merjet

Coronavirus #3

Trump-Mnuchin, Sen. McConnell, and Sen. Schumer have all proposed "stimulus" plans in response to financial hardships due to the coronavirus. Relying on the news stories I have seen, Trump-Mnuchin's plan is stupid in my opinion. It pays everybody and hence is far off-target. Why send $1,000 to Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, the Clintons, or even me? Why send $1,000 to people who are retired, people who still have good paying jobs, or are wealthy? Sen. McConnell's plan is quite a bit better. His plan gives $1,200 to singles with 2018 adjusted gross income (AGI) < $75,000 and married filing jointly couples with 2018 AGI < $150,000. It gives $0 to singles with 2018 AGI > $99,000 and married filing jointly couples with 2018 AGI > $198,000. However, the link between 2018 AGI and current financial difficulty is weak. While Sen. Schumer's plan lacks detail, I believe his basic idea of expanding unemployment compensation is far more on-target -- people who were employed, but lost their jobs due to the coronavirus. Many of them were in low-paying jobs that were hit hard, e.g. at restaurants. His plan is probably slower to implement, but its aim is far better.

Addenda: The primary lenders for commercial paper are money market funds.

Coronavirus #2

LOL. Another arbitrary assertion by a snarky fabricator.

Me: "The 1918 flu pandemic was one of the worst. ..." (link). Mr. Snarky: "Merlin, Dayamm! Here I thought we were discussing 2020 and the coronavirus. And maybe the flu in 2020" (link). Heh.

Federal Reserve to Launch Commercial Paper Funding Facility Amid Coronavirus Uncertainty (paywalled). Excerpt: "The Fed said it had established the new Commercial Paper Funding Facility, a version of which was last used during the 2008 financial crisis, after securing the approval of the Treasury secretary." Wikipedia: ""Commercial paper is a money-market security issued (sold) by large corporations to obtain funds to meet short-term debt obligations (for example, payroll) and is backed only by an issuing bank or company promise to pay the face amount on the maturity date specified on the note." Commercial paper is not backed by collateral. Basically, the borrower creates an IOU in order to meet its short-term cash needs.

Coronavirus #1

Coronavirus #1

Snopes says the hold your breath test is false. However, Snopes is not wholly reliable. Relying on ITEP, a Snopes article by the same author erred on Amazon's income taxes. On the other hand, following the preventive actions of "Dr. James Robb" will likely help and not hurt. Relying on what I've read, shortness of breath is a major symptom. Happily, my breath gets a better test nearly every day, since I run 5 days a week and do weights the other two. So if I do have shortness of breath, it will be quickly apparent.

The Washington Compost

ITEP smears TurboTax

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8084629/Trump-brags-science-knowledge-super-genius-uncle-MIT-professor.html

Forbes: Climate change alarmist incoherence 'All rise' for Clarence Thomas

Bernie Sanders' deceptive tax numbers

Why is comparing the coronavirus situation to a past pandemic nonsense? Did you regard Ellen's comments as nonsense? My first post on this topic was not a gotcha. Yet that is what you took it to be. Why did you so often feel the need to play one-upmanship and be so snarky?

World Bank's pandemic bonds

If I were unable to figure it out on my own, then I wouldn't have used "denominator." Duh!

MSK is psychologizing again. After stating a mortality rate without saying what the denominator is! Oh, my.

The 1918 flu pandemic was one of the worst. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html World: 50 million deaths / 1.9 billion population = 2.6% USA: 675,000 deaths / 102 million population = 0.66% 675,000 deaths was more than the 600,000 Civil War deaths, but not percent-wise.

ProPublica never satisfied Sanders' and Warren's lack of sacrifice

1. You are wrong – inept or lying – again. I didn’t use that v-word, numskull. That he failed to solve the coin rotation paradox is evidence of ineptness and is not made from “thin air.” 2. You said: “Bob Chatzaf says he logically proved there can be no such passages, and further, he says that “drawings are crutches for the logically feeble.” Are the people on that thread “logically feeble” and he their cognitive superior, as he insists? We need your help, Merlin.” Given your strong preference for insults as substitutes for rational arguments, ‘nuff said. 3. You are very fond of double standards. Why don’t you demand that Jonathan backup his insults of me? I posted the Wikipedia page about the coin rotation paradox on this thread. For that he called me “visuospatially and mechanically inept,” which was wholly baseless and arbitrary. Moreover, given that he failed to solve the paradox and I succeeded, which one of us is inept? Backup your insults of me, hypocrite. Your insult is baseless, potty mouth. I didn’t refer to anything Jonathan said about the “1-mile S-W-N” riddle, lame brain.

I see. Jon unwittingly reveals his dominant motive for visiting OL. It is not to learn or discuss, but to hurl crap and insults at other people he hates and know he is a "snake." He is so disappointed that I won't join him in his hurling crap and insults at BaalChatzaf, who may not even read them. Foul-mouthed Jon's pseudo-self-esteem remains in need of a big boost. He'd have a much better chance of a boost by begging Jonathan, MSK, or Ellen.

Elon Musk's Favorite Riddle I have no desire to sling arrows at BaalChatzaf. He hasn't posted here in 4 months. He is getting up there in years. Give him a break.

That was my conjecture, too. Anyway, I bought something from Amazon, which I already planned to buy and negated the barrier. My review, mostly copied from my blog, is here.