Coronavirus

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Anyway, in all seriousness, I heard yesterday on a radio newscast that they have found on one of those cruise ships that had an outbreak that the virus lives on a multitude of surfaces and they found the virus in some cases was still alive on some surfaces after 17 days. That's alarming as hell. And my wife thought I was overreacting wiping down gas pump handles and touch screens with a wipe before I used them.
 
I went to the grocery store this morning. NO ground beef, No TP or paper towels. All the bread flour and yeast were sold out as well. Bread was OK, canned goods were making a comeback. It’s depressing going there for sure.
 
Buckykatt said:
I went to the grocery store this morning. NO ground beef, No TP or paper towels. All the bread flour and yeast were sold out as well. Bread was OK, canned goods were making a comeback. It’s depressing going there for sure.
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Same here. I got beef Sunday, but only two pounds. My Wife went yesterday and got some chicken. Baking goods were gone, most bread was gone, TP gone. Well we could always buy a Squatty Potty with the bidet attachment...
 
Septic Limb said:
There is talk of the program costing 4 trillion dollars but nobody is talking about where that money will come from. Nothing is free and the cost will far outweigh the benefits down the road.
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In theory, the state could just create the money. Print it and hand it out. It would cause inflation, but the inflation has already been too low for many years. Also it would deprecate the dollar, making American products more competitive abroad.

As far as I understand, the Fed has already bought up 4.5 trillion dollars worth of debt through three rounds of 'quantitative easing' - which mostly benefited the richest people, but didn't really help small and medium sized businesses.

If someone here has a degree in economics, feel free to let me know if I'm wrong about this.
 
Bulletpoint said:
In theory, the state could just create the money. Print it and hand it out. It would cause inflation, but the inflation has already been too low for many years. Also it would deprecate the dollar, making American products more competitive abroad.
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Didn't Germany try this in the early 1930s?

I don't have a degree in economics, but I remember reading something about it.

This is going to get solved, guys. Don't panic.
 
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The German hyper inflation 1922 and 1923 had been a total disaster. One bread (1kg) did cost about 220 Billionen Reichsmark.
Everyone who had previously saved money was totally broke. In this time normal people did not much diversify their assets so nearly everyone was broke. The reason for the hyper inflation were the loss of WW1 and the incomprehensible high reparation. I can not recommend hyper inflation. Because of this experience the main goal of the German Central Bank (Deutsche Bundesbank) after WW2 has always been stability and strong currency.

edited misspelling: bread not breed
 
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Bulletpoint said:
In theory, the state could just create the money. Print it and hand it out. It would cause inflation, but the inflation has already been too low for many years. Also it would deprecate the dollar, making American products more competitive abroad.

As far as I understand, the Fed has already bought up 4.5 trillion dollars worth of debt through three rounds of 'quantitative easing' - which mostly benefited the richest people, but didn't really help small and medium sized businesses.

If someone here has a degree in economics, feel free to let me know if I'm wrong about this.
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So is quantative easing that they're buying back what exactly? Savings bonds? The return on savings bonds is pretty low, right? So why does paying off the debt not help everyone.

Clearly I am challenge both in simple math and macro economics.
 
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Bulletpoint said:
In theory, the state could just create the money. Print it and hand it out. It would cause inflation, but the inflation has already been too low for many years. Also it would deprecate the dollar, making American products more competitive abroad.

As far as I understand, the Fed has already bought up 4.5 trillion dollars worth of debt through three rounds of 'quantitative easing' - which mostly benefited the richest people, but didn't really help small and medium sized businesses.

If someone here has a degree in economics, feel free to let me know if I'm wrong about this.
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I dont know what his degrees are but he is the God of Charts and Statistics. Brace yourself because I will now summon him.

@Ithikial! @Ithikial! @Ithikial! O'great Lord of stats and economical reports bless us with your presence! We beg of you @Ithikial to answer this man's question.
 
Septic Limb said:
I dont know what his degrees are but he is the God of Charts and Statistics. Brace yourself because I will now summon him.

@Ithikial! @Ithikial! @Ithikial! O'great Lord of stats and economical reports bless us with your presence! We beg of you @Ithikial to answer this man's question.
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Quantitative easing is effectively 'printing money'. Yes it devalues the the currency, but when all the major economies did it, like after the GFC, all the currencies fell so their relative value remained roughly the same. It was a race to the bottom to try and give one countries economy a leg up on exports and no one really won. Well China but cheaper labour costs etc they were already out in front.

The problem with printing money is it has to go somewhere. Central banks sell it to retail banks (like the ones you interact with) with the idea they would then loan it out to business. Some of it was, but a whole lot was pumped into the share markets which rose stock prices with no tangible increase in productivity/output to show for it. Always a few exceptions like Apple that released a lot of 'new' products and was actually selling something. It also meant there was tonnes of cash floating around financial markets looking for homes which mean companies like Uber could easily raise capital with a business plan which still hasn't meant they've turned a profit yet. In countries in Australia the cheap money inflated asset prices like housing to levels out of reach for many full time middle class. I mean I couldn't afford a buy my first house until I hit a six figure salary during this time.

It was a solution that worked but was always unstable since it pumped hot air into the economy. It took a global 'flu' for it to collapse. Their solution so far... print money.

Every economist has to have in my opinion a small dark slice of evil inside them. Recessions are horrible but also have a role to play in an economy. They clear out bad unproductive parts of the economy (the dead wood) allowing for a reset and a change in direction. This also means cleaning up public policy on the part of Governments as they scramble with urgency to survive at the ballot box. All these measures to try and stave off the inevitable just compounds bad economic management and business practices.

And because you wanted a graph... US Corporate debt levels.
MW-GZ344_corpde_20181129133702_NS.jpg
 
Day 5 of closure. 86 new infected. Now they are 387. And two more deaths, now they are 6.
And tomorrow they announce rain, so not being able to enjoy the garden will make everything more boring.
Today I brought food from a place further away than I was going lately, a Carrefour store about 15 blocks from here. How I enjoyed the motorcycle trip there!:D
 
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