Some Covid-19 thoughts
POSTED BY: captaincrunch
UPDATED: Monday, September 29, 2025 18:59
VIEWED: 301579
PAGE 43 of 384
Quote:It's impossible to discuss anything with you because you insist on not reading words that are there, and reading words that aren't there.
JACK:
It was sarcasm on my point, because it's disingenuous on your point. You're not at all on board, and you're proposing something that would never happen. You're using anti-smoker tactics, and since this isn't an anti-smoking campaign you know full well that they won't fly here. It's easy to say fuck you to a smoker because they're doing the damage to themselves. What you're suggesting is that everybody who has second hand smoke also be punished if things work out the way that you expect them to.
So much for your post.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:Quote:It's impossible to discuss anything with you because you insist on not reading words that are there, and reading words that aren't there.
JACK:
It was sarcasm on my point, because it's disingenuous on your point. You're not at all on board, and you're proposing something that would never happen. You're using anti-smoker tactics, and since this isn't an anti-smoking campaign you know full well that they won't fly here. It's easy to say fuck you to a smoker because they're doing the damage to themselves. What you're suggesting is that everybody who has second hand smoke also be punished if things work out the way that you expect them to.
So much for your post.
Your "agreement" with me is based off of erroneous assumptions, which I pointed out in my post.
First off, it's not Trump's decision if statewide bans are lifted, like you just said that it was. He can choose to de-escalate the nationwide state of emergency, but he has no jurisdiction over how the states respond to that.
Second, I didn't read words that aren't there. You propose that the 315 Million+ Americans in states that have lockdowns currently relinquish any and all ability to get any relief if things go south if lockdowns are ended.
This choice will ultimately be made by a handful of top-state-level officials and will be made for millions. In this case, the officials who make that choice are the smokers, and the millions of people living in the states are the ones who happen to be the 2nd-hand smokers.
I happen to agree somewhat with what you're saying, but... and this is a BIG but, any states that re-open should not have to pay for the Democrat shitholes that remain closed off and were already leaching tax dollars at 10 times the rate of everybody else before the virus either.
We both know neither of these things are going to happen. All we do know is that keeping things closed off is fucking the future of the country and changing people and their behaviors on a basic, fundamental level.
Seriously though. At the end of the day I think it's time that California and New York parted ways and became their own countries. The rest of the 48 of us won't miss them at all.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:I can believe that* but ... what are the OTHER reasons?
As the continued begging the federal government for more tests, Cuomo explained that one reason for the shortage was the lack of chemical reagents from overseas.
*I'm going to bring up my relevant job experience... again. When I was supervising a section that (among other things) analyzed paints, coatings, lubricants and household cleaners, we would -of course- have to procure standards of the various specialty chemicals that went into each product, and in the past ten years nearly every chemical that we ordered came from China. Once in a while from Germany, almost never from the USA. That kind of invisible hollowing out has been going on for well over two decades, and does not put the USA in a good position during times of emergency.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:This article says it has been going on for 30 years. I'll say that it is exactly what will happen in a "free market" where buyers, sellers, manufacturers, consumers make decisions 100% based on price and 0% on who made it and where made.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:I can believe that* but ... what are the OTHER reasons?
As the continued begging the federal government for more tests, Cuomo explained that one reason for the shortage was the lack of chemical reagents from overseas.
*I'm going to bring up my relevant job experience... again. When I was supervising a section that (among other things) analyzed paints, coatings, lubricants and household cleaners, we would -of course- have to procure standards of the various specialty chemicals that went into each product, and in the past ten years nearly every chemical that we ordered came from China. Once in a while from Germany, almost never from the USA. That kind of invisible hollowing out has been going on for well over two decades, and does not put the USA in a good position during times of emergency.
To Understand the Medical Supply Shortage, It Helps to Know How the U.S. Lost the Lithium Ion Battery to China
www.propublica.org/article/to-understand-the-medical-supply-shortage-i
t-helps-to-know-how-the-us-lost-the-lithium-ion-battery-to-china
"The failed U.S. effort to dominate global production of the lithium ion battery — which is key to energy independence, automobile innovation and more — holds lessons for leaders grappling with the U.S.’s reliance on China for emergency medical supplies."
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:You can actually trace this problem to a few hundred rich, greedy and overly optimistic Texas oilmen who won't cut back production. Each of these guys thinks somebody else should cut back, not themselves. The result is nobody cuts back production enough. Only bankruptcy will stop the stupidest of these guys from over producing oil.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
The Price of Oil Didn’t Fall to -$30 Yesterday
Everyone knows that the price of oil didn’t really fall to negative $30 yesterday, right?
All that happened was that the price of one particular futures contract fell below zero. This contract comes due on Tuesday and requires the buyer to take physical possession of the oil. Unfortunately, thanks to the COVID-19 oil glut, there’s little storage available and its price has skyrocketed. Under these extreme conditions, taking delivery of the oil and buying storage for it would be a guaranteed huge loss. This caused many investors and speculators to panic and dump their contracts at any price—even if they had to pay someone to take it off their hands.
