America has made the wrong choice
Much to the chagrin of so many, Donald Trump has managed to win the election and become President, but not by a landslide. Donald Trump will spin it that way, but it isn’t true. One thing that is absolutely true, however, is that lies are winning over truth. Lies are how Trump won. Let’s explore.
Over-Analyzed
The news media outlets are now over-analyzing Trump’s win, pulling out all manner of random talking heads to say whatever they think. These randoms, most of the time, make zero sense with their inane arguments as to why Trump won.
For example, one of MSNBC’s talking head randoms claimed that Trump won because Democrats called the Trump base biggots and racists. I don’t recall any Democrat candidates saying this. Media outlets may have been making these arguments, along with many talking heads on media outlets, but I can’t recall a single Democrat candidate saying this. Feel free to point how how I’m wrong in the comments below, however.
One thing that is absolutely certain is that media outlets have been calling Trump a biggot and racist. This is true. It seems if these talking heads are so out of touch that they can’t recognize the difference between a news media outlet and a Democrat, they’re living in a cave. They’re also clearly not thinking.
Spinning Lies
Trump won, not because Democrats did or said anything wrong. Trump won because Trump and his cabal are able to spew lies about the Democrats that seemed truthful to the masses. That’s the gist of it at all. At the heart of the matter, it comes down to lies over truth.
People seemed to have forgotten one cliché, but very salient and prophetic quote:
If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.
No where is this quote more applicable than towards Donald Trump. Trump is a conman, first and foremost. The word “conman” has a lot of negative connotations, but let’s break it down. The “con” prefix in “conman” is short for “confidence”.
This means that a “conman” gains your “confidence” by saying things that, you guessed it, “seem too good to be true”, leading to an initial skepticism. Then, the conman follows up those skeptical words with words that try to allay your fears about his statement being “too good to be true.” In a very real sense, leading you down a primrose path made of up plastic flowers. They’re pretty and may seem real, just don’t get too close.
He then hauls out 2, 3 or more shills who all backup his claims as the conman. These shills are paid accomplices who say whatever the conman wants because they were paid off. Think of them as paid actors.
These shills who come rolling out are intended to prove to you that the conman’s words are truthful. Some people may still be skeptical at this point, unless some of the shills are people like a mayor, your police leader or even your pastor. That’s where a conman’s words get a huge boost to seem “truthful”, even though they’re still all just a pack of lies.
The Wrong Decision
It seems that the vast majority of America has now been conned by a man who has enlisted far too many confidence shills like Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott and Rupert Murdock (and sons) and this list goes on and on and on.
Gullible sorts believe what Trump says because they believe what his shills are saying. That rationale is, “if all of these people are saying the same thing, then it must be true.” Yet, shills are still shills perpetuating lies on behalf of the conman. Unfortunately, when so many are perpetrating the same lies, it can be difficult to undersatnd that these lies are, very much in fact, still lies.
Let’s not get bogged down into Trump’s continual lies.
4 years of Hell
America is literally in for 4 years of hell. You will begin to realize that the lies that Trump and his cabal have told are in fact truly lies. That you were, in fact, deceived by a legitimate conman. Unfortunately, you’re going to learn this fact in the most difficult ways possible. Let’s list out each of what Trump has made claims of “fixing” and then realize why he will be unable to actually do any of it. In fact, the economy will get far, far worse under Trump’s leadership than where we are right at this moment in time.
Trump’s lies:
- Trump will bring down inflation and restore what was the economy prior to Biden. This is both a lie and it is false. Trump has no ability to steer America’s economy to make it any better than it is right now. In fact, with Trump’s continual chaos, firings, distractions and age-related mental degeneration, America’s economy will actually get worse, not better. Expect higher rents, higher food costs, higher gas prices and higher inflation than where we are today. It could even get to twice higher than today.
- The Middle East and Russia wars will end. Lies. Trump has no influence to control or change the outcomes of what’s going on the Middle East or with Russia. The best he can do is attempt to befriend Putin again and play hardball with Netanyahu, neither of which will affect those wars in any way at all. Worse, though, is that for all of his meddling in these international affairs, he will see to it that No. 1 above absolutely comes true… a worsening economy, more inflation and higher prices. The only way that the Ukraine war ends under Trump is for the Ukraine to be handed over to Russia on a silver platter.
