The Coronavirus - a virus from eating bats, an accident or something sinister gone wrong?

[gonzoron]

14 minutes ago, TrojanDad said:

Dumba$$ GonzMoron....I remember soldiers that had no choice coming back home and being spat on and persecuted by Left Wingers.  (can't say what I want to say)

You whine about protesting the way a song was played on a given day by a celebrity.  I care way more how a big segment of society acted to America's finest who were drafted, sent to the opposite end of the planet, watched each other die for a cause they sure didn't understand, only to come home and be treated less then human by lefties who sure as heck either invested in or sure supported that type of "protesting".  

[Muda69]

12 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

You really need to go see a doctor for those tremors, Gonzo.

 

[gonzoron]

1 minute ago, Muda69 said:

You really need to go see a doctor for those tremors, Gonzo.

 

I'm surprised you don't recognize your buddy Troj.

[Muda69]

13 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

I'm surprised you don't recognize your buddy Troj.

 

Wow, so you know what TrojanDad looks like in RL. You really are a stalker Gonzo.  And a creep.

 

[gonzoron]

18 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

Wow, so you know what TrojanDad looks like in RL. You really are a stalker Gonzo.  And a creep.

 

If that's what he looks like in RL, I feel even more sorry for him.

[gonzoron]

3 Great Reasons to Take Social Security Benefits at 62

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2020/05/13/3-great-reasons-to-take-social-security-benefits-a.aspx

[DanteEstonia]

1 hour ago, TrojanDad said:

Dumba$$ GonzMoron....I remember soldiers that had no choice coming back home and being spat on and persecuted by Left Wingers.  (can't say what I want to say)

You whine about protesting the way a song was played on a given day by a celebrity.  I care way more how a big segment of society acted to America's finest who were drafted, sent to the opposite end of the planet, watched each other die for a cause they sure didn't understand, only to come home and be treated less then human by lefties who sure as heck either invested in or sure supported that type of "protesting".  

Did you even have to register for the draft?

[gonzoron]

1 hour ago, DanteEstonia said:

Did you even have to register for the draft?

From his bassinet?

[Muda69]

2 hours ago, gonzoron said:

If that's what he looks like in RL, I feel even more sorry for him.

You should know, right?

 

[Muda69]

2 hours ago, gonzoron said:

3 Great Reasons to Take Social Security Benefits at 62

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2020/05/13/3-great-reasons-to-take-social-security-benefits-a.aspx

[Irishman]

It has been a while since I have read this particular page. I have to say I am not a fan of seeing it descend into personal insults and name calling. There is a lot of good/interesting info on both sides of this that is posted here. It gets old reading through all the shit though guys. Could we keep it more civil? I get that there may be a negative impact that the shut down has had on all of us, but we are all better than this.....aren't we? Yeah, I know, I am far from perfect. 

 

On another notes; with several WH staff and Exec branch staff testing positives; I saw a headline asking what happens if the President tests positive? How about the VP? 

[Howe]

19 minutes ago, Irishman said:

On another notes; with several WH staff and Exec branch staff testing positives; I saw a headline asking what happens if the President tests positive? How about the VP? 

The liberal mainstream media fake news complex would be elated. Democrats would celebrate. The stock market would decline.

[Irishman]

1 minute ago, Howe said:

The liberal mainstream media fake news complex would be elated. Democrats would celebrate. The stock market would decline.

Not really what I meant...lol

I was thinking more along the lines of; at what point does power shift? Would it be the initial positive test? They would need to self quarantine, correct? (How is that for a finish to a question muda? 😄 ) Or would we wait to see how severe the symptoms would become? 

[Muda69]

6 minutes ago, Irishman said:

Not really what I meant...lol

I was thinking more along the lines of; at what point does power shift? Would it be the initial positive test? They would need to self quarantine, correct? (How is that for a finish to a question muda? 😄 ) Or would we wait to see how severe the symptoms would become? 

?

Anyway unless the POTUS become incapacitated he should be able to do his job while under quarantine.  I don't think the British PM abdicated his office while he was fighting covid-19, did he?

 

 

[Howe]

6 minutes ago, Irishman said:

Not really what I meant...lol

I was thinking more along the lines of; at what point does power shift? Would it be the initial positive test? They would need to self quarantine, correct? (How is that for a finish to a question muda? 😄 ) Or would we wait to see how severe the symptoms would become? 

With a greater than 99% survival rate, I doubt if the coronavirus would incapacitate both the president and vice president simultaneously. I'm confident both would seek treatment with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin at the earliest possible point.

