Will The MLB Suspend The 2020 season

[mvp 78]

i dont even know who that guy is. anyways...what does paul krugman have to do with the president of the united states poo-pooing COVID 19 for the past 3 months? and continuing to announce to our citizens that we have this under control?

 

He's a s***** neoliberal economist.

 

I do like the "do your own research" nonsense.

[mvp 78]

Jeez, I had to click on Breitbart for this one:

 

Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning trade economist and New York Times columnist, celebrated the sharp decline of the stock market due to the coronavirus on the grounds that, in his opinion, it would hurt President Donald Trump.

 

“Economists, myself included, often make a point of saying that the stock market is not the economy, which it isn’t. It *is,” however, pretty much the Trump presidency,” Krugman tweeted. “Take away his magic talisman and there’s nothing left.”

 

Not sure how he's rooting for disaster here. He's just saying that Trump is the "great economy guy" and the only thing he has is a strong stock market. When the market goes down, Trump has nothing to prop him up. Is that rooting for disaster? Is it just stating the obvious? I'm not sure I see where it's "rooting" for a disaster at all.

[Thunder]

Jeez, I had to click on Breitbart for this one:

 

Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning trade economist and New York Times columnist, celebrated the sharp decline of the stock market due to the coronavirus on the grounds that, in his opinion, it would hurt President Donald Trump.

 

“Economists, myself included, often make a point of saying that the stock market is not the economy, which it isn’t. It *is,” however, pretty much the Trump presidency,” Krugman tweeted. “Take away his magic talisman and there’s nothing left.”

 

Not sure how he's rooting for disaster here. He's just saying that Trump is the "great economy guy" and the only thing he has is a strong stock market. When the market goes down, Trump has nothing to prop him up. Is that rooting for disaster? Is it just stating the obvious? I'm not sure I see where it's "rooting" for a disaster at all.

 

No matter how you slice it, the next few months could turn a lot of voters against him, depending on how he handles everything going on right now. And by the looks of it, he's not off to a great start

[mvp 78]

No matter how you slice it, the next few months could turn a lot of voters against him, depending on how he handles everything going on right now. And by the looks of it, he's not off to a great start

 

Not to prognosticate, but there's a long way to go and so much could go right or wrong. If it ends up Biden vs Trump, the election could go either way. I don't think either has a slam dunk chance.

[Thunder]

Not to prognosticate, but there's a long way to go and so much could go right or wrong. If it ends up Biden vs Trump, the election could go either way. I don't think either has a slam dunk chance.

 

I don't really want to vote for any of the 3 old farts at this time. In my book, it's going to be like 2016 and picking the lesser of two evils

[Maxbialystock]

I don't really want to vote for any of the 3 old farts at this time. In my book, it's going to be like 2016 and picking the lesser of two evils

 

Too true.

[Maxbialystock]

The point is comparing Italy to the United States is apples to oranges. The Italian situation is different from ours. Every country has had to make adjustments to a rapidly changing situation. How ever this turns out I will always trust American crisis management over anyother.

 

Based on several false steps already, I am not so sanguine about American crisis management. We should be testing aggressively, but the opposite--a pronounced reluctance to test--appears to be the case. Plus the President, eager to keep his re-election campaign on track, has contributed to what amounted (past tense because now he seems to have recognized the threat) to a laissez-faire approach. I believe I read that the most useful study about our situation was a study done in London.

[Maxbialystock]

Not to prognosticate, but there's a long way to go and so much could go right or wrong. If it ends up Biden vs Trump, the election could go either way. I don't think either has a slam dunk chance.

 

I think it will be those two and agree it's a toss-up.

[jad]

Jeez, I had to click on Breitbart for this one:

 

Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning trade economist and New York Times columnist, celebrated the sharp decline of the stock market due to the coronavirus on the grounds that, in his opinion, it would hurt President Donald Trump.

 

“Economists, myself included, often make a point of saying that the stock market is not the economy, which it isn’t. It *is,” however, pretty much the Trump presidency,” Krugman tweeted. “Take away his magic talisman and there’s nothing left.”

 

Not sure how he's rooting for disaster here. He's just saying that Trump is the "great economy guy" and the only thing he has is a strong stock market. When the market goes down, Trump has nothing to prop him up. Is that rooting for disaster? Is it just stating the obvious? I'm not sure I see where it's "rooting" for a disaster at all.

 

I don't really want to vote for any of the 3 old farts at this time. In my book, it's going to be like 2016 and picking the lesser of two evils

 

As long as you don't care about abortion rights, income equality, gay rights, access to health care, America's standing in the world, crisis management, educattion, etc. (you know, trivial things like that), then you're absolutely right.

[mvp 78]

As long as you don't care about abortion rights, income equality, gay rights, access to health care, America's standing in the world, crisis management, educattion, etc. (you know, trivial things like that), then you're absolutely right.

 

Not to get too deep in the woods, but Biden has a long history not supporting gay rights, abortion rights, access to health care and doesn't give two shits about income inequality. The only difference between Trump and Biden is that Biden is more likely to start a full on war (i.e. see Iraq).

[mvp 78]

I don't really want to vote for any of the 3 old farts at this time. In my book, it's going to be like 2016 and picking the lesser of two evils

 

Maybe do more research about every other candidate not named Trump or Biden?

[Maxbialystock]

By every metric, Italy has a better healthcare system then the US does.

 

Probably true.

[jad]

Not to get too deep in the woods, but Biden has a long history not supporting gay rights, abortion rights, access to health care and doesn't give two shits about income inequality. The only difference between Trump and Biden is that Biden is more likely to start a full on war (i.e. see Iraq).

 

"Thanks for your support" (--D. Trump)

[mvp 78]

"Thanks for your support" (--D. Trump)

 

Instead of running an opposition, Dems are simply running an older version of Trump who is suffering from dementia.

 

No one party is owed your vote. If the candidate doesn't speak to you and your values, falling in line behind them will do nothing to make the world the one you want to see.

[Thunder]

Instead of running an opposition, Dems are simply running an older version of Trump who is suffering from dementia.

 

No one party is owed your vote. If the candidate doesn't speak to you and your values, falling in line behind them will do nothing to make the world the one you want to see.

 

No matter what ends up happening, I'm tried of the college liberals protesting everything, and making you feel bad for not thinking about every single type of person in the world. What are you trying to prove? That you're all so high and mighty?

[Maxbialystock]

Not to get too deep in the woods, but Biden has a long history not supporting gay rights, abortion rights, access to health care and doesn't give two shits about income inequality. The only difference between Trump and Biden is that Biden is more likely to start a full on war (i.e. see Iraq).

 

All due respect, but for 8 years he was VP under Obama who did indeed support gay rights, abortion rights, access to health care, and redressing income inequality. Are you basing your "start a full on war" comment on his vote circa 2003 to back the Republican President who absolutely did want a full on war in Iraq? Lots of Democratic Senators made the same mistake, but only because they were on the wrong side of the 1991 vote to support the attack to remove the Iraqi Army from Kuwait, which in fact proved to be the right strategic move by Republican President George HW Bush.

 

I am not a Biden fan because I do think he's too old for the job. But I would vote for him over Trump because I believe he would pick a good team and listen to good advice. He also seems to have some spark of morality which Trump utterly lacks.

[Slasher9]

I am not a Biden fan because I do think he's too old for the job. But I would vote for him over Trump because I believe he would pick a good team and listen to good advice. He also seems to have some spark of morality which Trump utterly lacks.

 

this is exactly where i am as well.

[mvp 78]

All due respect, but for 8 years he was VP under Obama who did indeed support gay rights, abortion rights, access to health care, and redressing income inequality. Are you basing your "start a full on war" comment on his vote circa 2003 to back the Republican President who absolutely did want a full on war in Iraq? Lots of Democratic Senators made the same mistake, but only because they were on the wrong side of the 1991 vote to support the attack to remove the Iraqi Army from Kuwait, which in fact proved to be the right strategic move by Republican President George HW Bush.

 

I am not a Biden fan because I do think he's too old for the job. But I would vote for him over Trump because I believe he would pick a good team and listen to good advice. He also seems to have some spark of morality which Trump utterly lacks.

 

Is it a vote for Obama or a vote for Biden? If the only selling point for Biden was "he was Obama's VP" then count me out.

[mvp 78]

No matter what ends up happening, I'm tried of the college liberals protesting everything, and making you feel bad for not thinking about every single type of person in the world. What are you trying to prove? That you're all so high and mighty?

 

There isn't enough protesting IMO.

[Thunder]

There isn't enough protesting IMO.

 

Go to college for a week

[jung]

On the age of the candidates, I am old as dirt and I am less than pleased with all these old farts running. Trump, Biden, Bernie....they are all too old IMO but folks much younger than I appear to be absolutely determined to vote one of these three guys in. Bernie turns 79 in Sept. So we would be expecting him to make it to age 83!!!!!!

[Thunder]

On the age of the candidates, I am old as dirt and I am less than pleased with all these old farts running. Trump, Biden, Bernie....they are all too old IMO but folks much younger than I appear to be absolutely determined to vote one of these three guys in. Bernie turns 79 in Sept. So we would be expecting him to make it to age 83!!!!!!

 

Bernie also just had a heart attack. The stress of being POTUS is probably the last thing his doctors ordered

[mvp 78]

Go to college for a week

 

I went for 6.5 years. I'm good.

[jung]

As for COVID-19, I am self-isolating myself. Dr Fauci has already told me all I can do is self-isolate at my age and with my existing respiratory ailments. So I am self-isolating.

 

Beyond just me, IMO, macro-considerations outweigh micro-considerations when groping for some means to look at the rest of the world and try to see what kind of a path for contagion lies before us. So, what is out there to look at:

- Iran, not at all relevant to the US

- China, not a Free Society thus not at all relevant to the US. We can't do what they did and I am not at all convinced we want their result either

- SK, would be very relevant to the US if we had adopted the test regimen SK adopted. They are a Free Society that is Democratic. However, that horse has left the barn. Don't think SK tells us much other than wishing the horse had not left the barn here.

- Italy, a Free Society and Democratic, with a very good Healthcare system, better than ours actually.

- Germany, thinks its heading for a mess though their basis for that is testing. I am inclined to think they are headed for a mess excepting that since they did start testing early and with high throughput, they have that advantage. Plus they are ......well......Germans. Ever flown Lufthansa and Alitalia? Ever even watched Lufthansa gate operations and Alitalia gate operations? Every actually watched Lufthansa gate operations and any US carrier gate operations for that matter. A "mess" for German government representatives tends to be something like the pencils are not sharpened this morning.

 

So at a macro-level Italy is pretty relevant to us. The overall average age of their population, societal standards, smoking, what have you.....can be considered. But at a marco-level Italy is the closest world experience we have to the US. They started testing late and with not nearly enough throughput, just as we did. So Italy's Healthcare Delivery System was overwhelmed before they knew it. The early sloop of Italy's bell curve for contagion looks like our early sloop of the bell curve for contagion.

 

We have one big advantage over Italy that IMO does fit into the macro-level category. Our State and Local government and business leaders just swept aside the prattle, gibberish and nonsense coming out of the White House and did as much as they could without Federal assistance to blunt a steep rise and steep fall bell curve for contagion. Will that be enough to spare us Italy x 5 (our population is 5 times theirs)? Will our late to the game Federal Effort that is still not doing enough and appears not to understand how to use the resources at their disposal now that a National Emergency has been declared be enough? I just don't know.

 

Dr Fauci is probably right. The other day he stepped to the microphone and held up his hands not parted by more than 6-8 inches and stated, we have a window, meaning a window to try to truly blunt the curve of contagion. Its about a two week window when we might actually blunt the curve of contagion in a meaningful manner here. In all likelihood, too many people have been amongst us that have been carrying the virus and simply did not know it with the long incubation cycle of COVID-19 and virtually no meaningful testing being done.

 

Its nice that we are gong to employ a high throughput test method using dedicated swabbing/testing facilities at some point "soon" [whatever that means]. Particularly good that we will not be driving every person that wants to be, needs to be swabbed right into our Healthcare Delivery System at Doctors Office Parks, Clinics and Hospitals. THAT WAS ABSURD and to the extent that we continue to do swabbing outside of people in ICU beds in Hospitals that way, its still absurd.

 

However, while we are getting to some sort of sensible test regimen, we need to ramp up our Healthcare Delivery System in ICU beds and ventilators and the means to protect our healthcare professionals. Not every hospital bed is a potential ICU bed. You need an oxygen line running to a ventilator to use a ventilator. We are woefully short of ICU beds to the potential need. THAT is what killed Italy. The avalanche of need for ICU beds overwhelmed them and their healthcare professionals got buried as well. Who smokes and who does not smoke country to country will hardly end up mattering.

 

Trump needs to understand how to use the National Emergency now that he has declared it. We likely will need all of the resources of the Army Corp of Engineers, FEMA, regular US military before very long.

 

Of course the entire focus of this morning's Administration COVID-19 Task Force briefing is.........how much and how quickly the Federal Government will pump money into the economy. While sending money to citizens and small businesses needs to happen pretty quickly, IMO all this discussion of money to corporations is a bit premature. Its like pushing on a rope IMO, intended to influence the stock market.

 

We are left as the richest country in the world now drawing to an inside straight to try to beat this thing back in an effective manner because the Federal Government was slow to respond insisting on happy talk and a single travel ban.....China....instead. The travel bans to and from Europe came far too late.

Edited March 17, 2020 by jung

[a700hitter]

Go to college for a week

[Slasher9]

pretty great post Jung.

stay isolated and stay safe.

[Maxbialystock]

pretty great post Jung.

stay isolated and stay safe.

 

Agree

[bkzwhitestrican]

If baseball does come back at some point this year, they should make up the lost games by expanding the postseason. Let 8 teams each from AL & NL into the playoffs, and it would only be for this season. Would be cool to see once.

[Hitch]

 

So at a macro-level Italy is pretty relevant to us. The overall average age of their population, societal standards, smoking, what have you.....can be considered. But at a marco-level Italy is the closest world experience we have to the US. They started testing late and with not nearly enough throughput, just as we did. So Italy's Healthcare Delivery System was overwhelmed before they knew it. The early sloop of Italy's bell curve for contagion looks like our early sloop of the bell curve for contagion.

 

We have one big advantage over Italy that IMO does fit into the macro-level category. Our State and Local government and business leaders just swept aside the prattle, gibberish and nonsense coming out of the White House and did as much as they could without Federal assistance to blunt a steep rise and steep fall bell curve for contagion. Will that be enough to spare us Italy x 5 (our population is 5 times theirs)? Will our late to the game Federal Effort that is still not doing enough and appears not to understand how to use the resources at their disposal now that a National Emergency has been declared be enough? I just don't know.

 

Great post. One shoot of hope is that the percentage of new cases in Italy have started going down slightly, it is hopeful that the closing down measures are taking hold. As you say, state and local goverment have taken the lead when the f***wit in charge keeps deflecting his inadequacies. So hopefully this can be avoided. The US is still very much up against it, however.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Hitch

[Maxbialystock]

Is it a vote for Obama or a vote for Biden? If the only selling point for Biden was "he was Obama's VP" then count me out.

 

Feel free to vote for whoever you prefer. I wrote that in response to your accusation that Biden was against gays, abortion rights, etc, I also pointed out that he is more likely than the incumbent to appoint good people who aren't afraid to advise what is best for the country and who are likely to be listened to. Plus I said Biden seem to have a decent moral compass (which Obama also had/has) which the incumbent manifestly lacks.

 

I am not a Biden fan or supporter, but also would have no problem voting for him over the incumbent.