- Trump will deport many, many immigrants. Lies, mostly. Not in that he will deport people, but in HOW and WHO he will deport. While he may be able to round up immigrants and “deport” them, there’s no way to know what exactly he means by this. He could attempt to round up not only recent immigrants, but all immigrants of any nationality regardless of their legal citizenship status or how long they have lived in America. Then, deport ALL of them. MAGA isn’t just about “Making America Great Again”, it’s about “Making America White Again.”
- Trump will fix the border. Lies. Trump has no way to fix the border. Putting up a border wall will cost taxpayers trillions more in money. Instead of reducing taxes, you’re going to be paying even more to help put up that wall along the border… a wall, that incidentally, will do nothing to stem the tide of immigrants. Of course, Trump will lie about all of this and tell you it is working. Because you don’t live near the border, you will have to take his word at face value. Living near the border will tell you the real truth, but you don’t care about that because you don’t live near there.
- Trump will make the country better. Lies. Trump only cares about one person. Himself. Trump will make the country better for HIM only. Not for you, not for your family and not for anyone else you know. This ties back to No. 1 above, but it is markedly different because Trump wants to be President for not only the power he derives, but for the money he gains and the money he can skim from just about everywhere he can find. This, of course, costs the economy money and you, as a taxpayer, money. Trump wants to turn the country into a playground for the rich with those at the bottom becoming pawns for his pleasure, convenience and for the work he can make you do. He wants you to work even longer hours, get even less money in wages and effectively become slave labor to him. Well done voting for him.
Third World Nation
These above are the top things Trump has promised. However, he has also promised political retribution to his opponents. We’ll have to see how his political retribution ends, but that likely means completely getting rid of the Democrats entirely.
That above and his promise of toppling the constitution. These here are additional promises he has made. The problem is, toppling the constitution means toppling America. Toppling America means putting America into not only a great depression, but the biggest depression that America has ever seen. It also means America will cease to exist as a country and will instantly become a third world nation. The dollar will cease to have value across the globe. Think of what the peso is worth in Mexico and devalue the dollar by even more than that.
If the constitution is toppled, your rights are gone. Your home is gone. Your land is gone. Your money is gone. Everything you hold dear is absolutely, 100% completely and utterly gone. Without a constitution to protect your rights, you have no rights at all.
Trump can come in and seize everything you have and everything you own. Trump can then rearrange the state boundaries, remove voting entirely, disband the military or rearrange the United States to his will and effectively cause one of the most catastrophic changes to what was formerly known as America.
If we get to this point, and yes it is entirely possible we will in less than 4 years, Trump will have to begin selling off parts of American territory to continue to fund his own lifestyle choices, that and to avoid becoming part of a coup. That probably won’t work. Don’t bet that if we get to this point that Mexico, Russia, China and North Korea won’t eye our land for conquest. World War III? Forget that. We won’t be able to even defend our nation once Trump brings us to this point. Our military will be so disjointed and disbanded, that we won’t have a military to speak of. Nukes? They probably won’t even work.
You Voted For This!
This is exactly what you voted for. You bought into Trump’s con. You think he’ll make America better, but that’s not going to happen. He’s too old and too unstable to produce any results. Trump has no moral compass nor ethical boundaries. Trump is, as some media outlets have stated, transactional. He does things on a whim, but also does some planned things with as minimal planning as possible. When something is planned, it’s usually planned and executed in hours, with absolutely not enough time to judge the consequences.
Trump offers no real plans. He isn’t a planner. He’s not even a doer. He’s a leach and a conman. He takes and takes and takes. He almost never gives back.
This is what you wanted? No? It’s absolutely what you’re going to get.
The next 4 years are going to be a living hell for not just Democrats, but equally for all Republicans. You wanted to open Pandora’s Box. Well, now you did. Now we get to see exactly what’s inside of Pandora’s box… and no, it’s not going to be pretty.
