New Coronavirus - COVID-19

[RedDevil]

I went to the supermarket yesterday and saw an old lady in the street, coughing deeply and repeatedly. A young man just spat out on the street.
There's social distancing all right, but so far no disinfection going on and so far just a single makeshift face mask.

I won't go out for a while now. No more supermarkets until safety measures become more realistic.

[redneck]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Without stating what I think, I am very very curious: How skeptical are you when you read that? How deeply do you check the source? If you never heard about it ever again, what do you assume?

Answers.

I’m very skeptical of most news in general. Including this story. (agendas)

I usually, but not always, dig deeper because I know I’ll be called out.
Especially here. Having said that, I did not dig this one.

If I never heard of it again? I would assume it to be false.


If your asking in a roundabout way if I believe 21 million people have been forever silenced.

I do not.

However, China does have a Human rights problem and doesn’t discuss internal affairs.



Your turn.

I’m curious why you were curious...???



>

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by redneck

Your turn.

I’m curious why you were curious...???

Thanks for the reply. A friend posted an article about how alt-right media consumption (not saying anything about your regular media consumption habits or passing any value judgment on people who like Breitbart) makes people more skeptical and objective. I thought I'd collect some data

Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is how media affects social stability. I took the red pill pretty much the moment I hit the internet when I was a kid (yea I'm young :P) and have a habit of looking into sources and have not trusted any media long before "fake news" was thrown around in 2016.

Unfortunately I feel like the media in this country has gotten worse and worse, and it makes me fear a civil war or revolution. Seeing people taking really bad conspiracy theories seriously or eating up blatantly biased news makes me nervous. I want to understand when people are just talking about it for fun and when they really believe it and if they believe it to what extent.

[Piotrsko]

Not to worry. The nutcases have been traditionally at a miniscule level of the populace. Social media just amplifies the noise they make. The worry is that panicky people drop to emotional old brain decisions which social media exploits.

[Xist]

Apparently they voted on it just before 0100.

The full details have yet to be released. But over the last 24 hours, the elements of the proposal have come into sharper focus, with $250 billion set aside for direct payments to individuals and families, $350 billion in small business loans, $250 billion in unemployment insurance benefits and $500 billion in loans for distressed companies.

The stimulus bill also has a provision that would block President Donald Trump and his family, as well as other top government officials and members of Congress, from getting loans or investments from Treasury programs in the stimulus, according to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's office.

Under the plan as it was being negotiated, individuals who earn $75,000 in adjusted gross income or less would get direct payments of $1,200 each, with married couples earning up to $150,000 receiving $2,400 -- and an additional $500 per each child. The payment would scale down by income, phasing out entirely at $99,000 for singles and $198,000 for couples without children.

So, Mom, my brother, and I each receive $1,200?
I hope that we won't need it!

There was intense partisan debate over the $500 billion proposal to provide loans to distressed companies, with $50 billion in loans for passenger air carriers. Democrats contended there was not enough oversight on how the money would be doled out, but the Trump administration agreed to an oversight board and the creation of an inspector general position to review how the money is spent.

Negotiators also discussed providing four months of unemployment benefits, extending to self-employed workers. Also, the bill would ensure the Small Business Administration could serve as a guarantor for loans of up to $10 billion for small businesses to ensure they can maintain their payrolls and pay off their debts.

In addition, the bill would provide a major amount of funding for hard-hit hospitals -- $130 billion -- as well as $150 billion for state and local governments that are cash-strapped due to their response to combat coronavirus.

Schumer also suggested that the trillion-dollar stimulus plan may not be enough to offset the economic damage given the uncertainty of the pandemic, and that negotiators might have to "come back in a bipartisan way and do more if we need."

Once a deal is released, the next question will be how quickly it can be approved by both chambers -- a challenge made more daunting by the fact that Congress is now operating in a scenario where several of its members have tested positive for coronavirus while many more have self-quarantined after contact with infected individuals.
A Democratic leadership aide told CNN that the House still has emergency convening authority and could quickly come back into session Wednesday. But the aide said it's "more likely" the House vote would wait until Thursday since it's still unclear when the Senate will act on the legislation, which has yet to be released.
Pelosi suggested on Tuesday that she is hoping to avoid bringing the full House back to Washington to vote on the package, seeking to pass it through unanimous consent instead. But any individual member can block such a move, creating uncertainty over whether that will be feasible.
Another option may be for the House to approve the package by voice vote as opposed to holding a recorded roll call vote.

