The coronavirus

mrussel1

bbiggs said:

bootlegger10 said:

Everyone I talk to in different markets is saying house sales are booming (less inventory so lots of demand and competition).  Great time to be selling a house in a lot of areas (and bad for me who wants to buy one). 

Precisely.  Seller's market.  I'm pleasantly surprised at how well housing has gone this year and how demand hasn't waned.  Let's hope it continues.

Rates are ridiculously low.  I just refinanced down to 2 and change, keeping the term the same and still cut the payment materially. 

brianlux

bbiggs said:

F Me In The Brain said:

The Juggler said:

So now they’re making hospitals report cases directly to the White house instead of the cdc?

We are so fucked. Most people aren’t going to pay attention to that. They’re just going to see the numbers magically go down...meanwhile people will still be getting sick and dying. 

It’s like we’re living in a. Science fiction horror movie 

I think I'm getting close from changing gears on this whole thing....was looking to buy another property before and take advantage and now I'm thinking I should be selling my house, pocketing what I make on that and downsizing or moving to a much cheaper area, stat.
The need to fly weekly is gone for the foreseeable future and all reasons to be nearby a city are also muted to dead for the foreseeable future.
Might be time to head to the hills and just sock away the additional savings for a time.

Fuck that goddamned idiot for offering no leadership/direction/hope.  The virus isn't his fault but the position we are in I squarely blame him and the moron sheep following him for.

This is going to be a real thing.  People wanting to move away from densely populated areas will be driven by the mental scarring from this pandemic, the civil unrest taking place in the streets of most major cities and the shift away from the brick and mortar office to being able to work from home.  I think we're going to be staring down a lot of vacant buildings in the not too distant future.  I've already talked to multiple long-time customers that have expressed interest in making the move from downtown to the suburbs.  All of them were city "lifers" before 2020 began. 

I agree, I think cities and suburbia are dying. 

I'm going to recommend a book and a film that talk about this, but with one major caveat:  the author of the book (who is also in the documentary) is a fine writer and a fascinating futurist.  But in terms of politics, he has gone off the deep end.  Read is Clusterfuck blog and you'll see what I mean.  But, that said, I think he is right on about cities and suburbs in these works:

FiveBelow

tempo_n_groove said:

JW269453 said:

what dreams said:

JW269453 said:

what dreams said:

pjl44 said:

For where we're at in the process, this is pretty good news on the vaccine front 

https://apnews.com/e4d5259bfc6c74fcb090d885737c55a6?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

It makes me wonder why we can't find a vaccine for the common cold, another Coronavirus variant. Is it because it would kill the over-the-counter pharma industry? We're being duped, one way or the other, and no, I'm not an anti-vaxxer.

I think more than anything the threat of the common cold doesn’t warrant the expense and effort in finding a vaccine. The average medicine cabinet would definitely look different as well and big pharma don’t play that.

I don't really get the meme. Is that me you're smacking down? 

Here's the guy from Merck. He has more credibility than me on this.

10:14 p.m.

Promises of a vaccine in near future do the public a ‘grave disservice,’ says CEO of pharma giant Merck

The promise has come from the Trump administration’s politicos and infectious-disease experts alike: There will be a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year or by early 2021, a timeline so fast that the White House came up with a name for the project that seemed ripped from a comic book — Operation Warp Speed.

But Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck & Co., one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, said such vows ignore the country’s troubled history of breakneck vaccine development and can undermine important public health measures.

“When people tell the public that there’s going to be a vaccine by the end of 2020 … they do a grave disservice to the public,” Frazier said in a video interview with Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School. “I think at the end of the day, we don’t want to rush the vaccine before we’ve done rigorous science. We’ve seen in the past, for example, with the swine flu, that that vaccine did more harm than good. We don’t have a great history of introducing vaccines quickly in the middle of a pandemic. We want to keep that in mind.”

Frazier added: “When we do tell people that a vaccine’s coming right away, we allow politicians to actually tell the public not to do the things that the public needs to do like wear the d--- masks. Okay? We were so unprepared for this pandemic. It’s not even funny on so many levels.”

