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At 48 I’ll happily take being called a “youth”. Of course I realize you did not say that to make me feel good but rather it was meant to be a snarky means to demean me simply because you did not like what I said. The fact that your old enough to call a middle aged man a “youth” is a testament to your age as well. If I am assuming correctly that you are retired, maybe even elderly then I understand your concern for your health. You absolutely should protect yourself and stay home. Your support however for the draconian shutdowns shows your cavalier attitude towards those of us who still have to support ourselves. I’m sure as a retired person you have a significant nest egg. Maybe enough that the market crash didn’t bother you. Maybe a depression is something that will happen to other people and not you. Maybe you have the luxury of sitting out on the veranda drinking coffee and reading about the bread lines, crime and riots and exclaiming....wow kids today. Think twice however. If a depression rips the fabric of this nation apart you will feel the effects. What assets you have will be worthless, you will be subject to whatever radical government is put in power and God help us if civil war or even world war were to happen because of a world wide depression. Anyone who reads and watches what is going on knows this overreaction could cause an economic depression, economist admit this every day on the news. Anyone who reads history knows the chaos economic depression causes (Hitler anyone?)
Even if you do believe the consequences won’t impact you it is still wrong to be so selfish. You can isolate and protect yourself and so can all who have known medical conditions. I support the government assisting those who must do so for their health. I will never however support this self destruction of our economy in the name of preventing the same number of deaths everyone accepts every year because of flu. You mentioned pneumonia....every year it kills tens of thousands too. Why is no one concerned with that? You say I have a cavalier attitude about the deaths, I say you have a cavalier attitude about the human misery that will be caused by economic depression. It will affect so much more than just Tennessee. Governor Lee simply caved in to the hand wringing anxiety prone worry warts who know seem to be at the helm everywhere. God help us all.
Were my son still alive, you’re about three years older than he would have been, so yes you are indeed “young man” to me. Tone of voice delivering that as a complement or you need the hair on the nape of your neck twisted a good one.
Yes I am fortunate to have been able to fully retired but DH still works full time in an essential need environment, so there is some risk attached for both of us.
I was raised on a poor working man’s dairy farm so I take nothing for granted. I was taught at a young age to keep a supply of all needed goods on hand, because “one never knows”.
We could carry on this war of words until Armageddon gets here but it serves no useful purpose
I have an opposite opinion of the OP. This disease went through China...1billion people and it only killed 4000 there. This is no worse than a bad flu. As with all these types of viruses they tend to kill the old, weak and sick. I’m not diminishing those folks values as human beings but why are we worried so much now. The flu does this to these people every year.
Many blue states up north have had businesses shuttered for weeks, now their citizens are locked in their homes. The panic of all this has crashed the stock market. The nation faces a second Great Depression. The states that locked down all their businesses are likely much more damaged than we are. The restaurants up there will likely never reopen. The auto companies up north are in danger of disappearing. Mass ruin is coming to them. MILLIONS could die from the poverty this will cause, many more than the virus could ever kill. The political division in this nation could blow wide open amidst the fallout of the now imminent economic collapse. Economic depression breeds civil wars, revolutions and major wars. One only needs to look to the 1930s and 1940s to see what economic depression can lead too. I do not fear the virus any more then I fear the seasonal flu but I fear the prospect of economic depression.
Our state has refrained from draconian measures so far. I enjoyed some good Mexican food and some BBQ last week. I made sure to go out twice to support my local businesses. I’m far more worried about them than this virus. If by a miracle the economy can be saved our state will come out less damaged than the over reactive blue states will. Michigan, Ohio and Illinois were already fragile.......they are now doomed to be economic wastelands for a generation. I believe governor Lee should declare the state open for business and then leverage what resources we have to prepare the healthcare system for the onslaught of patients. I am not trying to sound cold but I believe we need to protect our ability to support ourselves first. If we fail to do that then the human suffering in tennessee will become unbearable. Of course our fate is also largely tied to that of the nation and as we all know much of America has gone off the deep end. I am so worried for our country.
I agree with this. I'm hearing multiple stories about how people cannot access the unemployment benefits site anywhere. And now those stimulus checks could take 20 weeks. Sick or not when you take away everything a person has combined with losses in the stock market including 401ks, people will take themselves out. Simple. I'm pretty sure this has happened already or will, but the news of covid is overshadowing everything.
The numbers of people dying from the disease compared to the Spanish Flu or Bubonic plague are really tiny. I really don't think the numbers of people dying from covid (which in WA have mostly been happening in nasty nursing homes among the elderly with some cases among those with compromised immune systems).
I'm more worried about the broader economic impacts than actually catching the disease. If one is healthy but unemployed and penniless I can't see how it'll be much different than dying from the disease and wracking up medical debt from expensive hospital stays that could easily bankrupt those on cheaper or no insurance.