After conferring with the various factions of the House GOP Conference, the source said that it is a "possible outcome" for the House to voice vote the package when the chamber eventually considers it.

White House, Senate reach historic $2 trillion stimulus deal amid growing coronavirus fears

[redpoint5]

Back before the internet, we were captive to newspapers, network TV, and radio for news. There were a few players that dominated that space, so they could invest the money into doing actual research and obtain the facts. We had long attention spans.

Nowadays, there's zero barriers to entry into the "news" space and people have short attention spans. To monetize news, you've got to generate clicks. Journalistic integrity has almost no relationship to how profitable the news organization is. On top of this, humans aren't evolved to be skeptical of things presented as news. Up until a hundred years ago when information was almost exclusively delivered by somebody saying something in person, there was no reason to believe the motivation was simply to capture your attention. There wasn't money involved in simply getting someone to listen.

My first instinct is to believe whatever is being presented to me. Only on 2nd thought do I begin to question things like motive, validity, reasonableness, etc.


... and the income caps on the checks are crap. People at higher ends of the income distribution are still very likely to be living paycheck to paycheck. It's a cultural thing, not a means thing, generally speaking.

[Xist]

For anyone that does not like CNN:
"Democrats said the package specifically would help replace the salaries of furloughed workers for four months"

"Furloughed workers would get whatever amount a state usually provides for unemployment, plus a $600 per week add-on, with gig workers like Uber drivers covered for the first time."

"The package also would give one-time payments of $1,200 per adult and $500 per child directly to the public."

"The massive economic relief package would provide a $367 billion program for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers are forced to stay home. One of the last issues to close concerned $500 billion for guaranteed, subsidized loans to larger industries, including a fight over how generous to be with the airlines, given that Democrats wanted them to abide by new carbon emissions restrictions."

"Republicans also won inclusion of an `employee retention' tax credit that's estimated to provide $50 billion to companies that retain employees on payroll and cover 50 percent of workers' paychecks. Companies would also be able to defer payment of the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax."

"Other provisions, according to a summary, include $100 billion for direct aid to health care institutions battling the crisis; more than $4 billion to health agencies; $200 million to help nursing homes cope with the challenge; $45 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and millions more for FEMA grants; and $400 million in election assistance to help states expand early voting and vote-by-mail options."

"`Democrats are finally taking ‘yes’ for an answer,' McConnell said in his remarks on the Senate floor early Wednesday morning. `Help is on the way.'"
"Meanwhile, the House may seek to pass the legislation via unanimous consent because many members are not in Washington -- but a single member can ruin that plan.

The House used unanimous consent during the 1918 flu pandemic as well."

Pelosi indicates potential support for Senate’s new coronavirus bill, as details emerge

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

Apparently they voted on it just before 0100.
So, Mom, my brother, and I each receive $1,200?

It might depend on how your mother has been doing her taxes and if she has been claiming your brother as a dependent or not.

[Xist]

From the CNN article:

The payment would scale down by income, phasing out entirely at $99,000 for singles and $198,000 for couples without children.

So, a family [with kids] can make over $200,000 a year and still receive help.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

"Furloughed workers would get whatever amount a state usually provides for unemployment, plus a $600 per week add-on, with gig workers like Uber drivers covered for the first time."


"Republicans also won inclusion of an `employee retention' tax credit that's estimated to provide $50 billion to companies that retain employees on payroll and cover 50 percent of workers' paychecks. Companies would also be able to defer payment of the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax."

My understanding is that these were the two biggest sticking points. Republicans did not want to expand unemployment - either in the amount per month or expanding it to more workers than currently covered.

Also Republicans didn't want to require large corporations to keep their staff on payroll to get help like is required for small businesses. Democrats wanted employers to have to keep staff and pay them 100%. It seems they settled on keeping staff and paying them 50%. Also this stipulation is tied to a separate $50 billion pot of money not the $500 billion pot.


While any help is good this will be a big blow for the 50% of US workers that work for large corporations