Merck, one of the leading vaccine producers, announced in May that it would develop and manufacture two covid-19 vaccines and an experimental antiviral treatment. The company publicized its plans months after some of its competitors, and Frazier said that when a vaccine is ready, Merck is committed to “broad, equitable, affordable access” to the drug “no matter where you are in the world.”

Anthony S. Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has tempered Trump’s “warp speed” pledge slightly, saying in May that a vaccine could be ready in 12 to 18 months. On Tuesday, Fauci said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the state of vaccine development, citing positive early reports from one drug’s trials and other promising candidates.

“I think we’re in a pretty good place when it comes to vaccines,” Fauci said.

By Reis Thebault

Homie D. Clown was a character on the sketch show In Living Color in the early 90s. His catch phrase was “homie don’t play that” followed by a smack. It was meant to show how I feel big pharma would react to a vaccine for the common cold. Not directed at you, I assumed the gif would be pretty recognizable since the show was on the same time PJ was taking the world by storm.

How does Homie feel about the "establishment"?

Homie didn't seem like he was a fan of anything. Not even Jim Carrey

mrussel1

brianlux said:

bbiggs said:

F Me In The Brain said:

The Juggler said:

So now they’re making hospitals report cases directly to the White house instead of the cdc?

We are so fucked. Most people aren’t going to pay attention to that. They’re just going to see the numbers magically go down...meanwhile people will still be getting sick and dying. 

It’s like we’re living in a. Science fiction horror movie 

I think I'm getting close from changing gears on this whole thing....was looking to buy another property before and take advantage and now I'm thinking I should be selling my house, pocketing what I make on that and downsizing or moving to a much cheaper area, stat.
The need to fly weekly is gone for the foreseeable future and all reasons to be nearby a city are also muted to dead for the foreseeable future.
Might be time to head to the hills and just sock away the additional savings for a time.

Fuck that goddamned idiot for offering no leadership/direction/hope.  The virus isn't his fault but the position we are in I squarely blame him and the moron sheep following him for.

This is going to be a real thing.  People wanting to move away from densely populated areas will be driven by the mental scarring from this pandemic, the civil unrest taking place in the streets of most major cities and the shift away from the brick and mortar office to being able to work from home.  I think we're going to be staring down a lot of vacant buildings in the not too distant future.  I've already talked to multiple long-time customers that have expressed interest in making the move from downtown to the suburbs.  All of them were city "lifers" before 2020 began. 

I agree, I think cities and suburbia are dying. 

I'm going to recommend a book and a film that talk about this, but with one major caveat:  the author of the book (who is also in the documentary) is a fine writer and a fascinating futurist.  But in terms of politics, he has gone off the deep end.  Read is Clusterfuck blog and you'll see what I mean.  But, that said, I think he is right on about cities and suburbs in these works:

If cities and suburbia are dying, then what is there?  I don't see how both those statements can be true.  I don't see suburban people moving out to farms.  

Poncier

mrussel1 said:

brianlux said:

bbiggs said:

F Me In The Brain said:

The Juggler said:

So now they’re making hospitals report cases directly to the White house instead of the cdc?

We are so fucked. Most people aren’t going to pay attention to that. They’re just going to see the numbers magically go down...meanwhile people will still be getting sick and dying. 

It’s like we’re living in a. Science fiction horror movie 

I think I'm getting close from changing gears on this whole thing....was looking to buy another property before and take advantage and now I'm thinking I should be selling my house, pocketing what I make on that and downsizing or moving to a much cheaper area, stat.
The need to fly weekly is gone for the foreseeable future and all reasons to be nearby a city are also muted to dead for the foreseeable future.
Might be time to head to the hills and just sock away the additional savings for a time.

Fuck that goddamned idiot for offering no leadership/direction/hope.  The virus isn't his fault but the position we are in I squarely blame him and the moron sheep following him for.

This is going to be a real thing.  People wanting to move away from densely populated areas will be driven by the mental scarring from this pandemic, the civil unrest taking place in the streets of most major cities and the shift away from the brick and mortar office to being able to work from home.  I think we're going to be staring down a lot of vacant buildings in the not too distant future.  I've already talked to multiple long-time customers that have expressed interest in making the move from downtown to the suburbs.  All of them were city "lifers" before 2020 began. 

