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[MrRoboto75]

I've noticed this week I get that covid stimulus check.  A whole 1200 for me, although I really didn't need any check.

[Akura]

I've noticed this week I get that covid stimulus check.  A whole 1200 for me, although I really didn't need any check.

I noticed mine a few days ago, post-dated until this Wednesday though.

[McTraveller]

Some people we know just got a letter from the IRS.  Their federal tax return was rejected because their SSN was listed as deceased.  I feel bad for them - it takes forever to get stuff like that fixed in normal times, and they can't even get a response from the SSA office due to the virus.

Also I'm curious - did the social distancing of the Spanish Flu result in huge unemployment? I know their measures were effective, but did they close down workplaces?  Or did it not matter as much then because agriculture was so much higher a percentage of the economy that it is today?  Given that, I don't think we can compare the economic recovery in 1918-1919 to what we have today when so much more of the economy is based on "nonessential" activity.

Some stuff I found from BLS: Farming workforce was 20% of employment in 1929 (I couldn't find earlier) and less than 3% in 1998; 2018 apparently was only 0.5%!

So I think that is a non-trivial difference in trying to compare the previous social distancing measures with current ones.

[delphonso]

My grandmother pointed out that her elders never talked about the Spanish Flu. Which I guess is good evidence we'll forget about this in 6 months.

[MrRoboto75]

Which I guess is good evidence we'll forget about this in 6 months.

Forget about what

[Lord Shonus]

My grandmother pointed out that her elders never talked about the Spanish Flu. Which I guess is good evidence we'll forget about this in 6 months.

There's a difference between "never talking about that horrible event" and "forgot about it". My grandfather never talked about The War when he was alive, but I doubt he'd forgotten about it.


Any economic effects of the 1918 flu would have been swallowed in the postwar economic effects, to the point where trying to separate them is pure folly.

[Iduno]

Some stuff I found from BLS: Farming workforce was 20% of employment in 1929 (I couldn't find earlier) and less than 3% in 1998; 2018 apparently was only 0.5%!

So I think that is a non-trivial difference in trying to compare the previous social distancing measures with current ones.

Does that include seasonal (migrant) workers or, more recently, slaves from local prisons?

[misko27]

Well you may be familiar with Wisconsin which recently held an in-person election despite lobbying from Democrats to postpone it, delay it, do it by mail, or anything that does not involve mass spreading of Coronavirus. The state's republican legislature refused, as did the Wisconsin Supreme Court (which met virtually to force voters to show up in person during a stay-at-home order), as well as the US Supreme Court. The election was marked by dysfunction and huge lines, particularly in the state's biggest city and liberal bastion Milwaukee, as poll walkers dropped out due to the risk of their health and social distancing suffered. The situation with absentee ballots was awful, turnout as depressed as you can imagine, and just generally a right mess.

Well the Presidential primaries were as you can imagine, but in the other statewide election,the liberal challenger won out over Trump's pick, for a seat in the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

[delphonso]

The story is worse than that, misko27. Most polling locations closed since there weren't enough volunteers to keep the usual ones open, further estranging voters from their chance to vote. Green Bay dropped down to about 2 places to vote across the entire city.

[Reelya]

My grandmother pointed out that her elders never talked about the Spanish Flu. Which I guess is good evidence we'll forget about this in 6 months.

There's a difference between "never talking about that horrible event" and "forgot about it". My grandfather never talked about The War when he was alive, but I doubt he'd forgotten about it.


Any economic effects of the 1918 flu would have been swallowed in the postwar economic effects, to the point where trying to separate them is pure folly.

That's not necessarily correct.

Here are some general figures for the 1918 flu's economic effects:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/coronavirus-great-influenza-pandemic-covid19-prepared-outbreak/

While here are the specifics of some recent research:
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/column-coronavirus-lockdowns%3A-can-we-learn-from-the-1918-influenza-pandemic-kemp-2020-04-0

The claim lockdowns have both health and economic benefits has been most forcefully made in a paper published by three researchers from the Federal Reserve System and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu”, was published by Sergio Correia, Stephan Luck and Emil Verner on March 26.
...
“We find that cities that intervened earlier and more aggressively do not perform worse and, if anything, grow faster after the pandemic is over,” they conclude.
...
“Our analysis yields two main insights. First, we find that areas that were more severely affected by the 1918 Flu Pandemic see a sharp and persistent decline in real economic activity.

“Second, we find that early and extensive NPIs have no adverse effect on local economic outcomes. On the contrary, cities that intervened earlier and more aggressively experience a relative increase in real economic activity after the pandemic.

“Altogether, our findings suggest that pandemics can have substantial economic costs, and NPIs can have economic merits, beyond lowering mortality.”

[wierd]

But that's just a rational extrapolation of the stanford marshmallow there Reelya!

You cant possibly expect rich people, who are addicted to instant gratification, to accept a delayed reward--- You just can't!

THOSE PLEBEIANS NEED TO GO BACK TO WORK RIGHT NOW, don't you understand!?

I mean, they can't do anything without the approval of the president of the united states-- Obviously!

Those states have to open, -- they have to open, and those people have to get out and do things!

Because the authority of the president of the united states, over the subject being discussed, is total. Yes-- total.

/s

[scriver]

So you were sarcastic about being sarcastic?

[wierd]

No, just redundant.


--There, I fixed it.

[misko27]

The story is worse than that, misko27. Most polling locations closed since there weren't enough volunteers to keep the usual ones open, further estranging voters from their chance to vote. Green Bay dropped down to about 2 places to vote across the entire city.

Yeah Milwaukee was down from 180 poll sites to five. Which is, uh, not very many poll sites. Less blatant attempts to steal an election have ended up in prison. Instead the delicious irony that is failure will have to suffice..

[thompson]

So... if the Republitards lose a few more of these, any chance they’ll realise forcing their mostly older male voters out to the booths isn’t going to work for them?