Are you personally worried about getting the Coronavirus?

[MelroseHawkins]

Just saw on TV some woman interviewed who says a lot of working families only have a week or two of money left (editorial , some do not have any left after just two weeks).

Well this virus and the economy partial shutdown put a spotlight on 1) how poorly most people save money ( the old rainy day motto) 2) how stagnant to negative the real inflation adjusted income is for most households and workers has been since 1981 era and 3) that in 1985 about 5% of total wealth was in the hands of the top 1-5% of people but now it is about 25% in the hands of so few people.

And the same thing goes for businesses which didnt put money in cash reserves but instead into stock buybacks and then the stocks just went down 30%. Smart business people put some profits into cash reserves on the balance sheet rather than stock dividends, bonuses and more salary to the top executives.

Great points. Pertaining to #1 2nd paragraph, it will be interesting to see if it changes people and people will be more proactive, especially the younger. The older generation still socked a backup supply of canned food or home canned food including meats. Same with $$. Talked with my parents about this the other day. Younger generation lives day to day. Hopefully this wakes the millennials up!

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

You idiots can't even keep your insults straight.

No...my insults were pretty clear and have been directed solely at you. No confusion on my part.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

This is what happens when you have no leadership in the Oval Office.

Yea because he can control everybody’s behavior. It’s that obvious.

 

[tksirius]

No...my insults were pretty clear and have been directed solely at you. No confusion on my part.

 

[HawkGold]

Hey asshole TK. See the nurses and dead bodies dancing from 5 days ago? The relaxation of people walking just shows it's all a stunt. Just typical flu right?

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Yea because he can control everybody’s behavior. It’s that obvious.

No...only the idiots that listen to him. Case in point..."liberate Michigan"...and the nut jobs turn out with weapons ready like they are being called on to defend the country or something.

 

[tksirius]

Hey asshole TK. See the nurses and dead bodies dancing from 5 days ago? The relaxation of people walking just shows it's all a stunt. Just typical flu right?

Should I do what you fuckfaces do? That's just one video blah blah blah. Btw, who knows when the F that was filmed? That could've been filmed 4 weeks ago. You want to believe hospitals are overwhelmed, when there's only a few in NYC that have been busy (not overwhelmed). You have no fucking clue what an ICU looks like on any average day, so just stop being so dramatic.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Should I do what you fuckfaces do? That's just one video blah blah blah. Btw, who knows when the F that was filmed? That could've been filmed 4 weeks ago. You want to believe hospitals are overwhelmed, when there's only a few in NYC that have been busy (not overwhelmed). You have no fucking clue what an ICU looks like on any average day, so just stop being so dramatic.

Shouldn't you be checking to make sure that Pizza Parlor in D.C. isn't running a child sex ring out of the back of the their restaurant.

 

[haydensly]

Great points. Pertaining to #1 2nd paragraph, it will be interesting to see if it changes people and people will be more proactive, especially the younger. The older generation still socked a backup supply of canned food or home canned food including meats. Same with $$. Talked with my parents about this the other day. Younger generation lives day to day. Hopefully this wakes the millennials up!

I sure hope all people will be able to come out of this and put themselves in a better position to handle downturns. Unfortunately, saving money is impossible for millions of people who work paycheck-to-paycheck and can barely make ends meet, if they do at all. For people at the bottom of the totem pole, real wages have been falling for several decades and it has gotten to the point where they don't have enough to live. That is a sad reality.

 

[HawkGold]

Should I do what you fuckfaces do? That's just one video blah blah blah. Btw, who knows when the F that was filmed? That could've been filmed 4 weeks ago. You want to believe hospitals are overwhelmed, when there's only a few in NYC that have been busy (not overwhelmed). You have no fucking clue what an ICU looks like on any average day, so just stop being so dramatic.

Like I said...get help

 

[uihawk82]

The problem with that so called free healthcare in Scandinavian countries is that it is far from free. A person with just average income in those countries is paying upwards of 50% of their total income with country taxes, municipal taxes, value added taxes, etc.. It's also a very flat tax system ... meaning everybody pays at the lower levels ... it's not even close to being as progressive as the tax systems in the U.S..