I agree, I think cities and suburbia are dying. 

I'm going to recommend a book and a film that talk about this, but with one major caveat:  the author of the book (who is also in the documentary) is a fine writer and a fascinating futurist.  But in terms of politics, he has gone off the deep end.  Read is Clusterfuck blog and you'll see what I mean.  But, that said, I think he is right on about cities and suburbs in these works:

If cities and suburbia are dying, then what is there?  I don't see how both those statements can be true.  I don't see suburban people moving out to farms.  

Overalls are not my jam.

pjl44

mrussel1 said:

pjl44 said:

mrussel1 said:

pjl44 said:

Another question: If you're a big believer in a move to remote work, will that ultimately drive up the suburban real estate market? Will more people want dedicated office space in their homes? I can tell you from firsthand experience that a lot of people with good jobs are working from their dining room table, a corner of their basement, etc. If this is the wave of the future, that ain't sustainable. 

This is something we kick around at work all the time.  The world went on its side.  Here are the things that were happening prior to COVID:

1. Corps were moving from mid/small cities back into dense urban areas in their recruiting of young talent.  The theory was that young people wanted to be urban and highly mobile.  I saw this directly at Capital One, here in Richmond.  We have the ops hq since teh beginning but over the past 5 years, they have been backfilling less here in Richmond, and adding more jobs in Chicago, NY, and DC suburbs. This is where the high quality young talent wanted to be.  

2. After consolidating real estate for years, and encouraging work from home, over the past several years corps have reversed that.  They wanted people in the office. 

COVID has blown up both of these strategies.  Today there are entire call centers working from home. These are people who are non-exempt and have access to NPI.  It was unthinkable to WFH.  No way, never.  But in the course of two weeks, everyone is working from home, having loaded PCs and call center stuff in the back of cars and sent them on their way.

So yes, I think there will be a period of exodus back to the suburbs and some rising prices.  I think WFH will be here for at least a few years, although once commercial pricing stays low (if it stays low), there may be a move back.  It's crazy how this has disrupted so many 'sacred cows' in business. 

I'm particularly interested in #2. Why do you think there was a reversal back to offices after trying WFH?

A lot of it is corporate bureaucracy.  The different cost centers/P&L owners had the leases on their P&L with tons of open space.  But then they are paying stipends for internet and other add ons for the employees working from home.  Making people come in was cheaper because then you kill that 200 per month X employees off your books.  

Ha...wow. That is definitely more of a bureaucratic answer than I expected. 

Bentleyspop

Karma can be a bitch....

https://twitter.com/PhilipRucker/status/1283438380903288832?s=19

cincybearcat

static111 said:

So housing market aside. What are everyone’s thoughts on the White House being in charge of all corona virus data sidestepping the cdc and not having the data available to the public?

It's bullshit.

brianlux

mrussel1 said:

brianlux said:

bbiggs said:

F Me In The Brain said:

The Juggler said:

So now they’re making hospitals report cases directly to the White house instead of the cdc?

We are so fucked. Most people aren’t going to pay attention to that. They’re just going to see the numbers magically go down...meanwhile people will still be getting sick and dying. 

It’s like we’re living in a. Science fiction horror movie 

I think I'm getting close from changing gears on this whole thing....was looking to buy another property before and take advantage and now I'm thinking I should be selling my house, pocketing what I make on that and downsizing or moving to a much cheaper area, stat.
The need to fly weekly is gone for the foreseeable future and all reasons to be nearby a city are also muted to dead for the foreseeable future.
Might be time to head to the hills and just sock away the additional savings for a time.

Fuck that goddamned idiot for offering no leadership/direction/hope.  The virus isn't his fault but the position we are in I squarely blame him and the moron sheep following him for.

This is going to be a real thing.  People wanting to move away from densely populated areas will be driven by the mental scarring from this pandemic, the civil unrest taking place in the streets of most major cities and the shift away from the brick and mortar office to being able to work from home.  I think we're going to be staring down a lot of vacant buildings in the not too distant future.  I've already talked to multiple long-time customers that have expressed interest in making the move from downtown to the suburbs.  All of them were city "lifers" before 2020 began. 

