Coronavirus Karens

Watch well into this video to see a potential root cause of why people are acting the way they are (hint - it's media misinformation and hysteria).

Ricky Gervais goes off on celebrities, again.

Ricky Gervais, keeping it real.  I hate that expression too, but he really is keeping it real during the coronavirus pandemic.

More from Tim Pool: China's nefariousness on the cornoavirus

China's lies on the coronavirus are harming the world, but I would add that it is proof that they are an untrustworthy nation in general.

Tim Pool exposes Democrats' self-own on coronavirus

Tim Pool is a fair guy and an honest guy. Also a left-leaning guy.  But most of the time, he's right about Democrats.

Nancy Pelosi is both insane and two-faced (and she's not alone)

This is not a conspiracy theory, it's proof

You get 1 shot, we get 50.

A lot of people both left and right have been claiming that the coronavirus is a trial run for martial law.  That's crazy, it's an existential threat and proper precautions need to be taken.  What the coronavirus actually is, is proof that decentralization works better than centralization.  It's proof of the argument against totalitarianism.  And the proof has nothing to do directly with China.

With Democrats arguing that president Trump needs to take radical action, evidence suggests otherwise.  Take centralization to the point of absurdity - one world government.  If there was a centrally planned response, in that scenario the world would have to pray that the response was the correct one.  Otherwise the fatalities and other impacts could be catastrophic to an epic degree.  Imagine that the world was run by Italy instead of South Korea.  The infection rate and fatalities would be far worse.

Years ago I was arguing what I called the 50 Experiments Theorem.  50 states trying 50 different approaches to combat the virus is better than the federal government mandating one approach for all - one approach that could very well be quite a bad approach. The idea is that the more things that are tried the more chances you have one of your experiments being successful, and everyone else having the opportunity to copy the successful approach and learn from the failed approaches too.   More broadly there are over 170 countries, so that offers a lot more experiments.  Those who are in favor of globalism and opposed to decentralization argue for political homogeneity (whether purposefully or accidentally).  They argue for one experiment in times of crisis.  That is an extremely high risk approach.  

Five years from now, scientist and planners will have learned what countries reacted smartly and which ones did not.  Those learnings can be applied more universally to the inevitable next outbreak.  That's a good thing, isn't it?

Decentralization means more chances to solve problems because it means more people trying more things and offers a higher chance of a successful result.  By extension, that is proof that capitalism will always work better than socialism to solve society's problems.  It always allows for more people trying more things because they have the freedom to try.  

Some good news on the coronavirus curve flattening and a possible solution

First it looks like Washington state is seeing the infection curve possibly peaking:

I firmly believe there's perhaps as few of 30 days left of intensity in the disease impacts before things head back to normal. Secondly it looks like there's some reason to be optimistic about treating the disease.

Longer term implications of the Wuhan coronavirus

I don't believe this will have any long-lasting implications mentioned in the video below in and of itself but it could impact immigration in the United States for some time to come IF it impacts attitudes.  And it might.

However, the virus does point out that president Trump was right about immigration and right about China in more ways than one.

It's a Chinese virus media people. Why don't you get it?

I have nothing to add to this.  Journalists are so lost in their Trump hatred they cannot face facts.

Canada's Coronavirus infection curve has peaked

Similar to U.S. data from yesterday, Canada's infection curve is already looking past-peak.  This is important because Canada and the U.S. are following similar containment strategies and the U.S. was quicker to act, so I would expect to see a similar path in the U.S. in the coming days - provided people follow instructions in the U.S. as they are so wont to do in Canada.

The data below are from the Government of Canada website.

Covid-19 (Wuhan virus) infection curve in America

I downloaded the data from Visual Capitalist and mapped out the infection curve for daily number of infections since the 100th case was reported.  It looks like we've already reached the peak of the curve.  If that's the case the panic has been massively overblown.

