The world economy is dying ... therefore ...

700,000 jobs were lost in March according to the US Government.  The unemployment rate is at 4.6% percent for March.  That would be bad enough but the computation was made early in the month when the full effect of the forced shut down of economic activity was yet to be felt.  In behind the scenes conversations government officials say that they think the real unemployment rate today is more like 10%.  Nearly all social and economically productive activity has either stopped or is decelerating toward ZERO; manufacturing, banking, office work of all kinds, restos, etc.  I was happy the other day to find a pet store that was open.

This plague will pass, perhaps to return in waves until a stable "herd immunity" is attained.   Work toward a cure and eventually a vaccine will contribute to that level of health for the long term.

Sadly, the herd will by then be living in poverty and social isolation in a vastly different world in which shortages of goods and services and a wildly inflated currency are the "new normal."  In that world the people will be living in a "country" much weakened by the failure of long range transportation.

The US government's herculean efforts at relief of people and business are admirable but are really only temporary measures the effect of which will expire leaving the country with a need for further inflationary projects.

In this situation, the Democratic Party seems to see a great chance to "kneecap"  Trump and blackmail its opponents into measures for the advance of "progress"  that may well lead to violence.

The economy must be relieved of our self-inflicted wounds.  We must "grasp the nettle" and accept the fact that while we can care for the ill, and seek to protect the old and infirm, their welfare must, to some extent, be sacrificed for the good of the herd of the young and fit.

LET the economy stand up!  pl

Comments

[Fred]

Yes!
I suggest give the left more of what it wants good and hard:
1. Use the Emergency Broadcasting System to order every network and cable provider to carry the Presidential Covid Task Force Daily briefing - in its entirety - daily or revoke their broadcast licenses and stop trading their stock. Let the press howl. If that isn't suffient invoke the Defense Production Act to order the same thing.
2. Cancel H1B visa renewals across the board, with 10,000,000 Americans out of work due to government mandate nobody can say there isn't talent available.
3. Publicly tell everyone that we are getting back to work long before there are "zero infections and zero deaths" and yes there might be some risk; have Fauci stand right beside you while you do it, make him publicly states he understands, then tell him if he says we can't get back to work until there are zero infections/deaths again in public his services will no longer be required by the US government. In 36 years of honorable service I'm sure he's trained hundreds of experts who could step into the role in the event he won the lottery and retired.
4. Order Barr to start charging the corrupt DOJ employees and FBI agents behind the Russia collusion fruad. Start with the DOJ lawyer who falsified documents submitted to the FISA court.

[EEngineer]

Fear is the little mind killer...
And most of the populous is dead inside because of it.
When the public finally wakes up to the true extent of the irreversible economic devastation the shutdown has inflicted there will be an epic round of finger pointing.
The only real question in my mind is which leader is first to stand up and say "this has to stop, the cure is worse than the disease".

[upstater]

When I read commentaries such as this or Larry Johnson's, I very well understand the utter destruction that is taking place in the real economy. Those that can least afford it are taking the largest economic hit and also the most infections. Even if restrictions are lifted now, there will be significant damage.

But I always get back to the fact that the CCP basically shut down China's economy for many weeks. And even now, the routine restrictions are often far in excess of those in place in any US state.

The CCP controls the media narrative; there is no MSDNC or Faux News. It is not subject to partisan whims of the demopublicans or republicrats (some of us view them as 2 sides of the same coin). The have a party organization of 80 million, not a herd of cats like the US. They can issue directives down the chain of command and by and large they are followed.

So the question is if China STILL views COVID as an existential risk, how can the US believe it is somehow exceptional and resume business as more-or-less usual? I think the science says we cannot.

[turcopolier]

upstate

The US is not China.

[Keninparis]

I am a regular reader, very occasionally moved to comment. Colonel, that is a true and measured situational analysis that must, as it does here, come from the elite of the generation at risk. May your remarks find ears. Deep respect. KR

[turcopolier]

keninparis

Thank you.

[Deap]

Build the Wall - the symbolism is now as critical as the physical barrier. Ellis Island was symbolic as well as actual.

A full border wall along our very leaky southern border stands for what we believe in too - strong barrier control is the sign of a strong nation. It is an honor and privilege to enter America. You earn it; you don't abuse it.

[Eric Newhill]

I'm thinking that this is all a Soros et al scheme to ruin America and bring about what glorious utopia he and his ilk image will result.

We are all non-essential workers now. Everyone can sit at home, log on and do what ever from where ever. Geographic location is meaningless. One World. Like the Matrix.

I am amazed at what a bunch of pussies Americans have turned out to be.

[turcopolier]

Eric Newhill

We are not the men our fathers were.

[Eric Newhill]

Sir,
Some of us are.

Enough of us? How do we organize to fight is the question I can't answer.

I'm taking a day off and drinking my best bourbon, before noon even. Please accept my apology for the lower case 'a'.

[Laura Wilson]

True: The US is not China. However, the virus doesn't care what your nationality is where you live or how rich you are. It only cares how close you are to itself and how accessible you are to its spread...it is an equal opportunity disease. So...to that extent, "we are all Chinese" and we had better learn to deal with that reality. CA is shut down. I HATE it. Our curve is starting to flatten and our skies are clear--it ain't all bad!

Support your friends and family and be sure to live/shop/eat as locally as possible.

[AK]

Eric Newhill,

I've said it before. If I were our enemies I'd be dancing in the shower everyday, planning my next move with the knowledge that we won't do s#&t about it. As a society, we are ripe for the taking.

I asked a question the other day to a few people I know who have mindlessly accepted this madness as a measure for the "common good" – If, for every person that dies of this virus, two people or even 1.5 people commit suicide as a result of the social and economic disintegration of our society, will the measures for the "common good" have been worth it? Given the already appalling suicide statistics in this country over the past decade, I think my projected numbers are charitable at best, and probably a dramatic underestimate in all likelihood. The people to whom I posed this scenario had no intelligible reply.

In the meantime, social distancing is the newest and most cherished form of virtue signalling. After the "plague" subsides, we will see a movement among the Woke Brigades to eliminate handshakes, hugs, kisses and any other form of common social bonding and affection that keeps us from each other's throats. Along with the claimed "right to not be offended", you will soon see claims of a "right to my social distance", in effect a claim of absolute sovereignty over whatever space lies within a six-foot radius of one's own physical person. We are being conditioned to permanently suspect our neighbors as belonging to "the infected" and to shun each and every other as unclean and to be mistrusted, including our loved ones. I ran across this little gem the other day:

"Loss of roots and lack of tradition neuroticize the masses and prepare them for collective hysteria. Collective hysteria calls for collective therapy, which consists in abolition of liberty and terrorization. Where rational materialism holds sway, states tend to develop less into prisons that into lunatic asylums." - C.G. Jung, Aion, 1959

This future will soon be upon us. We have shown ourselves to be more than ready.

As for Dr. Fauci, yesterday I heard him call 10 million livelihoods lost "an inconvenience" but that we have to continue with this nonsense until a vaccine is developed a year or eighteen months from now. I've suspected from the beginning and now I'm quite sure that this wee man is very much enjoying his time in the spotlight and his self-perceived control over the lives of 330 million Americans. I'm not buying his laudanum anymore. Trump needs to put him in his place forthwith.

[walrus]

Col. Lang, with great respect,, I think you are wrong. Right now is the BEST time to start a new business. President Trump is correct. America will come out of this better than ever and faster than you can believe. Yes, the damage is considerable but it will free up resources to allow creative people to do new things. I speak from experience of eighteen months of unemployment twenty years ago.

Do you really want to protect an economy full of dog grooming salons and personal trainers? Do you notice that we are already past peak feminism, inclusion, diversity and LBGTQ BS? Do you really want to protect lying lawyers and gimmick marketers? Sure restaurants close, they will reopen. What comes after is going to be good.

If we try and brazen our way through this, ignoring the sickness and treating old or infirm people as expendable bits of “collateral damage” in order to protect the fucking banks we will be sending a terrible message to our people - that they are just cogs in the machine who must die for the greater good - the utilitarian argument. The result of that will truly be every man for himself with corresponding disorder, violence and breakdown. People need hope AND a plan, which is what Trump is giving them because we are altogether in uncharted territory.

As for the Democrats, they are toast if they still play identity politics with this. All that is gone. People will again ”identify “ as Americans, period. They will laugh at Pelosi and her ilk. Provided President Trump doesn’t falter he will lead the country, and the world out of this trial.

I don’t know how many of us will survive, but I’d like to think us old farts aren’t going to be abandoned. We are not soldiers. Leaving us wounded on the battlefield while the rest press on with the attack is not going to be a winning strategy because the citizens are a militia, not an army. We want to look after our own. I also think that Fauci and company are displaying great moral courage in doing this and advising the President. They have not taken the easy way out by saying “who could have known” and blaming China.

The old economy is dead. We must let it go. As an acquaintance wrote yesterday: “ Last month I was a B787 pilot, today I’m mixing cement.”.

I hope I haven’t offended you. I pray we may yet live through this and be able to discuss this matter for many years to come.

[walrus]

As an aside, I note Dr. Schadenfreuds post about America on “Moon of Alabama” and will not revisit that trashy website.

[ancientarcher]

Your thesis is right Colonel. But few politicians have the guts to stand before the public and say the very politically incorrect thing you are suggesting - that as a society we have to balance between the damage from the disease and the damage because of the suggested cure.

It seems that the virus is killing, for the most part (99.2% of deaths in Italy), people who have had major preexisting health issues, with most of them being of advanced age. We can't let the poor starve and the economy destroyed beyond a point in order to prevent that from happening!

[Jose]

We need to develop a test kit to measure if people have the Wuhan Virus antibodies in our system, that would be a good indicator that people already had the virus.

Certified people could return to work immediately.

I'm tired of getting paid to do nothing while SWMBO is working 12 hours days six days per week.

The "Rug Rats" insurrection continues:(

[BillWade]

The Technocrats have us by the balls right now. They own and make their money from the internet. Their interests are in alignment with global leftist governments who would like nothing better than not having to be elected to rule (EU CCP).

They might be hoovering up tons of data now in order to understand how people react to panic. When the deplorables fully comprehend what is being done to them, they will begin to organize online in order to fight back. I would think then that much of the internet will be curtailed to just controlled news,commerce sites like Amazon, banking, and stock market, nothing controversial nor the ability to voice an opinion. The large pool of accumulated knowledge will be denied to us, social media gone as well.

I would go much further than Fred, shut down all TV and all internet right now. Broadcast only the President's briefings which hopefully would be encouraging citizens to get back to work, to reopen businesses and encouraging new people to open a Mom&Pop business, back to socializing in person, and doing business in person while being cautious with wearing masks for the time being. Think local, not global.

The Technocrats will be crushed, their hopes for digital currency, a social credit type of citizenship, Amazon type commerce curtailed with new rules giving an edge to small business. They will be defeated.

Eventually, hopefully soon, turn everything back on with some new rules though, too many for me to articulate.

[Jim Buck]

Your slavishness regard for Chairman Doh should put me off you, Jock. But you won more than bone-spurs over in Vietnam. And I believe you are right on this. No straw death, let's all go like Marcus Curtius!

https://www.heritage-history.com/index.php?c=resources&s=char-dir&f=curtius

[turcopolier]

walrus

A controlled, centrally planned economy is not worth living in.

[turcopolier]

james

"with the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea with a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me. As he died to make men holy, let us ..." You are a heathen. I do not expect you or the Spanish child heathen to understand.

[Eric Newhill]

AK,
Dr Fauci is a globalist ass. What? they aren't accepting that global warming is going to kill us all in 12 years? Bring out the virus! They've seen the movie. They're primed!

Depending on which studies you think are best done, medical errors/malpractice kills between 150K and 330K Americans every year.I lean toward the higher figure being correct, but everyone in the biz accepts something in that range. So going to the doctor/hospital is more dangerous than the virus.

[turcopolier]

walrus

If it goes all the way down in the US it will take a generation to recover, Your caterer would have to specialize in rotisseried dingo to start a business. Perhaps the thin population in Australia make a difference.

[Timothy Hagios]

I have heard that if we allowed the virus to circulate unabated without taking even the smallest cautionary measures, a few million people might die. Certainly a disaster, but in terms of math, it might be a better outcome than the consequences of instigating another Great Depression. Think we can't have starvation here? That's what depressions are for. Moreover, the worldwide Great Depression in the 30s led directly to the Holocaust and WWII, which killed plenty of people, too.

It would make a lot more sense to enact measures to protect the old and vulnerable while still allowing the young to continue working. After all, a lot of the people most vulnerable to the disease depend on financial support from the same people who are being prohibited from supporting them.

[Harlan Easley]

I couldn't agree more. Destroying the economy is not the answer. 50 and below have a very small risk of dying. We have to plow ahead and accept the losses.

Protect the elderly and at risk population to the best of our ability.

Taking the hit while it warms up is the best timing we are going to get. If we stay lock down this virus will ravage us this coming Fall/Winter when our natural defenses are less.

Go back to work. And get this damn herd immunity over with. People will die. And the press will run the stories on every young person dying. But at this rate we are going to collapse society.

[walrus]

Timothy, we are not living in 1918. Very little was known about virii. Today we have all manner of tools and experience so that we do not have to repeat 1918 or the great depression. My WAG is that if Trump can bury the hatchet with Putin and Xi, remove sanctions and bring the troops home, we could start a world wide recovery very quickly.

Don’t give in to despair. It’s a sin.