Corona Virus

[Sour Masher]

We reached 1000 deaths in the US as of yesterday.

Fauci, for the first time, gave validity to the theories that this may be seasonal, affected by weather, so that we might not see the spread in the southern states as bad as we are seeing in the North. Also, we might see a natural dip as the weather heats up, which would mean we will have too deal with this again next year, but by then, I'd hope we have a vaccine.

[gcstomp]

gives one pause, that all these years of dems pointing out crushing student loan debt that has literally stalled out the lives of millions who want to start families, buy a home, get their lives started but are absolutely pinned under insurmountable student loan debt, that even bankruptcy cant erase. this stimulus was for over 2 trillion. the entire student load debt for every person in u.s. stands at 1.5 trillion.

appears country had the ability to erase debt, simply lacked will from those in charge.

[Kevin Seitzer]

Texas Monthly

https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/dan-patrick-coronavirus-tucker-carlson/

The Discourse, in its infinite wisdom, is solidifying around a debate over a choice: should we take strong steps to contain the virus and save lives, or keep the economy going? Many liberals have portrayed Patrick and Roy and Bettencourt as willing to kill grandma to keep the stock market alive, but it’s worth dwelling for a second on their overarching concern: that the human cost of another bad recession, or depression, will rival that of the virus. That’s not unreasonable to consider. Analysts expect a 10 to 15 percent drop in GDP in the second quarter, and Goldman Sachs estimates that unemployment could reach as much as 30 percent. That’s apocalyptic. At the peak of the Great Depression, in 1933, unemployment only reached about 25 percent, at which point the country was on the brink of total collapse. If you’ve read accounts of life during the Great Depression, you know that the problem wasn’t the valuation of companies but rather a vast and incalculable accumulation of human misery—suicides, starvation, the dissolution of families, violence both domestic and impersonal.

The problem of choosing between the virus and the economy isn’t that one choice is wrong. It’s that there isn’t a choice. It’s a false binary and a distraction. The only way to get the economy going again is to contain the virus. The only way to contain the virus is to pause the economy, and in order to do that as briefly as possible, the economic timeout has to be thorough.

If the coronavirus were partially contained in the U.S., and we had a robust public health infrastructure tracking the virus as it spread, as in South Korea, then people in many parts of the country would be free to inch back into restaurants and stores. The economic bleeding could be limited. But we are decidedly not South Korea. What if we followed the course of action recommended by Dan Patrick and others?

[Gregg]

gives one pause, that all these years of dems pointing out crushing student loan debt that has literally stalled out the lives of millions who want to start families, buy a home, get their lives started but are absolutely pinned under insurmountable student loan debt, that even bankruptcy cant erase. this stimulus was for over 2 trillion. the entire student load debt for every person in u.s. stands at 1.5 trillion.

appears country had the ability to erase debt, simply lacked will from those in charge.

As one who paid off my student loan, why again are we saying it is ok to not pay? Can I get my money back?

How about a compromise and pay half? Then you don't have to give me any back.

[Kevin Seitzer]

As one who paid off my student loan, why again are we saying it is ok to not pay? Can I get my money back?

How about a compromise and pay half? Then you don't have to give me any back.

I'm going to guess, if you are in the age bracket that I think you are, that your student loan was way smaller than the loans students need nowadays. And with the stagnation of minimum wage, the idea of working your way through college is also unrealistic. I don't know if the best solution is complete loan forgiveness for everyone, but what you're pitching as maintaining fairness is far from it.

[Ken]

I'm going to guess, if you are in the age bracket that I think you are, that your student loan was way smaller than the loans students need nowadays. And with the stagnation of minimum wage, the idea of working your way through college is also unrealistic. I don't know if the best solution is complete loan forgiveness for everyone, but what you're pitching as maintaining fairness is far from it.

I agree. Man I wish life was just "fair".

My parent went bankrupt my senior year of HS due to a large oil company literally taking my dad's business just a few months after he bought it. The fund they had saved for me for college was gone. So I worked and made my own money and got scholarships based on academics, and I paid it all myself. Zero debt coming out of college.

On the other hand, my wife's parents took out private loans in her name to pay for college, and told her that they would help her pay them back. Then we got married and they decided they didn't need to pay them back anymore.

So I did not take out any loans, but I still have a ton to pay back.

Life's not "fair" sadly.

[gcstomp]

gregg, i am not saying we should do anything, just that country did have ability to do it. proof is a larger deal was just passed in days.

your mindset, that you paid , assuming some small amount if you went to school decades ago, but gives you a perceived moral high ground to say you paid so screw all others if they cant. Student load forgiveness is about saving a generation from financial ruin and in helping these tens of millions of people it helps us all.

Millions of people end up never being able to pay off the loads, people retire, in their 60s and 70s, still with the student load debt burden.