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Disney and DeSantis: Who wins?
With Disney canceling its plans to spend $1 billion on a new Florida campus, this is Disney’s first salvo lobbed directly at Ron DeSantis. Can Florida survive this fight? Let’s explore.
Ron DeSantis is Playing with Fire
Tourism in Florida accounts for more than $40 billion each year. Tourism also generates massive tax revenue; tax revenue that grosses $11.4 billion in state and local taxes and $13.3 billion in federal taxes annually. DeSantis and Florida clearly stand poised to lose hard when Disney pulls the plug on its Florida Disney resort properties entirely. Yes, “when”, not “if”. The United States also stands to lose a lot of federal tax revenue as well. This article, however, intends to focus primarily on the ramifications to Florida.
Once DeSantis makes Florida’s actions so punitive that Disney can no longer make money in Florida, Disney WILL pull out and leave Florida. DeSantis has wrongly assumed that Disney will remain in Florida. That’s a completely wrong assumption. When state legislators make doing business in a state a major problem to the bottom line, corporations have to make hard, but necessary choices. Some of those hard choices may involve leaving that state.
Musk and Tesla made that choice after California and Gavin Newsom made doing business in California almost impossible for Tesla. Tesla moved its headquarters to Texas and is likely poised to cease all of its operations in California eventually, manufacturing or otherwise. Even though Musk has made a small move to bring some portions of Tesla back to California, that doesn’t mean Musk embraces California for its business structure. Moving a portion of Tesla’s engineering staff closer to Twitter is likely more of a strategic and convenient business arrangement than it is embracing a move back to California. Musk is simply attempting to keep Twitter from collapsing most likely by leveraging Tesla software engineers when possible to do double duty between Tesla and Twitter. Dividing work time between two separate companies is not a job I’d want to do. We digress.
Disney’s stance, after cancelling its $1 billion campus project, is now crystal clear. Disney is on the verge of making a similar hard choice that Tesla was forced to make. Nothing says that Disney’s entertainment parks must remain in Florida.
Disney’s Contributions to Florida
Disney properties are responsible for generating at least $1.1 billion in tax revenues annually TO Florida. Ten percent (10%) of the entirety of gross taxes generated in Florida are generated by one single entity, Disney. Yes, that’s 10% from Disney alone. When factoring in all of the non-Disney owned businesses which exist because Disney drives massive tourism to Florida, such as restaurants, hotels and transportation, tax revenue attributed to Disney’s presence in Florida could account for as much as 40-50% of all of Florida’s tax revenue. Meaning, when combining Disney’s income with income generated by all other businesses which rely on Disney remaining in Florida, that’s a number that could literally tank Florida’s economy were it to dry up overnight.
Putting a number on it, this equates to between $4.6 billion and $5.5 billion of tax revenue lost were Disney to close shop and leave Florida. On top of the tax base lost, Disney closing shop would definitely cause most, if not all of Disney’s 75,000 Florida workers to lose their jobs. Further, the loss of Disney’s tourism industry would have massive repercussions on tertiary businesses which partially or fully rely on Disney remaining open in Florida. Thus, Disney leaving Florida could potentially cause the loss of another 100,000 or more Florida jobs simply BECAUSE Disney has left Florida. That’s just the beginning of Florida’s woes. Disney leaving Florida would likely cause a massive recession in Florida, followed by major unemployment in Florida, which, in turn, could potentially trigger a massive recession around the rest of the United States, particularly around tourism. This at a time when tourism is just beginning to rebound from COVID.
Because Airlines carry so many passengers to and from Florida almost entirely for Disney’s tourism, such a closure could mean almost certain problems for the whole of the United States. In fact, a Disney Florida closure could potentially even bankrupt some smaller airlines; airlines which may rely on as much or more than 20-40% of their business ferrying tourists to and from Florida. Car rental companies could also be impacted. The gasoline industry might even be impacted as far fewer people hop onto the roads to visit Florida. Even national and state parks could be impacted as fewer RVs show up due to a Disney closure. There are too many industries that wholly or partly rely on Disney’s continued operations in Florida. Without Disney parks, what incentive is there to visit Florida?
