~*Official #COVID-19 Thread of Doom*~ Revenge of Omicron Prime

[Jason]

9 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

My bad, I was responding while at the eye doctor after my eyes got dilated and couldn’t tell that you were quoting Jason  

 

Maybe it was actually the rona that the doctor put on your corona!

[Littleronin]

My town has confirmed its first positive case. Needless to say the backlash of people still proclaiming that it is a fake virus on the hospital's post is amazing. 

[osxmatt]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

 

*Moves in to a house with a terrible front yard*
 

3.5 years later

 

”Hey neighbor, uh what’s up with your front yard?”

 

Trump: “The previous owner did nothing to fix it up!”

[DarkStar189]

Starting April 19th at 8 pm shoppers across Pennsylvania are going to be required to wear masks when entering any store. They can call the police to have you removed if you refuse. 

https://www.pennlive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/dont-want-to-wear-a-mask-some-grocery-stores-say-customers-will-be-asked-to-leave.html

Two weeks ago I was one of the few wearing one at the grocery store. The week after there were a few more. Yesterday well over half of shoppers had some sort of a mask on. 

This whole situation has been..... something to see play out. In hindsight, if all of these rules and limits were put in place weeks ago maybe the infection numbers would be much different. Probably would have created a mass panic though.  Just for grocery shopping sake though....face coverings, limit the number of people in store at a time, and ONE package of toilet paper per person. Would it have been that hard to have these rules 3-4 weeks ago? I hope we will have learned a hell of a lot by the time this is all over and can handle shit much better going forward. 

[CitizenVectron]

Lol finally someone made the gif.

[Jason]

Just now, CitizenVectron said:

Lol finally someone made the gif.

 

So you're keeping Palin-land, eh?

[DarkStar189]

Didn't take long. The small business loan program is set to exhaust its funds by early Thursday morning. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/small-business-aid-program-set-to-run-out-of-money-later-today-11586971294?mod=flipboard

[Guest]

1 hour ago, DarkStar189 said:

Didn't take long. The small business loan program is set to exhaust its funds by early Thursday morning. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/small-business-aid-program-set-to-run-out-of-money-later-today-11586971294?mod=flipboard

 

My bank *just* submitted my PPP loan to the SBA today, so who knows if it will get approved before the 349 billion is up. Apparently the SBA is approving EIDL requests to any business owner with a 475+ credit score though, and that program seems to have no cap in funding. Some rumors that the Fed has agreed to purchase all of them on a rolling basis so the SBA can just offload them as they approve them.

[mclumber1]

1 minute ago, sblfilms said:

 

My bank *just* submitted my PPP loan to the SBA today, so who knows if it will get approved before the 349 billion is up. Apparently the SBA is approving EIDL requests to any business owner with a 475+ credit score though, and that program seems to have no cap in funding. Some rumors that the Fed has agreed to purchase all of them on a rolling basis so the SBA can just offload them as they approve them.

 

I'm still confused by the PPP.  The loans are given out by the banks, but the Federal government is funding it?  Or are they just guaranteeing the loans?  If the government is the source of the money, how much are the banks charging on interest?  

[Guest]

1 hour ago, mclumber1 said:

 

I'm still confused by the PPP.  The loans are given out by the banks, but the Federal government is funding it?  Or are they just guaranteeing the loans?  If the government is the source of the money, how much are the banks charging on interest?  

The PPP loans are funded by the banks, guaranteed by the SBA. The banks make money by closing costs paid by the SBA, 2-5% depending on the size of the loan (higher percentage for smaller loans). The interest rate is only 1%, so it's barely better than the Fed funds rate. But the Fed has also agreed to purchase these loans in the future, so the banks really are just looking to move the loans as quickly as possible by collecting the closing fees and then dumping them off to the Fed.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

1 minute ago, sblfilms said:

The PPP loans are funded by the banks, guaranteed by the SBA. The banks make money by closing costs paid by the SBA, 2-5% depending on the size of the loan (higher percentage for smaller loans). The interest rate is only 1%, so it's barely better than the Fed funds rate. But the Fed has also agreed to purchase these loans in the future, so the banks really are just looking to move the loans as quickly as possible by collecting the closing fees and then dumping them off to the Fed.