I went to an expensive college, and paid off my debt in a few years. This should not be the argument. It is not for my benefit but I can see beyond me, and would hope we all would want to at least understand the issue. It is impossible for millions to start their lives, no matter how many hours they put in at work, as they have insurmountable debt that crushes their existence. One response is screw you, I paid mine. In which case, if this is as good as we can do in terms of understanding the plight of the other, I hope we burn this entire monstrous thing down and in the most painful way possible as we arent worth saving.

[Kevin Seitzer]

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/03/24/coronavirus-pandemic-has-led-record-breaking-spike-weekly-unemployment-insurance

Wow.

[Gregg]

I'm going to guess, if you are in the age bracket that I think you are, that your student loan was way smaller than the loans students need nowadays. And with the stagnation of minimum wage, the idea of working your way through college is also unrealistic. I don't know if the best solution is complete loan forgiveness for everyone, but what you're pitching as maintaining fairness is far from it.

My wages were way smaller too.

My tuition based on inflation would be about $21k per semester today against what I paid.

How is it fair to agree to pay for a loan and then say meh I changed my mind? I do not mind some forgiveness. Certainly not all should be forgiven.

[Ken]

My wages were way smaller too.

My tuition based on inflation would be about $21k per semester today against what I paid.

How is it fair to agree to pay for a loan and then say meh I changed my mind? I do not mind some forgiveness. Certainly not all should be forgiven.

Again with the "fair" word. What does "fair" mean to you in this context and why are you expecting this to be fair?

[Gregg]

gregg, i am not saying we should do anything, just that country did have ability to do it. proof is a larger deal was just passed in days.

your mindset, that you paid , assuming some small amount if you went to school decades ago, but gives you a perceived moral high ground to say you paid so screw all others if they cant. Student load forgiveness is about saving a generation from financial ruin and in helping these tens of millions of people it helps us all.

Millions of people end up never being able to pay off the loads, people retire, in their 60s and 70s, still with the student load debt burden.

I went to an expensive college, and paid off my debt in a few years. This should not be the argument. It is not for my benefit but I can see beyond me, and would hope we all would want to at least understand the issue. It is impossible for millions to start their lives, no matter how many hours they put in at work, as they have insurmountable debt that crushes their existence. One response is screw you, I paid mine. In which case, if this is as good as we can do in terms of understanding the plight of the other, I hope we burn this entire monstrous thing down and in the most painful way possible as we arent worth saving.

Gives me a perceived moral high ground? Nice.

I also did not say screw anybody. You suggesting that is not accurate or very nice.

[nots]

Harvard has a 41B endowment.
Yale has a 31B endowment.
The top 100 colleges have a combined $500B + endowment.
Why aren’t we looking at them for a ‘wealth tax’ or student loan forgiveness or elimination of their non-profit status, especially since the preponderance of government money available to students greatly affected their tuition prices and the size of their endowments? Shouldn’t they have a little skin in the game?

[Gregg]

Again with the "fair" word. What does "fair" mean to you in this context and why are you expecting this to be fair?

I was responding to Kevin's fairness comment.

What word would you prefer?

[Kevin Seitzer]

My wages were way smaller too.

My tuition based on inflation would be about $21k per semester today against what I paid.

How is it fair to agree to pay for a loan and then say meh I changed my mind? I do not mind some forgiveness. Certainly not all should be forgiven.

[rhd]

Another update. Last stats were from 3/24 at 12:01 PM, about exactly 2 days ago:

- 74,319 cases in US, up from 46,583, a 59% increase. That's a smaller increase than last time (74%) but in a lesser amount of time so about the same rate of increase. The US is just behind Italy for 3rd place and will pass it and China by the next update to become the country w the most deaths. New York state accounts for about half of the cases.
- 1074 deaths in US, up from 593, an 81% increase which is a larger increase than last time (72%).
- 501,220 cases worldwide, up from 399,829, a 25% increase which is a slightly smaller increase than last time (29%) but in a smaller amount of time so about the same rate of increase. 419,922 of these are outside of mainland China, up from 318,649, a 32% increase, which is a slightly smaller increase than last time (38%) but in a smaller amount of time so this is really a larger rate of increase.
- 22,334 deaths worldwide, up from 17,388, a 28% increase which is a smaller increase than last time (33%) but in a smaller amount of time so about the same rate of increase. 19,047 deaths are outside of China, up from 14,111, a 35% increase which is a smaller increase than last time (44%) but in a shorter amount of time so about the same rate of increase. Italy's mortality rate is over 10% now. Again, China has reported only 16 more deaths since last update, the same # of new cases 3 times in a row, which seems too flukey to be coincidental. China is blaming all these new cases on foreigners coming to China. It is poised to blame a potential 2nd outbreak there on foreigners, altho who knows how many of these new cases they'll report anyway.
- 201 countries/territories/etc. have confirmed cases w suspected cases in 1 other (North Korea), up from 196. There are only about 20 countries that have not reported deaths.

The rates of increase, which had been getting somewhat smaller, have remained about the same so this thing is not slowing down much yet.