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I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

blogmaverick.com

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Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#2
> And bigger picture, I wanted to know if these are places that I would feel safe taking my family to.

I think this is the most important metric as far as “re-opening the economy” goes but it seems to be largely ignored by politicians.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#3

> And bigger picture, I wanted to know if these are places that I would feel safe taking my family to. I think this is the most important metric as far as “re-opening the economy” goes but it seems to be largely ignored by politicians.

>I think this is the most important metric as far as “re-opening the economy” goes but it seems to be largely ignored by politicians.

Basically all metrics have been ignored. Two weeks ago it was all "We're going to do a phased reopening with checkpoints based on the data.". A few armed protests later and my state (NC) at least is going full YOLO reopening everything but bars, based on absolutely nothing but hopes and prayers. New infections here haven't even remotely peaked, and are still rising by the hundreds every day. This is going to be a catastrophe.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#5

> And bigger picture, I wanted to know if these are places that I would feel safe taking my family to. I think this is the most important metric as far as “re-opening the economy” goes but it seems to be largely ignored by politicians.

>I think this is the most important metric as far as “re-opening the economy” goes but it seems to be largely ignored by politicians. Basically all metrics have been ignored. Two weeks ago it was all "We're going to do a phased reopening with checkpoints based on the data.". A few armed protests later and my state (NC) at least is going full YOLO reopening everything but bars, based on absolutely nothing but hopes an…

It is already a catastrophe, and it looks like it'll just keep getting worse, unless we get lucky somehow, which I'm not counting on.

BTW, most all economists keep pointing the finger back at fixing the public health crisis to fix the economic problems, whatever their political stripes: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/sa...

But we have no coherent plans to do much about the public health crisis at a national level, and the president is busy tweeting out anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#6
What the fuck is up with those comments? I mean the answer is obvious, but still. At that point, just shut them off.

As for the actual topic, it's almost as if "closed" or "open" isn't the entirety of the subject? It seems like we could be dealing with some kind of underlying meatspace problem that needs to be addressed before things can go back to "normal". Who knew?! (/s)

Months ago it was apparent that this virus was going to cause an absolute clusterfuck in the US due to decrepit infrastructure and a failed society ethos. What I couldn't imagine was just how slow the train wreck would be. I guess we're all stuck generally inside and washing groceries for the next year while the idiots cheerlead their simplistic ignorance, and expendable employees are put through the meat grinder to keep the economy simulating.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#7

Wow, the comments on that blog are a dumpster fire.

Internet comments almost always are, outside of a few niche communities. HN seems to have some of the better discussions on the internet, but it's obviously not perfect either.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#8

> And bigger picture, I wanted to know if these are places that I would feel safe taking my family to. I think this is the most important metric as far as “re-opening the economy” goes but it seems to be largely ignored by politicians.

I wouldn't say it's been ignored, I think it's more accurate to say that there is an uncomfortable and at times stark difference between politicians who attempt to address the issue by making things safer, and politicians who attempt to normalize the danger with rhetoric.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#9

> And bigger picture, I wanted to know if these are places that I would feel safe taking my family to. I think this is the most important metric as far as “re-opening the economy” goes but it seems to be largely ignored by politicians.

Furthermore, we have 75k dead. If we think we've peaked, this means we lose another 75k on the way down. And of course nobody with any opinion worth considering thinks we have peaked. So it looks like we could easily break 200k... If people weren't spending money out before, it'll be twice as worse.

TL;DR If you don't fix the biology, you will not get the economy sorted. This will just make everything worse. Totally backfire.

Re: I hired a team of shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

#10

> And bigger picture, I wanted to know if these are places that I would feel safe taking my family to. I think this is the most important metric as far as “re-opening the economy” goes but it seems to be largely ignored by politicians.

“Re-open the economy” talk has reached levels of collective delusion that I honestly find frightening. And it’s not a partisan issue either.

We have the example of successful responses in places like South Korea and Taiwan, none of whose standard the US seems intent, or maybe even capable, of meeting. Instead, people in the US cling to phony performances of leadership by their various authoritarians, whether it be Andrew Cuomo for Democrats or Trump for Republicans.

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