This right here 👆 is exactly how Ron DeSantis is gambling with Florida and the rest of the United States economy.
Juggernaut without Federal Response
At this point, Biden and the feds need to step in and stop DeSantis from further meddling with Disney. The longer this DeSantis vs Disney fight drags on, the more likely Disney will consider moving its operations somewhere else, thus ceasing operations in Florida. Worse, the more DeSantis pokes at Disney’s Country Bear Jamboree, the more likely Disney is to perform a knee-jerk reaction by shutting it all down instantly… leaving Florida, the tourism industry and the rest of the country reeling.
As with most types of shutdowns like this, it won’t be felt instantly around the nation. It’s one of those slow trickle economic problems. Florida, particularly around the general vicinity of Disney’s campuses, will feel the closure pinch almost instantly. The unemployment of Disney workers will throw a huge crimp into Florida’s unemployment statistics. From there, like a juggernaut, it will continue to roll downhill gathering momentum and growing bigger, expanding its damage across Florida, then across hotels, airlines and transportation as a whole and finally affecting the whole of the United States.
The stock market will reel at first over Disney, but then those stock losses will expand into the tourism industry as a whole, including the entirety of both the transportation and tourism sectors. Even restaurant chains like Olive Garden and McDonald’s alike, chains which at least partly rely on Disney to keep their restaurants full in the immediate vicinity of Disney’s properties, will also likewise begin to feel the pinch; first at the cash register, but later as Wall Street outlooks dim over Florida’s economy.
Disney as a Global Entity
The loss of revenue from Disney will be immense as Disney ceases its Florida operations. There is no doubt. However, moving Disney’s Florida properties to a new location is definitely possible. Disney isn’t beholden to anyone to maintain its Florida resort properties other than Disney and Disney shareholders. If Disney cannot maintain appropriate income under Ron DeSantis’s oppressive government ideologies, Disney will have no choice but to close down its properties and move to a better location.
For example, Texas would likely welcome Disney with open arms, even though Greg Abbott has the potential to become just as oppressive to Disney as Ron DeSantis. Disney would have to weigh the risks of moving its operations under a Greg Abbott controlled Texas as a result. For Texas, out of the frying pan and into the fire comes to mind.
What this might ultimately mean is Disney could choose to move its biggest resort property outside of the United States entirely. It could find property in Dubai, for example. Don’t think that Disney doesn’t have a task force actively searching the globe for possible properties to replace its Florida resorts at this very moment. If Disney finds a property that’s an equal or better value to the deal it formerly had (past tense) with Florida, Disney would be stupid not to choose to move to that new location, leaving Florida’s economy and, by extension, Ron DeSantis reeling.
The best way for Disney to fight Ron DeSantis is not to fight with him at all. Instead, closure of all of Disney’s Florida properties would say all that needs to be said. It might be just the trigger that causes a massive United States recession, but that’s not Disney’s concern. It is the concern of the Federal Government, however. Disney’s concern is to continue to make money at its resorts. If Disney is unable to do this because of an oppressive government leader, the only choice is to move on and find a new, better property to again house its resort operations.
These are the matches 🔥 to which Ron DeSantis feels compelled to light and throw at Disney. Ron DeSantis, be careful throwing matches because when fires start, someone gets burned.
As a Florida resident then living under a massive recession after a Disney closure, just remember that it is you who chose to vote Ron DeSantis into office.
Can this situation be defused? Yes, but don’t think that it also can’t escalate for Florida? We’ll simply need to wait this one out.
Who Wins?
No one, not even Disney. If Disney closes its Florida properties as a result of DeSantis’s meddling, this closure has the potential to be the catalyst which causes a United States recession.
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The U.S. in Peril
I really didn’t want to write this article, but it must be written. Unfortunately, the US (and probably other countries) have come to a crossroads. As they say, the truth will out…. and here it comes. Let’s explore.
Brutal Truth
These lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders have caused many, many small and medium businesses to shutter their doors and lay off staff. They’re not closed for only a few days, but for potentially weeks and possibly even a month or two.
