[Farm93]

First time unemployment claims.

BC

Given what Congress is passing, I don't think these unemployment claims are a big deal in the near-term. They have all been baked into the recovery bills that have or will pass later. The real pain will be when the mortgage for our 10% of GDP debt comes home to roost.

As I said last week, the conditions for stagflation have been set in place. Sinking demand from economy that can no longer grow with credit,  combined with inflation. Ugh.

All preventable with aggressive preparation and testing (see Korea & Japan).   We didn't opt for that plan.

Battling stagflation isn't the problem of the day.
We will have a large number of healthcare workers that will be impacted.   (Death, lung and heart issues, mental issues, etc.)
We will have people die that could have been saved.
The legal battles of those choices burdening health care workers and the legal system for years, especially if people die without access to treatment.

At some point in here, likely soon, someone on this board will lose a family member.   Posts worrying about stagflation, interest rates or 401(K) values will then seem so trivial.  

POTUS-45 says we are at war.   Love him or hate him.   Let's take that analogy literally for a moment.   When at war you don't squabble over the costs of the planes and tanks.   You build the things you need.   In the end even the winners of war will suffer in so many ways. 

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?"  Wargames

The winning move was to continue to remain ready for a pandemic and test aggressively to avoid playing the game of war with a virus.  

Now we are forced to play the game because our opponent is not interested in a nice game of chess.   It will cost a lot.   And will impact our national growth rate for several years.  Hopefully everyone on this board will live to experience that decade of weak fundamentals.

Hopefully next time the USA will learn the lesson from COVID-19 that Korea and Japan got from their battles with SARS and MERS.  The only winning move is not to play.   How about a nice series of tests?

[Farm93]

First time unemployment claims.

BC

Given what Congress is passing, I don't think these unemployment claims are a big deal in the near-term. They have all been baked into the recovery bills that have or will pass later. The real pain will be when the mortgage for our 10% of GDP debt comes home to roost.

As I said last week, the conditions for stagflation have been set in place. Sinking demand from economy that can no longer grow with credit,  combined with inflation. Ugh.

All preventable with aggressive preparation and testing (see Korea & Japan).   We didn't opt for that plan.

Battling stagflation isn't the problem of the day.
We will have a large number of healthcare workers that will be impacted.   (Death, lung and heart issues, mental issues, etc.)
We will have people die that could have been saved.
The legal battles of those choices burdening health care workers and the legal system for years, especially if people die without access to treatment.

At some point in here, likely soon, someone on this board will lose a family member.   Posts worrying about stagflation, interest rates or 401(K) values will then seem so trivial.  

POTUS-45 says we are at war.   Love him or hate him.   Let's take that analogy literally for a moment.   When at war you don't squabble over the costs of the planes and tanks.   You build the things you need.   In the end even the winners of war will suffer in so many ways. 

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?"  Wargames

The winning move was to continue to remain ready for a pandemic and test aggressively to avoid playing the game of war with a virus.  

Now we are forced to play the game because our opponent is not interested in a nice game of chess.   It will cost a lot.   And will impact our national growth rate for several years.  Hopefully everyone on this board will live to experience that decade of weak fundamentals.

Hopefully next time the USA will learn the lesson from COVID-19 that Korea and Japan got from their battles with SARS and MERS.  The only winning move is not to play.   How about a nice series of tests?