I agree, I think cities and suburbia are dying. 

I'm going to recommend a book and a film that talk about this, but with one major caveat:  the author of the book (who is also in the documentary) is a fine writer and a fascinating futurist.  But in terms of politics, he has gone off the deep end.  Read is Clusterfuck blog and you'll see what I mean.  But, that said, I think he is right on about cities and suburbs in these works:

If cities and suburbia are dying, then what is there?  I don't see how both those statements can be true.  I don't see suburban people moving out to farms.  

The book and the film make it look like this all will happen quickly, but I don't know that that is how it will happen.  I think it will be a slower crumbling of civilization as we know it.  Fossil fuels are running out less quickly than Kunslter and others predicted, oil is not a limitless resource and when it does became more scarce, cities and suburbs will be unsustainable.  At that point, more people will need to do the work of food production meaning a movement of people out of cities and suburbs. 

I don't mean to suggest that I think this is a certain scenario.  But it's one that seems quite likely to me.  I hope it doesn't happen.  Our best cities are great places of culture and intellect.  I would do not relish their demise. 

tempo_n_groove

JW269453 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

JW269453 said:

what dreams said:

JW269453 said:

what dreams said:

pjl44 said:

For where we're at in the process, this is pretty good news on the vaccine front 

https://apnews.com/e4d5259bfc6c74fcb090d885737c55a6?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

It makes me wonder why we can't find a vaccine for the common cold, another Coronavirus variant. Is it because it would kill the over-the-counter pharma industry? We're being duped, one way or the other, and no, I'm not an anti-vaxxer.

I think more than anything the threat of the common cold doesn’t warrant the expense and effort in finding a vaccine. The average medicine cabinet would definitely look different as well and big pharma don’t play that.

I don't really get the meme. Is that me you're smacking down? 

Here's the guy from Merck. He has more credibility than me on this.

10:14 p.m.

Promises of a vaccine in near future do the public a ‘grave disservice,’ says CEO of pharma giant Merck

The promise has come from the Trump administration’s politicos and infectious-disease experts alike: There will be a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year or by early 2021, a timeline so fast that the White House came up with a name for the project that seemed ripped from a comic book — Operation Warp Speed.

But Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck & Co., one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, said such vows ignore the country’s troubled history of breakneck vaccine development and can undermine important public health measures.

“When people tell the public that there’s going to be a vaccine by the end of 2020 … they do a grave disservice to the public,” Frazier said in a video interview with Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School. “I think at the end of the day, we don’t want to rush the vaccine before we’ve done rigorous science. We’ve seen in the past, for example, with the swine flu, that that vaccine did more harm than good. We don’t have a great history of introducing vaccines quickly in the middle of a pandemic. We want to keep that in mind.”

Frazier added: “When we do tell people that a vaccine’s coming right away, we allow politicians to actually tell the public not to do the things that the public needs to do like wear the d--- masks. Okay? We were so unprepared for this pandemic. It’s not even funny on so many levels.”

Merck, one of the leading vaccine producers, announced in May that it would develop and manufacture two covid-19 vaccines and an experimental antiviral treatment. The company publicized its plans months after some of its competitors, and Frazier said that when a vaccine is ready, Merck is committed to “broad, equitable, affordable access” to the drug “no matter where you are in the world.”

Anthony S. Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has tempered Trump’s “warp speed” pledge slightly, saying in May that a vaccine could be ready in 12 to 18 months. On Tuesday, Fauci said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the state of vaccine development, citing positive early reports from one drug’s trials and other promising candidates.

“I think we’re in a pretty good place when it comes to vaccines,” Fauci said.

By Reis Thebault

Homie D. Clown was a character on the sketch show In Living Color in the early 90s. His catch phrase was “homie don’t play that” followed by a smack. It was meant to show how I feel big pharma would react to a vaccine for the common cold. Not directed at you, I assumed the gif would be pretty recognizable since the show was on the same time PJ was taking the world by storm.

How does Homie feel about the "establishment"?

