Saturday, May 02, 2020

Three Data Points And Surrealism

Apparently, Virginia will be locked down forever.
Meanwhile, herd immunity seems to have begun.

Finally, the minimum wage is now $25 an hour.
Unemployment is becoming a gigantic problem that is turning out to be much bigger than anyone anticipated. As Chart #1 shows, some 30 million people have been added to the ranks of the unemployed in the past six weeks, and virtually all of them from the ranks of the private sector. That means that about 25% of private sector employees have lost their jobs! The 30 million newly-minted jobless are not hopeless, at least yet. Thanks to the generosity of Congress (it's always easy to spend other people's money, isn't it?), the average weekly unemployment check now resides in the princely neighborhood of $1000 per week, or $25 per hour. Congress has effectively raised the minimum wage to $25/hr. by boosting weekly unemployment checks by $600/wk through the end of July.
Surrealism Summary: Words on paper and agreements made in staff meetings in Sacramento and DC aren't necessarily reality. If the people decide to ignore them, they're just words.

11 comments:

Ilíon said...

"Does he think Viriginians are stupid???"

What a silly question, unless it's rhetorical.

Ohioan@Heart said...

The Goober of Virginia doesn't think the people are stupid. He knows they voted for him, and that means they ARE stupid. Besides he knows the Democrats are so tied to their catechism that they actually think the curve will go down, if he says it will. I mean clearly none of them understand math, but if we want it to go down it will.

As to the protests demanding an end to government tyranny that are beginning to happen all over the country. About time.

Ilíon said...

My point, exactly.

K T Cat said...

How about this instead: It's not that voters are stupid, it's that the press isn't doing it's job. When some dude or dudette politician comes on the TV and yaps at us, especially if it's on the 6 PM news, chances are good his prattle is in the background as we make dinner or help Johnny with his giraffe costume for the school play. Even if we're paying more attention than that, most of us haven't been perusing news and information all day. We're coming into the conversation cold.

Meanwhile, the hairhats in the press have been perusing news and information all day, or at least they were supposed to be doing that. It's their job to spot the silliness and poke at it, not ours. That obvious logical fallacies are making it past them without objection is failure on their part, forcing us to do more work.

I hate doing more work. I've got enough of my own to have to do their jobs, too.

By the way, I don't single out the Ds here. I would suggest that almost all politicians, regardless of party, are the jocks and prom queens from high school. I wouldn't want any of them running any more of my life than absolutely necessary. As much as I love Kay Ivey's accent, I want her power strictly defined and limited.

Bear, on the other hand, is another matter. I might give him a bit more leeway. :-)

Ohioan@Heart said...

Bear for President!

K T Cat said...

It's embarrassing to think about how many times I've watched that ad just to hear her say, "My dog Bayuh."

I laugh every time.

I found it because the Down in Alabama podcast listed it as one of the most Alabama things of the year in their Christmas roundup a year ago. They loved her over-the-top accent.

Foxfier said...

First time I yelled at the radio about the kung flu was when the yao-yao-head said something to the effect that "the death toll continues to rise."

"What do you think it's going to do, drop?"

I know it's a standard phrase, but for heaven's sake!

K T Cat said...

Foxie, if the death toll drops, just remember - you have to shoot zombies in the head to kill them.

Ohioan@Heart said...

I assume that the total dropping is possible under the non-patriarchal math that the ‘woke’ use.

K T Cat said...

Ohioan, how does your answer make you feel?

Ohioan@Heart said...

Truth makes me feel good. Delusions make me sad.

So *my* answer makes me feel good.