Calculating
Calculating's JournalThis is a true 100 year catastrophe
In the company of events like the civil war, great depression, WW2, etc. To grasp the true scale of this, 9-11 was a drop in the bucket compared to the mess we're now in. Events this bad generally only happen once every 50-100+ years, and recovery takes decades. People ask how long it will take to recover from this, well how long did it take to recover from the great depression or civil war?
The damage done largely depends on the length of time things are shut down. We can endure 2 weeks or a month of this, but after that things will start getting bad really fast. (unravelling of civil society level bad). We might simply need to make the sad decision to get things rolling again, send people back to work, and let those who are gonna die expire. We certainly can't afford to keep the whole country on lockdown for the next 8-12 months with 50% unemployment. People will literally riot and the cities will burn. Wars might even happen over resources, and countries will have their governments collapse. We might need to just accept that many people will die and continue with life as usual at some point. I hate even typing this, but baring some kind of miracle like a vaccine coming soon I don't know what can be done. There are no good answers.
The disgusting Chinese wildlife markets where these pandemics arise
IMO the world needs to come together and DEMAND that china ban ALL wildlife wet markets and harshly enforce the law. We can't keep having potentially world ending pandemics because people over there think "insert exotic animal here" is some kind of delicacy.
How long until the Amazon distribution centers get shut down over outbreaks
All I keep hearing about is how well Amazon is doing because people are all buying online, but don't distribution centers seem like a prime place for outbreaks to happen? All those workers together in close quarters, cramped/shares break rooms, etc.
Budget deficit to break $1 trillion despite strong economy
Interesting, it's like those tax cuts for the wealthy/corporations aren't paying for themselves with increased revenue. It's almost like people took all the money and just used it to buy back stock/buy more shares and inflate the stock market bubble more. Meanwhile they tell us all that we'll just have to make do without SS/medicare, and work until we're 70+. Hmmm. The GOP vision for this country is basically pure evil, they want to give more and more to the wealthy and then blame our social programs for the debt. Then they cut the social programs, extend working years, and people need to work for the wealthy like slaves till we're too old to enjoy life.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/budget-deficit-break-1-trillion-190638350.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — An annual congressional report says the U.S. budget deficit is likely to burst through the symbolic $1 trillion barrier this year despite a healthy economy.
Tuesday's Congressional Budget Office report follows a burst of new spending last year and the repeal in December of several taxes used to help finance the Affordable Care Act. Those have combined to deepen the government's deficit spiral well on into the future, with trillion-dollar deficits likely for as far as the eye can see.
The annual CBO update of the government's economic and fiscal health estimates a $1 trillion deficit for the ongoing fiscal year, which would bring the red ink above $1 trillion for the first time since 2012, when former President Barack Obama capped four consecutive years of $1 trillion-plus budget deficits. The government, slated to spend $4.6 trillion this year, would have to borrow 22 cents of every dollar it spends.
Most economists say the most relevant way to look at the deficit is to measure it against the size of the economy, with deficits at 3 percent or so of gross domestic product seen as sustainable. The latest report shows deficits averaging 4.8 percent of GDP over the course of the coming decade.
“As a result of those deficits, federal debt would rise each year, reaching a percentage of the nation's output that is unprecedented in U.S. history," the CBO report says.
Obama's deficits came as the U.S. economy recovered from the deep recession of 2007-2009. The return of trillion-dollar deficit now comes as the economy is humming on all cylinders, with the CBO predicting that the jobless rate nationwide will average below 4 percent through at least 2022. The growth rate is predicted to hit average 2.2 percent this year.
“The economy's performance makes the large and growing deficit all the more noteworthy,” said CBO Director Phillip Swagel. “Changes in fiscal policy must be made to address the budget situation, because our debt is growing on an unsustainable path.”
The government reported a $984 billion deficit for the 2019 budget year. Cumulative deficits over the coming decade are expected to total $13 trillion — a total that would have gone higher save for CBO's belief that yields on Treasury notes will remain unusually low as the government refinances its $23 trillion debt.
The recent surge in the deficit has followed passage of the 2017 Trump tax bill, which has failed to pay for itself with additional economic growth and revenues as promised by administration figures like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The surge in deficits also follows a final rewrite last summer of a failed 2011 budget deal to increase spending of both defense and domestic programs.
So what makes Kobe any better than Brett Kavanaugh?
