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Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

bloomberg.com

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Re: Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

#221

Post by rubyist5eva »

ctoth wrote: post #201

Whenever I think about the situation in China it makes me wonder why the Chinese government is spending so much political capital to keep people from getting infected by such an incredibly transmissible disease. I had this idea that China was run by engineer types who were fairly rational. From the initial denial that there was any disease at all, to later saying it wasn't transmissible between humans, to the obvious…

Governments - and to a greater extend Dictatorships - are very rarely rational when it comes to saving face or keeping grip on whatever little power they've managed to grab for themselves.

Re: Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

#222

Post by rubyist5eva »

electrondood wrote: post #134

How exactly is "zero-COVID" supposed to end? It seems like China are committed to extreme measures like this in perpetuity any time there is a future outbreak, which will happen.

Covid-zero is just a lie. It's only about totalitarian control over the populace and constant state of fear.

Re: Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

#223

Post by lordnacho »

abeppu wrote: post #164
_fat_santa wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been following the situation and it's absolutely wild. It all stems from their Zero covid policy, they are the only country still perusing it, to the absolute detriment and destruction of everything else it seems. With how fast Omicron spreads, zero-covid is simply untenable these days but China is trying... The basic report is that people are starving. The government has provided food but the food situation is…

Everyone other than the Chinese government seems to agree that a zero covid policy isn't realistic anymore. And empirically, they haven't succeeded. But ... why is that the case? Why _doesn't_ an ultra-strict lockdown for this long prevent spread (and allow existing cases to resolve)? What are the remaining opportunities for it to spread? Throughout 2021, I had sort of told myself that most of the harms of the pandem…

When something has an r similar to measles, ie naturally spreads to 12-18 people, it's probably not just people you are in contact with who can catch it from you. Perhaps particles sit in the air and float really far, or door handles, that kind of thing that might mean eliminating contacts doesn't even help. Basically you won't even know why infected you when rates are that high.

Re: Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

#224

Post by cyberlurker »

diogenescynic wrote: post #123
nerdponx wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American media I think is completely done with Covid reporting, realizing that they have exhausted the public's appetite for it. It's hard to avoid the temptation to blame the news media for the pseudo-populist dysfunction of the American political system at the moment.

They moved on to Ukraine and inflation.

Are these not important issues?

Although I will add inflation is exacerbated by belief in inflation, which can make over reporting a self-fulfilling prophecy. But there are other causes and I don't think it is over reported.

Re: Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

#225

Post by WalterBright »

The lockdowns in the US have been incredibly expensive. There's the massive increase in the national debt, high inflation with no end in sight, a couple years lost for students, etc. The national debt is so high now it's possible we've passed a tipping point where it will result in a collapse of the currency.

And yet people get Covid anyway.

Re: Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

#226

Post by [deleted] »

_fat_santa wrote: post #208
ctoth wrote: post #201

Whenever I think about the situation in China it makes me wonder why the Chinese government is spending so much political capital to keep people from getting infected by such an incredibly transmissible disease. I had this idea that China was run by engineer types who were fairly rational. From the initial denial that there was any disease at all, to later saying it wasn't transmissible between humans, to the obvious…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_(sociological_concept)

[deleted]

Re: Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

#227

Post by CorrectHorseBat »

NeutralCrane wrote: post #159
DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Economist's model is complete nonsense when it comes to China. The Economist trained a black box machine learning algorithm on data from a bunch of countries that let the virus rip, and then blindly applied the resulting model to China. Garbage in, garbage out. From April 2020 through the end of 2021, people in China were out and about, living their lives almost as normal. Nobody knew anyone who was getting sick,…

> From April 2020 through the end of 2021, people in China were out and about, living their lives almost as normal. Nobody knew anyone who was getting sick, much less dying. The hospitals weren't overflowing. Almost nowhere was under lockdown. During this time, the Economist's model spits out a death toll of over a million. China has 4x the number of people living there as the US. Back in November 2020, approximately…

I don't live in the USA, but since the beginning of 2020 until now basically everyone I know has had covid. No direct contacts I know went to the hospital or died, but I also don't know that many people who are older.

My friends in China on the other hand know no one who has had covid, let alone someone who went to the hospital or died. That could maybe be media control, but I don't buy it. They tried that in Wuhan and it miserable failed, why would it suddenly work now?

And how do you explain they didn't have mass lockdowns for 2 years and now they are back? These lockdowns are super unpopular and wreck the economy so I don't see why they would do it unless really necessary.

Re: Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

#228

Post by maigret »

WalterBright wrote: post #225

The lockdowns in the US have been incredibly expensive. There's the massive increase in the national debt, high inflation with no end in sight, a couple years lost for students, etc. The national debt is so high now it's possible we've passed a tipping point where it will result in a collapse of the currency. And yet people get Covid anyway.

Getting COVID today is way less dangerous than getting it two years ago.

Re: Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

#229

Post by cyberlurker »

RektBoy wrote: post #189
yalogin wrote: post #43

I did not realize there is such a strict lockdown even now. Somehow missed that news cycle. However that makes me wonder if the other countries in the world like India and major parts of the US even test now. I mean unless it’s absolutely clear it’s covid they probably don’t test and go on with their lives.

What do you expect from China? Oppression on multiple levels is basically their most used tool. I'm curious if Chinese people will fight back somehow, or like always turn their heads down like sheep.

You mean like Tiananmen Square? Also the west needs to stop ignoring the oppression for business. (Hollywood, NBA, etc.)

Re: Not a single car was sold in Shanghai last month

#230

Post by zardinality »

zardinality wrote: post #216
markus92 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they even have usable vaccines? Their Sinovac/Sinopharm vaccines were reasonably effective in preventing severe COVID in the non-elderly pre-omicron, but they don't seem to be too effective against omicron. Most countries using the Chinese vaccines had the "benefit" of having a ton of natural immunity as well. China obviously does not have this. They might seriously have to consider importing Western vaccines as b…

Sinovac is effective to omicron but only with the third booster. In contrast, Pfizer is almost as effective as sinovac with merely two shots in preventing the COVID. So the problem there first is not why they don't import Pfizer, it is why they do not even have sinovac booster. The answer here is simple: the government do not enforce anybody to get vaccinated. No one. If you missed a corona test at 7am you might be g…

Ok I now recall some counterpoints I only heard from my family. In the local community, community workers do visit the seniors to sell off vaccines. So that indeed prove the government did not forget this part. But they certainly not enforce it. To think in other ways, if they should enforced it, maybe it will be even an earlier disaster.
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