91–100 of 128 posts
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The US didn't really need a nudge. The White house and speaker of the house have said they were going to do this since last week. The US is ahead of other countries, given that our hospitals are not overrun already, and we've already started planning financially.
What I meant was the US is finally starting to adopt a few more socialist policies that are common-place in the Developed World.
Like, if you trip on a sidewalk, the city reimburses you because it is their responsibility to allow you to walk on the sidewalk. It is the federal government's responsibility to ensure interstate trade can take place. If they order it to stop, they need to reimburse you because their sidewalk had a giant gaping pothole in it.
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> or the "bold and significant" quarantine process we should've instituted as soon as the first patient was discovered. The US was quarantining americans returning from covid countries with CDC quarantine orders (federally enforceable) since Jan 31?
LOL minus the diamond princess or the obvious one from like the woman from Iran? people were falling thru the cracks like candy, i happen to know 1 or 2 people that were confused they weren't even screened at the border. i suggest you do more than just take any announcement from the WH at face value, especially when there are numerous sources saying otherwise.
But, yes america has an obligation to repatriate american citizens, and subjecting them to quarantine is the right thing to do.
I have no doubt people were falling through cracks though. America has an incredibly open border with lax enforcement, mainly due to partisan bickering. Hopefully, this will get everyone on board with border security
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> Loans, even cheap ones, are a very shity way of "helping" small businesses Really disagree on this point. The primary value of a business is their assets, brands and expertise. All of those things will be just as valuable after the pandemic as they were before. Assets don't just disappear because they're not used. This is just as true for small businesses as it is for big business. Any business that was profitable…
The business may no longer be profitable because it is now servicing a large debt it didn't previously have. And unlike regular business debt, the money wasn't invested into something productive. This could go very wrong. Then again, if the business is going bankrupt anyway, who cares how much it ends up owing?
Let's say the quarantine results in revenue falling by 70% over the next four months. Without a reduction in fixed costs, the business experiences a $76,000 operating loss. (About equal to 1.5 years of pre-tax profits.) Assume a 10-year amortized loan at 4%.
The cost of servicing the loan comes out to approximately $9500 a year. Which only reduces the ongoing annual cash flow by less than 20%.
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Which one is that?
Actively prohibiting telemedicine. Requiring licensing at the state level that is not reciprocal with other states. Limiting the number of students admitted to MD programs.
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They're not Socialist policies, that's a confusion over what Socialism is (total state control of the means of production, as one of several requirements). What you're referring to is called a welfare state. They're welfare state policies, not Socialist policies. The US has been a welfare state nation for many decades now, and increasingly so. For example, there are no Socialist nations in Europe at present, includin…
I disagree with you. Not everything is so black and white that it must be one thing or another. Socialism doesn't have to be "Total state control of the means of production", it can be piecemeal and applied to some parts of a society or economy and not others. Heathcare for all is not "welfare". It's the government taking tax dollars and then paying for things for all citizens. It's how the USA currently pays for Pol…
Rubbish. The Defense production act invoked today is from WWII and extremely limited in scope. After the crisis is over the government will be forced to give up these powers. And thank goodness. This is no way to run a free country in normal times.
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"$250M to Economic Support Fund (Economic, security, and stabilization purposes)" sounds rather disappointing. Just a drop in the bucket no?
The ESF is a foreign-facing economic support fund. The idea is to stabilise Middle- and South-American countries, for example, to avoid mass migration. Or at least that's what we tell Republicans. The real purpose is obviously to help the poorest countries, because that's what you do when you can. And, yes, $250M is a rounding error. But the foreign aid budget is famous for being estimated as 20% of the federal budge…
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The business may no longer be profitable because it is now servicing a large debt it didn't previously have. And unlike regular business debt, the money wasn't invested into something productive. This could go very wrong. Then again, if the business is going bankrupt anyway, who cares how much it ends up owing?
Let's take a typical small business, and say it does $1 million a year in revenue. Cost of goods sold is $600,000 and fixed operating expenses are $350,000. Net margins are 5%, as is typical in small retail businesses. (These numbers are almost dollar for dollar from a local merchant-proprietor I know.) Let's say the quarantine results in revenue falling by 70% over the next four months. Without a reduction in fixed…
You’re modeling makes a lot of assumptions and discounts too many human-driven variables.
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Actively prohibiting telemedicine. Requiring licensing at the state level that is not reciprocal with other states. Limiting the number of students admitted to MD programs.
I see, that's interesting. Can you fill me in on the relevance to the bill? I'm just a skimmer and didn't pick up on that.
Additionally, for a doctor to practice in a particular state, the medical board of that state grants and revoked licenses, restricting the practice of medicine to only doctors licensed in the state or states.
The bill also temporarily waives that, to allow for telemedicine to be conducted across states, but only temporarily.
"Bold and significant" eh? Kind of like the "bold and significant" test kits that never materialized, or the "bold and significant" quarantine process we should've instituted as soon as the first patient was discovered.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/test...