I realize this is gonna be a bit controversial, but I'm legitimately wondering. In fact, what Kobe allegedly did was even WORSE than what Brett did. What's grinding my gears is that all the people who demonized Kavanaugh are idolizing Kobe and acting like he's some kind of fallen hero. "Oh, but he turned his life around and became a great dad and family man. We shouldn't let a mistake he made when he was younger ruin his legacy". Hello? That's EXACTLY the defense people always bring up for Kavanaugh's actions. Either we believe that people can redeem themselves even in cases like this, or we need to hold the line and say that rape/attempted rape can NEVER be forgiven. I'm in the never forgiven camp tbh. There's no excuse for raping/attempting to rape somebody. None. It shows an undeniable lack of empathy for others, and a total lack of self-control.
Please let's not have everybody freak out or alert on this or something. Trying to have a legitimate discussion here.
Sick of hearing that we can't go too far left
The Republicans have driven us so far to the right that we're stuck in the ditch on the side of the road. Slow and moderate isn't gonna get us back on track. Why is it ok for them to express radical right wing ideas, but on the left we need to keep it reasonable and moderate? If the country wanted reasonable and moderate then Hillary would have beat Trump and we wouldn't be in this mess. People want candidates who inspire and excite them. The real issue is whether the country has drifted right overall. If it has then we're screwed anyway.
Would the world be justified in intervening in the Brazilian rainforest situation?
By that I mean strong sanctions and ultimately direct military action if they don't stop the destruction of the Amazon. The Amazon is an important resource to the whole world and all of humanity. I've heard it produces something like 20% of the Oxygen we breath, and the idiots in Brazil are burning it to the ground at an unprecedented pace to raise freaking cattle. The burning of the forest and subsequent cattle farming then creates even more CO2 and methane to further climate change.
IMO the world can't simply stand by and allow a bunch of ignorant cattle farmers to cripple the habitability of our planet by burning down one of its most precious resources.
CEO compensation is up 1,000% from what it used to be. Worker pay? Not so much. Aarthi Swa
Hmmm, seems sustainable and healthy for our society right?
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ceo-pay-worker-difference-211239592.html
According to the report, CEOs now make 278 times more than their workers. Comparatively, in 1965 a CEO was only making 20 times more.
The peak was in 2000, at the height of the tech bubble, when a CEO was making 368 times as much as the typical worker.
That number fell because of the stock market declines, which “led to a substantial paring back of CEO compensation,” the report stated.
Pennsylvania woman who urinated on bucket of potatoes at Walmart turns herself in
What in the actual hell is wrong with people these days? Licking ice cream, licking medical instruments, peeing on potatoes, etc. Has our society really fallen so low that tampering with food is the trendy thing to do these days?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pennsylvania-woman-urinated-bucket-potatoes-160500462.html
A Pennsylvania woman who is accused of urinating into a bin of potatoes in the middle of a Walmart has turned herself in, according to KDKA.
The woman, who is charged with criminal mischief, open lewdness, disorderly conduct and public drunkness, was caught on the store's surveillance video last week. Police have identified her as 20-year-old Grace Brown.
"Ms. Brown along with her attorney came to the station where she identified herself as the person urinating on the potatoes," the West Mifflin Borough Police Department said in a statement.
The video shows Brown relieving herself inside the Walmart produce section at approximately 10:10 p.m. last Wednesday.
Police were tipped off by an employee who noticed a puddle of urine on the store's floor. They then referred to the video, which showed Brown peeing directly into a bin of potatoes. Brown allegedly left the Walmart immediately afterward.
Stanford launches investigation after noose found on campus: 'I was just distraught'
More love and tolerance in Trump's America:
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/stanford-launches-investigation-after-noose-found-on-campus-004328071.html
Stanford University is conducting an investigation after a noose was found tied to a tall bush near a campus residence, in which a group of mostly minority high school students is staying for a summer program.
According to deputies from the university's department of public safety, the three-foot-long white rope was found on the night of July 12. Cheron Perkins, a medical student from New Orleans who is working as an adviser to the students in the program, took a photo of the noose and shared the image on Twitter. She says it took Stanford police "over an hour" to respond, and that a 911 operator told her it wasn't "an emergency."
"My immediate thought was nothing but fear because I'd never seen a noose," Perkins told NBC Bay Area. "I was just distraught."
She believes that the noose, which the university said, "has no place on our campus," was a message for the minority students she is advising.
Perkins and her colleagues feel as if the issue has been "swept under the rug."
"I was terrified for my life," a program assistant, who wished not to be identified, also told the station. "I called my mom, and she was ready to put me on a plane back home. You don't know who is hanging around and what their actions might be, and we had the most minorities of all the summer camps."
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