What Will Be Forever Changed?

We all know that when this virus issue is behind us there will be lasting changes to all aspects of our lives. Some are obvious and necessary and some may be trivial or may end up being great changes. What do you think?

Economically, as many have said, I think not only will we see our reliance on China for supplies change but we almost have to. I’m not placing blame at anyone in particular at all, but we unfortunately got to a point where we rely on China for so very very much.

Also economically, I really hope many Americans will see how quickly normal life can go from bad to worse and then worse yet, and build up an emergency savings account, live more frugal, etc. The advice that’s coming out now regarding personal finances has been there as long as I’ve been an adult, all a person really has to do is have the desire to have better control of their personal finances.

How about supplies? A guy I work with said FEMA has always recommended 30 days of supplies/food at your house just to be prepared for ANYTHING, let a lone this mess. I haven’t verified this and don’t plan on it because it just makes sense.

I also think the way we handle germ-spreading will change. A few months a year I freak out about germs, and it’s usually at work when dominos start falling and everyone is getting sick and missing work. But other times I’m not so great. Going forward maybe people, including myself, will think about this more.

How about more trivial stuff? Sports have really got a lot of thinking to do. Do the NBA and NHL continue, try and finish a regular season, start the playoffs ASAP, or what? Does baseball just pick up where it would have been? One thing the guys on the Power Trip on KFAN have mentioned is that maybe this would be a good time for leagues to re-evaluate the timing of their seasons and allow this situation to force them to try maybe a different timeline for their league.

And finally, perhaps my biggest hope is that in the future, when non-partisan medical or science experts are on TV giving guidance and recommendations, I hope people listen more. A lot of people have changed their tune on this current situation thankfully. A lot of people didn’t want to hear a word about it early on because it came from the “media,” it was an election year, etc. To each their own, you can believe or not believe what you want, but to ignore certain things because it doesn’t align or bode well with what you desire for politics has literally put more people at risk.

Anyway, just curious what others think they may see change forever based on this.

Personally believe this is an overblown mess. I think we will look back on this like we look back at the reaction to Orson Wells “War of the Worlds”.

Future responses will be looked at like “The Piggy that cried Wolf!”

-J.

What I think will eventually come to be:

Great Depression 2.0

No working man or woman will ever trust the stock market again (or for a very long time).

Our credit and debt fueled economy and shadow banking comprised of securitization leveraged hedge fund private equity will implode.

Eventually US Bank Stadium will look like the coliseum ruins in Italy.

Then again, maybe not

Put your fear and anxiety into something productive.

Most these threads just fuel the opposite you desire.

Just a conversation piece as we go through historic times. Didn’t mean to offend anyone.

Jon Jordan wrote:

Personally believe this is an overblown mess. I think we will look back on this like we look back at the reaction to Orson Wells “War of the Worlds”.

Future responses will be looked at like “The Piggy that cried Wolf!”

-J.

Respectfully, that will be a dangerous way to sum this up in the future. I think it’s reasonable that a person will look back and see an overblown mess because the disease didn’t get as bad as anticipated. However, it is an indication that efforts worked. Talk to an epidemiologist, medical doctor, or even a person with an advanced understanding of natural science/ecology. The lack of catastrophe is a huge win. It’s very possible (even likely as world population increases) that these type of pandemic events become more frequent (MERS, SARS, and Ebola were all near misses IMO). If nothing else, COVID-19 has taught us how unprepared our country is to handle a pandemic. Picture for a second what kind of mess we’d be in if the mortality rates were even across all age groups, or that higher mortality rates weren’t in the elderly but for children under 10.

We’re also only at the beginning. No one knows how bad this is going to get so maybe an abundance of caution isn’t such a bad thing.

Sorry, not buying what is for sale here….. Think most of the country will see through this bs in the next 10-15 days.

-J.

Also respectfully, JJ I’d be curious to hear why you feel that way. What makes you feel like it’s an overblown mess/BS? What would change your mind in 10-15 days? What would you suggest be done differently?