Anyway, that’s it. The price of one particular futures contract, late in the day, was a victim of panic selling. The price of oil in general was largely unaffected. It’s still dropping, mind you, but not in any kind of dramatic way.
https://oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/45
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
Yup. Other countries can weather the low prices a lot better than we can.
Just another huge example of how the current shut down is fucking our economy hard in all of its many, many holes.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
You can actually trace this back to the rich, greedy, overly optimistic BANKERS that lent these rich, greedy, overly optimistic oilmen everywhere ... not just Texas but Oklahoma, S Dakota, Pennsylvania etc ... tons of money to "invest" in a production technology that would only ever make sense at $60+/bbl. And then there are the rich, greedy, overly optimistic hedge funds that play games with oil futures.
And because the rich, greedy, overly optimistic BANKERS have so much money sunk into these ... literally... money pits, they can't possibly let them fail because then the banks themselves would go bankrupt, along with the hedge funds that are based on oil.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
AG Barr has said that the DOJ might prosecute states that don't open up their economies.
That doesn't even make sense from a political POV since Trump would be blamed for any resulting shit show.
If I were Trump, I would let states reopen based on what their governors and state legislatures decided, and I would continue to provide the help that the federal government is supposed to be providing, but only if
States mandate wearing masks in public and
Free Osat tests are provided at any pharmacy, urgent care or doctors office
The state report ALL of its deaths and cases to the CDC using presumed as well as confirmed criteria
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:When you make all these connections to so many different people in far flung places, then nobody is at fault, other than the "system," but there really are particular people behind the low prices, people who are too stupid and won't stop pumping because they are certain somebody else will stop first.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You can actually trace this back to the rich, greedy, overly optimistic BANKERS that lent these rich, greedy, overly optimistic oilmen everywhere ... not just Texas but Oklahoma, S Dakota, Pennsylvania etc ... tons of money to "invest" in a production technology that would only ever make sense at $60+/bbl. And then there are the rich, greedy, overly optimistic hedge funds that play games with oil futures.
And because the rich, greedy, overly optimistic BANKERS have so much money sunk into these ... literally... money pits, they can't possibly let them fail because then the banks themselves would go bankrupt, along with the hedge funds that are based on oil.
The Texas Railroad Commission was talking about limiting oil production, but two out of three commissioners want to let the "free market" decide. The "free market" is a few hundred oil men, some not very smart, panicking and running in circles, screaming and shouting. It is unsurprising when it goes horribly wrong. That is why there is a Texas Railroad Commission to bring some sanity to the "free market". But sometimes the elected commissioners decide to not decide:
Railroad Commission delays vote on state-mandated oil production cuts
Sergio Chapa Updated: April 21, 2020 3:18 p.m.
The Railroad Commission of Texas, the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, postponed a vote on a proposal to institute state-mandated oil production cuts until next month.
The three-member commission delayed action until its May 5 meeting after debating the issue for 30 minutes during a Tuesday morning hearing.
The proposal, pushed by Irving-based oil company Pioneer Natural Resources and Austin oil company Parsley Energy, has been floating around since the end of March. Executives with the companies want the panel to require drillers in the state to cut production in an effort to help boost oil prices, which are in the midst of a historic crash. The Railroad Commission hasn't enforced such a requirement since the early 1970s.
Parsley CEO Matt Gallagher said he was disappointed by the inaction but praised the commissioners for scheduling a vote next month.
"It is clear we are not in normal market conditions and we need a symphony of solutions to bring stability back to our industry," he said.
www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Railroad-Commission-t
ables-vote-on-state-mandated-15215361.php
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Public authorities and health care systems were almost everywhere caught short-handed. Forty years of neoliberalism across North and South America and Europe had left the public totally exposed and ill-prepared to face a public health crisis of this sort, even though previous scares of SARS and Ebola provided abundant warnings as well as cogent lessons as to what would be needed to be done. In many parts of the supposed “civilised” world, local governments and regional/state authorities, which invariably form the front line of defence in public health and safety emergencies of this kind, had been starved of funding thanks to a policy of austerity designed to fund tax cuts and subsidies to the corporations and the rich. Corporatist Big Pharma has little or no interest in non-remunerative research on infectious diseases (such as the whole class of coronaviruses that have been well-known since the 1960s). Big Pharma rarely invests in prevention. It has little interest in investing in preparedness for a public health crisis. It loves to design cures. The sicker we are the more they earn. Prevention does not contribute to share-holder value. The business model applied to public health provision eliminated the surplus coping capacities that would be required in an emergency.
More at "Anti-Capitalist Politics in an Age of Covid-19"
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/03/david-harvey-anti-capitalist-politics
-in-an-age-of-covid-19
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
AG Barr has said that the DOJ might prosecute states that don't open up their economies.
That doesn't even make sense from a political POV since Trump would be blamed for any resulting shit show.
If I were Trump, I would let states reopen based on what their governors and state legislatures decided, and I would continue to provide the help that the federal government is supposed to be providing, but only if
States mandate wearing masks in public and
Free Osat tests are provided at any pharmacy, urgent care or doctors office
The state report ALL of its deaths and cases to the CDC using presumed as well as confirmed criteria
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
Good thing you don't make decisions.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME