Is everyone in a fullblown panic because of coronavirus?

[El OchoCinco]

Outsourcing of most things I would agree is great for free market capitalism. Outsourcing damn near all of our pharmaceuticals is idiotic. Some things need to stay right here at home.

But that is the rub isn't it.....finding the balance of what not to outsource but private industry is in charge of it and they decide based on their bottom line.

Government should stop handing out random tax breaks to wealthy people who don't really need it (i.e. they were pretty wealthy before them) and maybe give larger incentives to companies who choose to produce in the U.S. We seem to bend over backwards to give Honda and Hyundai tax breaks to produce here and don't care if U.S. companies go overseas.

Trump was bragging about how companies were coming back but no intelligent company is going to come back and manufacture here and lose money unless they get huge corporate welfare handouts. That is the disconnect between U.S. economy and manufacturing in the U.S.

But neither the GOP nor Dems can agree on corporate welfare because to be honest if I ran a drug company, I am not producing here at $20/unit if I can go overseas and produce at $5/unit.

 

[CaptainObvious]

To intervene or not?

as analogy...

We should not have bailed out the banks we should have told the FED spend trillions on the people and not save the banks.
The skilled people would have quickly reformed investment banks and other financial institutions and the system would be stronger and safer.
instead we went the zombie economy bank / economy route and as predicted we have been be sick for a long time. (had we done what we said the FED would not be at zero and out of its most effective devices right now.)

So while I typically believe in natural destruction and rebuilding being the best thing for economies...

There is a moral component here in this situation...

As a society we do have a moral obligation to our citizens. This has become more obvious to me as we see the percentage of deaths in the 70 and 80 year old categories.

Hence we are left with the almost impossible task of balancing the risk to the economy vs the risk to old people. As this drags on we will ruin lives and maybe kill people vs the moral compulsion of doing the right thing by old people in the short run.

I have no good answer at the moment... because I not only am unsure how to balance the choices.. I don't even have clarity as to how badly the economy can lock up.


All I know is that when this is over... each country needs to work towards being self sufficient in the critical items we all need.

This outsourcing key parts of our economic security is obviously a very short sited strategy and I would say it is immoral itself. ... pushed by elites who knew better.

These choices will become more and more difficult with every passing week as the broader population suffers more and more. What I don't know is what are the current death rates for those infected over 70 or so? Is it 10%, 25%, 50%, higher? I don't know that. Now if it's some astronomically high percentage then yes, we must do all we can, for as long as we can to try and save the elderly. If we're talking 10%, then, difficult as the decision will be, we cannot destroy the country to save those people.
When do we say uncle is the question? When do we say, sorry folks, you get it, you get it, good luck? How much pain can we take, and will there be any pieces left to pick up when it's all said and done?

 

[Black_Cat]

 

[jem]

I specifically stated...
key parts of our economic security...

pharmaceuticals as has been pointed out here on elitetrader by captain and others.

I would include the ability to make every part of computers including screens.
rare earths
batteries
every part of military weapons...
certain food
etc...

in the movie ford vs ferrari...

when shelby got a bit uppity
(paraphrase coming)
he Ford jr... pulled shelby over and said
its not all paper pushing here...

that building over there..
75% of our bombers during ww2 were made there..
.

that is the type of security I am talking about...
we have let china dump and destroy sector after sector.
we are currently about to find out how compromised we really are.
I hope, only a little.

Outsourcing is why you can buy phones, computers, TVs and other items you all love so much at reasonable prices.

Outsourcing is true capitalism and if you are against outsourcing but demand free markets without government intervention then you are being hypocritical. Outsourcing is to countries where the government is fully supporting the growth of industries and their local economies.

Outsourcing is not immoral, it is what you get from a consumer economy.

 

[CaptainObvious]

Insanity. Nearly 7 million people on lockdown for the next three weeks. This is not at all rational thinking unless the death toll numbers we're being told are complete bullshit and there are millions of dead Chinese. You know more cities will follow this lead in the coming days/hours.

Six counties across the Bay Area in California issued a “shelter in place” order on Monday for all residents – requiring roughly 6.7 million people to stay in their homes – in an attempt to slow the coronavirus outbreak.

For the next three weeks, people living in San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties will be restricted from all “non-essential travel” by “foot, bicycle, scooter, automobile, or public transit” outside their homes. Also, most businesses will be forced to close until April 7, starting at midnight on Monday.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...a-residents-ordered-shelter-place/5061938002/

 

[El OchoCinco]

Insanity. Nearly 7 million people on lockdown for the next three weeks. This is not at all rational thinking unless the death toll numbers we're being told are complete bullshit and there are millions of dead Chinese. You know more cities will follow this lead in the coming days/hours.

Six counties across the Bay Area in California issued a “shelter in place” order on Monday for all residents – requiring roughly 6.7 million people to stay in their homes – in an attempt to slow the coronavirus outbreak.

For the next three weeks, people living in San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties will be restricted from all “non-essential travel” by “foot, bicycle, scooter, automobile, or public transit” outside their homes. Also, most businesses will be forced to close until April 7, starting at midnight on Monday.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...a-residents-ordered-shelter-place/5061938002/

1. You are now stuck in the house with your wife and suffering (count me in that group).
2. Some really cool guy shit you finally got permission to do was just cancelled (ditto).
3. The local bar where you used to get away from #1 and enjoy stuff with #2 is also closed.

 

[El OchoCinco]

View attachment 222302

I knew she looked familiar

 

[BonScott]

If 4000 people are infected in the USA today, and it increases by 20% each day, then surely compound interest calculations would say that tens of millions would be affected in two months time. Someone smarter can check my math, bur I guess that is why there is a panic by government.

 

[El OchoCinco]

If 4000 people are infected in the USA today, and it increases by 20% each day, then surely compound interest calculations would say that tens of millions would be affected in two months time. Someone smarter can check my math, bur I guess that is why there is a panic by government.

 

[elderado]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1239628301087518721