Another Friday, and my four readers know it is time for another edition of "signs the economy is bad." Let's see what we have this week.
Education News
- Colleges and universities are concerned that many prospective students may choose to take a gap year and/or delay enrollment due to COVID-19 concerns. Via Inside Higher Ed. I can't say I blame them. I work in higher education, and the college is talking about bringing people back (faculty and staff as well as students), and yes, I have concerns about how much or how little they can guarantee my health and safety. Sure, I can be responsible, take precautions, etc., but as often the case the problem is the other people who are not as responsible, and the colleges can't (or won't) enforce guidelines.
- To try to lure prospective students, and possibly keep some current students who may be considering transfer to cheaper places or just dropping out, some colleges are working to offer tuition bargains. Via Inside Higher Ed. So, all this time colleges are charging exorbitant, obscene levels of tuition, and now they can be "magnanimous" and suddenly offer a discount. Uh huh.
- Nature magazine has a piece on how the virus will change higher ed in terms of online teaching and the bad economic situation many campuses are facing.
- With public schools closing, due to the virus, education overall has been declining. One of the big things declining are specific services, like access to special education specialists for students who have needs. Story via Reuters.
- Another problem with school being closed? Well, without schools and day cares, you can't really fully open the economy. Story via Hechinger Report. Where the hell are parents who need to get back to work going to park their kids all day?
Rural News
- Rural areas in the U.S. could see a rise in mental health issues, oh, and a rise in suicides too. Via Daily Yonder.
- And if you wonder why rural roads are often so bad and fucked up, well, they are not going to get fixed anytime soon. Turns out rural roads are facing a $211 billion backlog for any repairs and improvements. Story via Daily Yonder. Why is this a problem? Well, in addition to things like potholes, bad roads, making traffic more difficult, if your town is known as that hick hell hole with almost impassable roads, it means your local economy is going to suffer as well. If you are a farmer, you have a harder time moving your products to market, so on. However, in the U.S. there is always plenty of money and will to keep militarizing the police. I guess it boils down to priorities.
Government News
- Speaking of militarizing the police and spending excessive amounts of money on police departments, GQ has a look at how major cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis just keep piling money on their police departments. FTA: "It’s kinda wild seeing pics of so many police officers all over the USA wearing so much paramilitary gear they look like Robocops while some doctors in our hospitals are still wearing garbage bags for PPE." Again, it boils down to priorities.
- Meanwhile, the U.S. military is getting ready in case the Pendejo In Chief does deploy troops to suppress the protests (something he did threaten to do; this story via New York Magazine). So just in case the Pentagon is seeking permission to recall more retirees into active duty. Story via Federation of American Scientists, which includes the link to the Pentagon document.
Health and Medical News
- ProPublica looks at why, as for many business, getting taken over by some private management firm is basically the kiss of death. This time, it's hospitals getting fucked over by the private management company.
In Other News of the Bad Economy
- In other things that you may not be thinking about at this moment, the COVID-19 pandemic could bring a wave of bankruptcies, especially for businesses. Via HBS Working Knowledge. According to the article, “The pandemic analogy is particularly apt, in that if the number of new filings is sufficiently high, the bankruptcy courts, like hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, could be overwhelmed.” Yea, it is going to get gruesome.
- As if things were not bad enough for U.S. businesses, the U.S. economy is heavily dependent and reliant on its people shopping, buying, eating out, etc. In other words, this is mainly a consumer economy. The question is what happens when the people cannot afford to go shopping and eating out anymore, and/or they just don't feel like doing it anymore. This story via BuzzFeed explores that question.Small FTA: "The supply chain is broken; the social safety net is in shambles. And a whole lot of things we thought of as needs have revealed themselves to be pretty deeply unnecessary."
- Not bad enough yet? Well, U.S. politicians like Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick did say that old people should be willing to sacrifice themselves to get the economy open sooner (see this story in Vanity Fair, but it is widely available in other media if you search for it). Then again, we could say this is just Texas, where a lot of the population are Party of Stupid assholes anyhow; that is the guy they elected to public office, and I am sure a lot of seniors voted for him. Then again, this throw the old people under the bus may well be part of the GOP platform (story via Daily Beast). And yet seniors fairly consistently keep voting GOP. Anyhow, why is this all a big deal? Well, here is finally the story I am trying to lead to: in Chicago's subsidized housing for the elderly, a good number of those expendable old people are dying. Story via ProPublica. And they are not just dying. They are dying alone and unnoticed because due to social distancing rules and lack of proper monitoring no one is noticing they are dying, until someone finally finds a corpse that may be starting to smell. I honestly wonder if this kind of development is something Dan Patrick would not mind emulating back in Texas.
- The national food supply has been disrupted by the pandemic due to things like virus outbreaks in meat plants. Michael Pollan in The New York Review of Books has an overview on "the sickness in our food supply." For your consideration: "The juxtaposition of images in the news of farmers destroying crops and dumping milk with empty supermarket shelves or hungry Americans lining up for hours at food banks tells a story of economic efficiency gone mad."
- Now here is a business that could close down permanently, and to be honest, I could not care less: movie theaters. The Dallas Observer reports that the AMC theaters chain might not be able to remain in business much longer due to the pandemic. I stopped going to any movie theater years ago once I realized they were nothing more than expensive movie screens populated by audiences of uncouth bad behaved obnoxious loud assholes who can't shut the fuck up during a movie and a management that does nothing about it. So I gave up on movie theaters and have not set a foot in one for years. So in this case, to be honest, if the pandemic closes AMC and the rest of them down, I am cool with that. Besides, these days there are plenty of streaming options for movies new and old that you can do in the peace and comfort of your home.
- Overall, let me bottom line things for you all here: "It's not that I'm negative, America is really screwed." Via Eudamonia and Company. Some of what is in the article I have been saying for a while, but I am not a pundit. This article does get a lot right. but this is the bottom line: "The economics of American collapse say that it’s probably too late to fix America. It’s probable that this is the new normal. Chaos, decline, incompetence, malice, poverty, hopelessness, despair." The empire has passed the turning point, and it is all down hill from here now to oblivion. You were warned. Signs were all over, but oh well, Americans always choose the most selfish option possible, the old "I've got mine Jack, so fuck you" mantra. Now the bill is due. If this was Tarot, we are drawing the Judgement-XX card now, and the next card to be drawn is likely the Death-XIII card.
Hustlin' in the Bad Economy
This week we have a couple of stories of folks who are trying to hustle and make it in the Bad Economy, which reminds me I should work on developing a side hustle or two in the Hard Times.
- If tattoo parlors can survive the closings of the pandemic, they can be well positioned for a boom in people wanting to get tattoos. Story via GQ.
- Renaissance fairs and pagan festivals are turning to the Internet to make do in this bad economy. Story via Insider.
Uber Rich
- Not everyone is suffering in the Bad Economy. In fact, for the richest billionaires, their fortunes are increasing as they profit during the pandemic. Story via Salon. Sure they may have taken a loss or two in stocks, but that is pocket change to them, like the money you and I scrape together from coins under the couch cushions in the hopes we have enough for a takeout pizza. For them, "American billionaires have seen their fortunes increase by $434 billion since the start of the pandemic. . .". As I said, no everyone is suffering. The Real Owners are doing just fine.
- And finally for this week, if you are one of the uber rich, and you got some money to burn, and would like to make a donation to a cause dear to your rich money grubbing heart, you can always "pay" $580,600 to get your picture taken with President Trump. The fundraiser does include dinner for two, so you get food AND a lifetime priceless memory. Story via Mother Jones.
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