Making roller coasters out of speed bumps

 On a week when the Dow Jones had it's biggest single day crash percentage-wise, since Black Monday in 1987, and followed by the biggest single day gain in history panic seemed to permeate the collective conscious of North Americans.  At my local Walmart and other stores I visited for my weekly grocery shopping I witnessed it personally.  No bottled water was left on the shelves. Toilet paper was gone.  Who knew toilet paper was critical for the apocalypse?  Canned goods were in short supply.  The meat department was running on empty, except for the ham.  The stores were crowded.  Parking lots were crazy.  This all on the same day that president Trump declared a national state of emergency and the stock market was in the midst of its rebound day.

People panic.  There is a herd mentality to it.  This is definitely something of which people can take advantage if they are less than scrupulous.  My wife saw on Amazon someone selling 6 rolls of toilet paper for $36.  What's interesting is that if you separate yourself from it you are not immune to it.  We happen to be low on toilet paper right now, so we end up swept up in the panic (to an extent) and thereby adding to the chaos (to an extent).

The danger from the coronavirus while real, is clearly over-projected as a crisis.  It is not - it is a problem.   Problems can be managed, crisis need to be avoided or escaped.  People are making roller coasters out of speed bumps. This will pass.  Your 401K, like mine, has probably suffered a material setback, but it is of a transient nature.  The value will return.  You have probably lost 3 to 12 months of growth from this, just like most everyone else. 

Be this guy.

This is no time to panic.  In fact there is never a time to panic. Panic rarely helps, in fact probably never.  If you have extra cash, now would be the time to invest it.  I was saying that to my friends after the 2000 point DJIA loss, before the bounce back yesterday.  Calm and rational assessment leads to smarter decisions.

As of yesterday I believe there were 40 coronavirus deaths in total.  In the U.S. about 10 people a day die from drowning.  Since January 1st that would be 740 deaths.  But I bet I can still go buy a life jacket.  Why?  Because there is no panic over it, it is not a splashy headline.  More importantly I suppose is that my chances of drowning in a boating accident are about zero right now.  That's probably true for you too.  Look beyond the headlines.  Think.  Be rational.  Freaking out is beyond foolish, it's dangerous. 

This will pass.  It will not lead to a recession if people do not panic, and even if it does lead to a downturn it won't last more than one quarter.  President Trump will not suffer electorally from this, and if he is shrewd, he will even benefit from it. I suspect he will.  He is thinking and being rational.  That will never be acknowledged by the mainstream media but if you think about it, their reaction not only doesn't affect him negatively, it's actually a benefit.

Market rebounding. It's not because of Joe Biden

The reason the DJIA is rebounding again (up 500 as I write) this morning in the face of coronavirus fears, is not because anyone is enthused about Biden winning, it's about Sanders losing.

The markets are scared of Sanders, and rightfully so.  He's not a Democratic Socialist.  He's a Socialist and pretty much a communist if you look closely enough.  He's a destroyer of capitalism.  No one is thrilled about Joe Biden winning and looking like the nominee this morning, except perhaps president Trump.

Biggest DOW gain ever

Last week my retirement fund lost 10% of it's value, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.  I'm not panicked because either the coronavirus wipes out half of humanity and investments are almost pointless, or else the panic selling will rebound, like it has started to do today.

This is not a full rebound yet but I wish I'd had extra money to buy over the last week because I think the DOW will hit 30,000 before the election.

Evidence that the mainstream media is lying about the coronavirus

Washington Post and New York Times are calling recent reporting about the source of the coronavirus "already debunked".  Why because a Republican has said we should be open to all possibilities because China lies. 

It's politics over truth for these rags.

An insider's view of China's 2019

An American who married a Chinese woman and has spent many years in China, this month posted a review of why China had it's darkest year yet in 2019.  Clearly 2020 has not been any better.

Keep in mind as you watch that this man was clearly a pro-Chinese in previous years.  While that's waned it does appear in some of his commentary, which is generally, relatively fair.

With 2020 starting out with the coronavirus issue from Wuhan, 2020 may end up worse for China than 2019.