Jon Jordan wrote:

Sorry, not buying what is for sale here….. Think most of the country will see through this bs in the next 10-15 days

I hope you’re right. Just made the mistake of looking at my 401k account balance. OUCH!
Reminder to self. Don’t do that again…

Dan wrote:

Also respectfully, JJ I’d be curious to hear why you feel that way. What makes you feel like it’s an overblown mess/BS? What would change your mind in 10-15 days? What would you suggest be done differently?

We’ve reached a tipping point in the US. It’s clearly going to kill us all.

Our bodies don’t stand a chance against this virus.

Currently, one tenth of one percent (.1%) of infected people are in serious or critical condition.

According to my very complex calculations, currently 99.9% of infected people have a MILD CASE.

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I agree with JJ. You can convince people to shelter in place for a couple weeks. But much after that, it’ll be business as usual.

Jon Jordan wrote:

Sorry, not buying what is for sale here….. Think most of the country will see through this bs in the next 10-15 days.

-J.

The sky is not falling, but there are some pretty thick clouds overhead for the foreseeable future. I’m thinking 10-15 days is very optimistic, perhaps unrealistically optimistic. I think April is going to look worse at the start, and similar to where we are now towards the end of the month as far as level of economic impact. The CDC and WHO don’t just “go on a hunch” when they issue guidelines and outlooks. If their 8 week suggestion for current social distancing suggestions is accurate, that would put us into early May. I’m not buying the “this will last into August” talk, but I think impacts will be felt well into summer. I also think the service industry businesses that have been ordered to close will remain closed through most of April. I’d be shocked to see schools reopen before May.

As far as the original questions about what WILL change, I think people will look back on this as a giant reminder that although we have all these technological advancements (5G, self-driving cars, smartphones, etc.) we are still vulnerable humans. One virus from an isolated area in a country on the opposite side of the world has caused this. Politically I see this being looked back on as something that was “out of our control”, which is only partially true. I think an appreciation for what schools do (providing daycare, education, safety, meals, social interactions, supervision, guidance, mental health services, therapy, etc.) will be more appreciated. There are going to be parents who struggle having a 13 year old at home doing “online learning” who will now finally understand what school systems endure. I think health care workers will be more appreciated with their lengthy hours and commitment to put themselves at risk. This will easily go down as the most politicized pandemic and economic recession ever with all of the social media and general media involved.

There are a lot of things that will NOT change. Humans’ desire for immediate gratification will not go away. I do not think this will change people’s spending/saving habits long-term. Those who drive a fully financed $50k vehicle with minimal savings will still do the same. Those who take trips at the expense of adding to savings will still do the same. Those who over-extend themselves in mortgages will still do the same. Those who run up extensive credit card balances will still do the same. Our government will still focus on bailing out corporations before citizens. We will still struggle to adequately prepare for major disasters/outbreaks. We will still let politics divide us as a country.

^These are just my opinions. If you disagree, that’s fine.

Hey thanks Bucky, now that was an interesting post! We’ve already got at least a half dozen other threads bickering back and forth on this site, I was just hoping to start an interesting conversation without people feeling the need to force their opinions on everyone else.

There are a lot of things that will NOT change. Humans’ desire for immediate gratification will not go away. I do not think this will change people’s spending/saving habits long-term. Those who drive a fully financed $50k vehicle with minimal savings will still do the same. Those who take trips at the expense of adding to savings will still do the same. Those who over-extend themselves in mortgages will still do the same. Those who run up extensive credit card balances will still do the same. Our government will still focus on bailing out corporations before citizens. We will still struggle to adequately prepare for major disasters/outbreaks.

What do you want, jobs that pay people. Or people with a couple bucks and no job?

The country was built on jobs, no jobs, no taxes, no country.

Lay man’s terms total blue collar! If things don’t get worse, isn’t that the point of all this? Do you want the alternative?

Dutchboy wrote:

There are a lot of things that will NOT change. Humans’ desire for immediate gratification will not go away. I do not think this will change people’s spending/saving habits long-term. Those who drive a fully financed $50k vehicle with minimal savings will still do the same. Those who take trips at the expense of adding to savings will still do the same. Those who over-extend themselves in mortgages will still do the same. Those who run up extensive credit card balances will still do the same. Our government will still focus on bailing out corporations before citizens. We will still struggle to adequately prepare for major disasters/outbreaks.

