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3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

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Re: 3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

#471

Post by jshevek »

qqssccfftt wrote: post #308
rubber_duck wrote: post #35

And this is just the start. While I think the US response to Corona was slower than the response in my country I feel the US is the only country that's seriously discussing economic repercussions and debating the medical experts. In EU (at least in my country) it's doctors running things and we are in "stop the pandemic at all cost". Everyone is in panic due to Italy situation. But doctors are only trained to see the…

"How many people are we willing to kill to keep the economy moving?"

This is the trolley problem. If we don't keep the economy moving, people will also die as a result. Should we try to calculate how many in various scenarios with various degrees of shutdown? Should we try to reduce harm, numerically? Should we differentiate between degrees of social influence on the causes of death? It's a difficult question.

Re: 3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

#472

Post by brewdad »

murph-almighty wrote: post #444
brewdad wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

State and local governments are doing a good job in many locales. Assuming more Governors don't follow the jackwagon leading Mississippi and override local efforts, the situation should improve despite the lack of leadership and execution at the federal level.

What's going on in Mississippi?

Governor overriding local efforts to contain the virus. While the order improves things in some areas it weakens efforts in the cities that were trying to get ahead of the curve.

https://m.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/mar/24/gov-tate-ree...

Re: 3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

#473

Post by OJFord »

Demiurge wrote: post #177
luma wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Further, unemployment benefits are managed by the states, and those states are running web services which typically see a few hundred hits a day. They are now trying to process tens of thousands of new records each day, and at least in MI the service is absolutely not up to the task. My wife managed to get her filing completed a little after 1am this morning. She was the only one of her 20 coworkers to successfully f…

As a developer I immediately though of the power of queues. Twenty people trying to submit same form does not work for everyone, but a queue processing one person at a time might allow the twenty people to submit within a short time. It is flattening the curve! If I was contracted to fix this ASAP, I would set up an nginx front-end proxy config that doesn't allow more than X sessions and suggest a time in the future…

Ocado (the IaaS for online supermarkets company, and, in the UK, online-only supermarket itself) has done this in response to the increased demand, and makes you wait in a 'virtual queue' (virtual relative to what in America you call a 'line-up', but we call a 'queue', at a physical supermarket) before you can place or edit your order.

Re: 3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

#474

Post by jshevek »

sundaeofshock wrote: post #59
rubber_duck wrote: post #35

And this is just the start. While I think the US response to Corona was slower than the response in my country I feel the US is the only country that's seriously discussing economic repercussions and debating the medical experts. In EU (at least in my country) it's doctors running things and we are in "stop the pandemic at all cost". Everyone is in panic due to Italy situation. But doctors are only trained to see the…

Seriously? There were a number of submissions yesterday to HN discussing the relative merits of sacrificing millions for the sake of the market. Perhaps you missed those?

"sacrificing millions for the sake of the market"

This is an unfair way to characterize this difficult issue.

Re: 3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

#475

Post by analyst74 »

wyclif wrote: post #263
9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Us = the world/humanity, not the USA. China's economic growth has lifted hundreds of millions from poverty, and it would not have happened without globalization.

Eh, I was speaking of the world. China lied about the coronavirus right from the beginning, when having two weeks of lead time worldwide could have saved thousands of lives. They arrested, silenced, and probably killed the doctors who blew the whistle on the cover-up. These are facts, not conjecture.

Okay, some local Wuhan officials covered up the initial reports, and they have been held accountable and fired since.

Saying China covered up the virus is like saying US is poisoning its people because some Flint officials were incompetent.

Remember, China is a big country, and its political system is not a simple extension of an authoritarian leader like what media tend to portray.

Re: 3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

#476

Post by devonkim »

thrwn_frthr_awy wrote: post #404
x0x0 wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that backend pain shouldn't stop you from accepting it on the front end and putting it into a queue. Making the problem of getting the application through backend systems the states' to deal with, not the applicants'.

So are you applying for the 44k/yr job to fix it? No, most of are not.

Eh, USDS and 18F jobs are kind of contract-based and do hit past six figures last I saw. However, they were defunded a lot since last I saw by POTUS45 so it's not clear what the state of comp is. DC area tech is a mish mash of rather enterprise-centric businesses and can be challenging if you're in the wrong domains of expertise.

Re: 3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

#477

Post by rixrax »

stupandaus wrote: post #24

A few things to note: 1. These figures are only new claims as of 3/21, so the numbers will get worse. 2. This is ~2% of the estimated ~160-165M US Workforce. 3. This is nearly 5x (!) the prior record of 671K new jobless claims from 1982, and redefines the scale for jobless claims. [1] 4. This does not account for the countless gig workers that are part of the modern economy that likely did not file for unemployment s…

And yet DJIA is up almost 1000 points. Is this the stimulus $$$ in work, or what is going on here?

Re: 3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

#478

Post by viklove »

saiya-jin wrote: post #407
viklove wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they don't mind suffering things that are unacceptable for us When the ruling class exploits the working class and suppresses their access to information and free speech, that doesn't mean they "don't mind suffering," it means one sector of the Chinese population has cannibalized another sector in order to build wealth for themselves. Much like what is happening in the US with the ultra-wealthy. It's not all rainbo…

Genocide or not (nobody knows what is happening in those camps, so I would not use that word unless we have some solid hard evidence), we talk about consequences of covid on societies. And Chinese one seems to be faring much much better than most others. I just saw how a video of Chinese doctors dressing up for a visit to a covid patient. My doctor wife just stared with open mouth - nothing like that is done here in…

I'm not arguing against the point that China is handling this better than other countries. I'm arguing against the point that it's because they "don't mind suffering." They do mind suffering, but they have no agency, and their government has decided that they must suffer so that the economy can survive this crisis as healthy as possible.

China is an authoritarian country, and they've resorted to literally locking people into their homes until a quarantine period passes, arresting them, and beating them. Can you imagine if American police started locking apartment complex doors from the outside? I don't want to live in a country like that, even if it means we're worse equipped to deal with pandemics.

And let's not forget this whole thing started in China because their food safety regulations aren't adequate.

edit: ah yes, downvotes -- mash that disagree button

Re: 3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

#479

Post by simonswords82 »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #23

A staggering number, and unprecedented in the modern era. I'm not in the US or an America, but my (retired), Father is and for the sake of the people around him and his family I hope this is the point where the American political system - and Republicans in particular - realise that their ideologies are dead. In the UK we saw an Old-Etonian Tory Prime Minister in the space of a couple of weeks: - Effectively national…

Hi Paul, epic post - and so true.

I was watching CNN last night with my Canadian wife (I'm English) and I couldn't believe the BS being thrown around when all we really want to see from the USA is concrete action like what many other nations including the UK has achieved.

Saw your tweet about boycotting companies btw, you'll like this: http://www.whencovidisover.co.uk/

Re: 3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

#480

Post by thematt »

rixrax wrote: post #477
stupandaus wrote: post #24

A few things to note: 1. These figures are only new claims as of 3/21, so the numbers will get worse. 2. This is ~2% of the estimated ~160-165M US Workforce. 3. This is nearly 5x (!) the prior record of 671K new jobless claims from 1982, and redefines the scale for jobless claims. [1] 4. This does not account for the countless gig workers that are part of the modern economy that likely did not file for unemployment s…

And yet DJIA is up almost 1000 points. Is this the stimulus $$$ in work, or what is going on here?

Unlikely. I suspect it's more likely month-end re-balancing.
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