We already did the tragedy bit in 1939. It would have been a double tragedy without the virus in a few years, with the hyperinflation all over the West and China and Russia left holding all the remaining cash. Now everybody is broke at the same point, so at least there's nothing to wage a world war over.
OTOH... Dude, there's actual libertarians published on mises.org sending open letters to the UK government demanding a GOVERNMENT MANDATED RETURN TO THE GOLD STANDARD, you got the whole pro-business-globalist-all-we-need-is-tax-breaks crowd begging for higher handouts and export manipulation schemes, social democrats demanding cuts in taxes while Christian democrats are pumping live cash to individuals...
The Richmond VA police are also asking people to inform on their neighbors.
Richmond Police: Call if you see groups of people or businesses not complying with social distancing
Just don't get too distracted and forget about this little piece of the puzzle:
Text - H.R.5717 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act of 2020 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
Whatever the death toll is, it will be deemed to be lower because of the actions taken. This is a very convenient conjures trick. It’s exactly the same as a school district declaring a snow day. Even if it doesn’t snow, less people died that day is almost a certainty.
Conversely, what these actions did to the economy will be deemed to be part of the natural cycles. That we were due for a major downturn independent of the virus.
Quite right. It may be time for action. Is it still too early for civil disobedience and organizing protests?
This one has good info: File:Causes of death — standardised death rate, EU-28, 2016 (per 100 000 inhabitants) HLTH19.png - Statistics Explained
Sweden is doing the right thing. Maybe it is because they learned their lessons after experimenting with socialism a few decades ago.
If this is more current than the EU mortality monitor, it is useful. It shows the same thing; It shows that the current spike is still lower than a normal flu season.
Didn't you hear? The "masks will have no effect" narrative was a noble lie our experts agreed upon, because masks were in short supply.
These two posts deserve repeating.
I would demand a return to the gold standard if I thought anyone might listen. Gold is more difficult to manipulate; You can't hide the inflation caused by printing money. People forget that we still had the gold standard as recently as 1971.
Also, I am curious now. What was the farcical reference?
Virginia is the testing ground. We will see if they get away with it on the state level.
Rip,
Below I have pasted a family text (yesterday). This hysteria is going to destroy the economy and undoubtedly lives--literally.
Text from my sibling quoting a doctor (in Iowa) who had texted her the following:
"Update (from said doctor):
We are keeping the dead in the basement hallways in body bags because the freezers are full and the trucks to take them only come once a week. Mind you some did not die from corona virus bit others sadly did. The supply trucks and garbage trucks, are not coming as frequently, due to demand, fear, lack of employees, etc"
My reply:
"[Siblings]. According to the latest information I can find, as of 27 March (today), there have been a grand total of 3 deaths attributed to Covid-19 in Iowa. The first death was on Wednesday, 2 days ago. There are 235 cases state-wide. Of course these numbers are not likely to be absolutely accurate, but certainly within a factor of say 10 or so.
Something isn't making much sense here. Is [Doctor's] hospital hiding the body count from the media and the CDC?
Even as they are surely overloaded I'm confident they are capable of counting Covid-19 bodies and accurately reporting them (unlike the Italians apparently have been able to do). This virus appears to be nasty. I'm also gravely worried people are spreading fantastically false rumors faster than Covid-19 ever dreamed of spreading. Certainly this is a nasty disease; I don't deny that.
Even so, the threat to our greater population because of this self-inflicted destruction to our economy is a catastrophe our country has never faced. We have dug a hole that we will fill with more victims than Covid-19 appears to be doing at this moment. 2, only 2, people have died in Utah to date.
Many people who live paycheck to paycheck lives are now utterly devastated--without work. Jobless. I'm saying this as a businessman who has very little debt. I've paid almost everything off. I have reasonable cash reserves. I have not let anyone go. I can weather this storm for a long time. Yet, consider this, if I'm scared beyond belief, how must those who are faced with the loss of their job or their business feel at this time when they go home and face their spouse and children? I can't imagine.
I have seen more economic destruction in my life than I care to ever remember. Spreading absolutely insane rumors only adds fuel to the fires of destruction and does nothing to mitigate the enormous damages that have been wrought upon the weakest of our society. I absolutely believe [Doctor] to be telling the truth as well. He has no reason to not tell the truth. The statistics indicate, however, he very well was not told the truth or someone in his hospital is seriously mistaken who he talked to.
The CDC says three people have died of Covid-19 in the entire state of Iowa to date. I'm quite certain there are more hospitals in Iowa than just the one [Doctor] works in. I'm also quite certain, with the absolute terror that is going on, the CDC is demanding numbers of the Covid-19 death count from all hospitals. 2 deaths should not overwhelm [Doctor's] hospital or anyone else's, let alone make them stack up bodies.
However, yelling "FIRE" in a healthy theater will certainly cause unintended consequences of the most serious kind. The only way to effectively combat a mortal threat like this is to critically analyze the numbers. Otherwise--well--we've seen what happens."
On a final, very sad, note:
My wife just got a phone call from her mother, her voice shaking. My wife's mother (80) is taking care of her father (86), who has advanced dementia. My mother-in-law is so scared she has asked the family to keep away for some time now. I imagine she had reached her breaking point when she called and begged my wife for help.
My wife (a lifter too) just called me to let me know she was going in. I'm proud of that woman.
What god-awful demon has been loosed upon our world where the elderly and infirm are now reduced to begging their own children for help?
This one is very satisfying. Hubei Residents Riot After Quarantine Lifted; Police Beaten With Their Own Shield, Cop Cars Overturned | Zero Hedge
Maybe there is hope for China.