanted to lose 3,000 lives in a terrorist attack. We could have kept the money for tax cuts, infrastructure, whatever you want; and lived with the possibility that another big terrorist attack could happen. But basically everyone supported going to war. So how is this different? Because the people dying will mostly be old? Because we won't lose any buildings? Because we weren't shocked to our core in an instant? Or because you're worried it will be a lot more than 2 trillion lost? Something's different.

We've already eclipsed the 9/11 death toll by a factor of 8!

The coronavirus isn't brown skinned, arab or muslim though, so it's harder to justify to the American people wasting money waging war against it.

This snarky comment isn't too far off the mark. People are far more comfortable with a human enemy. The 1918 flu pandemic killed more people than World War I, but it's the trenches that (until this) got almost all the historical attention. If something is supposed to be scary, we expect it to be big. A missile? That we can understand, even though missiles have killed a grand total of zero people on American soil in all of history. But a virus? It's hard for some people to wrap their heads around being beaten around by a microscopic organism, 0.1 micron in length, something 1/750th the diameter of a human hair, let alone that can't be seen. It's even debatable if it's alive at all.

Even 9/11, was never really grasped. People never really psychologically came to terms with the fact that something that dramatic could be pulled off by just a dozen hijackers funded by some rich guy living in a cave in Afghanistan, and that that was the end of the story. Overthrowing the Taliban didn't seem to be enough, it was too easy. Hence the Iraq War. It took a decade of high drama and a million dead Iraqis for America to get 9/11 "out of its system."

But this virus is even more insignificant than that. When the true enemy is ignorance, stupidity...

[roxas11]

It’s reactions like this as to why there are downplayers of climate change. Prediction after prediction wrong. It’s hard to make sensible policy decisions when models continue to be wrong.

you don't need a model or a scientist to know that something is seriously off about out current Climate. Being from Louisiana I have actually seen the impact of climate change first hand

We have been losing more and more of our coastlines at a rapid rate thanks to sea level rise and people are being forced to either relocate or voluntary move further away from the coastline

Every hour we shed another football field's worth of land and things are only getting worse.
for Many of you living in the upper northern states climate change may only be this scary thing that a model or scientist says will not really effect you for another 30 or 40 years

but for us climate change is not just some scary future that scientist our making projections about
its our present and its very much having a Negative impact on our state Right at this very moment..

[T'Chenka]

It’s reactions like this as to why there are downplayers of climate change. Prediction after prediction wrong. It’s hard to make sensible policy decisions when models continue to be wrong.

you don't need a model or a scientist to know that something is seriously off about out current Climate. Being from Louisiana I have actually seen the impact of climate change first hand

We have been losing more and more of our coastlines at a rapid rate thanks to sea level rise and people are being forced to either relocate or voluntary move further away from the coastline

Every hour we shed another football field's worth of land and things are only getting worse.
for Many of you living in the upper northern states clime change may only be this scary thing that a model or scientist says will not really effect you for another 30 or 40 years

but for us climate change is not just some scary future that scientist our making projections about
its our present and its very much having a Negative impact on our state Right at this very moment..

Don't waste your time. He's a cult member it seems, so logic probably only appeals to him when it helps his side of the debate. Then again, I waste my time with him, so who am I to tell you what to do?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

We spent trillions of dollars fighting a war that stemmed from 9/11. We did that because we "never again" wanted to lose 3,000 lives in a terrorist attack. We could have kept the money for tax cuts, infrastructure, whatever you want; and lived with the possibility that another big terrorist attack could happen. But basically everyone supported going to war. So how is this different? Because the people dying will mostly be old? Because we won't lose any buildings? Because we weren't shocked to our core in an instant? Or because you're worried it will be a lot more than 2 trillion lost? Something's different.

We've already eclipsed the 9/11 death toll by a factor of 8!

The coronavirus isn't brown skinned, arab or muslim though, so it's harder to justify to the American people wasting money waging war against it.

This snarky comment isn't too far off the mark. People are far more comfortable with a human enemy. The 1918 flu pandemic killed more people than World War I, but it's the trenches that (until this) got almost all the historical attention. If something is supposed to be scary, we expect it to be big. A missile? That we can understand, even though missiles have killed a grand total of zero people on American soil in all of history. But a virus? It's hard for some people to wrap their heads around being beaten around by a microscopic organism, 0.1 micron in length, something 1/750th the diameter of a human hair, let alone that can't be seen. It's even debatable if it's alive at all.

Even 9/11, was never really grasped. People never really psychologically came to terms with the fact that something that dramatic could be pulled off by just a dozen hijackers funded by some rich guy living in a cave in Afghanistan, and that that was the end of the story. Overthrowing the Taliban didn't seem to be enough, it was too easy. Hence the Iraq War. It took a decade of high drama and a million dead Iraqis for America to get 9/11 "out of its system."

But this virus is even more insignificant than that. When the true enemy is ignorance, stupidity...

The warmongers are far more evil than that. PNAC was already waiting for a Second Pearl Harbor.