Practically no business is prepared to run without income for weeks, let alone months. It’s no wonder, then, that business owners and operators are laying off so many of their workers. You can’t continue to hold onto staff when you can’t even pay your own business’s lease and bills. This is just the tip of this iceberg.
You just wait. It gets worse. Much, much worse.
Unemployment
It is theorized that as many as 20% may become unemployed due to COVID-19. I’d guess that this is a conservative estimate and it will go much, much higher than this. 99% of businesses in the US are considered small businesses. This is the highest failure group for an extended lockdown scenario.
JP Morgan Chase writes:
Over 99 percent of America’s 28.7 million firms are small businesses. The vast majority (88 percent) of employer firms have fewer than 20 employees, and nearly 40 percent of all enterprises have under $100k in revenue.
What does this mean for the US? This means that potentially 28.4 million businesses are at risk of permanent closure due to the COVID-19 crisis. That means potentially up to 568 million jobs are also at risk of loss due to COVID-19.
Some small businesses may be able to weather a few weeks of this storm, but not much after that. Again, this situation can (and likely will) get much worse the longer it lasts.
Survival and Economy
With up to 568 million people without jobs, this means that the economy will not only tank, it will implode. The stock market won’t even exist. There will be nothing left of the US economy.
I did say that this can get worse. Yes, it can. And… it can even go beyond this.
Apocolypse
This word is actually defined as “catastrophic change”… with the word catastrophic being the key word here.
Turning out this many people to unemployment means desperation. As people’s ability to feed, clothe and house their families and themselves dwindle, desperate actions will become necessary (at least for some). Once the newly turned Robinhood thugs turn out en-masse to shake down those who “have” to feed those who “haven’t”, it’s going to get ugly. Really, really ugly. In fact, COVID-19 will likely become the least of everyone’s worry.
It will then become mostly about survival of the fittest and who has the “necessary force” to get what is needed to survive.
We haven’t yet reached this level of desperation as people still have small stock of food, water and can live out their remaining rent, but our society is quickly coming to a turning point. Once rents can no longer be paid, food can no longer be bought and gas can no longer be afforded (or even found), the niceties of our former social world will come to a grinding halt. Then, desperation takes hold.
What will ensue is looting, gangs and these folks being forced to obtain food, water and shelter by force. The currency will no longer be the dollar, but the bullet or knife. Violence is in the US country population’s nature. When it becomes necessary to survive (and it will), then all bets are off.
Martial Law
Yes, the Government can roll its military through and declare martial law to attempt to stem the tide of the new age of lawlessness that will begin, but that can’t last. Eventually, the government itself will break down and fail to be of any use. Those in the military will be conflicted about where to take orders and, indeed, where if any place can they even use the money they are being paid.
If small businesses fail, what can you spend your money on? Will that money even be worth anything? Larger businesses like Target and Walmart may be able to last for a bit longer, but eventually the supply lines will dry up as the small business suppliers close. It will become a vicious cycle that won’t end until the country has entirely unraveled.
Making the hard Choice
The country is at a serious perilous crossroads. It can keep everything closed in order to stem the COVID-19 tide or it can immediately lift the lockdown and shelter-in-place orders and let businesses reopen to save what’s left of the economy.
With COVID-19, we may be forced to let the chips fall where they may. We can’t keep society closed forever. We can’t even keep it down for a few weeks. For the US to continue its way of existence, it must be unlocked and allowed to resume.
Yes, we need to be cautious and vigilant to avoid getting COVID-19, but we can’t let COVID-19 grind the US to a halt and, subsequently, to completely unravel the US’s entire way of life.
We have to consider what’s worse? Perhaps 500,000 deaths from COVID-19 or millions of deaths due to a bankrupt US economy leaving millions homeless? Without an economy, the US can’t survive as a country. Having a president preside over a dead country is like not having a president at all.
Believe me when I say that if the US is forced into martial law, it won’t be long before there’s bloodshed… and that won’t have anything to do with being infected with COVID-19.