So is it the closing costs that are about to run out or the made up money that the banks are loaning out that is about to run out? Honestly I don't know.

[mclumber1]

2 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

The PPP loans are funded by the banks, guaranteed by the SBA. The banks make money by closing costs paid by the SBA, 2-5% depending on the size of the loan (higher percentage for smaller loans). The interest rate is only 1%, so it's barely better than the Fed funds rate. But the Fed has also agreed to purchase these loans in the future, so the banks really are just looking to move the loans as quickly as possible by collecting the closing fees and then dumping them off to the Fed.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

So is it the closing costs that are about to run out or the made up money that the banks are loaning out that is about to run out? Honestly I don't know.

The $349b that is almost gone is the guarantees the SBA is making on the loans. So yeah, the made up money  

 

1 hour ago, mclumber1 said:

 

Yup. It's a way of hiding how bad the unemployment numbers are by paying businesses to keep employees on instead of letting them collect UEBs.

[Jason]

1 minute ago, sblfilms said:

Yup. It's a way of hiding how bad the unemployment numbers are by paying businesses to keep employees on instead of letting them collect UEBs.

 

It's not just "hiding unemployment", it'll be significantly easier to restart the economy the more companies are able to have their employees come back as though they were all just on a long vacation.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

2 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

The $349b that is almost gone is the guarantees the SBA is making on the loans. So yeah, the made up money  

 

Yup. It's a way of hiding how bad the unemployment numbers are by paying businesses to keep employees on instead of letting them collect UEBs.

Jesus Christ everything is just so made up lol

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

 

It's not just "hiding unemployment", it'll be significantly easier to restart the economy the more companies are able to have their employees come back as though they were all just on a long vacation.

It's only 8 weeks of payroll funding, it's not enough to do that. It's a dumb program and businesses are largely going to just take the cheap cash (1% interest!) and not bother trying to get the max forgiveness and use the money for normal capital expenses for a few months.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Jesus Christ everything is just so made up lol

In case you guys forgot what you learned in high school econ class about fractional reserve banking,
 

 

[Jason]

17 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

It's only 8 weeks of payroll funding, it's not enough to do that. It's a dumb program and businesses are largely going to just take the cheap cash (1% interest!) and not bother trying to get the max forgiveness and use the money for normal capital expenses for a few months.

 

Oh I didn't realize it was only for 8 weeks, I figured it was like what other countries were doing with covering salaries until the crisis is over. Stupid me for thinking we were doing anything even remotely right.

[mclumber1]

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

Oh I didn't realize it was only for 8 weeks, I figured it was like what other countries were doing with covering salaries until the crisis is over. Stupid me for thinking we were doing anything even remotely right.

 

Well the virus won't survive in hot weather.  8 weeks puts us comfortably into May/June, and the virus will be gone by then.

[CitizenVectron]

 

[marioandsonic]

1 hour ago, DarkStar189 said:

Starting April 19th at 8 pm shoppers across Pennsylvania are going to be required to wear masks when entering any store. They can call the police to have you removed if you refuse. 

https://www.pennlive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/dont-want-to-wear-a-mask-some-grocery-stores-say-customers-will-be-asked-to-leave.html

Two weeks ago I was one of the few wearing one at the grocery store. The week after there were a few more. Yesterday well over half of shoppers had some sort of a mask on. 

This whole situation has been..... something to see play out. In hindsight, if all of these rules and limits were put in place weeks ago maybe the infection numbers would be much different. Probably would have created a mass panic though.  Just for grocery shopping sake though....face coverings, limit the number of people in store at a time, and ONE package of toilet paper per person. Would it have been that hard to have these rules 3-4 weeks ago? I hope we will have learned a hell of a lot by the time this is all over and can handle shit much better going forward. 

Fuck...I don't have a mask.  At least not an official one.  All I have is a scarf that I cover my mouth and nose with.  Would I be okay?

[DarkStar189]

12 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

Fuck...I don't have a mask.  At least not an official one.  All I have is a scarf that I cover my mouth and nose with.  Would I be okay?

