D&D and the rising pandemic

[Zardnaar]

Mein gotta had takeaways for the first time in 2 months. Lockdowns over washed down with a can of Baltika 5.

Liqour store was open, so variety....

Needed a haircut in March, now look like a disreputable wookie.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Needed a haircut in March, now look like a disreputable wookie.

I‘m starting to look like a black Bob Ross...with thinning in the front & center.

I currently have more hair on my head than at any point since 1991, when I got rid of my “Afro-mullet”.

(No pix of me online from that time, but I could have given John Butcher a challenge in a big hair contest...)

 

[FrozenNorth]

Active cases continue to rise in Quebec. There are over 25 000 active cases in Quebec compared to around 5500 active cases in the entire rest of the country.

And they're of course the province with the fastest reopening plan. They were scheduled to reopen schools starting this Monday but I think they postponed that thankfully.

As of yesterday indefinitely postponed. We’ll wait and see.

 

[FrozenNorth]

No, but, @ad_hoc it's never quite as cut and dried as all that. For one, what percentage of rental homes (of whatever stripe) are in need of fairly immediate repair/service? I mean, the stuff that really can't wait like a water leak. I have zero idea. But, again, simply saying, well, renters don't have to pay, owners don't have to pay their mortgages, doesn't always fly. There's so many interconnected parts that no simple answer is going to work.

Specifically in Canada, the 6 big banks (and some of the independents) have deferred payments for up to 6 months, so it is doable.

 

[Umbran]

Or you could, you know, tax the ultra rich fairly and not give them extra money when there is a crisis.

Overall tax policy is pretty firmly in the politics realm, and I'm not going there. If you want to go there, please do it on some other website.

What you're saying doesn't have to be the way it is.

I'm saying that is the way it is now. The reality of the moment is here, and you have to operate under it, I'm afraid. You cannot ignore the present economic systems and flow any more than you can ignore the virus itself. And in this reality, if you just stop money flowing somewhere, without consideration of the downstream effects, do you figure the impact will land on someone who can handle that, or is it going to screw someone low on the scale?

Yes, the nation could run differently. But intelligent, well-considered, comprehensive change is rather out of our reach at this moment, for a variety of reasons that, again, are political.

 

[Umbran]

This is part of why Arthur Laffer’s supply side economics only works under economic conditions that haven’t been seen in the USA since before WW2. More of the money sent into the hands of the rich is saved, and is thus taken out of circulation.

Note that the European way of handling has been sort of supply side - pay the employers to keep employees on the payroll. The trick is to control how that money is used, rather than to hand a company cash to use as the stockholders and executives want.

Specifically in Canada, the 6 big banks (and some of the independents) have deferred payments for up to 6 months, so it is doable.

For a while, if the lender in question is sitting on a bunch of cash so that it doesn't need the income, it can be done. And if the economic dislocation lasts more than six months (or however long the bank's cash stockpile holds up)... well, it will suck for people with mortgages.

In the end, there are two things to be aware of:

1) Economies work not on the existence of money, but on the flow of money. If you stop money flowing, you will have a downstream problem, without fail.

2) Whatever the stock market claims, in the end, wealth is based on creating things that people use - goods, services, entertainment, energy, and the like. Only about one-third of our people can do their jobs from home. Keeping the others home keeps them from producing wealth, which then keeps money from flowing.

So, what we really need to consider is short to medium term* management techniques for keeping money flowing as efficiently as possible**. We have to pick them carefully, not glibly. The techniques used have to take downstream effects into account, or some folks (typically poor ones) will get screwed.

Why we can't seem to effectively do that now is a subject of politics, so here I have to stop.





*Nothing really saves an economy from long-term stoppage.

**For me, it needs to flow to people who actually need it. People already sitting on gigantic money sinks are not my personal concern at this time.

 

[tomBitonti]

Specifically in Canada, the 6 big banks (and some of the independents) have deferred payments for up to 6 months, so it is doable.

Do you know if that includes a pause on interest? I don't know if pausing principle payments matters as much as does pausing accrual of interest. I imagine as long as interest still accrues, there is no loss to the banks. There might actually be a gain to the banks because of the compounding of interest.
Be Safe, Be Well,
Tom Bitonti

 

[Umbran]

Do you know if that includes a pause on interest? I don't know if pausing principle payments matters as much as does pausing accrual of interest.

The typical approach to this in the student loan market is, "Sure, we can pause your payments while you are out of a job! We will take the interest you accrue, and roll it into the principle." So, not only do you have to pay that interest, but you then have to pay interest on the interest!

The typical way to handle this in the mortgage space is to pause payment, and then have you make big balloon payments to make up for not paying interest over a period.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

So my wife works at a salon (currently paused since salons are currently closed by order in my state). A client just asked her if she could get a service done before she goes to the beach (which I might point out are also currently closed). And no joke, the client used the words "It'll be our little secret."

I fear it's only going to get worse as the state starts to partially ease restrictions. You can't even get the proper equipment and cleaning supplies to help ensure safety yet.

 

[tomBitonti]

The typical approach to this in the student loan market is, "Sure, we can pause your payments while you are out of a job! We will take the interest you accrue, and roll it into the principle." So, not only do you have to pay that interest, but you then have to pay interest on the interest!
The typical way to handle this in the mortgage space is to pause payment, and then have you make big balloon payments to make up for not paying interest over a period.

Which, (IMHO), is terrible for the person in debt. They are just being offered a deeper hole to step into, and are being handed the shovel to dig it.
The loan holders, if they were truly sharing the pain, would offer at least some non-trivial relief.
Be Safe, Be Well,
Tom Bitonti