BF2S Forums Pandemic thread

America is such a big country in terms of population and land that 80,000 people will hardly be noticed. The cucks in the media also pointed out that a lot of the dead are poor minorities which only further convinced people not to do anything.

Larssen wrote:

Well maybe it'll be the push the united states needs to reform its labour market and social services. It's insane that so many people have been forced to apply for unemployment benefits in such a short time.

Why is that insane? They shut down people's place of employment and told hundreds of millions of people they couldn't go to work.

I'm imagining probably not. There are low wage workers are still working in exchange for low wages and thank you commercials.

SuperJail Warden wrote:

Well then I hope this goes on just long enough to wipe out middle class Republican business owners, landlords, real estate groups and related services. Those are much bigger drivers of inequality and suffering than places like McDonald's.

Yeah?

Jay wrote:

Larssen wrote:

Well maybe it'll be the push the united states needs to reform its labour market and social services. It's insane that so many people have been forced to apply for unemployment benefits in such a short time.

Why is that insane? They shut down people's place of employment and told hundreds of millions of people they couldn't go to work.

What's insane is the numbers applying for unemployment benefits. In European countries these are in the tens of thousands, in the US it's some 20 million. The ease with which people can be let go and the fact that so many businesses operate on such small capital reserves are both worrying. Policy at state and federal levels could prevent/alleviate these things, if properly organised and organised quickly enough.

I don't think you'll see a magical reversal in August with all these people suddenly back at work. You're weathering a storm and this is still just 'phase 1' jay. Hopefully the worst phase, but there's a unanimous consensus that the virus is here to stay and will come back in waves. You'll see government act accordingly.

With that many people out of work and an economy that unstable, I don't know what will happen.

Care to elaborate?

There's a lot of people in restaurants and construction that's for sure, but I would be surprised if that totals some 20 million in the states that locked down. That number is staggering.

I don't think a lot of businesses will be able to just rehire all their personnel. The amount of value lost and money out of circulation is hitting every sector and will translate in (much) higher unemployment rate for the foreseeable future. There already was a fear that we were heading for a recession the beginning of this year, it's a foregone conclusion that we're going to hit the worst economic crisis anyone alive today will experience.

Jay wrote:

Why would a business carry someone that can't work at a pure loss?

Businesses are as much part of our societies as anyone else. They're not charities, but to lay people off in the midst of a pandemic as soon as it hits is very unethical. Provided the business had reserves to begin with.

One of the consequences of the crisis we're seeing now is probably that the F500 will grow even larger as only companies that size have the reserves to deal with this longer term.

Larssen wrote:

There's a lot of people in restaurants and construction that's for sure, but I would be surprised if that totals some 20 million in the states that locked down. That number is staggering.

I don't think a lot of businesses will be able to just rehire all their personnel. The amount of value lost and money out of circulation is hitting every sector and will translate in (much) higher unemployment rate for the foreseeable future. There already was a fear that we were heading for a recession the beginning of this year, it's a foregone conclusion that we're going to hit the worst economic crisis anyone alive today will experience.

Jay wrote:

Why would a business carry someone that can't work at a pure loss?

Businesses are as much part of our societies as anyone else. They're not charities, but to lay people off in the midst of a pandemic as soon as it hits is very unethical. Provided the business had reserves to begin with.

One of the consequences of the crisis we're seeing now is probably that the F500 will grow even larger as only companies that size have the reserves to deal with this longer term.

This is why we companies pay into the unemployment insurance program in the first place.

Most skilled people, and I'm sure a lot of unskilled, are on furlough rather than completely unemployed, unless the business has gone under. Furlough is a bit different, because they are still technically employed, although they are not working and not paid by the employer, and can collect unemployment benefits. This is how employers get around the brain drain issue. As soon as the business reopens, they'll be hired back.

I don't think many, if any, are arguing that it is unethical that people were laid off here. I think it's expected.

Also, roughly half of Americans work for small businesses which are small in the first place because they are low margin businesses. They can't be expected to have large cash reserves to pay salaries when they have no income.

Last edited by Jay (2020-05-10 13:09:17)

Varies state to state. Ohio is based on previous income with a min and max, I'd make half of what I get paid on unemployment.

Larssen wrote:

Fair enough - are unemployment benefits flat or based on people's last salaried months?

How long do you reckon they can be paid if some 15% of the population is on them?

They're capped up to a certain percentage of income.

Max in New York without the extra $600 is $504 per week.
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia … 507-2.html

So, until August 1st it's up to $1104/week, which extrapolated over a year is $52k. The median annual individual income in NYC is 51k. So, everyone that was making below average wages prior to the crisis has now been incentivized to sit on their ass.

Larssen wrote:

I thought it was 600 a month, a week is generous. But the normal capped rate - 504$, that sounds like a tiny amount for living in NY. No way.

It's lower than minimum wage on purpose.

I'm sure Jay has the 6 month emergency fund and will find a new job within a week.