Yes. Of course Trump just fired the guy tasked with oversight on the aid package, so we'll see how that goes.
Corona Virus 2019-nCoV
- Thread starter Quantum Quack
- Start date
Yes and no.
If you are a company that figures out clever ways to apply for aid and lay people off, I agree - that's pretty sad.
But there are several new companies that are trying to make a go of it by profiting from the situation that I think are great. For example, Arryved is an app that lets you order beer from a brewery, pay for it, and then notify them that you are waiting outside in your car. They come out, put it in your trunk and you drive away. Protects against infection, and lets breweries stay open (and thus keep their employees.) Good idea all around. ThirdEye is a thermal imaging system that overlays thermal information on glasses so you can look into a crowd and see who has a fever. Airport officials are using this to screen people from a distance.
I've never quite figured out how people who take advantage of others, feel like they've ''won.''
Seattle
Valued Senior Member
We know how it will go, poorly.
Seattle
Valued Senior Member
Since you are against "late stage capitalism" what exactly does that term mean to you. It's origins (the term) are Marxist in nature.
It’s not what it means “to me.” Late stage capitalism basically underscores the inequities and immoral behaviors that unfortunately have become “business as usual,” for some capitalists. I feel it’s what partially led to the current economic devastation from CV19. Millions of people laid off over a two month lack of business? Hmm, that’s quite an “American dream.”
When investors became more important to corporations than their employees and even customers in some cases, that’s late stage capitalism.
Seattle
Valued Senior Member
I don't think that there's any stages of capitalism where no business for two months would lead to any other results.
Let's say you saved up 100k and opened a restaurant (low margin business) and you work there and hire 3 other people at 30k/year. Do you have 15,000 to pay those people for two months with no income coming in? This is in addition to the 10k you already have to pay for rent plus any other fixed expenses.
Just because a company is larger (and therefore has more employees) doesn't mean it's any easier. To say all a business cares about is its shareholders is like saying all a mother cares about is loving her kids.
Without shareholders/owners/capital providers... there is no business. Shareholders don't have unlimited pockets either. Shareholders actually don't get "paid" unless there is profit.
Shareholders of oil companies aren't doing too well at the moment. Sears shareholders are pretty much out of luck. There is no magic money tree for shareholders. Employees generally take the least amount of risk. If times are good they get paid a certain salary. If things get a little tougher some get laid off (with unemployment benefits) and the rest generally keep the same salary.
The company may not be doing well but people's salaries don't generally go down.
Now, there is no business and it's the job of a company to continue to pay people when there is no business? Where does that money come from to do so?
Unfortunately it is quite possible that what you are seeing with the unemployment figures is only the start of a much bigger negative outcome. It is not so much because of the half hearted lock down but more about how the USA is totally unprepared for a contagion of this nature. Lock down or not, millions have become unemployed and millions more are likely to join them.
Potential work place litigation due to workers being forced to work in unsafe environments will cripple most companies capacity to stay open, and the USA is one of the most litigious nations on the planet.
The lock down, social distancing only works if it is done properly and thoroughly. If not the problem either keeps on growing or stays bad news for a longer time.
With out the lock down you would see utter devastation of the USA population and economy that would be incredibly difficult to heal and restart when finally a proper lock down is enabled and proves successful. ( perhaps years )
From what I am seeing the USA either drops the late stage capitalism BS and saves itself or it will go under...
You can only play whack the mole for so long before you can't play it any more...
The Federal leadership will need to build an all state national cabinet so that they can co-ordinate their efforts in real time.
Of course, Trump is not up to it, so the situation there is going to be terrible for quite some time until he is replaced with someone who is up to it.
Yesterday:
USA
886,442 CC + 31,900 new cases (3.60%)
50,236 CF +2342 new
750,284 Active and contagious cases.
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exchemist
Valued Senior Member
There is a huge danger, at the moment, of people who can't take in what is happening flailing around, looking for someone to blame, as if that will make any difference.
We see this most obviously with Trump: first the scare was a Democrat hoax, then he tried to get the G7 to rename the virus the "Wuhan virus", to make it easier for Americans to focus on blaming China instead of his own ineptitude, then it was the WHO, whose testing advice he ignored (Germany and Korea followed it).
However there is also a danger of people trying to blame capitalism, which is just as much off-target as Trump's ravings. The economic effect on the people, in the USA specifically, may be made worse by its comparative lack of social solidarity (systematically inflamed by Trump), its poor social security provision, its poor labour protection and its uniquely bad system of health insurance, which results in people who lose their job often also losing their health cover - in the middle of an epidemic. However none of these defects in US society are innate to capitalism, whether "late stage" or otherwise. They are political choices that have been made in one country, arguably out of undue respect for the power of the market to lead to good outcomes.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
I think his dementia is showing a bit more than usual, that's all.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
The latest contribution from the President of the Unites States of America, at a press conference watched by millions, is to suggest that maybe injecting bleach into people, or blasting them with UV, might be good treatments for the virus: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52407177
This man is quite likely to re-elected in November, for a further four years.
This man is quite likely to re-elected in November, for a further four years.
Seattle
Valued Senior Member
Our world has been surreal for 3 1/2 years now...Trump...social isolation...no economy... and I'm not even including Quantum Quack.
it will be interesting to see how the USA capitalist system survives when it will take a more collective socialist approach to saving and restoring the USA.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
I find myself wondering what Trump thinks he is doing. Is it mere stupidity? A crafty bid for the anti-vaxxer vote? Or just a supreme narcissism, that makes him think whatever random, uninformed thought pops into his head must be wisdom, because of who he is?
But half the country laps it up, apparently.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
I'm not all sure that will be the outcome. If they re-elect Trump it could lead to civil war and the secession of some states. Mitch McConnell, the leader of the majority party in the Senate, is already talking of letting states go bankrupt, which basically signals the end of the union.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
Wrong. The clinical trial started yesterday.
Seattle
Valued Senior Member
It's a lot of number 3 and number 1.I find myself wondering what Trump thinks he is doing. Is it mere stupidity? A crafty bid for the anti-vaxxer vote? Or just a supreme narcissism, that makes him think whatever random, uninformed thought pops into his head must be wisdom, because of who he is?
But half the country laps it up, apparently.