[Muda69]

America's Long-Term Debt Crisis Is Now a Short-Term Problem

https://reason.com/2020/05/13/americas-long-term-debt-crisis-is-now-a-short-term-problem/

Quote

When the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) examined the nation's long-term fiscal state last year, it offered this dour assessment: Federal debt levels were on track to reach their highest levels since shortly after World War II. On the current trajectory, "growing budget deficits would boost federal debt drastically over the next 30 years," pushing debt to levels that were "the highest in the nation's history by far." Interest payments were set to spike, tripling over the next several decades, and exceeding the total amount of all discretionary spending. Over time, debt service would essentially become its own massive federal program.

Even under favorable scenarios, in which productivity growth remained steady and interest rates remained low, debt levels would continue to rise and rise. "The prospect of such high and rising debt poses substantial risks for the nation and presents policymakers with significant challenges." Among the risks and challenges: "High debt might cause policymakers to feel restrained from implementing deficit-financed fiscal policy to respond to unforeseen events." Here is my thinking face emoji.

What the nonpartisan congressional budget analysts were saying, in their own carefully antiseptic language, was that even if things went pretty well for the economy, the continued growth of federal debt was going to be a big problem. A crisis was brewing, perhaps not immediately, but in the long term.

You may have noticed: Things have not gone well.

As COVID-19 spreads, the American economy is in the midst of the largest freefall in at least a generation, perhaps the most devastating since the Great Depression. Joblessness is at record highs, and financial analysts are predicting that the economy will end up shrinking by as much as 40 percent during the second quarter this year. A sharp drop in health care spending, as people delay elective surgeries and other non-emergency care, has alone managed to trim several points from the gross domestic product. No one has any clear sense of how or when this will end. 

As the economy has tanked, Congress has responded with a series of aid packages totaling nearly $3 trillion, all of which have been deficit-financed. This year's budget deficit is expected to come in somewhere around $4 trillion, nearly the size of last year's entire federal budget. In April, the U.S. posted its highest monthly budget deficit ever, at $737.9 billion. In 2016, the final year of Barack Obama's presidency, the annual deficit was $585 billion. In a single 30 day period, the U.S. government ran a bigger budget deficit than any one year outside of the Great Recession and its aftermath. 

And this year isn't over: Yesterday, Democrats unveiled a new $3 trillion relief package, offering billions in bailout funds to state budgets and the post office, along with another round of stimulus checks for most households. Progressives complained the bill wasn't large enough. 

The bill isn't expected to pass, however, at least not in its current form. And the reason why is something the CBO warned about: High debt levels appear to be causing policy makers "to feel restrained from implementing deficit-financed fiscal policy to respond to unforeseen events." Republicans in both Congress and the White House are balking at the price tag, in part because it would come on top of a debt and deficit outlook that was already worrisome. 

....

The U.S. is poised to fall off of the fiscal cliff, and this latest spending boondoggle put forth by the the Democratic half of the uni-party will most likely tip us over the edge.

The America we have left for our children and grandchildren.

 

[Irishman]

9 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

?

 

 

You called me out for finishing a question with the word "right", so I wanted to make sure the word "correct" was ok. :) 

[Muda69]

Just now, Irishman said:

You called me out for finishing a question with the word "right", so I wanted to make sure the word "correct" was ok. 🙂

It is definitely not as condescending. Don't you agree?

 

 

[Irishman]

1 minute ago, Muda69 said:

It is definitely not as condescending. Don't you agree?

 

 

I can see that. 

[Muda69]

 

[Irishman]

[TheStatGuy]

5 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

Dumba$$ GonzMoron....I remember soldiers that had no choice coming back home and being spat on and persecuted by Left Wingers.  (can't say what I want to say)

You whine about protesting the way a song was played on a given day by a celebrity.  I care way more how a big segment of society acted to America's finest who were drafted, sent to the opposite end of the planet, watched each other die for a cause they sure didn't understand, only to come home and be treated less then human by lefties who sure as heck either invested in or sure supported that type of "protesting".  

You are very ignorant if you think only leftists treated vietnam vets bad..

I personally know 4 vets and two of them told me they got it from both sides. 

The old Korean guys, ww2 guys and ww1 guys wanted nothing to do with them..

You constantly complain about all trump supporters being lumped together but yet you just lumped all leftists together..

 

YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE AND DONT EVEN REALIZE IT.

 

[TheStatGuy]

15 minutes ago, TrojanDad said:

I sure did....did you? 

Our son is a combat officer currently.....he didn't need a draft.

And what you mean he didn't need a draft? Are you saying he and ones like him that volunteer for military service are better then those that get drafted?

You realize most that volunteered in Vietnam did so.. So they could join the branch they wanted?.. And didn't wanna wait to get drafted?

Btw...had i been born 40 years earlier on the exact month and day...I would have been sent to vietnam where I probably would have died. 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Ultimate Warrior

[swordfish]

WTF does the Vietnam Conflict/Indochina War/Gulf of Tonkin Incident/Tet Offensive (Otherwise known as the Vietnam War......) and whether anyone served there, have to do with the Coronavirus debate going on here ? (Besides a typical "my penis is larger than yours" match).......