As I said, I really dislike writing this article, but the outcome of what can become a very real possibility must be said. Right now, the president is basically saying, “everything’s going to be okay”, but that’s not reality. If these lockdowns continue beyond a week or two, much of our country’s way of life is doomed to vanish forever. Even Hollywood may never be able to recover from this… the biggest entertainment producer in the world will be lost. Without Hollywood and the music business, this country will plunge into a second dark age.
With all of that said, cities, counties and even the federal government needs to reconsider these lockdown actions pronto. Staying locked down for months will tailspin the US into unrecoverable territory. This will force many families into the streets without the means to obtain food, clothing or shelter. The homeless shelters will be forced to shutter because even they can’t afford to stay in business. Literally, the entire country will fall back to “the wild, wild west”. People will be forced to take matters into their own hands to survive.
Now, it is difficult to foresee exactly how all of this plays out, but no matter the sequence of events, the end result will be failure, death and loss of the US way of life. We will turn back into small communities together using local services. We will have to barter to live. The technology we so actively thrive on will cease to exist. The computers will still function, but the internet may effectively shut down as more and more businesses are forced to close. Even cell phones may become a thing of the past as lawlessness and anarchy begin driving survival. Even money may become worthless paper.
Alarmist?
This article may seem a bit alarmist. In part it may be, but it is also grounded in current lockdown reality and is based on where we are headed today, while still in the early stages of these lockdowns. Simply reviewing Twitter, you can already see just how many people have been furloughed or laid off due to COVID-19. This is just the tip of a very large iceberg. News articles show restaurants and other businesses with their doors shut and lights out.
Right now is a perilous time and our government leaders needs to weigh what’s coming if we remain on this course. If we don’t change our course now, there may not be any time left to change this downward spiral.
COVID-19 may, in fact, turn out to be the least of society’s worries. Our society isn’t currently prepared to live and work at home on a semi-permanent basis. It hasn’t ever considered or prepared financially for this eventuality. There are just no work-at-home jobs that pay enough to live. Most businesses can’t afford (nor are they willing) to begin paying people the salaries they were getting when they worked in a company office. I’m not even sure that companies can recover enough at this point to pay those former salaries anyway.
Tailspin
We only need to look at the stock market to understand the ramifications of business closures, layoffs and lockdowns. Clearly, people are selling because they know they will need that money to live. The stock market can’t handle this kind of mass sell off. But, it’s inevitable and it’s only going to get worse before it gets better.
This means way less investing overall and that means less investment capital for businesses to stay in business. Businesses will also need to recover any investments they currently have to pay their own bills also, which means more selling. And, unless this COVID-19 lockdown business is unlocked soon, there won’t be an economy left to save or investments worth holding.
Only the currently richest businesses may be able to weather this storm for any length of time, such as Apple and possibly Google. That is, those businesses with billions in the bank. That also depends on how worthless the dollar becomes. Even then, these rich companies will have to start trimming their own workforce or face a cash hemorrhage crisis.
This situation will likely also tumble salaries massively. It will tumble everything including home values, multifamily rent and even phone bills. Not only will it be a recession, it may become a depression forcing major deflation across the board. One might think deflation is a good thing, but it’s not. When few will be able to afford to pay for much, even at deflated prices, we’re in for a rough and violent road ahead.
Prevention?
Can this combined economic and societal tailspin be prevented? It depends entirely on our governmental leaders. If they can find ways to prop up the local economies while allowing businesses to reopen in safe and effective ways, then perhaps. Unfortunately, I doubt that propping up everything is possible. There are far too many people to attempt to prop up every man, woman and child in the nation. Even the measly $1000 grant from the government can’t possibly help to stem this quickly overflowing tide. The only thing it will do is, in fact, make the situation worse.
How can we reopen safely? That’s the million dollar question. The first thing that needs to happen is to find a way to disinfect people’s clothing and surfaces before they enter any large gathering. This way, when they touch any surfaces within, there’s no chance of leaving latent virus behind or picking one up. Second, we need near instant viral load testing. It doesn’t matter the virus. What matters is that the person has a high viral load of any kind. If a person is carrying a high viral load of any kind, they will be denied access to all social gatherings. It doesn’t matter if the virus is COVID-19, HIV, the flu or a simple cold. We can’t be specific here. Testing needs to be general because it’s too complicated to try to determine COVID-19 specifically. This will weed out super spreaders.