You cite Norway, so using them as an example their National Tax rate is a minimum of 23.9% to a max of 35.2%. Then tell them that for every $100 in food you buy we are going to tax you $15 at the register. Then if you have any remaining Euros left we are going to tax you 25% for all other goods and services. That healthcare system is very expensive.

Norway is down to 5.3 million people ... there is a reason most left.

Below is a good read about Scandinavian taxes ...

https://fee.org/articles/scandinavia-is-not-socialist-it-just-soaks-the-taxpayer/

This is the classic tax though, a Danish friend of mine who now lives in Arizona told be about this. If you buy a car in Denmark the vehicle registration tax is a minimum of 105%. So for what would be the equivalent of a $30,000 car your registration tax is $31,500 for a grand total of $61,500. The tax is even a higher rate on more expensive cars. Talk about sticker shock. It's one of the reasons he left.

https://www.thelocal.dk/20151120/whats-the-deal-with-denmarks-car-registration-tax

You just made my point, you have to have enough taxes to have a world class healthcare system and health insurance system and perhaps our system is not top notch.

A lot of people in this country cannot afford prescriptions and go bankrupt when they get a bad medical diagnosis. I do not think that happens in UK, Norway, Sweden etc. I have not totally researched this but maybe it is something to research.

 

[tksirius]

Shouldn't you be checking to make sure that Pizza Parlor in D.C. isn't running a child sex ring out of the back of the their restaurant.

We already know that was happening. It wasn't in the back, it was in the basement. For all we know, it never stopped.

 

[uihawk82]

The problem with that so called free healthcare in Scandinavian countries is that it is far from free. A person with just average income in those countries is paying upwards of 50% of their total income with country taxes, municipal taxes, value added taxes, etc.. It's also a very flat tax system ... meaning everybody pays at the lower levels ... it's not even close to being as progressive as the tax systems in the U.S..

Norway is down to 5.3 million people ... there is a reason most left.

This is the classic tax though, a Danish friend of mine who now lives in Arizona told be about this. If you buy a car in Denmark the vehicle registration tax is a minimum of 105%. So for what would be the equivalent of a $30,000 car your registration tax is $31,500 for a grand total of $61,500. The tax is even a higher rate on more expensive cars. Talk about sticker shock. It's one of the reasons he left.

https://www.thelocal.dk/20151120/whats-the-deal-with-denmarks-car-registration-tax

https://www.thelocal.dk/20151120/whats-the-deal-with-denmarks-car-registration-tax

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2012/10/danish-180-tax-on-cars-is-rather.html

As far as car registration taxes there are quick arguments for the tax. You know Denmark has universal free day care, is there a fuel tax at the pump??? or is that money from vehicle registrations, one article here says their economic analysis shows a car cost Denmark for each kilometer driven while bicycles save Denmark money, I read a few years ago that college students in Denmark go free if they become teachers, universal healthcare, on and on , maybe better, universal old age care.

You get what you pay for. business in Denmark is not socialist as far as I know but their tax system funds a social safety net.

Norway's population has gone up from 4.86 million in 2010 to 5.4 million now. Seems they are growing.

the populations was 3.9 million in 1970. Population in 1950 was 3.26 million, never been a very populace country, lots of mountains, etc

https://tradingeconomics.com/norway/population not sure of accuracy but there it is

https://www.populationpyramid.net/norway/1950/

 

[uihawk82]

Great points. Pertaining to #1 2nd paragraph, it will be interesting to see if it changes people and people will be more proactive, especially the younger. The older generation still socked a backup supply of canned food or home canned food including meats. Same with $$. Talked with my parents about this the other day. Younger generation lives day to day. Hopefully this wakes the millennials up!

Glad to hear your parents are still around and hope they are staying safe.

I am sure the stat is that 50% of people over 50 years of age in this country cannot pay an extra expense of $500 if need be. That is effing sad and it is each person's fault and also a fault of our society.

