Pence bragged about the stock market and...it didn’t go well

GermanSuplex

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Its beyond tone-deaf.

Most Americans don't own stock. And even if they did, the stock market of today isn't the same as it was 50 years ago. It's just not the same, thanks to the sweetheart deals millionaires and billionaires get. It's just rich people finding ways to amass even more wealth.

But since most Americans don't own stock, how insane is it to be bragging about this? People are struggling to pay debts, rent, buy food - there are record lines at food banks across the country, the senate's inability to get anything done has left many Americans in limbo... ugh. Mike Pence painting himself as some devoutly religious man while simultaneously serving as Trump's vice president tells you all you need to know.
 

yaxomoxay

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Most Americans don't own stock.

55% of Americans own stocks. Most are middle class, not rich billionaires. While I certainly agree that the stock market is not the only or main metric to use to evaluate the economy, its importance in the well being of the overall economy can't be underscored. It's also a good indication of how investors feel (optimistic vs. pessimistic about the future).
 

Huntn

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55% of Americans own stocks. Most are middle class, not rich billionaires. While I certainly agree that the stock market is not the only or main metric to use to evaluate the economy, its importance in the well being of the overall economy can't be underscored. It's also a good indication of how investors feel (optimistic vs. pessimistic about the future).
It can be argued that fundamentals for the near future are bad. Yet right now, stock market performance is almost a self fulfilling profecy by the people with money invested who are keeping the market going because they want it to succeed. They feel like it’s the only game in town. It is the emotional part of the equation.
 

yaxomoxay

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True, though more assistance from the feds would've made for a smoother return to normalcy afterwards.

I don’t disagree, to a point.
Many governors, including Cuomo and Newsom have praised the federal response. The bottom line is that - in my humble opinion - no one really knows what to do and no one wants to admit it. This virus is strong but... not strong enough to unify the response.

Governors - including Saint Cuomo - have been found completely unprepared (the fact that Cuomo is writing a book about Covid response is just the cherry on top) and made several mistakes.

imilar things can be said for foreign leaders, from Conte, to Sanchez, to Johnson, Putin etc.
 

Renzatic

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The truth is that no one handled it well. Our governors were caught totally flat footed despite the copious amounts of forewarning, the federal response was more a PR exercise to flatter Trump for the upcoming election, and we opened too soon after what was, by all metrics, a halfassed attempt at containment that only a handful of people actually took seriously. Now here we are, suffering the economic consequences of the lockdown, while the virus is still actively spreading, sickening and killing thousands a day, all because we didn't do nearly enough the first go-round.

While it's not solely his fault, Trump deserves a fair share of the blame for our current situation, given his position as head of state of the single wealthiest, most well developed country in the world. We have contingences in place to account for this very situation, and we have the resources to carry them out effectively. Why did we fuck this up?
 

jkcerda

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The truth is that no one handled it well. Our governors were caught totally flat footed despite the copious amounts of forewarning, the federal response was more a PR exercise to flatter Trump for the upcoming election, and we opened too soon after what was, by all metrics, a halfassed attempt at containment that only a handful of people actually took seriously. Now here we are, suffering the economic consequences of the lockdown, while the virus is still actively spreading, sickening and killing thousands a day, all because we didn't do nearly enough the first go-round.

While it's not solely his fault, Trump deserves a fair share of the blame for our current situation, given his position as head of state of the single wealthiest, most well developed country in the world. We have contingences in place to account for this very situation, and we have the resources to carry them out effectively. Why did we fuck this up?
welcome to Murika. and we are STILL fucking it up, all those million new homeless people are going to seriously add to the number of dead.
 

yaxomoxay

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The truth is that no one handled it well. Our governors were caught totally flat footed despite the copious amounts of forewarning, the federal response was more a PR exercise to flatter Trump for the upcoming election, and we opened too soon after what was, by all metrics, a halfassed attempt at containment that only a handful of people actually took seriously. Now here we are, suffering the economic consequences of the lockdown, while the virus is still actively spreading, sickening and killing thousands a day, all because we didn't do nearly enough the first go-round.

While it's not solely his fault, Trump deserves a fair share of the blame for our current situation, given his position as head of state of the single wealthiest, most well developed country in the world. We have contingences in place to account for this very situation, and we have the resources to carry them out effectively. Why did we fuck this up?

I can't disagree with what you're saying, there were several fuck ups, at all levels; this thing will be studied for ages. I am also appalled on how the international community (WHO, UN, etc.) handled (Actually, mishandled) this at the beginning of the crisis.
One thing that this crisis has made evident is that the ultimate truth is that our governments are totally unprepared for widespread crisis of an unknown (or at least fluid) root. From the messaging to the actual handling of resources, we're unprepared. What really freaks me out is that we're not much better now than a few months ago, in terms of solutions. We understand the virus better, we certainly don't have shortages of PPE's and resources (and toilet paper...), and yet as soon as there is the doubt of an increase of cases the first solution is lockdown, like we can do a lockdown every two months. I think that China truly steered us off with its initial lockdown (which is now seen as THE solution, and the quick refuge for many governors that in order to show that they know what they're doing go there).

