Quote:
Originally Posted by dhdallas
Exactly. Even if you do have it, then what? Have some chicken soup & ride it out because there is no cure. Unless you are having serious breathing difficulties that require hospital admission & a ventilator, testing is pointless & a waste of money.
I was employed in the healthcare & emergency services during the 9/11 terrorism attacks. The government threw a ridiculous amount of money at every city and town, no matter how small or remote, to be used for terrorist attack response. To date over $2.8 trillion has been spent on anti terrorism measures.
I lived in a small N/W PA town of about 5000 people. We received thousands of dollars to buy “moon suits”, respirators, drugs to counteract the effects of ricin, training seminars led by highly paid lecturers, etc. A local ambulance service even got enough money to relocate its dispatch room from a corner room to an interior room to be less susceptible from an attack.
It was always good for a laugh every year when our hospital would get out one of the two moon suits and we would watch some unlucky employee struggle for about a half-hour to put it on. Trust me, no one would ever mount a terrorist attack on this town.
Now we are seeing the same “knee-jerk” reaction to COVID-19. Since March last year, the federal government has already enacted two big COVID relief bills affecting elementary and secondary education, and there is another, colossal bill on the way. The bills provide nearly $212 billion for K-12 schools. This is a huge sum considering that in a normal year – 2018 – we spent a total of $832 billion on elementary and secondary education.
The relief far exceeds the need. The CDC estimated in December that the cost of providing full anti‐COVID measures in schools, including materials and staff, is about $442 per student – roughly one‐ninth of what public schools could receive from all relief efforts. In other words, schools are getting approximately 9 times as much money they actually need. Think they might give any of that surplus back? Guess again.
CNBC reported today it is expected that the U.S. will spend $4 billion on international Covid vaccination efforts. Not on vaccinating U.S. citizens but for vaccinating the rest of the world; but all those foreign countries love the U.S. don’t they?
Probably sooner rather than later as a direct result of overall runaway spending and ignoring the monstrous budget deficit, this economy is going to crash like never seen before. The 1929 stock market crash will look like a minor market correction in comparison. Inflation will soar to the point where the U.S. dollar will be almost (or even) completely worthless. Failed economies have brought about the destruction of many powerful nations and empires throughout history. We are not immune to suffering the same fate.
Will reckless COVID spending be the proverbial “straw that breaks the camel’s back”? Time will tell.
Sources-
CNBC
CDC
The Cato Institute - a public policy research organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues.
The Stimson Study Group on Counterterrorism Spending - directed by Stimson
Fellow Laicie Heeley, consisted of these six senior-level participants who have
backgrounds from stakeholder constituencies including the U.S. government,
academia, and the private sector
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To your comment on the deficit....
I could not agree more. I have been beating this drum for about 3 years now, but seems those elected don't give a hoot. We were told it's no problem for the last years, and for once i hope they had a secret response because i agree totally that the deficit, heretofore totally ignored, will bite us
While I agree with you on the problem, the cause precedes Covid aid. If you check the deficit numbers, I think you will find that to be true