You definitely don't have to have an N95 mask or anything. I feel like if you are wearing anything that covers your nose and mouth hands free nobody is going to say anything. I've seen people wearing big scarfs, bandanas, and paper thin doctor looking masks at the grocery store. 

[DarkStar189]

@marioandsonic

I never looked until now, apparently it's super easy to make one haha

 

[Jason]

24 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

Fuck...I don't have a mask.  At least not an official one.  All I have is a scarf that I cover my mouth and nose with.  Would I be okay?

 

At least in California you just need a face covering, so a scarf would probably be fine. The point of these face-covering orders is mostly just to stop the velocity of the droplets you expel when you sneeze/cough, not to keep individuals from catching it themselves.

[marioandsonic]

9 minutes ago, DarkStar189 said:

@marioandsonic

I never looked until now, apparently it's super easy to make one haha

 

I don't even have rubber bands at my place lol

[mclumber1]

3 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

I don't even have rubber bands at my place lol

 

Lifehack:  Just wear an old pair of tightie whities on you head.  They have elastic built in.  

[marioandsonic]

3 minutes ago, mclumber1 said:

 

Lifehack:  Just wear an old pair of tightie whities on you head.  They have elastic built in.  

...I don't have those either.  I'm a boxer-briefs guy

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

24 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

In case you guys forgot what you learned in high school econ class about fractional reserve banking,
 

 

I'm sorry high school econ? Not everyone went to a well funded high school! We couldn't even get calculus. I should know, I was the only student eligible for calc! lol

 

But what's happening here doesn't appear to be reserve fractional banking.

[CitizenVectron]

Many suspected it, but it looks like the death toll could be 2x the official numbers pretty much everywhere.

 

 

[mclumber1]

2 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Many suspected it, but it looks like the death toll could be 2x the official numbers pretty much everywhere.

 

 

 

Some conservatives are saying the death toll is actually less - it doesn't count if you die from a bacterial infection (which was caused by coronavirus wrecking your lungs) or if you had a heart attack and couldn't get care because the ER was filled up with coronavirus patients. 

[Remarkableriots]

1 hour ago, sblfilms said:

 

Taught me all I needed to know about banking! 

[Remarkableriots]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mynews4.com/amp/news/local/nevada-casinos-continue-to-struggle-with-little-relief-from-cares-act

Quote

While some relief was expected from the Cares Act, none came.

Noyes explained because small businesses don't qualify if they make more than 30 percent of their revenue from gaming, the Lakeside Inn had to lay off more than 200 employees, some who have worked there for years.

"Until the Nevada unemployment system kicks in or there is some whole change to the SBA (Small Business Administration) not singling out small casinos for this disaster...they don't see a light at the end of the tunnel," reasoned Noyes.

Although the U.S. Department of Treasury has since revised the SBA's provisions to include businesses with 50 percent or less of their revenue from gaming, most casinos say that's still not enough.

 

Most of Nevada's 200+ casinos, especially the smaller casinos, would not qualify because most of them make more than 75 percent of their revenue from gaming.

Casino owners say this is particularly harmful because the Cares Act was specifically designed for businesses like theirs. 

The Cares Act includes a Payroll Protection Program that allows small businesses with 500 or fewer employees to borrow a loan worth roughly 2.5 times their monthly wages.

 

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, marioandsonic said:

I don't even have rubber bands at my place lol

 

Maybe Juicy J could hook you up.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

I'm sorry high school econ? Not everyone went to a well funded high school! We couldn't even get calculus. I should know, I was the only student eligible for calc! lol

 

But what's happening here doesn't appear to be reserve fractional banking.

It’s directly connected to FRB because the loans the banks are writing are actually more like bonds because the Fed is already guaranteeing to buy the loans. So they are flooding the system with new money in a similar fashion to a bond sale by the banks to the Fed, they just in the short run are SBA backed loans.

 

One of the best lessons I learned during my Econ degrees is that banking is all fiction.

[Remarkableriots]

1 hour ago, marioandsonic said:

...I don't have those either.  I'm a boxer-briefs guy

Same here.