Jim Rockford's answering machine messages, part one.

Can we just admit that the markets are just a reflection of Fed policy and nothing more?

The macroeconomic numbers are the worst since the Great Depression, but the markets are steadily climbing higher.

And, please spare me the "markets are forward looking institutions" bullshit. No one can tell me that they know exactly where the economy will be in 3 or 6 or 9 or 12 months from now.

I know that a former Obama economic advisor spooked a bunch of people with how we're going to have a V-shaped recovery, but he's full of shit. He based his analysis on a recovery after a hurricane, and he's right if there's not another hurricane in the distance about to land on shore. We could just as easily have a 2nd outbreak which will be worse than the first.

All those billions paid in bonuses to "geniuses" on Wall Street is just a facade, just marketing to get people to believe in bullshit.

The markets are based on their access to cheap money. The Fed cuts rates. Markets go higher. The Fed raises rates. Markets go lower. The end. No need for some highly-over-educated, hyped-up, "Master of the Universe", hedge fund manager who makes billions handicapping stocks.

--On Edit--
Richard Wolff explains it better than me.

I would feel much better about the market if it was down.

Being up 650 points does not reflect the current status of the economy today and in the near future. The economic data points to a prolonged downward slump in the economy. There is no vaccine. Testing is still problematic. If anything, we're in the same position that we were prior to the shutdown, unprepared.

The markets are out of synch with reality. They're creating and following their own made up narratives.

Classic TV: Room 222 - Opening Theme

So, the anti-mask people would have no problem with their food servers not washing their hands?

Or not wearing a hair net?

This is a free country, right? Govt can't tell you what to do.

Prediction: YouTube will become America's classroom.

Until there is a cure or a vaccine, America's educational systems will move online as its primary delivery system which will mean that YouTube, a free, centralized location for video content will become, in essence, America's classroom.

Before the pandemic, hours of free educational lectures and tutorials, from MIT's opencourseware to 3Blue1Brown, were on YT providing in class instructions and tutorials. This will expand as the pandemic continues. Teachers can put an entire semester of lectures online for their students and then use live streams for discussions and questions as a group or for 1 on 1 sessions.

Learning this way won't be comparable to how we were educated as children, but it may be actually better in some respects. For those students in certain subjects, they may be able to work ahead. Watch a semester's worth of videos in one weekend. For other students, having lectures online where they can pause and rewind at their own pace may work better. Khan Academy, one of the biggest online educational networks, was started based on this model.

I have taken several online classes, and I can attest that I learn better when the instructor can present the material uninterrupted by questions or discipline problems in the classroom, and I liked the fact that I can choose my learning pace. The only downside for me is not getting that immediate answer to a question or a problem that I had.

Is this Passive/Aggressive?

David Pakman: We Could End Coronavirus Pandemic by July 4

Smoking in a store vs. Wearing a mask in a store

The same logic behind the prohibition against smoking a cigarette in a store applies to requiring people to wear a mask in a store.

You can smoke all you want, but you don't have the right to endanger the health of others with your smoke.

You can talk/sing/shout all you want, but you don't have the right to endanger the health of others with your droplets.

To add, if people are upset about wearing a mask in a store, why aren't they just as upset about smoking in a store?

Where am I wrong?

Trump Republicans do not believe in objective truth

To them, there's no such thing as unbiased, objective truth. There's only biased truth which can be liberal or conservative.

So, when dealing with this pandemic and having to face truly objective truths, i.e. number of infected, number of deaths, availability of tests and PPE, overwhelming our hospitals, the number of unemployed, etc., Trump Republicans focus on creating their own narrative of the truth instead of dealing with the facts head on.

From day one, Trump has searched for any narrative that would paint him in a favorable light. Look at how China went from being a friend to a foe in a matter of weeks. Or the pitiful attempt to change the narrative entirely by going after Obama with "Obamagate!".

It's impossible to co-govern a nation of 328 million party with an opposing party that simply does not believe in objective truths.