Off topic “coronavirus”

[sdduuuude]

Anyone who expects the government to save them from this deserves whatever they get. I can’t imagine saying “this is the fault of anyone in the government because they didn’t tell me what to do properly.” That just doesn’t make sense.

[outtamojo]

Nah, the governments job is to protect our borders and to muster a unified response to external threats. And to coordinate things so states dont compete against each other for supplies.

[sdduuuude]

Right now, to me, I blame most of this on bad luck. But, out of all the possible responses, I’m not sure this one is so bad so I’m not sure there is any “blaming” to be done.

Although the US has the most cases, we are 20th in the world in terms of deaths per million.

Also, in the US, the novel corona virus for which there is no immunization, has still not killed more than 25% of the people that the flu has killed. Yes, NY is bad. Yes SF is bad. But all told, I could imagine alot worse.

It is sad that the people who like Trump are using this to say he is doing well and the people who don’t are using this to say he is awful. I say he has nothing to do with it either way. In the end, people have to choose the path of this thing.

[sdduuuude]

Earthquake !

[zk]

[quote=sdduuuude]

I can’t imagine saying “this is the fault of anyone in the government because they didn’t tell me what to do properly.” That just doesn’t make sense.
[/quote]

Straw man. No one (or hardly anyone) is saying “they didn’t tell me what to do.”

[quote=sdduuuude]
Anyone who expects the government to save them from this deserves whatever they get. [/quote]

Nonsense. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that we need government for. What we needed was early and fast action on tests. We could have had far fewer infections and probably avoided some of the economic damage, also, because less social distancing is necessary if you know who has the virus.

Who else would have the resources to take that kind of action? Who else would spend the money to take that kind of action? Private industry? Capitalists? What’s in it for them? Charge everybody who takes the test and see if you can make your money back? Good luck with that.

[zk]

[quote=sdduuuude]Earthquake ![/quote]

4.9 17km ESE of Anza. Felt it pretty good here in SD.

[outtamojo]

[quote=zk][quote=sdduuuude]

I can’t imagine saying “this is the fault of anyone in the government because they didn’t tell me what to do properly.” That just doesn’t make sense.
[/quote]

Straw man. No one (or hardly anyone) is saying “they didn’t tell me what to do.”

[quote=sdduuuude]
Anyone who expects the government to save them from this deserves whatever they get. [/quote]

Nonsense. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that we need government for. What we needed was early and fast action on tests. We could have had far fewer infections and probably avoided some of the economic damage, also, because less social distancing is necessary if you know who has the virus.

Who else would have the resources to take that kind of action? Who else would spend the money to take that kind of action? Private industry? Capitalists? What’s in it for them? Charge everybody who takes the test and see if you can make your money back? Good luck with that.[/quote]

IOW, to provide for the common defense…to promote the general welfare…

[sdduuuude]

[quote=zk]This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that we need government for. What we needed was early and fast action on tests. We could have had far fewer infections and probably avoided some of the economic damage, also, because less social distancing is necessary if you know who has the virus.[/quote]

This is exactly what we need government for – and they failed (according to you). Again. So, we should or should not continue looking to them to save us?

[sdduuuude]

[quote=outtamojo][quote=zk][quote=sdduuuude]

I can’t imagine saying “this is the fault of anyone in the government because they didn’t tell me what to do properly.” That just doesn’t make sense.
[/quote]

Straw man. No one (or hardly anyone) is saying “they didn’t tell me what to do.”

[/quote]

Ya. Everyone in AZ was whining that the governor didn’t order a lockdown soon enough.

I believe that more people would take action to help if they weren’t so reliant on the government. It seems more and more these days people consider “activism” to be “yelling at the government to do something” rather than working directly with people. As is such with this threat. I heard someone say today that healthcare workers are frustrated because there is no leadership from the federal government. I actually heard that. What ? What does that even mean ? Why should the fed be leading the frontline healthcare workers ?

[sdduuuude]

And another thing – even if I do acquiesce and say “yes we need government for these kinds of crises” that really doesn’t explain why they need to spend so much when there isn’t a crisis.

Note that when the economy took a hit congress gave money back to the people to stimulate the economy which, for me, begs the question – how good would the economy be if they hadn’t taken it in the first place?

[FlyerInHi]

All I know is that Apple stores are open in China but closed in USA. That’s more than bad luck.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=sdduuuude]
Note that when the economy took a hit congress gave money back to the people to stimulate the economy which, for me, begs the question – how good would the economy be if they hadn’t taken it in the first place?[/quote]

You’re assuming that money appears somehow by magic. Money is in fact created by the government and spent into the economy.

I don’t disagree with you that our government spends too much. But that only speaks to the efficiency of our government, not the need for government to do certain things. There are other governments in the world that do management better than we do, with less resources.

[svelte]

Number of CV cases in San Diego County, broken down by ZIP code:

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-04-02/how-many-covid-19-cases-are-in-your-zip-code-explore-the-numbers-here

[zk]

[quote=sdduuuude]I heard someone say today that healthcare workers are frustrated because there is no leadership from the federal government. I actually heard that. What ? What does that even mean ? Why should the fed be leading the frontline healthcare workers ?[/quote]

As a friend of over a dozen frontline healthcare workers, I can say that (in my experience) their frustration with the federal government is the difficulty obtaining medical equipment, personal protective equipment, and coronavirus tests. These are things that, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t require help from the federal government to obtain. But which, in these circumstances, would require stronger action from the federal government to manufacture and distribute in sufficient quantities.

[zk]

[quote=sdduuuude][quote=zk]This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that we need government for. What we needed was early and fast action on tests. We could have had far fewer infections and probably avoided some of the economic damage, also, because less social distancing is necessary if you know who has the virus.[/quote]

This is exactly what we need government for – and they failed (according to you). Again. So, we should or should not continue looking to them to save us?[/quote]

The answer to that should be exceedingly obvious.

As I said, there is no other entity or group that is capable of and willing to take the necessary actions. So the solution is to improve our government. The first step would be to vote out incompetents and vote in people who are reasonable, intelligent, thoughtful, cool-headed, etc. and who care about the country more than they care about themselves or their party.

[quote=sdduuuude]And another thing – even if I do acquiesce and say “yes we need government for these kinds of crises” that really doesn’t explain why they need to spend so much when there isn’t a crisis.[/quote]

That’s a totally separate issue. But, while we’re on it, it’s difficult to be efficient when you’re the size of a government of a large country. But efficiency should always, of course, be a (but not the) priority.

[quote=sdduuuude]
Note that when the economy took a hit congress gave money back to the people to stimulate the economy which, for me, begs the question – how good would the economy be if they hadn’t taken it in the first place?[/quote]

Well, now you’re back to the question of “do we need government?” Because government is not free, and so if you’re going to have government, government is going to have to take some money in the form of taxes. So if you NEED government, then the question of “how good would the economy be if they didn’t tax us in the first place” is moot.

The question of “how much should they take,” of course, is a reasonable question and a debate which will/should always be had as long as there’s a government.

If, by, “how good would the economy be if they hadn’t taken it in the first place?” you mean, “just that money that they’re giving back” and not “taxation in general,” well, that brings up another important government function. Saving up for a rainy day (or the arguably worse, and much-more-often used “borrow and pay back later for a rainy day”), such as a recession or a pandemic or a war. Who else is going to do that for a whole country?

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