The Government has significantly overstepped it’s authority with its reaction to the Covid-19 virus. The economic fall out for Tennessee, among other States, will be very severe. It’s too early for most people to see
the destruction but by the third quarter of this year unemployment will be rampant.
Nashville Mayor Cooper has already proposed a property tax increase to make up for lost revenue in sales tax.
The Government has significantly overstepped it’s authority with its reaction to the Covid-19 virus. The economic fall out for Tennessee, among other States, will be very severe. It’s too early for most people to see
the destruction but by the third quarter of this year unemployment will be rampant.
Nashville Mayor Cooper has already proposed a property tax increase to make up for lost revenue in sales tax.
I fear that this self inflicted economic crisis will rival the Great Depression.
I don't pretend to know the balance between public health and a healthy economy, but...
I have four cousins under the age of 25 here in the Tri-Cities, and another in Chattanooga. All of them have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus. Two worked in malls that are now closed. One worked for a movie theater, another was in HR, and another worked for my aunt's painting company.
I frequent local bars and restaurants. All those people are unemployed. It's start to cascade to industries you might not expect - an ex-girlfriend of mine is a lead bank teller, and was laid off due to a reduction in traffic at the branches. What's this going to do for "big ticket" purchases like cars or real estate?
My aunt and uncle had a painting company here in Kingsport that employed about 40 people. Their primary customer was the regional hospital system. All of that work is on hold indefinitely. They've furloughed everyone. Another uncle owns a structured cabling company that is about half volume, if that.
Domtar here in Kingsport, a large paper mill and one of the longest-lived employers in the town, has furloughed all works for at least three months.
We'll long have therapeutics, and most likely a vaccine, for years after we're dealing with this imploded economy.
The Government has significantly overstepped it’s authority with its reaction to the Covid-19 virus. The economic fall out for Tennessee, among other States, will be very severe. It’s too early for most people to see
the destruction but by the third quarter of this year unemployment will be rampant.
Nashville Mayor Cooper has already proposed a property tax increase to make up for lost revenue in sales tax.
I fear that this self inflicted economic crisis will rival the Great Depression.
Both posts below mine raise excellent points. That tax hike is going to really hurt Nashville especially since wages are relatively low.
I still have friends in my hometown in Montgomery county. I especially worry about them. If I recall the last time I left in 2016 that part of Tennessee had mostly blue collar and service jobs. There are also a handful of hospitals there. The military base may keep things afloat but the already high crime rate will definitely rise.
I think in general in any place now the economic fall out is being ignored by governers. The number of people that have gotten sick and died is relatively small when you compare those numbers to the population or to previous plagues.
The Government has significantly overstepped it’s authority with its reaction to the Covid-19 virus. The economic fall out for Tennessee, among other States, will be very severe. It’s too early for most people to see
the destruction but by the third quarter of this year unemployment will be rampant.
Nashville Mayor Cooper has already proposed a property tax increase to make up for lost revenue in sales tax.
I fear that this self inflicted economic crisis will rival the Great Depression.
I agree with you when I say this will be as bad as the Great Depression. It likely will get so much worse than that when the economic misery brings our dangerous political division in this country to a head. In the wake of a depression we could also face the specter of civil war as the leftists and conservatives face off each other for a solution to the crisis. Red state vs blue state, secession and all. Between the two American catastrophes millions will die. Our way of life will be destroyed and whatever emerges from the wreckage will look nothing like the nation we were.
This panic began with the media, the northern states all issued severe lockdowns, minor officials in the CDC suddenly found they had real authority and began acting like kings. Our state was one of the last to cave in as were all our neighbors. Still governor Lee will be responsible for the misery here. He is definitely a one term governor at this point. Our fate was already tied to the rest of the nation but he could have saved what economic activity he could by not giving in. He will be remembered for his failure to stand up for the state’s interest. Those northern governors and federal officials associated with the lockdown will be villains in our history. Like Neville Chamberline in ww2 those folks will be seen as having naively helped make a disaster of immense severity occur through their own ignorance. Sadly it looks as if all the dominos have begun to fall now and I don’t see how we can stop this catastrophe from happening now.
I agree with you when I say this will be as bad as the Great Depression. It likely will get so much worse than that when the economic misery brings our dangerous political division in this country to a head. In the wake of a depression we could also face the specter of civil war as the leftists and conservatives face off each other for a solution to the crisis. Red state vs blue state, secession and all. Between the two American catastrophes millions will die. Our way of life will be destroyed and whatever emerges from the wreckage will look nothing like the nation we were.
