There are huge costs to the ecomomy. If only the UK government had been able to find all these billions a few years ago to build the NHS instead of sucking all the funds ...
Corona and you!
- Thread starter wil
- Start date
Some hospital beds are empty....but the covid.secure beds are operating at near capacity...and overflow beds are a safety valve, and available as elective surgeries are cancelled...so yeah, knee and hip replacement specialists...not fully utilized right now....but ALL their nurses, assistants, techs and housekeepers are busy facilitating handling covid cases.
Yes his opinions and thoughts are fine...they are not needed to be amplified in the media though...on anything beyond where he has actual expertise.
Lol we had a pandemic task force and Pentagon report that if followed would have drastically changed what happened hear...but our Resident and his followers wanted a wall...and fired the whole lot
If telling other people to go and die is not ad hominem, then I frankly don't know what is. It doesn't get any more personal than this.
Oh, and Musk wanted to build a car factory next to my town, where I live. His plans are delayed. Guess who's lobbying the German government for a tax money to pay for a "buy a new car" incentive (aong with the rest of the automobile industry)?
So a nurse working their arse off, paying taxes, who will never buy a new car, is expected to just watch happily how their tax money is handed over to Musk (and other w*****s like him)?
Note how I said he was *not* lying, just oversimplifying and leaving out crucial details, such as the fact of how healthcare is valued in US politics.
Whatever. Be healthy and well. Don't sacrifice your life just yet. I'm sure your daughter wants you alive.
I don't think anyone reasonable is saying that. But there are two sides. The-cure-may-be-worse than the disease view is not popular with the rainbow flag no-platforming lot, but it is nevertheless justified for discussion. All the best to you too, lol
We live in a world where notoriety and fame give you a platform to spout nonsense for the ill informed to run with...
Musk. Ventura, Reagan, Hitler, Sonny Bono, Al Franken.... me thinks I'd like to listen to Fauci about the virus, but not about skincare or mini skirt styles...
We need to get out more, if possible. There's been a chilly wind today,
perhaps tomorrow will be better. Take care all !
perhaps tomorrow will be better. Take care all !
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru.
Buddha said 'the middle path', Hindus said 'Ati Sarvatra varjayet' (excess anywhere should be avoided). A balanced response to Covid.
And the Covid figures could surge anytime. It is better to have a few beds empty.
And the Covid figures could surge anytime. It is better to have a few beds empty.
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I am not arguing with the need for balance. I believe 2 metre social distancing for industry, commerce and airlines and public transport until October is not balanced.
It will put too many people out of business permanently.
But we'll just have to wait and see.
edited ...
It will put too many people out of business permanently.
But we'll just have to wait and see.
edited ...
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I don't think that people are saying that..
The social distancing needs to continue for the time being. Coming out of the lockdown needs to be done in stages,
in order to ensure that hospitalisation continues to fall.
As time goes by, we can hopefully slowly relax the measures, eventually removing social distancing altogether.
The time scale? That depends on the stats.
It is inevitable that air-traffic will shrink somewhat over the short-term. That is not a bad thing. The continual
increase of air-traffic over the last few decades has been a considerable driver of climate change.
Nobody is saying that aviation should shrink beyond recognition, but the debate over expansion of Heathrow airport should be settled ONCE AND FOR ALL !
Re. public transport, it is still running at a reduced frequency. Some countries have little or no public transport.
There is always taxis, and we'll have to wait a while for inter-city travel.
Of course I sympathise with health workers. It's about time the conservatives started pumping money into the NHS. But I want to still have work to go to after this is over, as do airline workers, hairdressers, business owners and hotels, etc. When once a business has gone, it's gone.
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru.
Lock-down will continue in India, though with different (relaxed) rules after a 55 day stricter lock-down that we have gone through.
Modi announces a USD 250 billion package for farmers, workers, poor and industry.
Modi announces a USD 250 billion package for farmers, workers, poor and industry.
It's a good question.
I suppose it's a matter of priorities. Modern economies are structured in such a way as to maximise profit for corporations.