Homie didn't seem like he was a fan of anything. Not even Jim Carrey

Homie going off on the Establishment.  I remember all of these.  They were great.  He even became a t-shirt, lol!
https://youtu.be/6uctVORpyPE 

PJPOWER

I cannot imagine living in a downtown high rise apartment in a large city right now.  Having to share elevators, circulated air, etc.  Props to those that do and are not going insane.
My garden and backyard are my peace.  If I had to mask up and deal with the anxiety of being around people every time I opened my door, I would not be handling this stuff well.

dignin

America is running short on masks, gowns and gloves. Again.

Health-care workers are scrambling for supplies and reusing equipment as the coronavirus pandemic surges

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/07/08/ppe-shortage-masks-gloves-gowns/

I'm sure it would have been the same under Hillary.

cutz

bbiggs said:

bootlegger10 said:

Everyone I talk to in different markets is saying house sales are booming (less inventory so lots of demand and competition).  Great time to be selling a house in a lot of areas (and bad for me who wants to buy one). 

Precisely.  Seller's market.  I'm pleasantly surprised at how well housing has gone this year and how demand hasn't waned.  Let's hope it continues.

I may have to put my House on the Market now. I was gonna put it up in March/April but really thought the Market would suck so I thought it be a waste of time. Good to know.

cutz

Halifax2TheMax said:

static111 said:

So housing market aside. What are everyone’s thoughts on the White House being in charge of all corona virus data sidestepping the cdc and not having the data available to the public?

Covid magically disappears.

cincybearcat said:

static111 said:

So housing market aside. What are everyone’s thoughts on the White House being in charge of all corona virus data sidestepping the cdc and not having the data available to the public?

It's bullshit.

Oh yeah, it will be gone very soon.

BS is right.

The Juggler

PJPOWER said:

I cannot imagine living in a downtown high rise apartment in a large city right now.  Having to share elevators, circulated air, etc.  Props to those that do and are not going insane.
My garden and backyard are my peace.  If I had to mask up and deal with the anxiety of being around people every time I opened my door, I would not be handling this stuff well.

Agreed. 

Ironically, my brother had to move into his new mid rise apartment on March 13th--literally right when the quarantine was getting started. My other brother and I helped him. It was a dreadful day and I could not help thinking that I was literally risking my life to move this fucking kid into his new place. 

Probably got it that day too. I remember feeling sick for a few days afterwards. 

The Juggler

cutz said:

Halifax2TheMax said:

static111 said:

So housing market aside. What are everyone’s thoughts on the White House being in charge of all corona virus data sidestepping the cdc and not having the data available to the public?

Covid magically disappears.

cincybearcat said:

static111 said:

So housing market aside. What are everyone’s thoughts on the White House being in charge of all corona virus data sidestepping the cdc and not having the data available to the public?

It's bullshit.

Oh yeah, it will be gone very soon.

BS is right.

I think this is an enormous story. I posted earlier that I feel like we're living in a scifi horror story already. This just makes things even worse. How are we to believe anything they tell us?

Merkin Baller

Lol
https://twitter.com/rvat2020/status/1283505490639691784?s=21

brianlux

Merkin Baller said:

Lol
https://twitter.com/rvat2020/status/1283505490639691784?s=21

LOL, love that graph!  (But, of course, hate the bullshit lies.)

benjs

PJPOWER said:

I cannot imagine living in a downtown high rise apartment in a large city right now.  Having to share elevators, circulated air, etc.  Props to those that do and are not going insane.
My garden and backyard are my peace.  If I had to mask up and deal with the anxiety of being around people every time I opened my door, I would not be handling this stuff well.

I lived in a 700 square foot apartment in Toronto on the 20th floor, until I had a panic attack in April. I've been living with most of my family up in north Ontario since then. Next month I'm finally able to get out of my lease - I'm not even looking forward to going back to the city to move out, let alone that building.

bootlegger10

I live in an apartment building.  It isn’t bad at all.   You don’t run into people that often.  Wear a mask.  Doesn’t bother me at all and I take this seriously.   Sure there is a better chance of contracting the virus in an apartment building versus a home in the suburbs but I just don't think walking down a hallway or being on an elevator with someone for 30 seconds is a huge risk (assuming everyone is masked up).