Tag: China

The virus that shut down the world!

When you live your life in fear, you are afraid until you die.

THE VIRUS

I’m a few hours late posting today’s blog. Honestly, I was struggling whether or not to even post it, because it reflects my personal opinion, and may generate a bit of a backlash due to its controversial nature.

You may have seen Venn diagrams before, though you might not have known what they were called. In a Venn diagram, you group items in two or more  circles, and if they have anything in common, the circles overlap.  It is a way of listing interrelated  content to show how things connect.

Venn-Diagram

When I started writing my weekly blog InstantCoffeeWisdom.com it was with the intent of demonstrating that success and happiness are yours for the taking. A way of  showing you ‘the possible’ where you only saw ‘impossible’. These weekly articles are a sort of a series of interlocking Venn diagrams.  I started out writing about microeconomics, built up to macroeconomics, then discussed how your views on finance, religion and politics are connected.   Since the beginning of the 2020, I’ve been focusing on how your health is interconnected to your finances.  

Which brings us to the elephant in the room, Covid-19. I honestly do not want to write about the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, but if there is a bigger Venn diagram linking health, wealth, politics, etc, I certainly can’t think of one. Because Covid-19 is such a hot-button topic impacting every major country on Earth, I feel a duty to my readers to discuss the subject.  You may not like what I have to say.

Full disclosure: I am a Trump supporter, and I am of the opinion that the virus is being politicized. By that I mean that the liberal media is using it to stoke fear,  to spread misinformation, and  to make President Trump look bad in the eyes of voters in a effort to deny him a second term. This is an election year.

If you hate Trump, nothing he says or does will ever be good, right, or intelligent. Nothing I say on this subject will change the way YOU feel.  Likewise, bashing Trump will not go over well with me. I support my president 100% and no person on Earth is more qualified to lead the USA during this crisis.   Whether you chose to believe it or not, President Donald J. Trump cares about you and your country, and is doing everything in your best interest.    

Yes, I am ‘concerned’ about Covid-19, but I am more concerned by the economic ramifications than I am by the health implications. Covid-19 ‘can’ kill you, but so can the flu and countless other diseases.

It is my personal conviction that the very best way to beat this disease is to be healthy enough in the first place by living a healthy active lifestyle.

Worldwide over 650,000 people have gotten Covid-19. 30,000 have died, but 100,000 have fully recovered.  In the USA we have over 100,000 confirmed cases, and less than 2,000 deaths. The US population is 330,000,000. Some  smaller countries like Italy have been harder hit. Yes Covid-19 is highly contagious, so if YOU are sick  you need to self-quarantine. Same goes if you have a weak immunity system. Stay home.  From my perspective, the percentage of getting the virus is so small, and the chances of dying so small that I’m not worried .  Everyone of us is going to die from something, someday. By having a healthy active lifestyle, we increase our chances of living a long and productive life. No matter what precautions we take, risks we dare, or calculations we make, NOTHING is guaranteed in life.  I refuse to let fear run my life. God is in control.

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I have co-workers and friends who are freaking out with worry and blind panic over this disease. If you accidently sneeze or  cough,  you are treated like you’re trying to kill them.  They wear masks and rubber gloves, and I keep waiting for one of them to show up wearing a full hazmat containment suit one day.  I don’t wear either gloves or a mask, and maybe I’ll use hand sanitizer once or twice a year on a whim. I certainly don’t bathe in gallons of the stuff like the people around me are doing right now. Either I’m right, or I’m wrong. Ask me next year how I made out.   

