Reported US coronavirus deaths:
Feb. 12: 0 deaths
Mar. 12: 41 deaths
Apr. 12: 22,073 deaths— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) April 13, 2020
And in reality, probably 40,000+ deaths so far. We’ll see later after statistical analyses of excess deaths.
One of the largest pork processing facilities in the US is closing until further notice.
Supply chain breakdowns beginning as predicted. Food prices will rise and the unemployed will have increasing issues with food security. Food banks will be unable to supply need any longer. It will get worse from there.
I-
What does this even mean pic.twitter.com/7VSGJHcEhc— yeff (@yephph) April 12, 2020
Umm. Huh. That is a company one would not want to work for anyway.
I spent a lot of time checking this screen to see if bytes received was going up or if I needed to disconnect and reconnect pic.twitter.com/Wgqzgj1YJE
— foone (@Foone) April 13, 2020
Same. That brings back some memories.
Goldman Sachs abandons its bearish near-term view on stocks, says the bottom is in.
Goldman Sachs is probably wrong, though I only have about 60% confidence in this. This depends on if we go into a depression, or a mega-depression, which in turn depends on how soon we can re-open the economy.
If “just” a depression, stocks have probably already bottomed. If mega-depression, then they’ll go about 50% below where they are now.
Just too many unknowns, although there likely aren’t many unknown unknowns. All the paths are bad, and we’re going to walk at least one of them.
And of course Matt Yglesias was, as one would expect, absolutely on board the harmful conventional wisdom express. I guess there were no Bangladeshis in factories to advocate murdering the day he wrote this. (h/t @Econ_Marshall) pic.twitter.com/MQTQrFhQPB
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) April 12, 2020
As always, fuck Matthew Yglesias.
Employment is a social relationship. It is entirely defined by where the check comes from and under what circumstances it is given. The whole point here is to freeze that social relationship in place so it’s still there when the pandemic is over. https://t.co/74h3q2c1vK
— Jeff Spross (@jeffspross) April 12, 2020
Wow, people are just powerful stupid. Of course you can keep people employed this way. That’s all employment is — a tacit agreement, invisible but real. Preserving that arrangement is exactly what that check does.
I am always surprised by how volubly clueless so many people are. Being clueless is ok, I guess, but do you have to advertise it so loudly and publicly?
Every CEO of a medical equipment company that charged a state more than four times the pre-Corona prevailing price should be hauled into Congress to provide a cost-based justification for the price hike. pic.twitter.com/tLFiBJ1bp8
— Hal Singer (@HalSinger) April 12, 2020
No. Just executed. Simple enough.
If we allow the USPS to declare bankruptcy, we will have fully transitioned to a failed state. There will no longer be any question or any reasonable doubt. When vital government services start disappearing overnight that’s what a failed state is, definitionally.
It’s becoming clear in all that has occurred that the Covid-19 pandemic, while obviously not a hoax, is being used as the disaster to clear all opposition to neoliberalism as we transition to a fully cyberpunk neo-feudalist future. The only reason to destroy the USPS now is the one I mentioned.
America has failed, and we allowed it to happen. We deserve what we get.
I want to start a think tank. I’ll call it “Stop Doing Dumb Shit.” It’ll be for exactly what it says on the tin.
Pay me $100,000 a year if you’re rich or a million a year if you’re a corporation and I will tell you how to stop doing dumb shit. If you run your ideas and plans by me, I will prevent you from doing horrendously dumb shit.
For ten times the price I’ll tell you how to do intelligent things. But that’s not most people’s problem nor is it where most corporations fail. It’s that they do dumb shit and it hamstrings them. Thus, they never even get around to pondering doing something smart.