At the top of the global economic pyramid, trillions of dollars is in the hands hands of a very small group of people, predominantly men, whose fortune and power grow exponentially. Billionaires have now more wealth than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60 percent of the planet’s population.
Only 4% of tax revenue comes from tax on wealth. The super-rich avoid tax liabilities, and pay some of the lowest levels of tax in recent decades. In the UK, last year just one of the FTSE100 companies was actually registered in the UK, the others registered in tax havens. High street chains like Boots pay almost no tax at all in the UK, and tech companies are even worse for evading tax payments.
Instead, taxes are falling disproportionately on working people. Governments undertax the rich; there's less money for healthcare, education and social services, meanwhile the government and councils outsource their services to profit-making companies.
So there is a lot to be said for 'herd immunity'. The burden of such programmes falls disproportionately on the old, the infirm, and those with underlying health issues. The benefit of such programmes to the government is manifold, not least because if you thin out those, then you also bring down the long term costs in terms of pensions and hospital fees. It's a win-win.
In terms of economic collapse, the truth is that countries could weather a pandemic if the economy was people-first, but it's not.
Operation Cygnus, the pandemic exercise in 2016, highlighted the faults: social services that are and have been run down, a lack of material resources, etc., etc. The response? There's no actual pandemic, so what's the problem? Like global warming, etc. Always put off until tomorrow, what you don't have to deal with today ...
And then Brexit ... and since then that's been the only game in town.
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Currently my views are rather partisan. A near-neighbour has a daughter working on a COVID ward. Her parents are talking about PTSD counselling — they can see the symptoms. And her stories, about not being able to recall even the gender of those who died today, and the fact that bodies are no longer cleaned before being shipped to the morgue, rather colour one's outlook.
I would happily scrap the nuclear weapons programme and use the money to fund a buffer for those jobs that are at risk. I would like to see banks pay at least a fraction of the cost of that, rather than mount problems so that even government-backed programmes become increasingly difficult to navigate and access, so while I sympathise with those whose livelihoods are at risk, I do not agree that herd immunity is the way to go. Rather, societies needs to discover a conscience, and put people before profit.
without social distancing business puts people out...permanently.
Looks like herd immunity is still out of the question so....
Without vaccine orcure I am contemplating a future world where 2 week self quarantine is normal...people live lives until their temperature spikes on one of the monitors thru out the city...and then the facial recongniton police move in and extract you, the tracers interview you looking at your phone gps and credit card, arm access and verify who you have been in contact with...you are tested and quarantined, and all your contacts must report to a testing facility...
Alternative visions without cure or vaccine?
I don't want to labour the point that even here with the second highest death rate, it has killed "only" half of a hundredth of one percent of people -- if they all died directly from covid. And those who recover have no lasting damage.
Nevertheless our kind Chancellor has now extended the Government financed furlong scheme by another three months until October and I have just received a letter telling me that as a self employed person I am entitled to Government assistance based on previous tax returns. Application opens Friday midday and the money paid directly into my bank account within six working days.
It won't be a whole lot, but it will do me no harm. I am lucky because I also have a small pension income as well.
(Edit: To explain I rent work area from a bigger retail organisation that provides me with customers, mostly tourists from within the UK -- and which is now closed)
Again, not to force the point: although gvt wage assistance to business to keep staff on the payroll is enormously welcome, it is not itself enough to ensure businesses survive six months without trading. Airlines for instance have huge ongoing costs with planes grounded and BA has already cancelled half the new planes it needed to buy from France.
We will just have to see what happens. In the meantime it has been a nice quiet time, in a way ... while government pays for everything on funds borrowed at premium rates
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Aupmanyav
Be your own guru.
Slump in gas prices was a boon for India (we are heavy importers, third after China and US, 5 million barrels/day). As of 17th April, India is fifth with a foreign exchange reserve (excluding gold) equivalent to 479 billion USD (Taiwan is fourth with 480 billion USD, third with 795 billion USD is far ahead - Switzerland, but perhaps achievable by 2024, when we have the next general election).
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Due to our pandemic nonsocial distancing team... Pence is now in quarantine first one of his aids, then trumps valet, the 11 secret service...over a hundred Whitehouse staff no longer welcome for a couple weeks...