There’s an epidemic of what I call ‘well-shaming’ and ‘single-shaming’ going on. If you’re healthy and well, you’re being told that you’re asymptomatic and just because you feel fine doesn’t mean you don’t have the virus, so YOU should stay home so THEY can be safe.   And if you’re single and well, you’re being told the same thing, that YOU should stay home so that THEIR family will be safe.  If YOU are worried that I MAY infect YOU, by all means please stay as far away from me as makes you feel safe for as long as you need to.  If you are immune compromised with a weak immune system you need to be very careful with everything YOU do  and YOU need to take every precaution that YOU need to take to ensure that YOU don’t get the virus. I want you to be happy and healthy.  Don’t worry about me, I’m fine, and I am doing what I think is right for me.  Just don’t tell me what you FEEL I SHOULD be doing, because I just may tell you WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO DO!  This is still a free country.

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LET’S TALK HYGIENE!

Proper hygiene is essential to good health. As the old saying goes, ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’. You should always practice good hygiene, pandemic or no pandemic.

  • Wash your hands frequently, especially after going to the restroom, or before handling food.
  • Avoid touching your face
  • Cover your mouth when sneezing or coughing,  use a tissue if you have one handy.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently used items and surfaces.
  • Bathe daily
  • Wear clean clothes
  • If you’re sick, stay home!

I’M ALL OUTTA BUBBLEGUM!

Aside from illness, the Covid-19 panic has lead to widespread shortages as people began hoarding various goods.  Most Americans have never faced such widespread shortages of needed groceries, shut downs of shops and services not deemed essential. We are not used to being told NOT to go to church, not to travel, not to gather socially. The last time we had nationwide rationing of foodstuffs was probably during World War II. It’s certainly the first time in my lifetime that the nation has been virtually locked down. 

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Again, if you’ve been reading my blog from the beginning, you may recall my early article Oh no! Not Again! from October 22, 2017. If you followed my advice, you had a fully stocked larder with plenty of supplies to fall back upon. You had cash reserves to see you through as businesses closed under government orders, and people were told to stay home.  

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If you failed to follow my advice, sorry, but I did try to warn you. My heart bleeds for the single mom struggling to make ends meet who went to buy the ONE pack of diapers she desperately needed only to find bare shelves. Or the person that needed toilet paper, and tried pleading for ONE pack with a greedy hoarder who filled their shopping cart with every last roll on the shelves. These people never expected to encounter these types of shortages.  It’s like telling little Billy not to touch the hot stove, only to hear an ear-splitting wail of pain not five minutes later. Pain is a powerful teacher . It is sad and unfortunate that some people must experience hardship in order to learn valuable life lessons. Things will get better, most of us will be just fine.  Some of us will sail through this unscathed, and some of us are going to suffer either because we filed to do the right thing at the right time.   

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Fortunately On March 27, 2020 President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or CARES Act, a relief package aimed at mitigating some of the economic fallout caused by efforts to allay the spread of Covid-19. Employees furloughed, laid off, or fired will begin receiving a onetime stimulus  check to help tide them over.  Retirees will be getting checks also according to AARP.  Payments may be arriving as early as this Monday for some.   The quicker that people get back to work, the faster life will get back to normal. The longer business are shut down, the less likely they will be able to ever open their doors again. There are provisions in the CARES Act which will provide business both small and large with government loans. Hopefully the country will heal as a nation and become stronger. Hopefully people will learn from their mistakes and be better prepared for the next disaster. We hope for the best, but should prepare for the worst. As always I wish you success and happiness!   

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Slaying the Dragon

Why tariffs are really good.

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“This bill is an American bill. It is made for the American people and for American interests.” –President William McKinley referring to his Tariff Act of 1890.

The Rise of the Red Dragon.

Just as the symbolic bald eagle represents the United States, the Chinese dragon has long represented China. In Chinese culture, the color red symbolizes luck, happiness and joy. Unfortunately about the middle of the 20th century, red took on another meaning when referring to China, the red of communism. Mao Zedong declared the founding of The People’s Republic of China on October 1st, 1949 following the defeat of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who fled to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War. Taiwan became a new republic much like the ill fated Republic of Formosa which occupied Taiwan for a mere five months in 1895 before being crushed by mainland China. Taiwan fared much better and continues to exist to this day as it’s own country, but both Taiwan (The Republic of China) and Mainland ‘Red’ China (The People’s Republic of China) each claim that they are the ‘real’ and ‘only’ China. This led to the One-China Policy which was first stated in the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972: The wording declares that “the United States acknowledges that Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States does not challenge that position.” It was a diplomatic solution to a complicated mess. Mainland or communist China is by size the 4th largest country by area, and the largest by population. It was then, and continues to be today, a major port of trade.  