What do you want, jobs that pay people. Or people with a couple bucks and no job?

The country was built on jobs, no jobs, no taxes, no country.

Why do the largest corporations need a full bailout? Why can’t the airlines be given extremely low interest loans? They have potential to bounce back faster than any small business.

If the government chooses to go the route of bailouts or economic help, why can’t we look first to the local restaurant that employs people and has been shut down? Why can’t we give bailouts to the hairdresser who was closed for a month? Why can’t we postpone some student loan debt (not forgive) for a month or two to let people feel a little more secure? Those small and medium sized businesses are going to be a lot cheaper to help than the largest corporations. They also are going to impact a lot more people. They aren’t managed by CEO’s and don’t have a purchased say in Washington, but they’re still important.

If you disagree and would rather prioritize writing checks in the billions to the largest corporations, that’s your opinion. I will respectfully disagree.

Hopefully, what will change is that:

1. People will accept the fact that a pandemic CAN happen and WILL happen again.

It’s not a “creation of the media”, “hysteria” or anything else, it’s just a fact.

2. People will understand that measures, like stopping sports seasons, canceling events, stopping school, etc, can’t stop the spread completely. These measures are designed to SLOW the spread of the disease and keep numbers of infected people to a level that resources can manage.

3. More people will have a rational reaction to the next outbreak, rather than focusing on toilet paper or some other irrelevant distraction.

4. People will realize “being prepared” isn’t about hoarding toilet paper and dried beans. Being prepared is mental more than physical.

Grouse

I’ll never take for granted my precious 8511s ever again.

Where art thou?!

This pandemic may save social security for us younger guys…

Jon Jordan wrote:

Sorry, not buying what is for sale here….. Think most of the country will see through this bs in the next 10-15 days.

-J.

I’ll gladly buy whatever you’ve been drinking.

After being in the SW when this happened there will be less intermodal trains.
Both the UP & BNSF have mainline rail routes we ran along side of that are fed off the port of Long Beach. The amount of rail traffic on these southern Transcontinental lines dwarf the BNSF line along US 10.
We buy and are way to dependent on cheap overseas labor.

Dan wrote:

Also respectfully, JJ I’d be curious to hear why you feel that way. What makes you feel like it’s an overblown mess/BS? What would change your mind in 10-15 days? What would you suggest be done differently?

You mean what will change your mind…. My mind is already made up.

Stop believing the over hyped media blitz, Believe what you see, not what you are being told to believe.

In 10 days most Americans will take the risk of getting a “Flu” rather than giving up their life and freedom. This is America!

Back to my analogy. People were TOLD to believe they were being invaded by aliens. Everyone freaked rather than looking out the door to see for themselves.

-J.

The bantering is to accomplish?

Jon Jordan wrote:

You mean what will change your mind

No, I don’t. I have no problem admitting I have no idea what’s going on. I try and pay attention to what the medical experts and scientists say because they have much more knowledge on this matter than I do and I’m ok admitting that too. And JJ, you might be absolutely right and know more than I do, and it’s quite possible that you’re right and I should be following what you say.

I have an open mind. I’m just asking questions.

This psychology has been studied to great lengths.

Get on an airplane and blurt out something like. “Does anyone smell that?” “Smells like some chemical or gas” There will be 1-2% of everyone on the plane complaining of some sickness that does not exist. Completely convinced death is near.

-J.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

The bantering is to accomplish?

Fodder for all of us here in the peanut gallery.

I have little concern for the virus. I have a lot of concern for the economy.

I’ll never look at a roll of TP in the same way again.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:</div>
The bantering is to accomplish?

Fodder for all of us here in the peanut gallery.

Hey Andy, I’m more than 6 ft. away. Toss me a few peanuts would you?

mplspug wrote:

I have little concern for the virus. I have a lot of concern for the economy.

X1,000

We’ll be trying to burn stimulus money to save us…..but it doesn’t work when the ink is still wet.