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March 16, 2020 07:01 AM UTC

Monday Open Thread

  • 37 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“When men sow the wind it is rational to expect that they will reap the whirlwind.”

–Frederick Douglass

Comments

37 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread

  1. My Song of the Day: Miike Snow Pull My Trigger
    This video made me laugh.

    Ninian Doff – Miike Snow “Pull My Trigger” DC from dreamboat on Vimeo.

    [Verse 1]
    I saw you licking a dollar bill
    I’m in the graveyard if looks could kill
    But murder ain’t your thing, you just shoot to thrill
    But if you did, put you in my will, will

    [Chorus]
    Baby let’s forget the money, forget the money
    Where you’re winning
    Baby we could chase the sun, you got me gunning
    Pull my trigger

  2. So are any conspiracy theorists asking the question, why are there so few COVID-19 cases in Russia? There are several possible answers – which one is likely to be correct?

    1. Russia is just lucky

    2. Putin and his oligarchs are great at public health

    3. Putin is a dictator so the real numbers for Russia will never be public

    4. Putin is the source of the novel coronavirus . . . 

     

    1. It’s not 2 or 4. The coronavirus 19 is a new strain of a family of virus that can be passed from animals to humans. Bats or pangolins are possible sources for the China outbreak. Maybe Russia doesn’t have or eat these animals, limits travel and immigration from China or western countries,  and is already effectively practicing social isolation. (Huge landmass, small population, restrictions on public assembly). 

      But if Russia already has 60 cases, they will soon have double or quadruple that number….but we won’t necessarily know- hence 3 is the best answer.
       

       

      1. Apparently, smoking is a real indicator of risk. I read (maybe here) the mortality rate was heavily weighted towards older men. Because, it seems, Chinese men smoke at a rate about 5 times more than their female counterparts.

        Russian men are noted for being heavy smokers, as I understand it.

        1. Smokers, in addition to the obvious lung damage and reduced capacity, are also placing their hands near their mouths constantly and repeatedly throughout the day. Much more like to contract the virus, I would guess? . . .

        2. @Duke: "Russian men are noted for being heavy smokers….." I've been to Russia a number of times for hiking and climbing, most recently in 2010. So, maybe a bit dated. But there were a lot of places, even on the streets of Moscow in open air arts districts, where one would almost gag from all the cigarette smoke.

    1. And…now, the only bullets left in the Fed arsenal is buying more and more bad debt….which taxpayers will some day have to pick up.

      Unless I misunderstand what 's happening here.

      1. Increasing govt spending, low interest, bailouts of struggling sectors and Fed reserve infusions of cash to help the repo market and banks have all been the kinds if things we've done during financial meltdowns in the past, but we've been doing them this entire 12 year bull market. We're out of tools in the tool box and nobody has a global pandemic plan to save off global economic collapse. 

        1. Larry Kudlow (he’s not an economist, but he plays one on TV) is offering the Get Trump’s Precious Tushie Out Of The Sling Bill

          Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said on Monday that the Trump administration is planning to roll out a plan for $800 billion in fiscal stimulus, including the legislation that the Senate is currently considering, and that it is developing additional economic relief measures.

          Because Trillion dollar deficits just aren’t sufficient anymore to get the job done.

          1. "roll out a plan for $800 billion in fiscal stimulus……"

            Silly me, but I recall the Tea Party and all its versions blasting Obama in 2009 for doing the exact same thing……..

      2. The Fed isn’t the answer to a demand shock, direct payments to people are.  Mitt Romney agrees with me (he’s just a bit low).

        NEW from @MittRomney:

        “Every American adult should immediately receive $1,000 to help ensure families and workers can meet their short-term obligations and increase spending in the economy.”

        — Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) March 16, 2020

        I think $2k a month for six months is a better number. I’d suggest more, but trying to be bipartisan.

      3. bad debt on the Fed's books should be borne by the members of the Federal reserve (the "member banks") 

        A working taxpayer bailout seems more …. evil and more likely 

         

    2. "The chair does not serve at the pleasure of the president, meaning that he or she cannot be dismissed by the president, though the chair can resign before the end of the term. … He was nominated to the position by President Donald Trump on November 2, 2017, and was later confirmed by the Senate."

      Is the wikipedia wrong?

      Either way, Powell needs to tell the president to shut up 
       

  3. I wished Biden had replied to the PAC money outrage by Sanders by saying he would gladly take Bloomberg’s PAC help and anyone else who wanted to help him beat Trump.

    In one of the most dickish moments in this Food Fight series, Biden offered him the olive branch to work together but oh not Mr. Not-A-Democrat from Vermont who is never going to sleep in the White House said “NO! NO! NO.  You have to come work for me“.  It’s like Lee insisting that Grant meet his demands.  “Dude.  You are losing big time.  Be a team member and let’s take out Trump together otherwise history will treat you harshly”.

  4. Colorado governor orders bars, restaurants to halt dine-in service statewide in fight against coronavirus

    Gov. Jared Polis accelerated the state’s fight to slow the spread of the new coronavirus Monday, ordering bars and restaurants to cease dine-in service and for large gathering spaces such as theaters, casinos and gyms to close statewide.

    The order is for the next 30 days.

    “These establishments can remain open but that’s for take-out, delivery and room service,” Polis said of restaurants.

    The order/guidance followed an announcement by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock closing eateries, except for delivery and takeout meals, to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. Since Denver doesn’t allow customers to take alcoholic drinks off-premises, it effectively closed all bars. Polis’ order also would exempt to-go meals.

  5. Breaking news — film at 11

    Republicans, it turns out, can’t do economic policy.

    As Greg Mankiw, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush, wrote, “a payroll tax cut makes little sense in this circumstance, because it does nothing for those who can’t work. … President Trump should shut-the-hell-up.”

    And while the White House was basically out of the loop, Republican senators have been actively obstructionist, offering no serious proposals of their own but holding up a vote on the House bill, even though that bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

    Why are Republicans useless at best in the face of an economic crisis? As I’ve pointed out before, there are many competent center-right economists, but the G.O.P. — not just Trump, but the whole party — doesn’t want their advice. It prefers hacks and propagandists, the people Mankiw famously called “charlatans and cranks,” whose only idea is tax cuts. The party truly has nobody left who is capable of putting together a plausible economic rescue package.

    I admit to being somewhat worried that Democrats won’t go big enough. But my bigger worry is that Republicans will undermine their efforts. It’s now up to Powell and Pelosi to rescue the economy, and Trump and company need to get out of their way.

     

  6. Why the sudden switch in tone?  Possibly this.

    White House Takes New Line After Dire Report on Death Toll

    Sweeping new federal recommendations announced on Monday for Americans to sharply limit their activities appeared to draw on a dire scientific report warning that, without action by the government and individuals to slow the spread of coronavirus and suppress new cases, 2.2 million people in the United States could die.

    To curb the epidemic, there would need to be drastic restrictions on work, school and social gatherings for periods of time until a vaccine was available, which could take 18 months, according to the report, compiled by British researchers. They cautioned that such steps carried enormous costs that could also affect people’s health, but concluded they were “the only viable strategy at the current time.”

    That is because different steps, intended to drive down transmission by isolating patients, quarantining those in contact with them and keeping the most vulnerable apart from others for three months, could only cut the predicted death toll by half, the new report said.

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