There has been a significant imbalance in trade with China for decades, and the problem has been getting worse due to a lax attitude from prior administrations. Since the population of China has exceeded a billion people for more than 40 years, many leftist politicians and even some conservatives felt there was no stopping the production powerhouse of the Red  Dragon.

So far in 2019, as of the first trimester ending April 30th, the trade deficit was $106.8 billion. Assuming the same rate for the remaining 8 months of the year, that would amount to a projected imbalance of $320.4 billion.  That would place it slightly higher than it was in 2012, the first year it exceeded $300 billion and came in at $315.1 billion. Both numbers are small in comparison to last year’s whopping trade deficit of $419.5 billion in 2018!

Killing Jobs to feed ‘The Red Dragon’!

The terms socialism and communism are interrelated and often interchangeable. There are a few minor differences. In communism, the people own the factories and work together for the public good. Everyone is paid the same. In socialism the government owns the factories, and the people work for the state, which decides what you are paid. Both systems lead to widespread poverty. Both systems are incompatible with capitalism which  creates wealth, freedom, and opportunity.

Because the citizens of China are being paid a slave wage, goods produced there cost significantly less. If the cost of importing cheaper foreign goods is less than  the cost of producing goods domestically, then there is no demand for domestic goods, and the domestic jobs ‘go away’.  Why would any company pay a U.S. citizen $30 an hour or more, when they can open a plant in a foreign country, pay foreign workers a fraction of their domestic counterparts, and then import the cheaply produced goods. Hence the needs for tariffs.

“In almost every case, whenever a tariff or quota is imposed on imports, that tax is strongly supported by the domestic industry getting the protective shield from lower-priced foreign competition. The sugar industry supports sugar tariffs; textile mills lobby for tariffs on foreign clothing.” – Stephen Moore, American economist

Feed Americans, starve the Dragon!

Tariffs are a tax on imported goods to make them on a level playing field. If both items cost exactly the same, it becomes a matter of quality. If the quality is also equal, then it falls to the whim of the consumer. When an ‘excessive’ tariff is placed on a foreign good, it is referred to as protectionism, because the domestic good becomes the only inexpensive option, and the domestic industry is thus protected by the government.

A good rule of thumb when dealing with comparable quality and cost is to always buy domestic. A better position for the good of the nation is to ALWAYS buy the domestic option, despite the cost, because the job you are saving belongs to a fellow citizen. ‘Be American , buy American’ is still a catchy slogan embraced by patriots looking to ‘Make America Great Again’. Tariffs are totally unnecessary if citizens flat out refuse to buy any foreign made good.

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Trump the Dragon slayer!

President Donald J. Trump is working day and night to defend our nation from ALL enemies, foreign and domestic. His economic stance has been to bring back industry to the USA, reversing the job losses creating by sending production overseas. Tariffs are one tool in his arsenal, and rest assured, he has the best interests of the nation at heart. Don’t listen to the garbage spewed by the liberal media as they attempt to sway you against this great patriot and all he’s doing. It takes a tough man to stand up for national interests. If you don’t support putting American interests first, then you are not a true American. We are privileged to live in the greatest country the world has ever know, and freedom and opportunities are endless for those who are willing to seize the day and work for their prosperity.   The bottom line is, if you are against American exceptionalism, there are  plenty of other counties where you can ‘hang your hat’. Nothing is keeping you here. America– love it, or leave it! As always, I wish you success and happiness!

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