[Amanda Huggenkiss]

Halting congressional approved funds in order to play the blame game is of course a great idea and underscores that the president did nothing wrong, ever,

[T'Chenka]

Halting congressional approved funds in order to play the blame game is of course a great idea and underscores that the president did nothing wrong, ever,

This is nothing new. Last time I checked, he's 3 years late on giving Puerto Rico it's comgressionally approved hurricane relief funds.

[Brittain33]

It’s reactions like this as to why there are downplayers of climate change. Prediction after prediction wrong. It’s hard to make sensible policy decisions when models continue to be wrong.

The predictions about climate change have mostly been too optimistic compared to the reality we're already seeing. A lot of Republicans who say there are false predictions about climate change, are usually pointing to word choice by layman reporters in news articles rather than actual predictions. We are well and truly Inksed on climate change and are already halfway there.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

For those concerned about their stimulus checks, the IRS Portal is....sorta up. 

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

Seems to be overwhelmed right now, though.  It's apparently returning error messages for a vast majority of users. 

[Meclazine for Israel]

OK,

Latest numbers from Europe and USA.

UK



UK 14 April - Active Cases
Predicted peak of Active Cases: 86,490 – April 21
Recoveries added to curve – 10,400


France



France 14 April - Active Cases
Predicted peak of Active Cases: 84,212,942 – April 12
Recoveries added to curve – 5,500

France curve has new recoveries added which lowers the total slightly.


Germany



Germany 14 April - Active Cases
Predicted peak of Active Cases: 66,264 – April 6
Recoveries added to curve – 10,000


Spain



Spain 14 April - Active Cases
Predicted peak of Active Cases: 76,689 – April 7
Recoveries added to curve – 18,500


Italy



Italy 14 April - Active Cases
Predicted peak of Active Cases: 68,480 – March 29
Recoveries added to curve – 73,400


USA



USA 14 April - Active Cases
Predicted peak of Active Cases: 494,019 – April 19
Recoveries added to curve – 105,000

USA should start showing signs of lowering in Active Cases.


Growth Curve

When all the growth curves in Active Cases are plotted together, we get:



Growth curves have been smoothed with 3 point averaging.

[Landslide Lyndon]

https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1250396005683650561

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

In unprecedented move, Treasury orders Trump’s name printed on stimulus checks

The Treasury Department has ordered President Trump’s name be printed on stimulus checks the Internal Revenue Service is rushing to send to tens of millions of Americans, a process that could slow their delivery by a few days, senior IRS officials said.

The unprecedented decision, finalized late Monday, means that when recipients open the $1,200 paper checks the IRS is scheduled to begin sending to 70 million Americans in coming days, “President Donald J. Trump” will appear on the left side of the payment.

It will be the first time a president’s name appears on an IRS disbursement, whether a routine refund or one of the handful of checks the government has issued to taxpayers in recent decades either to stimulate a down economy or share the dividends of a strong one.

[Donald Trump’s Toupée]

Maybe the media should be displaying a ticker counting the millions of jobs lost in real time.

[Landslide Lyndon]

https://twitter.com/NewsGuyGreg/status/1250141163912380421

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

Woo! Body temp is down below 101*F for the first time in over two weeks!

[ilikeverin]

For those concerned about their stimulus checks, the IRS Portal is....sorta up. 

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

Seems to be overwhelmed right now, though.  It's apparently returning error messages for a vast majority of users. 

My budget app claims that I received my Trumpbux in the account I got my refund direct deposited to overnight, although I can't seem to log in to my bank's website.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

For those concerned about their stimulus checks, the IRS Portal is....sorta up. 

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

Seems to be overwhelmed right now, though.  It's apparently returning error messages for a vast majority of users. 

My budget app claims that I received my Trumpbux in the account I got my refund direct deposited to overnight, although I can't seem to log in to my bank's website.

Anecdotally, there are several banking websites having issues right now because of volume. 

[Person Man]

My girlfriend got her Trumpbux wired to her account yesterday.

And oh. Looking through the generic homepage tabloids, I found this:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/hyped-malaria-pill-doesnt-help-clear-coronavirus-in-study/ar-BB12EEbv?li=BBnb7Kz

[Donald Trump’s Toupée]

For those concerned about their stimulus checks, the IRS Portal is....sorta up. 

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

Seems to be overwhelmed right now, though.  It's apparently returning error messages for a vast majority of users. 

Yeah it’s not working for me. That’s the government for you.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Different, recent trial results on a clinical trial of chloroquine diphosphate.

The high dose CQ arm presented more QTc>500ms (25%), and a trend toward higher lethality (17%) than the lower dosage. Fatality rate was 13.5% (95%CI=6.9-23.0%), overlapping with the CI of historical data from similar patients not using CQ (95%CI=14.5-19.2%). In 14 patients with paired samples, respiratory secretion at day 4 was negative in only one patient. Interpretation Preliminary findings suggest that the higher CQ dosage (10-day regimen) should not be recommended for COVID-19 treatment because of its potential safety hazards.

[riceowl]

My girlfriend got her Trumpbux wired to her account yesterday.

And oh. Looking through the generic homepage tabloids, I found this:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/hyped-malaria-pill-doesnt-help-clear-coronavirus-in-study/ar-BB12EEbv?li=BBnb7Kz

Got mine today