The current United States statistics of Covid-19, the Chinese flu strain is 26,900 cases with 348 deaths. That is roughly at 1.3% death rate. Since it is difficult to obtain pure data on this virus from any source it seems that many of the deaths are older people who may have had some medical issues prior to getting the virus.
Connecticut has taken many extreme steps to combat the virus including closing many businesses and limiting what certain businesses can do such as restaurants take out/drive thru only, etc. A decree of what can be deemed essential businesses remaining open during this crisis is supposedly coming forth today Sunday 3/22/2020. This will continue to cause economic destruction in our state economy. Governor Lamont is going to use the state's $250 million dollar rainy day fund that in my opinion will be woefully inadequate for this crisis while the state's ability to borrow money becomes less and less as the state has over $140 billion dollars in short and long term debt along with unfunded liabilities already. The new budget deficit due to the massive amount of unemployment claims along with a downturn in sales tax revenues (including the ten cent plastic bag tax) will be enormous. I can see a $3 to $5 billion dollar budget deficit for the end of this fiscal year along with the new fiscal year of 20-21. It is interesting to note that Governor Lamont has not requested any cuts in state spending from any agencies to put all efforts into saving the state economy. We have spent an enormous amount of time and money in lobbying for tolls especially for trucks. It is interesting to see how badly we need trucks at this time to transport our essential goods to our remaining economy. Governor Lamont has also given towns and cities to pass their own budgets without public input and set their own tax rates. How this is constitutional is beyond me?
Obviously Connecticut's economy may get worse first before getting better. It seems to be extreme in my opinion and is taking away a great deal of our personal freedoms.
I will repeat from last week's column.
Do not fear.
We will overcome this crisis as we have the others. All will be well in our country.
Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."
Words to live by.
Showing posts with label Coronavirus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coronavirus. Show all posts
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Sunday, March 15, 2020
My Thoughts On The Coronavirus
Fear is a strong emotion that has been prevalent in our economy due to the outbreak of a Coronavirus this one named Covid-19.
Fear has brought about a massive downturn in our stock markets eliminating well over $5 trillion dollars of wealth on paper.
Fear has brought about panic buying of food supplies fresh and frozen along with all cleaning materials, paper towels, napkins and toilet paper. Black markets have opened up for cleaning supplies, hand sanitizers and paper products with massively inflated prices for these necessities.
Fear seems to be a constant in our media when talking about this virus. News articles describe many different sensationalized scenarios of what it going on with the virus and how many will become infected and die from it.
Safety precautions have shut down sporting events at all levels, closed public schools, colleges and universities along with many businesses asking their employees to work from home. Public gatherings are being limited 250 people or less. Churches have cancelled services. Draconian measures that in some cases violate our personal freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution.
There is an economic cost to all these closings and changes. Small businesses will be impacted severely. Those businesses that depend on these schools and businesses for their product or service will be impacted. Their employees may have their hours cut or be laid off. Many of these employees may work two or three jobs just to pay for their rent and living expenses. What are they going to do now with less income? Unemployment may increase in the short run and some businesses may close and never open up again. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will probably go down for this quarter and the next and recover in the 3rd quarter.
Economically it seems to depend upon the next two weeks and how better or worse the situation becomes. My thoughts are things are going to improve for a variety of reasons including that we in our country do care about our personal hygiene as compared to other countries. It is important to remember the small businesses in our local communities as they the backbone of our economy. They need our support at this time.
There is a website that offers real time statistics for the Covid-19 virus worldometers.info/coronavirus. As of 11:15am Sunday 3/15/20 Worldwide there have been 162,651 cases reported with 6,069 deaths and 76,219 recoveries from the virus (people who have gotten better and have not died).
These are interesting statistics that do not seem to be reported in our media. The website also shows how many cases that have occurred in each country. As a reminder the flu kills more people in our country than this virus does at this time. Is this possibly an overreaction?
We should not be fearful at this time as we have lived through many of these types of viruses over the years. We do need to take proper precautions in our personal hygiene. We also need to recognize that faith will carry us through this crisis as it has carried our country through the the thousands of crises that we have had since 1776. Maybe this virus is a wake up call to those who do not have faith in the Lord in our society. Maybe it is a wake up call for elected officials to lead for a change rather than make political every crisis that happens in our society especially here in Connecticut.
Do not fear.
We will overcome this crisis as we have the others. All will be well in our country.
Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."
Words to live by.
Fear has brought about a massive downturn in our stock markets eliminating well over $5 trillion dollars of wealth on paper.
Fear has brought about panic buying of food supplies fresh and frozen along with all cleaning materials, paper towels, napkins and toilet paper. Black markets have opened up for cleaning supplies, hand sanitizers and paper products with massively inflated prices for these necessities.
Fear seems to be a constant in our media when talking about this virus. News articles describe many different sensationalized scenarios of what it going on with the virus and how many will become infected and die from it.
Safety precautions have shut down sporting events at all levels, closed public schools, colleges and universities along with many businesses asking their employees to work from home. Public gatherings are being limited 250 people or less. Churches have cancelled services. Draconian measures that in some cases violate our personal freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution.
There is an economic cost to all these closings and changes. Small businesses will be impacted severely. Those businesses that depend on these schools and businesses for their product or service will be impacted. Their employees may have their hours cut or be laid off. Many of these employees may work two or three jobs just to pay for their rent and living expenses. What are they going to do now with less income? Unemployment may increase in the short run and some businesses may close and never open up again. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will probably go down for this quarter and the next and recover in the 3rd quarter.
Economically it seems to depend upon the next two weeks and how better or worse the situation becomes. My thoughts are things are going to improve for a variety of reasons including that we in our country do care about our personal hygiene as compared to other countries. It is important to remember the small businesses in our local communities as they the backbone of our economy. They need our support at this time.
There is a website that offers real time statistics for the Covid-19 virus worldometers.info/coronavirus. As of 11:15am Sunday 3/15/20 Worldwide there have been 162,651 cases reported with 6,069 deaths and 76,219 recoveries from the virus (people who have gotten better and have not died).
These are interesting statistics that do not seem to be reported in our media. The website also shows how many cases that have occurred in each country. As a reminder the flu kills more people in our country than this virus does at this time. Is this possibly an overreaction?
We should not be fearful at this time as we have lived through many of these types of viruses over the years. We do need to take proper precautions in our personal hygiene. We also need to recognize that faith will carry us through this crisis as it has carried our country through the the thousands of crises that we have had since 1776. Maybe this virus is a wake up call to those who do not have faith in the Lord in our society. Maybe it is a wake up call for elected officials to lead for a change rather than make political every crisis that happens in our society especially here in Connecticut.
Do not fear.
We will overcome this crisis as we have the others. All will be well in our country.
Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."
Words to live by.
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