 

https://news.trust.org/item/20200513160413-xtse3

By David Alire Garcia and P.J. Huffstutter

MEXICO CITY/CHICAGO, May 13 (Reuters) - More Mexican steaks and other beef cuts are headed north of the border after the coronavirus outbreak has hobbled U.S. meat processing plants, potentially offsetting fears of shortages affecting businesses from fast-food chains to grocery stores but angering American ranchers.

The Mexican industry chalks up the export growth to new safety measures adopted by plants, as well as relatively smaller-scale operations that have so far kept infections at bay and business humming.

In the United States, there has been a surge of cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, at slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. That has crimped domestic supply, leading to unease among U.S. consumers and even warnings from leading fast-food burger chains like Wendy's that popular menu items may soon be discontinued.

In a recipe for popular discontent, those shortages could cause meat supplies to fall by nearly a third by the end of this month, while prices jump by around 20%.

Mexican beef supplies were already a growing part of U.S. sales prior to the crisis, and they are set for even stronger double-digit growth in 2020, said Juan Ley, president of Mexico's main cattle growers association.

Leading an industry that spans 20 government-accredited beef-exporting companies including Mexican heavyweights like SuKarne, Ley predicts up to 12% growth in U.S. exports this year, compared with last year's volume.

Sales to U.S. buyers have already jumped 10% this month, he said, and he expects the same in June.

From the beginning of this year through the first week of May, Mexican beef exports to its northern neighbor totaled nearly 87,000 tonnes, up roughly 8,000 tonnes compared with the same period last year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In 2019, Mexico was the third-biggest foreign beef supplier to the United States, behind Australia and Canada, with exports reaching 232,000 tonnes. The United States accounted for about 86% of total Mexican beef exports, worth $1.3 billion.

"I think we're going to leap past Canada this year," added Ley.

Mexico boasts nearly 30 federally regulated processing plants of varying sizes, able to process anywhere from 600 to 1,800 cows in an eight-hour shift, according to industry data. Almost all of them operate only one shift per day, and vary in size from just 20 workers to several hundred.

In contrast, in the United States just four major beef-packing companies – Cargill Inc, Tyson Foods Inc , JBS and National Beef Packing – control more than 80% of the business.

While much of the beef imported into the United States is used to make hamburgers, most of the beef imported from Mexico is higher-end cuts that end up in grocery stores, said Derrell Peel, a livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University.

LEANER INDUSTRY

The shift toward foreign supplies has angered many U.S. ranchers, who argue the consolidation of the meatpacking sector and shuttering of processing plants is limiting access to their own marketplace.

"There are about a half-million cattle here that cannot get to slaughter," said Bill Bullard, chief executive officer of the Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America.

"I know guys who have had cattle to sell for five weeks, and they can't even get a bid," he said.

Ley, head of Mexico's beef exporters association, is sensitive to the complaints. However, he noted Mexico also imports U.S. cuts in what he describes as a "very complementary" trade that he said was up 6% this year.

Mexican producers' near-term gains are made possible by meatpacking plants that have not experienced the level of coronavirus outbreaks as their American counterparts.

To date, no more than 20 processing plant workers across the country have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the cattle growers association, and no plants have been closed.

In the United States, Smithfield Foods, owned by China's WH Group Ltd, as well as JBS and Tyson Foods have since April temporarily shut more than a dozen U.S. plants after thousands of workers contracted the virus.

The Mexican government's tally of confirmed coronavirus infections, currently at more than 38,000 cases, does not include industry-specific totals.

Jose Luis Ordoñez, a meatpacking plant manager just outside the city of Culiacan near Mexico's Pacific Coast, points to a series of new measures his 350 workers have adopted since the crisis struck in March.

Buses used to transport workers to the plant are now sanitized four times daily, up from just once, and run double the daily routes they used to in an effort to boost social distancing among employees.

Workers now clock in at plants using spaced-out painted footprints, which are also in locker rooms and cafeterias. In cutting rooms, new plastic barriers have been erected.

The body temperatures of workers are also checked three times a day.

"All this has helped a lot be able to achieve the results we have until now," said Ordoñez, whose plant sells packaged meats under the Santara brand.

Since March, three of his plant's workers who had presented symptoms of COVID-19 were given tests.

"All negative," he said. (Reporting by David Alire Garcia in Mexico City and P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago Additional reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Matthew Lewis)

Edited May 13, 2020 by swordfish

[Guest]

2 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

"you realize that most that volunteered in Vietnam did so...."  WTH?  What are you trying to say??  Most that volunteered in Vietnam did so...yea, I would say 100%

The military today is 100% volunteer....and has been for quite some time.  No, I didn't say he was better or worse than anyone.  Don't assume Whiner.

Had you been born 40 years earlier?  You do strike me as a LT Neidermeyer type guy.....

Don’t even pay attention to that guy.