This panic began with the media, the northern states all issued severe lockdowns, minor officials in the CDC suddenly found they had real authority and began acting like kings. Our state was one of the last to cave in as were all our neighbors. Still governor Lee will be responsible for the misery here. He is definitely a one term governor at this point. Our fate was already tied to the rest of the nation but he could have saved what economic activity he could by not giving in. He will be remembered for his failure to stand up for the state’s interest. Those northern governors and federal officials associated with the lockdown will be villains in our history. Like Neville Chamberline in ww2 those folks will be seen as having naively helped make a disaster of immense severity occur through their own ignorance. Sadly it looks as if all the dominos have begun to fall now and I don’t see how we can stop this catastrophe from happening now.
Here in the Tri-Cities, we've had around 6,500 people officially file UI benefits over this crisis period.
The largest area employer, Ballad Health, furloughed 1,300 this week. Combine those furloughs with other losses during this upcoming reporting period, we'll likely be down 10,000 jobs from four to six weeks ago. Many of those jobs at the hospital system are basically irreplaceable - you won't find as good of a job anywhere in this area, even in the good times. In many cases, Ballad and Eastman are the sole employers of white collar professionals. Some people will hang around to be recalled, but many will move on, expertise and institutional knowledge is lost, etc. Even if the labor market straightens out, there is going to be a huge knowledge gap to fill, because people with expertise don't generally want to live in a one trick pony town where if they get laid off at company X, there are no other options. I'm personally OK for now, but I will be reevaluating long-term options once this current crisis settles. My long-term plan is NOT to live in the Tri-Cities, for various reasons.
Domtar in Kingsport furloughed everyone - about 300 people. I have an aunt and uncle who run a painting business - they had roughly forty employees, everyone was laid off. That's not even counting all the restaurants, retail places, bars/nightlife, hotels, etc., that have collapsed. I could name three dozen people I know personally who are unemployed, yet I don't know anyone who is or was positive for COVID-19.
Nashville has the critical mass to bounce back. The smaller cities, where professional and decent work was already hard to come by, do not have that slack in their labor market. Here in the Tri-Cities, we're done. This was a death knell to our professional class. The professional class basically got fired.
The largest area employer, Ballad Health, furloughed 1,300 this week. Combine those furloughs with other losses during this upcoming reporting period, we'll likely be down 10,000 jobs from four to six weeks ago. Many of those jobs at the hospital system are basically irreplaceable - you won't find as good of a job anywhere in this area, even in the good times. In many cases, Ballad and Eastman are the sole employers of white collar professionals. Some people will hang around to be recalled, but many will move on, expertise and institutional knowledge is lost, etc. Even if the labor market straightens out, there is going to be a huge knowledge gap to fill, because people with expertise don't generally want to live in a one trick pony town where if they get laid off at company X, there are no other options. I'm personally OK for now, but I will be reevaluating long-term options once this current crisis settles. My long-term plan is NOT to live in the Tri-Cities, for various reasons.
Domtar in Kingsport furloughed everyone - about 300 people. I have an aunt and uncle who run a painting business - they had roughly forty employees, everyone was laid off. That's not even counting all the restaurants, retail places, bars/nightlife, hotels, etc., that have collapsed. I could name three dozen people I know personally who are unemployed, yet I don't know anyone who is or was positive for COVID-19.
Nashville has the critical mass to bounce back. The smaller cities, where professional and decent work was already hard to come by, do not have that slack in their labor market. Here in the Tri-Cities, we're done. This was a death knell to our professional class. The professional class basically got fired.
It’s not just the professional class of the tri cities that is done.......we are done for as a country. Our fellow citizens fear and panic has destroyed our future.
I agree with you when I say this will be as bad as the Great Depression. It likely will get so much worse than that when the economic misery brings our dangerous political division in this country to a head. In the wake of a depression we could also face the specter of civil war as the leftists and conservatives face off each other for a solution to the crisis. Red state vs blue state, secession and all. Between the two American catastrophes millions will die. Our way of life will be destroyed and whatever emerges from the wreckage will look nothing like the nation we were.
This panic began with the media, the northern states all issued severe lockdowns, minor officials in the CDC suddenly found they had real authority and began acting like kings. Our state was one of the last to cave in as were all our neighbors. Still governor Lee will be responsible for the misery here. He is definitely a one term governor at this point. Our fate was already tied to the rest of the nation but he could have saved what economic activity he could by not giving in. He will be remembered for his failure to stand up for the state’s interest. Those northern governors and federal officials associated with the lockdown will be villains in our history. Like Neville Chamberline in ww2 those folks will be seen as having naively helped make a disaster of immense severity occur through their own ignorance. Sadly it looks as if all the dominos have begun to fall now and I don’t see how we can stop this catastrophe from happening now.
I do hope that you won't be too disappointed if your dire predictions don't come true.
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