The data from any of this is as corrupt as the day is long. Yes, there is a virus. Yes people have died from it. That much I believe. The rest is up for review.
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China with 4600 deaths and Nigeria with 760 deaths says it all to me. Nigeria is one of the most filthy countries I have ever lived in or visited and there is zero way they have social distanced but based on the “data” we should use them as our model for what we should do.
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As someone who is part of the Houston oi & gas industry and has seen our shop roster and sales numbers drop to 50% of what is was pre-pandemic. I can’t understand how it is possible to say it does not have a direct affect on the employment levels. The virus took a weak US/Houston oil & gas economy and blew out both knees. Throw into the mix that major companies are working from home or not allowing visitors it has changed the entire dynamic of outside sales.
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Europe from what I heard has a good system that is uniform bc it comes from each country vs localities or provinces which would compare to our states. Rather than laying off people, the country sends money directly to each company so that the workers and the company stays in business then when better times roll around, no harm is done and they are up and running. The US has a free for all chaotic mess of each state having their own unemployment system and when bad times happen, workers lose jobs, houses and companies go away and fail. Then when better times roll around, they have to rehire and start new companies. This mess trickles down to the housing industry and all businesses in general. The admin realizes this and it’s why they are doing various stimulus programs so there is less starting over for most people. However Europe always has this policy in place which creates stability for all including companies. When a bank takes a house in foreclosure , it sits there forever then sold at a reduced price which hurts home values where they exist bc the banking industry isn’t in the home selling business and don’t do that well. They would rather have you pay the loan. Europe is handling it better since they have that system in place which we’re sorta copying in a way bc our leaders know that homelessness and businesses going away forever is bad long term.
I used to work in the petrochemical industry calling on major service companies throughout the world before I retired.
I cannot imagine what it must be like now but I can imagine my job would have been eliminated. I feel much sorrow for an industry that is a valuable part of our nations security.
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We can knock Europe and their policy but it’s superior to ours. It keeps brand businesses around etc.We have name brands that are lost and will never come back. Sometimes capitalism has issues which is why FDR did what he did and it’s why we’re doing stimulus packages which is the right way. We really should employ Europe’s policies to kick in when needed like now. Their system is direct payments to companies based on payroll needs and it’s not a headache complex loan like here that companies have to fight for or be confused about its guidelines.
It is pretty crazy to be part of. I had 1 customer go from 10 purchasing agents down to 2 plus moving their production manager to also be head of purchasing. Prices and margins are being slashed left and right just to try to stay alive and maintain the existing relationships you have.
Yes but most of Europe also has a tax rate that averages 10% more than the United States. Allowing for more government support. It’s all perspective. I for one, prefer not to pay more in taxes.
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I began working for Schlumberger in 1977 and then a few other companies throughout my career of 40 years. I went through all the ups and downs and there were some pretty bad down times.
This is nothing like I could even imagine. My heart goes out to you guys. Stay strong and hang in there
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I agree on taxes so I’d say we only kick in the European policy in a major crisis vs out chaotic stimulus plan we have. We’d still have less taxation than Europe and less chaos in times like these. So like the post above, when times get better they have to retrain and hire new people which is tough bc the former ones may have moved on. If our admin would just send direct payments to companies based on payroll needs vs loans then all would be well.
My understanding of the loan program is that if you keep your employees, you get loan forgiveness but apparently it’s confusing bc many companies say they don’t qualify etc. Tillman F for ex. didn’t get one or sent his money back bc of the confusion in guidelines which is why the European system is better and no confusion exists. Companies looking at loans are scared they might owe it back so some are keeping the money aside in case or not getting loans.
US and Europe are different. It might help if people went back and read the federalist vs anti-federalist papers and some discussions that went on a couple hundred years ago. People left European countries, because they felt they did not have opportunities to live their own lives or did not like systems in place. Guess what, people that don’t like the systems here can also move to European countries.
That does not mean there is not room for improvement here, there is a lot. But turning this country into another European country is not the answer. there will always be things that work better here and there will be things that are worse. It is the nature that goes with people wanting more freedoms and control of their own lives.
From what I can see/read, most of the people crying for why can’t we be more like country xyz, would probably have a fit if we adopted all the traits of that country. The people of this country primarily came from independent minded individuals that wanted to work hard and keep the benefits of their own work. Hence a different culture than others.
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No body here is saying to turn the US into a European country. You can make all the excuses you want, the US did one of the worst jobs in the entire world at handling the virus. We have so many advantages and had a time advantage too, but still failed. From not being ready with supplies, not being ready with testing, not having clear guidance, not having a lock down plan that made sense, refusing for so long to push masks, not having a good system to help business or individuals, and on and on. You can look at Europe, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Canada, etc and say we aren’t like them, but they aren’t like each other either! They all figured it out. Is the US more comparable to Russia and Brazil? God, I hope not.
I just don’t understand, if you want sports to come back the only answer is to take the virus seriously and encourage everybody you know to do the same. It only takes a few weeks of working together to get numbers down and make this virus start disappearing.
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You know there are more deaths in Europe than USA
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China did the worst job of handling the virus.
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Yet Americans are the ones banned from entering Europe. 
lol
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The Presidents don’t want to tell the public that money is more important than lives. That’s why they keep hemming and hawing over start dates for a season that we all know will either be canceled outright, or greatly reduced. Screw it.
Holgs took a redshirt last year. Looks like a great number of us will be taking redshirts this year.
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Various points I keep seeing
Yet I keep seeing, but this country did this and had this. There is a series basic infrastructure differences in laws, healthcare and govt structures. You can’t claim to want one thing about another country and not accept the infrastructure to make it happen. Most people (not you specifically) keep demanding random stuff without realizing what is necessary for that to happen.
This just sounds silly. Not having testing supplies ready for a virus no one knew existed. Not having developed a cure, which no country has. Not having a plan to lock down the citizens in the only free country in the world… Not having a central socialized business environment…
I suppose it is gov. Abbotts fault that he reopened the bars at reduced capacity and everyone went in and packed them anyway. The govt did not do all that. Most of it is people/individuals that disobeyed govt guidelines.
Bad message was the problem. One faction tells the govt to lock down which was the wrong solution. For the US, instead of demand, you encourage the citizens to band together and show the world we can control the virus by wearing masks - it is how you present the message.
I keep asking for someone to post specific rules/steps other countries have done the US should copy, and no one has responded with specific answers. No one has posted here is what country xyz did that the US did not with the same capability. Why? Because the US govt did most of the same things, except the population is do diverse it is interpreted in many different ways.
Most people want sports to come back. The problem is not the govt, it is the people attacking each other and making it political. It is about people fearing long term change in their lives, not just shutting down for a couple weeks (that didn’t work - people did shut down for a couple weeks). Learning to live differently long term is what needs to happen, not just look for some magic fix.
Oh well. People passing blame (look to yourself, not the govt), using political goals for solutions, living with no concern, overreacting, media biases, etc… will prevent football from returning. Unfortunately no leadership from either party exists that will risk re-election for a chance to do what is right and address the real needs.
No more for me as this is getting beyond bringing football back. Even though all the postings here are tied to the issue of no football in the fall.
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More dead Europeans than Americans currently
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“the only free country in the world”. That’s some strong kool-aid dude. lmao
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