Was It All An Illusion?

What if our life before the pandemic was an illusion? What if life as it "is", the real life, is what we are living now? What if the pandemic just pulled the curtain back and exposed the reality that the life we knew was just smoke and mirrors? Let me give you an example: toilet paper. Now I understood how all the stores ran out of toilet paper as people panicked and hoarded toilet paper (and a host of other things). But why is there still no toilet paper at the stores two months after? Is the supply chain broken, or was it never working right? I just do not understand how the richest nation in the world can run out of toilet paper? Maybe what we thought was abundance was just an illusion? Maybe it was all a trick? If that is the case, Lord have mercy on us all. If we can't provide enough toilet paper to meet demand, what else are we going to run out of? What else will we have to do without?

What do you think?

Employment Numbers

The employment numbers came out today. The unemployment rate soared to 14.7%, the highest one month increase ever. It was admitted that it probably is low because of undercounting. The rate is probably closer to 20%. Also, over 100,000,000 are not in the labor force, which is the largest number ever. Many people just stopped working all together in one way or another. If this does not improve quickly we are in for a heap of trouble.

My concern is what will all this unemployment do to the economy? I think that even if everything opens up, no one will be spending any money. I think we are all in economic shock. I know I will not be going to the mall, out for a movie or a meal, nor will I be doing any traveling. I suspect there are millions like me. In other words, we are going to suffer a massive contraction in spending no matter what happens. How will that play out in the economy? Not well I suspect.

What do you think?

Record Unemployment

The Governor just came out and stated that we have over 4 million people out of work here in California. That is a massive number. During the great recession we had about 1.3 million people out of work in California, so it is more than 3 times worse. Also, the jobs lost in the great recession were over a period of years. We lost all the current jobs in about 2 months. What impact is this going to have on the future? It all depends how quickly people get back to work. If things go back fairly quickly and smoothly, the impact will be hard, but it will pass in a few months. But, what happens if most jobs do not come back? What if the "temporary" job losses become permanent? Wow, things will get scary if that happens.

What do you think?

How will this end?

What will things be like once this pandemic ends? Will we return to all things normal, or will things be radically different? Unfortunately, we will not know until we get there. Anyone claiming to "know" has no clue since there is no way to "know". The reality is we will all have to wait and see how the story ends, which for many people is hard to do. Especially when we have all been conditioned to knowing what happened by the end of the binge watching session. I for one hate waiting, but that is all we can do. Hopefully this story has a happy ending. A sad ending would not be good for any of us.

What do you think?

How Much Longer?

Here in Southern California we have been on a stay at home order for about six week. People are starting to venture out. As I ran errands today traffic was heavy. I think people will be forcing California to start opening stuff back up. You can't keep people locked up forever, especially when they do not see a threat from the virus. Here in California the numbers have been much lower than say New York, Italy, or Spain. Why is that? No one can say for sure, but the fact that the governor made everyone stay home back in March is a factor. I think the other factors here in California are that we live more spread out, and we also do not take public transportation. As a result, our numbers are lower and people will start demanding to have restrictions lifted. Hopefully our numbers will stay low once that happens.

What do you think?