In Coronavirus news....

[thewayne]

New Mexico had its first three cases confirmed yesterday, we're assuming all in Albuquerque, the northern part and highest population density of the state. We live in the SE part of the state.

The National Basketball Association has cancelled its season after a player tested positive. Mark Cuban, rich guy in the extreme, is formulating a plan so the Dallas Mavericks arena workers will get paid. Good on him!

The NCAA March Madness tournament apparently will go on, but without attendees.

Our Beloved Leader has decided that no flights from Europe will be allowed? That doesn't help where a friend of mine works here in Phoenix. He's a night guard at a retirement home in Scottsdale, and he's helping a guy in with his luggage who's returning from vacation. "So, where did you go?" "Italy!" "Really. What part?" "Northern Italy! Florence!" Apparently the guy was clueless about what was going on and I guess got out before the country went into lockdown. What's worse is he's a social gadfly, going around from table to table talking to people. So I expect that retirement home could be a major hotspot in 2-3 weeks.

More and more companies are doing work from home policies, the DOW is plunging. My university is developing plans for Teach From Home. I suppose I'll just be SOL if the campus shuts down, I can't do much with interlibrary loan from home if I can't access the library: can't mail books if I don't have access to books to mail.

Here's the thing that's going to hit hard, and why I expect we may be in a world-wide recession by the end of the year: there's no flex in interest rates possible as they're close to zero at the moment because Our Beloved Leader didn't want the Fed to raise the prime rate because he thinks that's bad for business. Guess what? Now that rates need to be cut, they can't be! You can't cut a zero rate! And a lot of countries around the world have the same problem.

He shouldn't have dismantled his predecessor's world-wide pandemic monitoring program. Gee, that can't be valuable, can it? And we don't need to spend all this money on the CDC.

It's going to be bad, and it's going to be a long time recovering. IMO.

Comments

[graydon]

You can cut a zero rate; Europe, Scandinavia, and Japan have all used negative interest rates.

Whether this sort of policy will be adopted or whether anyone will manage to point out that the liquidity trap is a consequence of ineffective taxation (ha ha ha no) are open questions, but as a technical matter, negative interest rates are totally a thing.

And, yeah, it looks like we're about to have the sort of year that goes into history books as its own distinct chapter.

[thewayne]

I had not heard of negative prime rates, interesting. Thanks for the info!

[graydon]

You're welcome!

I figure we'll be well into 2021 before we've even started digging out of the (hopefully metaphorical) rubble on this one.

[thewayne]

Very true, and some time next year we’ll hopefully see a vaccine….

[motodraconis]

Are you able to self isolate and work fully from home though? The next few weeks are critical.

[thewayne]

I’ll probably be simply unemployed while not working as I’m a part-time employee. Don’t know if I can file for unemployment while doing it.

[moonhare]

We’re slowly shutting down here, as well. Today I was told my priority when cleaning the Library is disinfecting ‘surfaces’ that folks contact- table tops, chairs, rails, keyboards, and mice, etc... Sucks, as I was just getting new computers prepped for the Circ desk. But we are still open, for now.

[thewayne]

We started the work-studies disinfecting last week, but we have a small library, all in all. I just saw a notice from the local theater that they were cancelling a production: NM Dept of Health issued notice that all gatherings > 100 are suspended, additionally a fourth case was announced.  The uni prez did not address that, I expect the graduation ceremony will be cancelled and training for remote education will be intensified.

[moxie_man]

El Presidente's move to restrict flights is like closing the barn door after the horses have already gotten out. Absolutely useless and is contributing to the crash. I wonder how long (if ever) before Moscow Mitch regrets not removing him when he was given the opportunity. But wait, there is "hope" as El Presidente came into contact over the weekend with a Brazilian official who tested positive a few days later. Maybe all those who have been praying Psalms 109:8 will soon have their prayers answered.

With that off my chest, my uni is moving to online-only classes after spring break. At the moment, those students who have somewhere to move home to have been asked to go home by 3/23. Our library and cafeteria will remain open only to students, faculty and staff. Doors will be locked. You'll need your uni ID to wave over the scanner locks to get in. I work in a satellite office 70 miles from the main campus where we do contract work with state gov. They're preparing us for potential work-from-home. In my case, I may not have a choice. My wife is a chaplain at the largest hospital in the state. It's not a matter of IF, but When before she's exposed and we're quarantined at home for 2 weeks.

The first case in Maine was ID'd yesterday. There's been a panic run on some stores for toilet paper (why???) among other things. The state's 200th Anniversary celebration this weekend is "postponed". Our local scout district and council have "postponed" all events through at least the end of April.

[silveradept]

The Organization is closing to the public, but not fully and totally, in the sense that we might offer pickup of materials for people while the building and its resources are closed. Because we have people who don't have or want to use electronic resources and still need something to keep them through the time period where they may not be able to do the things they normally would.