The Smart Thing

 Ultimately the only thing we have is the ability to learn from our past to adjust future behavior.

Some don't learn and repeat the same mistakes.

While the warm weather in the Northern Hemisphere didn't stop the virus it slowed it down as transmission requires an accumulation and closed rooms are more viral.

The fall will result in an uptick and we already see that happening.

As predicted.

It is pretty clear to everyone that certain political events are putting attendees at risk.

How bad is the risk?

Well most people who get Covid19 actually do recover, although some have lingering effects, but some do not.

The death rate is not clear but maybe 1% is not an unreasonable estimate.

That doesn't sound so bad until you understand that it is much higher for those most vulnerable.

It would also be over 3 million people if everyone in the country got it.

The smartest thing would be to take precautions, protect yourself and others by wearing a mask, social distancing and washing your hands.

Not everyone is smart enough or considerate enough to do that.

Who's Better Off?

 The only group that really did well under the current President are people who own stock.

This Isn't insignificant if you consider those who have investment accounts such as 401 Ks  but those who own significant stock or executives with stock options did significantly better.

Even before the virus hit we were mostly enjoying the continuation of the Obama recovery which while a bit less boomy than other post-war recoveries was steady.  The statistics clearly show that we simply had a continuation of pretty much all the trends that started after the financial crisis without the excesses.

The actions taken didn't lead to a great increase in much except to increase profits for many companies which they shared with their stockholders and executives mostly.

The Pandemic has changed that and while the disease itself isn't the Administration's fault the response is.

While we are seeing the predicted fall increase around the world it is clear that we had the worst response of just about anyone.

So if you think America is being fixed the question is what was broken?

Social Justice, Clean Energy and Health Care

 Many people would probably consider the 1950s the golden age of modern America unless of course you are Black. 

There was a seedy underbelly including the mob, poverty, a lot of undiagnosed PTSD and alcoholism, but most of those people stayed out of sight.

On the surface we had a booming economy, lots of jobs, the development of the interstate highway system and suburbs and the early days of television.

It preceded the major disruptions of the 60s although we did have freedom riders and the start of feminism.

If the American dream was ever in reach it was in those years as everyone graduating high school was likely to get a good job since American manufacturing was still dominating most of the world.

This was the time when the baby boomer generation was growing up and they have been so dominant demographically in modern America their nostalgia makes this seem like a Norman Rockwell portrait.

If you were to strip away the nostalgia you would find those years to be full of poverty, racism, misogyny, homophobia and the fear of nuclear destruction.

We have made a lot of progress in many areas and even economically we have created a safety net that while certainly not as good as many European countries allows people to survive, generally.

What has probably changed the most is the loss of manufacturing jobs that once dominated.  Many of those jobs were lost to other countries with lower pay scales or to automation.

These jobs were replaced with service jobs.  

There is only one path for America and that is to adapt to the new economy, keep innovating, keep growing and keep cleaning up from the past.

Social justice, clean energy and guaranteed health care shouldn't really be controversial.

Of course we didn't have those things in the 50s so I guess some view them as problematic.

Can't Fool Mother Nature or Science

 There was a song that hit the charts in the 60s called "I Fought the Law and the Law Won"  It was redone by the Clash and is a very upbeat song with a clear message.

What brings it to mind are the many pictures of events where you see Trump, his family and his supporters ignoring the rules about mask wearing.  Well now the price is being paid.

It was odd at the debate when his whole family came in wearing masks and promptly took them off if defiance of the rules.  Once you start believing your own bullshit you are probably in trouble.

Some things are simply not political and the virus was one of them.  Of course the mishandling of the response is.

I'm actually surprised he got sick because he is a bit of a germaphobe but his favorite network was spreading his lies about it going away and he believes everything he sees there.  Sort of a wheel of dumbness.

His followers are blaming the Democrats or the radical left or I guess antifa.

Some antifa people in action!

Power to the People!

 Our political systems are not reflective of the way we now do politics.  Take the fact that after we vote for President there is over two months before we actually change Presidents.

This lame duck period is somewhat antiquated because of what used to be travel issues.  It is better than what we once had when the change took place even later but its still too long a gap.

Our constitution has served us pretty well but realistically it has parts that need to be fixed.

Do we have any need for the electoral college?

There are many other provisions that could use clarification and redefinition.

Voting rights and equal protection under the law need to be strengthened.

Of course any attempts to change the constitution will be attacked by one of the parties as a power grab.

I guess it would be since the power should be given to the people not the special interests.

It was a good slogan and its still valid.

Power to the People!

Karma?

 Its hard not to feel like Trump getting the virus is a bit of Karma and maybe it is.  Still as a person I wish him either an asymptomatic infection or a speedy recovery.

It highlights the risky behavior has consequences and I imagine many of his rally attendees are also either already infected or carriers.

Of course where and when he got infected is not known.

It does demonstrate that he has accepted risks for other people and apparently himself that were significant.  

When we have a new deadly disease there needs to be an appropriate response.  Most of the world went with lockdowns when maybe mask wearing and social distancing from the beginning would have been effective.

Some countries that seem to have handled it the best did that.  This is not the first corona virus to emerge and the previous two were handled mauch better or we were much luckier.

The H1N1 virus was luckily much less deadly and provided us with a warning.

The group set up to prevent future infections had a plan but since it was set up under the Obama administration Trump eliminated it.

Hence the Karma.

Here We Go Again!

The amount of phony information showing up on social media and elsewhere has picked up again because of  concerted effort to sway voters.  Some of it might even have some actual facts in it but thy are taken out of context and distorted.

This unfortunately starts with the President who continually lies and distorts everywhere he goes.

Since the debate there is a concerted effort to depict Joe Biden as wearing a wire or having an ear piece.  Both have been debunked but that doesn't matter to the lie spreaders.

Of course we will see a lot of innuendo also based on debunked information.

Its not worth spending time trying to disprove most of this because that only serves to spread them further.  Generally you can find mainstream media that debunks them and you can chare them if you want but even that sort of helps propagate the false claims.

We are a month away and I would like to think that everyone outside his base of cult followers can see the truth.

This bombardment of fake items and lies had some impact four years ago and it might even have some again.  

However fool us once shame on you.  Fool us twice, shame on us.