I know friends and have family that currently live in China. The vast majority of people do not eat crazy stuff like dogs and bats. The majority of the diseases that have come out of the wet markets are from chicken or pork. The issue is more about the unsanitary way they are cleaned on the spot. But yes.... at some point this time, and others, a bat was involved either with the animal it came in contact that was at the market, or for some stupid reason, was there at the market. Still... most people don't eat that stuff. With the people that do go there, there is a perception that if you get a chicken that is killed on the spot, it's more fresh, and better for you.... which is simply not the case of course if you are mixing small spaces where you both kill, clean, and serve poultry. The issue is the government needs to step in and create food sanitation standards for sure. That is on the government for not enforcing that. The wet markets are a real serious public health problem, and should be banned unless they can meet strict standards.
WSJ editorial this morning https://www.wsj.com/articles/financing-an-economic-shutdown-11584399753?mod=hp_opin_pos_1 Financing an Economic Shutdown You can’t close down an economy without a way to keep business and individuals liquid. By The Editorial Board March 16, 2020 7:02 pm ET Well, that didn’t work. The Federal Reserve on Sunday went all in with its 2008 bag of monetary tricks, and financial markets continued their stampede like frightened cattle. Someone has to turn the herd, and that will take new tools and better leadership than Washington is now providing. Start with the political and health context, which is that state and federal leaders are shutting down the American economy without a plan to finance it while everyone stays home. This is prudent as a health measure to “flatten the curve” of infections, in the phrase of the hour. On Monday the feds recommended no meetings of more than 10 people. But you can’t close a modern economy for months, or however long it takes to control the virus spread, and not have thought about how to keep companies and individuals liquid and solvent. The Fed is deploying its tools from 2008, but this isn’t a bank solvency panic—at least not yet. This is a liquidity panic over how huge chunks of the U.S. economy will stay afloat while American commerce essentially stops. You can’t tell everyone to stay home for eight or 16 weeks, except to shop for groceries, and expect businesses to resume in July where they were in March like Rip Van CEOs. The question is how are they going to stay in business in the interim lest they shed employees willy-nilly, default on their corporate debt, or go bankrupt. If that happens the economic damage will be that much more severe and the recovery that much harder and longer to get underway. The biggest losers will be the lower-income workers who are finally seeing bigger wage gains. Policy makers need new tools to deal with this black-swan event. *** The best way to do this is by government lending to stop the liquidity panic from becoming a solvency crash. The Fed is best placed for this role, as Kevin Warsh argued Monday on these pages. Under its Section 13(3) authority, the Fed can create a new facility that could lend to companies hit by the economic shutdown, not merely banks and financial institutions. Presumably these would include retailers, airlines, hotels, transportation and energy companies, among others. The borrowers would have to present good collateral (physical assets, accounts receivable and the like) and have been solvent before the viral panic took hold. The Fed can also charge a penalty rate, as Walter Bagehot famously instructed about lending in a panic. The Fed needs the permission of the Treasury Secretary under 13(3) to do this, but presumably Steven Mnuchin would approve. Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund could provide some back up for collateral while the facility is starting. The Fed could take some losses on this lending if a company fails, so Congress would need to provide a capital backstop for the new facility. We don’t like this temporary government role in commerce, but then state and federal governments are essentially ordering the economy to close. This isn’t a meltdown of the mortgage market caused by bank lending. This is a health crisis that government is addressing with command-and-control emergency powers. Companies can’t be blamed for missing what the government also missed, and being prepared for a pandemic is one reason Americans pay government so much of their hard-earned incomes. This being an election year, the politicians will step in with some fiscal action in any case, and a Fed facility is far superior to the industry-specific bailouts that President Trump and Congress seem to be considering. The facility lets companies decide if they need it, rather than the politicians picking winners and losers. It would prevent an ugly bidding war on Capitol Hill over which industries get relief. And it is designed so the government will get its money back, as opposed to cash grants or other subsidies. *** Ideally the Treasury would present it to the public in a way that also offers more financial relief for individuals whose incomes may also fall as the economy closes. Our preference would be a tax cut rather than more spending or tax rebates that may not get to people for months. The payroll tax cut that Mr. Trump is floating won’t stimulate the economy. But it will let Americans keep more of their own take-home pay, and it may be the best of the urgent ideas to cope with an economic pause. All of this will take more vigorous leadership and explanation than we’ve seen so far from the Fed, the Treasury, the White House or Congress. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin has become a junior legislative negotiating partner with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when he ought to be thinking through the larger financial and economic issues. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell isn’t inspiring confidence by copying the 2008 playbook without explaining the current problem and rationale for action. The White House will have to lead and offer financial and economic solutions, not merely settle for what Mrs. Pelosi will allow behind closed doors. This means more than random tweets with policy impulses and cheerleading. As flight director Gene Kranz says in “Apollo 13,” “work the problem, people.”
Here's newt gingrich outright lying about Americans... if he would have said "I tried to explain that one of the dangerous consequences of having a totally dishonest left wing news media was that most trump supporters (not most Americans) discounted their hysteria as phony" he might have been correct. But most Americans believed that the Coronavirus was a serious matter. Unfortunately, it was trump, many in his cabinet, fox news, and conservative talk radio that outright lied about the seriousness of Coronavirus. And its only now that more and more trump supporters are beginning to understand the seriousness.
So is he talking about Mexico or somewhere else? A lot of asian countries eat things that are very peculiar... T_Man
devin nunes tries to explain away his "people should go to bars" advice in defiance of bars/restaurants closures... he meant "drive thru bars"... My gosh people, vote these lying imbeciles out!
mcconnell now trying to re-do the aid package that Pelosi and the mnuchin/white house already negotiated.
Like I said, Republicans angled this for an election victory. They are going to be the ones to push comprehensive package through the Senate and try to campaign on the fact that Democrats didn't do enough.
In my own small, anecdotal circle...I see this being realistic. I have multiple clients that have privately told me they believe they will have to lay off their entire workforce if we talking about shutdowns until May 1. These are small to medium sized businesses. Also, something not being reported right now is that automation companies are getting MAJOR contracts right now to go in and automate the work that is being lost from people staying home. Oil/Gas is contracting to have companies come in and install automated monitoring systems that will replace "furloughed" "sick leave" and "laid off" employees. A lot of these jobs will simply not be there when we "return to normal."