Delphi auto parts making employees used to make really good union money making GM parts and the same in other industries. A long time ago some gutty legislation by Congress and presidents could have made businesses pay taxes, etc for letting jobs go overseas because the loss of those good paying jobs is not the fault of the workers.

Good old Henry Ford had the right idea paying his workers twice what the other car builders did back in the 19-teens - 1930s. Ford new his workers would buy one of his cars if he paid them more and they did and this fact is presented in many documentaries and history of Ford. Ford had his own issues with making workers be silent and some social ideas he had but he was a shrewd businessman.

The idea of paying workers more so they can boost the economy was lost a long time ago when boards of directors said top executive and manager pay and bonuses and the highest dividend per share.

 

[tksirius]

Like I said...get help

See, that's just the thing. While people like you visit junk fast food joints on a daily basis and are probably on several pharmaceutical drugs, I've been making sure I've been living a healthy lifestyle so I don't have to worry about this bullshit. Nearly all of the people dying from this are unhealthy by choice. Yes, being willfully ignorant of how to be healthy is a choice! My fucking life shouldn't have to be put on hold due to the irresponsibility of people like you choosing to be unhealthy. A few days ago, I saw a line of vehicles in the McDonald's drive-thru with most of them wearing masks. Unfortunately, the masses have absolutely no clue how absurd that is. I'm sure you don't understand, either.

 

[uihawk82]

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/h...y/news-story/34e678ae205b50ea983cc64ab2943608

One of Australia’s most eminent vaccine developers says there may never be a vaccine against COVID-19 for some very good reasons.

The Australian told news.com.au that trying to immunise against coronavirus was like trying to immunise against the common cold - difficult to impossible.

He added: “It is tricky, vaccines for upper respiratory tract diseases, because the virus lands on the outside of you."

Yes, because coronaviruses are one of the family of viruses that does cause the common cold. There are different strains of coronavirus. I have read 7 large groups of strains and these strains most certainly mutate.

I am sure they can make a vaccine for a previous sub-strain mutation but maybe there are so many strains a vaccine just cant cover them all year to year and it makes no medical and cost sense to do so since common cold is usually not life threatening.

 

[uihawk82]

I sure hope all people will be able to come out of this and put themselves in a better position to handle downturns. Unfortunately, saving money is impossible for millions of people who work paycheck-to-paycheck and can barely make ends meet, if they do at all. For people at the bottom of the totem pole, real wages have been falling for several decades and it has gotten to the point where they don't have enough to live. That is a sad reality.

And so many republican congress people have been voting against increasing the minimum wage for 35+ years it makes you sick. They actually think people can live a decent life flipping burgers at $7.50 an hour and not getting enough hours to be on employer healthcare. An that is another shame in this country with all the people who cannot afford healthcare and many of them are working.

 

[Hawk1960]

You just made my point, you have to have enough taxes to have a world class healthcare system and health insurance system and perhaps our system is not top notch.

A lot of people in this country cannot afford prescriptions and go bankrupt when they get a bad medical diagnosis. I do not think that happens in UK, Norway, Sweden etc. I have not totally researched this but maybe it is something to research.

Well, if money grew on trees sure, but it does not. Even Bernie could not convince his party taxing us to death was a good idea. He flamed out again. Biden was ribbing him for Italy's single payer system in one of the last debates.

Let's just compare ICU bed capacity for example because it was one of the most talked about issued with COVID. Which country do you think has the most per 1000? Germany has arguable the best healthcare in Europe and they are a distant 2nd to us. I would not trade our healthcare system for any of those in Europe or Canada.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallm...are-beds-per-capita-infographic/#45d0838c7f86

 

[Northside Hawk]

So I make the references about Trump and the Coronavirus and your response is about a "Petty" argument (pun intended) we had like two years ago. OMG...are you my wife? Honey, is this your screen name? She does the same thing to me. Forget the insignificant disagreement...let it go. She has the memory of an elephant.

So, will you remember the all time great Presidents as Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy, Reagan & Trump? LOL.

Enjoy your Tom Petty albums. I will too. He was a great recording artist and musician.

 

[tksirius]

This is how I envision the doomsayers on here.