With any high viral load, you can’t fly, you can’t get on a bus and you can’t enter a restaurant, store or any other business. If you’re carrying a high viral load, an isolated medical transport will come to collect you and take you home where you must stay until you can be tested viral load free. If you’re found out and about a second time, you may be jailed. HIV positive people may be a problem in this. But, HIV is also a virus and it does count under viral load. It’s not necessarily spread as easily as COVID-19 appears to be, but it is spreadable.
These actions are the only way we can protect citizens against COVID-19 and still operate society in some kind of normal fashion. Without some semblance of normality resuming quickly for our every day lives, there will be no hope of recovery for not only the economy, but for society in the US as a whole. When TV shows can’t film, when music performers can’t perform, when you can’t go to the movies, a restaurant or even an amusement park and when everyone is scared to even walk out their front door, society grinds to a halt… and that’s where we are now. Society has stopped dead in its tracks.
The things that the US is so known for can’t even be done. All business that revolves around those activities and linked to activities plus the activities secondarily and tertiarily linked will equally suffer. It’s a huge supply chain, with emphasis on the word ‘chain’. When one link breaks, the entire chain fails.
Unless we can figure out a way to kick our society back into gear, fix the chain and keep it going, we’re at the cusp of situation that is bad… very, very bad. So bad that it’s practically impossible to understand or predict just how bad it can really get. Though, we can most certainly guess.
Lawlessness
When there is a large contingent of the working force that becomes not only unemployed, but hungry and homeless, where do we go from here? As the saying goes, “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” What that means is that many people will get desperate to feed, clothe, house and protect their families… and many will attempt to take matters into their own hands to make that a reality, using necessary force if needed. This means I’d expect gun violence and looting to drastically increase.
This lawlessness will drive the government into declaring martial law. Right now, we’re at the cusp. We are teetering on the precipice. But, it won’t take much for that edge to collapse and then society falls in. In fact, we’re currently on the verge of collapse.
Government, Survival, Society and Hard Choices
I urge the governmental leaders to reconsider these lockdowns. Instead, we need to find alternative workable solutions that allow businesses to resume normal operation while attempting to keep them safe from COVID-19.
If we can’t resume a semblance of normal societal operation, we will likely end up in bloodshed. We might even have anarchy on our hands. We could even have more deaths due to unemployment and a deep depression than from COVID-19.
Governments must weigh these risks carefully. COVID-19 is a known quantity. It will kill a number of people just because of what it is. But, attempting to protect every person from it may end up collapsing society as we know it. This collapse could very easily bring about unnecessary violence as people attempt to survive. A societal collapse could even bring about more death, violence and destruction than even COVID-19 and the Flu combined.
When people get desperate enough, they will break into houses, steal food, clothing and use it for shelter. They may even consider killing others to get what they need. They will break into stores and loot. They will break into stores to steal necessities. Is that where we want society? Is that what we want to see? Is that what the current government really wants for its people?
All told, the death toll from violent survivalists could actually kill more people than COVID-19. This risk must be weighed! Letting the virus run its natural course while allowing society to operate may be a better (and safer) choice than having to declare martial law, while attempting to lockdown an entire nation. There are simply not enough troops to do that, which will lead to an even worse outcome. This situation could even trigger a second civil war, except this time it will be between governmental forces and its out of work citizens.
If we let society collapse, all bets are off on how many deaths may occur… not necessarily directly because of COVID-19, but this virus may certainly contribute in some way to that death toll.
This is a serious decision that governmental leaders must consider and they must decide NOW. Complacence and apathy doesn’t work. Strong decisive change must be implemented quickly. It may not be happy news for some, but society can’t be ground to a halt for the 18 months (as some organizations have predicted) for COVID-19 to subside. The US can’t survive an 18 month lockdown. It can’t even survive a 1 month lockdown. We must craft an alternative solution. We must craft and implement that solution NOW, while there’s still time to bring us back from the precipice. There is no other choice.
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