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| What is a good about Covid 19 related? |
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| james_s:
--- Quote from: IDEngineer on March 30, 2020, 05:08:33 am ---"Checks" do exist, can and do work. We just need less wild swings in our (at least USA) politics to stop the wild overshoots and overcorrections. --- End quote --- That's a problem that seems to be getting larger and I suspect it has many causes. Not the least of which is the internet in general and more recently social media. These make it possible for people to exist largely within these carefully crafted echo chambers where anyone holding a different view is easily expelled, people have largely lost the ability to agree to disagree and politics has become a religion for many people. They cannot objectively discuss their views or the pros and cons of their chosen side, it's always that their guy can do no wrong and the other guy can do no right. Any criticism of their side is taken like a personal attack on themselves. Everybody wants quick and simple solutions to complex problems. Politicians make lofty promises as they campaign, far more and bigger than a person could ever hope to actually accomplish in office. The system responds slowly by design, this keeps the entire course of the nation from oscillating wildly between extremes, but it also means that necessary changes occur much to slowly to keep people happy, and no matter who is in charge or what they are doing roughly half the country is upset about it. |
| Marco:
--- Quote from: IDEngineer on March 30, 2020, 04:21:08 am ---The easiest retort to this error is to ask the following question: "If the debt doesn't matter, why do we bother paying interest on it?" --- End quote --- For debt on the Fed balance sheet, mostly because accountants like accounting. Treasury pays interest to the Fed, Fed returns interest to the Treasury. Weeee .... --- Quote ---"If paying interest doesn't matter, why is interest an increasing percentage of the federal budget?" --- End quote --- Because a significant amount of the federal debt isn't on the Fed balance sheet. --- Quote ---"What happens when the interest continues to increase, until it starts squeezing out mandatory and discretionary spending?" --- End quote --- Interest on US treasury bonds increases at the mercy of the Fed, if the private market refuses to buy it at say 0% interest rate at auction ... then next auction the Fed just does nudge nudge wink wink and the private parties know that they can sell it the next day to the Fed in private market operations at a tiny profit. So they buy, because a tiny profit is enough to tie up liquidity for a day. The detour through the private market is just because it makes economists feel a little less upset ... The capacity on the private market for debt at low interest rate is finite, the capacity on the Fed balance sheet is infinite. Just look at Japan central bank's accumulation of Japanese sovereign debt and look at how all the chicken littles (like say ZeroHedge) predicting catastrophic results have been wrong. Which isn't to say you should always print money to pay the government budget, but occasionally doing so and just ignoring the expansion of the money supply it creates without subsequently shrinking it again does no real harm in an otherwise stable economy. As I said, it takes a bit of discipline. |
| olkipukki:
How come last few postings related to subj? :-DD :-// :wtf: :palm: |
| Zero999:
--- Quote from: blueskull on March 30, 2020, 04:09:42 am ---No can fix bullshit journalism. Live slaughtering is perfectly legal in China for smaller food animals like rabbits, dogs, chickens and fishes. Chinese cuisine frequently calls for internal organs of animals, and due to their fast deterioration, they have to be cooked right after slaughtering. China has revised an edible animal list after the outbreak, and animals being slaughtered there are all on the list. --- End quote --- Okay, I admit, I have said some things in my other posts about wet markets which were wrong/misleating. Looking into the issue more, the wet markets themselves are really the problem, but the way they are run is. I admit, I was too quick to suggest banning them outright. Selling live animals is fine. The problem is density and slaughtering them in an unhygienic manner, allowing all the guts and shit to spread infection to live animals and people nearby. I certainly don't care what people in China eat. The only animals which should be banned are those which are endangered. It's not so much what's eaten, but how it's reared and slaughtered which is the problem. Completely banning wet markets would be bad for China, because they provide people with nutritious food, at a reasonable price. There need to be laws on minimum levels of hygiene, maximum density, keeping different species apart and a ban of on-site animal slaughter. --- Quote --- --- Quote from: Zero999 on March 29, 2020, 07:18:01 pm ---My criticism isn't purely aimed at the Chinese, even though they are to blame for this pandemic. --- End quote --- You should blame Western democracy for not allowing your government to save you. --- End quote --- To be fair to the Chinese government, once the cover up stopped, they have dealt with the situation very well and western governments were far too slow to react. --- Quote --- --- Quote from: Zero999 on March 29, 2020, 07:18:01 pm ---The whole world needs to improve animal welfare and hygiene. It won't stop until there's a global ban on these intensive farming practices. --- End quote --- You sound like the Greta girl. The venerable Lord Putin once commented her with something like everyone in Africa wants living quality in Sweden, but first they have to develop economy. --- End quote --- It doesn't change the fact that it's true. You can call me what you want but it won't change the fact that cramming huge numbers of animals into a small space is going to encourage the spread of disease and pumping them full of antibiotics will result in superbugs. The world's intensive animal farms are ticking bombs of infection and should be banned. This is arguably more important than the environmental and ethical side of the debate. |
| Zero999:
Anyway, I could go on about China, the lack or rule of law, the US battery farming etc. but those are negative and not on topic. I apologise for shitting on a relatively happy thread. One of the good things about the lockdown is it will reduce levels of environmental pollution. Hopefully more people will continue to avoid unnecessary travel and work from home more, even when it's over. |
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