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3.28M file for U.S. jobless benefits

wsj.com

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

#651

Post by vkou »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #650
vkou wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given how poorly the rest of the world reacted after getting two months of advance warning, I can't think of more than three countries that could have contained this outbreak. Fingerpointing at China when they reacted far more decisively then the West did seems... A tad off the mark. If this originated in Milan, Kansas, or Bangalore, we'd all be in the exact same boat today. Hell, if the outbreak started in Kansas, w…

Not sure it is fair to say that the world really had advanced warning from China. They were saying everything was okay and people-people transmission is low. All trust was lost, so time was reset when Italy was hit, that is the real time zero, because no one trusts China.

> They were saying everything was okay and people-people transmission is low.

For the first two weeks of January.

When they got to the point of locking down an entire city, it became pretty clear to everyone that it was a serious situation.

We looked at that, and did... Nothing.

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

#652

Post by irq11 »

ImaCake wrote: post #583
tuna-piano wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is a false choice. As Bill gates said, we can't say- "Hey, keep going to restaurants, go buy new houses, ignore that pile of bodies over in the corner. We want you to keep spending because there’s maybe a politician who thinks GDP growth is all that counts" The truth is that it seems our choice is relatively simple: 1) Allow the virus to spread rapidly, overload the health system, kill many people, until…

People just dont get exponentials. They don't understand that if you get a total of a million cases in a week's time, most of those cases appear on day 6. They can't see how 1/7th of those cases turns into a million. Every country should be hoping that whoever calls the shots understands math.

People just don’t get sigmoids. They don’t understand that herd immunity quickly starts to slow the local spread of a virus in a region, and that you can’t model the entire population of a country like bouncy balls in a box. Every country should be hoping that whomever calls the shots understands math better than the average HN commenter.

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

#653

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

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

#654

Post by tree3 »

ithinkinstereo wrote: post #289
csomar wrote: post #146

> A week ago, he said he had “a good middle-class job” which paid him $35.50 an hour plus health care and retirement benefits. Now he is struggling to figure out how he’ll pay a $300 electric bill and $1,000 in rent for his townhouse. He also lost his health insurance. You make $35.5/hour in (I suppose?) a stable job but if the work stops for a week, you struggle with a $300 bill? I know some people are living payche…

I went to my local 7-11 a couple of weeks ago to get some cash at the ATM. Next to it was a garbage bin for throwing away your receipt. Out of curiosity, I went through about a dozen and not a single one had a balance above $1,000. Most were below $500. There is little financial literacy in this country. Basic lessons about opening a bank account, the difference between checkings and savings, etc. is not something th…

How is this evidence of low financial literacy? It appears like this is evidence of the existence of poverty...

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

#655

Post by pyuser583 »

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…

We do know what is happening in the camps. There have been numerous leaks, and accounts of former residents.

There’s no ambiguity. The only way “we don’t know” is if we chose to be ignorant.

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

#656

Post by freepor »

_ea1k wrote: post #384
taylodl wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhere there is an architect saying "I told you so!" I can almost guarantee the requirement was to handle several hundred requests per day, an architect pointed out if we get deluged then we won't be able to handle it, so maybe they were able to get them to allow for one or two thousand requests per day. Now of course we don't know what the architecture of this system is and what the deltas in cost would have been…

I think that is small-think. The technical solution is only part of the problem and scaling up all systems to meet the .1% case seldom makes sense. They were smart to save 5-10%.

The 0.1% case happens. And if it’s going to seriously wreck lives when it happens then you should solve for it. Does Instagram need to handle the 0.1% case? No. But the unemployment website should.

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

#658

Post by pyuser583 »

saiya-jin wrote: post #367
mrkramer wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany lost 2 World Wars and today it has greater GDP than UK by $1 trillion. It doesn't matter who is hit harder it matters whose economy is more efficient and has more innovations.

Not much comparable. Just a random difference - Germany was quickly rebuilt because allies want it to be rebuilt, and not let impoverished and destroyed like after WWI. We know how that ended... When talking about efficiency, I think China might have the upper hand now - they are much more effective in discipline, they don't mind suffering things that are unacceptable for us, and look where they are with COVID - ahea…

Interesting - the Chinese economy isn’t known for efficiency or discipline. It’s known for its massive scale.

China has been trying to increase its economic efficiency and discipline, but generally failing.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/09/19/chi...

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

#659

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

csense wrote: post #553
ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot more are falling through the cracks in a good economy than 1%. About what, 10% are poor in the US?

One friend I had in school qualified for free school lunch, so presumably below the poverty line. His parents had a house , with a yard . There was air conditioning, cable TV, and each child had his own room. I distinctly remember a nearly-server-class PC much better specced than anything my family owned (a dual-processor desktop in the 1990's!) Poverty stats don't tell the whole story, especially if they're only bas…

You just proved that though - owning a house, with a yard, is not a sign of wealth in most of the US. There are plenty of cheap houses, with yards, to go around. Just not in places most people want to live, leading to less wages and less opportunity because of the lack of jobs.

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

#660

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #575
ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that NOW people are concerned with this impact from the economy, yet when people became alcoholics from getting fired when the economy was good, no one seems to care.

A healthy and growing economy with low unemployment is a boon to the poor, sick, and alcoholic. The entire purpose of pursuing a healthy economy is that improves the quality of life for the citizens. Continuing to hold this position now is not hypocritical. There is always a tradeoff. The virus will kill X and reduce the quality of life for Y people. The economic disruption will kill Z people and reduce the quality o…

Quality of life is not a defined term.

There is a difference between trading my life, or trading a new laptop now instead of saving for it. That is what we are looking at here.

So even if my quality of life goes down, food/health/shelter contributes the majority to that, probably 85%. The rest is all worthless junk.

If the economy is failing to the extent that food is in short supply - that is different. There is no indication that will happen.

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