Trump

[Phoebe]

If I knew then what I know today, I would have voted for Romney over Obama, who lied about things like using drones to commit extrajudicial assassinations and so forth.

[Ronster]

[Ronster]

Speaking of Romney, he's one of the many politicians that have ties to questionable dealings in Ukraine. I doubt much will come of it though.

[Mike]

[Phoebe]

Fascinating that Trump supporters hate-watch the Democratic debates. I would not underestimate how much of their appreciation of Trump comes from the way he makes them feel smart. For whatever reason, probably sheer coincidence, they are very triggered by the fact that people like President Obama are taken to be obviously intelligent. Meanwhile social media is a-flutter this AM with memes about how people made a few bucks an hour back in the '70s, so Sanders is crazy if he thinks the average worker still isn't making more than that. You can't make this stuff up.

[Tahlvin]

I love how the stock markets were starting to level off, then Trump has a press conference and announces his plan to combat coronavirus, and the markets start plummeting again.

[Ronster]

stock markets are going be everywhere with coronavirus, the fear of Bernie, and the uncertainty of election season, although it usually tanks about September.

People worry and worry causes false hype, and hype of all types affects wise and foolish...and they panic...about their risk.

Heck, I have looked into what I can do to salvage some of this year's gains. Our 401k options at work are limited...very limited.
My industry (air transportation) will definitely be hit very hard, so I have to be cautious about my own personal spending in case there are lay-offs. So for me a coronavirus scare is almost as bad as the virus itself because the negative attention and fear it causes.

[Tahlvin]

The thing with the market, whether it's up or down, is that you only actually realize the gain or loss at the time when you actually sell. My IRAs and 401(k) are taking a beating in this week's market, but that only actually matters if I cash out right now, which would be dumb. In just about every 10 year period in history, the market actually increases in the long run, so if you just remain calm and don't cash out, it'll be back up again in a relatively short period of time. And in the meantime, the new money you contribute to your retirement accounts is buying while the market is low.

I have a friend who is afraid to invest in stocks or mutual funds because his parents panicked and cashed out at about the very bottom of the crash at the end of Bush/beginning of Obama eras. That's the entirely wrong way to approach it.

[Ronster]

So true, it's the long game.

[Phoebe]

Depends when you need to cash in your chips. I still see it as a buying opportunity, but not yet, because we obviously have multiple instances of community transmission of this virus and meanwhile our commander-in-chief is babbling crazy lies as usual. Of course his devotees are too stupid to grasp that he's lying all the time, or they grasp it and just don't care because actual post-birth human life has no value to these hypocrites. I'm done with these idiots, I mean, fed up fully. Done. They can all go to hell for the terrible harms they're actively inflicting on others at this point.

[Phoebe]

The problem with having the virus on the cruise ship is that it might make him look bad. It doesn't matter whether the testing is inadequate or whether we're following the proper advice about how to quarantine people; the number one thing is that he can't look bad or be criticized. Pathological narcissism cannot handle either of these things, so he will lie about anything as often as necessary to feel okay again. It is wonderful to be experiencing a real public health crisis when the chief decision maker is mentally unwell in this profound way.

[Tahlvin]

American Hospital Association for #codiv19 over next 2 months:

96,000,000 infections
4,800,000 hospitalizations
1,900,000 ICU admissions
480,000 deaths

vs flu in 2019:

35,500,000 infections
490,600 hospitalizations
49,000 ICU admissions
34,200 deaths

So about 10X the number of hospitalizations and 14X the number of deaths as last year's flu season.

[FlameBlade]

Simply put, we don't have enough ICUs for that numbers.

[Phoebe]

I take it the goal of "curve flattening" is to mitigate some of that, but I understand plans are already being undertaken to repurpose facilities for elective surgeries and other non-life threatening procedures.

[Tahlvin]

I find it somewhat amusing that his obvious, biggest concern about the whole virus outbreak is its affect on the economy and hurting his chance at reelection, and yet every time he holds a press conference to talk about the outbreak, market futures tank because its obvious he is not handling the outbreak well at all.

[Phoebe]

Yes, it's kind of amazing to watch. The one thing he could do to accomplish his goal is the one thing he just can't manage to do, which is to stop thinking about himself first and start thinking about what would actually help in a rational manner.

Less amusing is the fact that, if you consider what Putin would most want in the middle of this crisis, shutting down travel to/from Europe would be a good move for the US to make from his perspective.

[Kyle]

It's always amazing to me how petulant Trump is. When he has to read a statement he doesn't want to read, he sits there and, with an emotionless monotone, reads off the copy like he's a robot. It's like how a five year old says "I'm sorry" when they're not.

[Ronster]

[Mike]

Putin cares very much about Europe and the US, and he's demonstrated that many times, however in this particular case, I cannot imagine Putin is wanting to shut down travel. A crashing world economy drags down everyone, and Putin's not an idiot. Shutting down European travel (even in Trump's half-assed measure) only makes everything worse for everyone. As Ron wisely points out, oil (and COVID-19) probably top his list of priorities, and Trump adding to the confusion doesn't help Russia on either front.

IMO.

[Stan]

Putin has picked a bad time to put forth the idea of extending his reign. The Russian economy is heavily dependent on oil and is in more danger of tanking than most other countries.