Re: Arguing that Republicans couldn't manage an economy if they wanted to
A few days ago I saw an interview with Conn. Governor Ned Lamont:
One big problem that he pointed out is that he's faced with an upcoming medical care emergency where he'll need every healthcare professional he can get and more, but right now he has 200 who are self-quarantined because they were exposed to the virus and he cannot get them tested. He foresees a spike in cases within a week or so and he's losing nurses every day.
He doesn't cover why it is that we don't have the testing that we need weeks after other countries have implemented successful widespread testing. My understanding is that those other countries made use of the tests that the World Health Organization (WHO) provided to all countries, but the US refused those tests. Why? I haven't heard an explanation for it, but it has put us about a month behind the curve on our way towards an Italian trajectory. A possibility is that it was done in the search for profit (eg, for pharma companies to be able to get patents on their own testing and treatment products).
That's one way in which our privatized healthcare system poses a danger for public health in an emergency (let alone in daily life). In another interview which I cannot locate, he pointed out how privatized healthcare is not geared towards the necessary preparations for large-scale medical emergencies such as we are not facing. You need to have facilities standing by with stockpiles of beds and other equipment (eg, ventilators, masks, gloves). You need to have a network of local hospitals. There's no profit in stockpiling equipment or owning unused emergency facilities, so private healthcare companies will not do it. In order to make a profit, you need to minimize your expenses so they're going to maintain no more facilities than they need given normal numbers of patients; they are not going to want to bear the burden of the extra expense of stockpiling for an emergency. They are not going to bear the expense of keeping open hospitals that don't turn a profit, such as rural hospitals (which have been closing down often because they're in red states that have refused Medicaid funding) -- nor will they keep those closed facilities but will sell the properties instead.
It takes government to do the planning and stockpiling and preparation for emergencies such as a pandemic; private industry will not do it. GOP calls to privatize all these functions is therefore a recipe for disaster. Such as we now witness unfolding.
quote:A new Economist/YouGov poll of American voters has found that Fox News viewers are far more likely than consumers of other news outlets to be unconcerned about the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the poll, just 38 percent of Fox News viewers say they’re worried about the virus, compared to 74 percent of MSNBC viewers, 71 percent of CNN viewers, and 68 percent of people who watch broadcast network news.
Additionally, writes The Economist’s G. Elliott Morris, just 30 percent of Fox viewers believe that the virus will cause a recession, compared to 75 percent of CNN viewers and 73 percent of MSNBC viewers. These views on the virus come at a time when even Trump-friendly economists are saying that the economy will contract in the coming months and result in devastating job losses.
Many observers on the internet were shocked at the new poll and some suggested labeling Fox News as a threat to public health.
As Trump has recently been forced to remind everyone, he has been relentlessly hammering on the critical seriousness of the coronavirus threat all along. This reminder has been met with the usual leftist lies, such as this collection of obviously manufactured video:
quote:In a direct contradiction of an order from Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards against large gatherings in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, a Baton Rouge area church welcomed in hundreds of parishioners for a service this Tuesday.
Here's an opinion piece by lyin' George Conway, Kellyanne’s husband, who refuses to acknowledge the magnificence that is Trump: There is no new Trump. A short excerpt:
quote:But the sudden shift can’t conceal the fact that Trump has shown himself to be wholly inept at dealing with the pandemic. It doesn’t change the fact that he puts himself first, always. It doesn’t alter the fact that, as he once told top aides, he thinks of each presidential day as an episode in a television show in which he vanquishes rivals. It doesn’t dissolve Trump’s compulsion to lie, even when truth would serve him best. It doesn’t diminish his incompetence, ignorance or propensity for administrative chaos.
For the truth, of course, we need only turn to Trump. His handling of the crisis has been "perfect," a "10 out of 10."
I used to like George Will, but he's lost me completely in his Never-Trumper phase. In the context of the neverending attacks on Trump it's clearly Trump's sense of humor that led him to make the comment about President's Day but Trump's enemies have no sense of humor whatever.
so he was handling it fine when he declared it a hoax? or now when he claims to have known it was pandemic all along.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds soon I discovered that this rock thing was true Jerry Lee Lewis was the devil Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet All of a sudden i found myself in love with the world And so there was only one thing I could do Was ding a ding dang my dang along ling long - Jesus Built my Hotrod Ministry Live every week like it's Shark Week! - Tracey Jordan Just a monkey in a long line of kings. - Matthew Good If "elitist" just means "not the dumbest motherfucker in the room", I'll be an elitist! - Get Your War On *not an actual doctor
edit: nevermind I should resist arguing with worshippers of the golden/bronzed calf
Edited by DrJones*, : No reason given.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds soon I discovered that this rock thing was true Jerry Lee Lewis was the devil Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet All of a sudden i found myself in love with the world And so there was only one thing I could do Was ding a ding dang my dang along ling long - Jesus Built my Hotrod Ministry Live every week like it's Shark Week! - Tracey Jordan Just a monkey in a long line of kings. - Matthew Good If "elitist" just means "not the dumbest motherfucker in the room", I'll be an elitist! - Get Your War On *not an actual doctor
Trump never declared the pandemic a hoax, he declared the Leftist hype about it the hoax,...
Yes, that's what DrJones* meant. Here's Trump's actually words:
Trump was speaking about Democratic expressions of concern in February. Given what has happened in the intervening weeks, can these concerns reasonably be characterized as "hype" or a "hoax"? Weren't the Democrats far more accurate about what was coming than Trump, who among other things predicted that the number of infections would soon drop to zero? Is the difference between what Trump was saying several weeks ago and what he's saying now apparent to you?
The ornate "T" in the upper left is for the UK newspaper The Telegraph.
Shouldn't even you be getting tired of the incessant attacks on Trump about absolutely everything, now including the Corona virus? As he says in the video his administration's response to the problem has been early and effective but they continue to attack him anyway. Yes Trump too often speaks in hyperbole, you can get him on that but not to the extent he's usually subjected to. In responding to the attacks he overstates things he then has to take back. Those who support him might be more inclined to comment on these errors if it weren't for the incessant overkill from his enemies. Their incessant attacks are the hoax.
But the reality is that he and his so called administration did NOT move early even though they had been briefed on exactly this type of a situation back in 2017 before he even took office.
The man is simply totally incompetent snake-oil medicine man and you and all other the suckers are begging to buy his embrocation.
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