I'm positive that a worse tax season than usual will give "experts" and governors some pause over their "righteous" cause.
Once they realize that their actions could come back to bite them in the ass, I think there'll be more calls to reopen shit.
Today, I read an e-mail that suggested that the pandemic may cause issues with people meeting the upcoming tax deadlines of 15-Sep (Corporations & Partnerships) and 15-Oct (Individuals). I'm not sure what if anything will happen if this is true. As it is, there are plenty of people that put their returns off to the last second, but I have no idea how much of it is due to COVID and how much is a matter of procrastination.
Many states, especially those run by Democratic governors, still seem to think they can simply ask for free money to plug their budget gaps. Unfortunately, tax revenue -- namely withholding and social security taxes -- at the Federal level is also down, so I have no idea where they expect this money to come from. The worst part, however, is that it seems like these same governors aren't even planning for a scenario where they get zero federal assistance; they simply assume they'll get whatever they ask for.
This is so Big Pharma can sell people $3,100 courses of Remdesivir and give them kidney failure, instead of people buying a $13 bottle of Vitamin D caplets from their grocery store.
Not only that, but multivitamins that have both Vitamin D and Zinc can be had for around the same price of $13 give or take.
Big Pharma is deeply entrenched in the US, unfortunately. Within the past 5 years or so, I once knew someone who came from another country to do graduate studies in the states. He was amazed that medicine/prescription drugs are usually the first thing people want when they're sick with something simple enough that non-prescription treatments/remedies are equally effective. Nevertheless, there's been a small degree of pushback. Pharmacy Reps have gotten so pushy that my doctor finally put a sign on his door stating he's simply too busy to meet with any or all of them that want his time. TFW Pharmacy Reps use the same tactics as shady door to door salespeople.
Reminds me that at work, they actually put masks on the statues inside the lobby areas. God forbid anybody sees even a stone statue without a mask on. Then there's the billboards that say shit like "Having a good time? Well, don't forget Covid wants to party, too. SOCIAL DISTANCE!"
I've seen online ads imploring people to wear masks in public so they don't bring home "Rona". Asking people to take COVID seriously by calling it a cutesy name seems contradictory in some way.
Do you guys think we'll ever get any real information about how effective the cloth masks actually are?
The misinformation is really not helping.
There's so much conflicting information and misinformation floating around, I don't think the average person has any clue what is or isn't effective any more. After nearly six months, normies simply want to know when we'll finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and what reasonable steps they can do to help make that happen. Unfortunately, those in charge refuse to give straight answers or even a best educated guess when asked this very question.
I am neither pro or anti mask, if a business i like to frequent or my work demand I wear it I do.
I feel similarly. Oddly, it seemed like more people were ok with wearing masks
before it became required here. Empirically, it seems fewer people are wearing masks after they became required. It's especially concerning when people in the vulnerable groups aren't wearing masks or shields when they're the ones that probably should be wearing them.
NGL, I used to get sick all the time, and now I get the flu vaccine and never get sick. I think there is some validity to it, but people who don't get flu shots shouldn't be considered anti-vaxxers.
There's plenty of reasons to decline optional vaccines that don't make one an anti-vaxxer. That said, I'm willing to bet that if people were somehow forced to choose between flu shots and a COVID shot, the flu shot would be far more popular simply because there's no way any COVID vaccine coming out this year will have gone through the rigorous testing a new vaccine needs to have done before being release to the general public.
So those in football, soccer and volleyball -- sports that just returned this week -- will need to wear face coverings at all times. Cross country, golf and tennis can go without masks, if they can stay apart. Swimmers are the only exception to any coverings."
I'm almost wondering if Whitmer is being passive-aggressive with her Executive Orders regarding sports. She was eager to discourage fall sports at first. Now, she's finally relented and allowed the full complement of fall sports, but's now requiring players to wear masks even when it doesn't make sense or is unfeasible. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I'd say this is her way of saying, "OK, you can have your sports, but I'm going to make it as inconvenient as possible for you."
To offer something more substantial, Utah is one of the states that's started high school football. After the first four weeks there, 212 games had been successfully played with only 3 games cancelled due to COVID (as far as I've been able to confirm). That's just a 1.4% cancellation rate. From what I've seen on social media, Utah's football players aren't wearing masks either. Unfortunately, Michigan's Governor Whitmer hasn't adequately explained her rationale behind requiring masks for the Michigan's football players; any questions about this or what scientific data she's been using are dismissed with non-answers or the claim that such questions are politicizing the issue.
Also, Whitmer's use of an old emergency powers law seems to mirror Star Wars Episodes 2 and 3. in those Chancellor Palpatine manages to receive emergency powers that he promises to relinquish ASAP. He never does and ultimately seizes full power for himself as Emperor. At one point he even says, "I
am the Senate!" It feels like Whitmer is doing the same thing in invoking an emergency power law that allows her to extend the emergency indefinitely while treating the state legislature like it doesn't exist. No elected official, regardless of party affiliation, should be able to have indefinite unchecked power.
Whitmer's overall popularity and the popularity of her coronavirus response are both higher in the Detroit metro area than they are in the rest of the state, according to the article.
I'd love to know if these pools focused on Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters. Today's polls are conducted in a way that they have skewed samples and what seems to be inherent confirmation bias. TL;DR - Don't put too much trust in these polls.