But something else must be said. This is truly an unprecedented scenario. If I asked anyone on 12/31/2019 "what's going to be the biggest problem of 2020" virtually no one would've said "A global Pandemic that will reach the US and Europe". Heck, it wouldn't be even in the top 10. Government priorities are somewhat reflective of public worry, so it doesn't surprise me that pandemic was a low priority for the western world (contrary, it's always a priority in many Asian countries, hence their response which was far from perfect but still solid at the beginning of this crisis). Dealing with a scenario like this - that is a virus which is strong but not incredibly strong, something that comes from overseas and is not really understood, it's airborne etc. and requires LOTS of attention - is an operational nightmare, especially if several jurisdictions fight one another (as it happened), and I have been feeling the weight of it since early March.
 

Renzatic

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But something else must be said. This is truly an unprecedented scenario. If I asked anyone on 12/31/2019 "what's going to be the biggest problem of 2020" virtually no one would've said "A global Pandemic that will reach the US and Europe". Heck, it wouldn't be even in the top 10. Government priorities are somewhat reflective of public worry, so it doesn't surprise me that pandemic was a low priority for the western world (contrary, it's always a priority in many Asian countries, hence their response which was far from perfect but still solid at the beginning of this crisis).

That's why we have the CDC, who's job it is to assume that a pandemic is imminent at all times, and act accordingly. Though even they dropped the ball at the start of this, fumbling the first response, and issuing test kits that didn't exactly, you know, work.

I think the biggest problem was that this had to happen right during an election season, and our elected officials don't want to do what needs to be done, because doing so will hurt them in the polls. We needed at least 2 months quarantine, and a slow, phased reopening. Problem is, that would've been a massively unpopular move that would've cost a few of our politicians their jobs. So what we got was 1 month quarantine that wasn't strictly enforced across the nation, followed by a series of protests and riots across the political spectrum, then a quick rush back to attempted normalcy in the midst of it all. Now we're just reacting to whatever situation arises, doing the bare minimum necessary, and hoping it'll carry us on until the next crisis rears its head.

Our children need to go back to school! I need a haircut! Why can we not do these things? I thought we lived in a free country!
Okay! We'll open the country back up, and send our children back to school!
Oh no! Grandma died gasping for air, and our children are getting infected with the Covid en masse! This is all your fault!
Okay! We'll shut down the schools, and you can wear a mask to stymie the spread of the virus!
BUT I DON'T WANNA WEAR A MASK! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME DO IT!

Meanwhile, our president is putting some New Age faith healer type hocking hydroxy and zinc as a miracle up on live TV in a vain attempt to assure the nation that, yeah, he's on top of things, while whole droves of our voting base believe the virus is a hoax, an attack by Bill Gates and George Soros to simultaneously make Trump look bad for the upcoming election, and to implement the first stages of the NWO spearheaded global population control.

The only thing missing by this point is the Rod Sterling narration.
 

jkcerda

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That's why we have the CDC, who's job it is to assume that a pandemic is imminent at all times, and act accordingly. Though even they dropped the ball at the start of this, fumbling the first response, and issuing test kits that didn't exactly, you know, work.

I think the biggest problem was that this had to happen right during an election season, and our elected officials don't want to do what needs to be done, because doing so will hurt them in the polls. We needed at least 2 months quarantine, and a slow, phased reopening. Problem is, that would've been a massively unpopular move that would've cost a few of our politicians their jobs. So what we got was 1 month quarantine that wasn't strictly enforced across the nation, followed by a series of protests and riots across the political spectrum, then a quick rush back to attempted normalcy in the midst of it all. Now we're just reacting to whatever situation arises, doing the bare minimum necessary, and hoping it'll carry us on until the next crisis rears its head.

Our children need to go back to school! I need a haircut! Why can we not do these things? I thought we lived in a free country!
Okay! We'll open the country back up, and send our children back to school!
Oh no! Grandma died gasping for air, and our children are getting infected with the Covid en masse! This is all your fault!
Okay! We'll shut down the schools, and you can wear a mask to stymie the spread of the virus!
BUT I DON'T WANNA WEAR A MASK! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME DO IT!

Meanwhile, our president is putting some New Age faith healer type hocking hydroxy and zinc as a miracle up on live TV in a vain attempt to assure the nation that, yeah, he's on top of things, while whole droves of our voting base believe the virus is a hoax, an attack by Bill Gates and George Soros to simultaneously make Trump look bad for the upcoming election, and to implement the first stages of the NWO spearheaded global population control.

The only thing missing by this point is the Rod Sterling narration.
you forgot the 5g towers my friend. wait, maybe you didn't forget, maybe you are a mole trying to distract us from the serious damage those 5g towers do.......
 

Renzatic

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you forgot the 5g towers my friend. wait, maybe you didn't forget, maybe you are a mole trying to distract us from the serious damage those 5g towers do.......
LXWbFgl.jpeg
 

thekev

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55% of Americans own stocks. Most are middle class, not rich billionaires. While I certainly agree that the stock market is not the only or main metric to use to evaluate the economy, its importance in the well being of the overall economy can't be underscored. It's also a good indication of how investors feel (optimistic vs. pessimistic about the future).

How does ownership of stocks make it meaningful?

The economy requires momentum in the form of goods and services being moved and paid for, due to various pipelines involved in manufacturing and food production, yet the stock market can move a great deal, independent of whether people are able to pay for food, shelter, and healthcare. It gives you a very superficial view, as stock movement can be far removed from the day to day operations of these companies.

Beyond that, the economy doesn't particularly care about the number of nonsense financial products derived from stocks. You can buy things like options, which someone else has to underwrite, based on what you think people will offer to buy or sell particular stocks at in the future. The entire thing has too many degrees of freedom to work well for this kind of thing.
 
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