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Rush Limbaugh: Economy Being Destroyed 'Under The Guise' Of Saving Lives

It can if you just ignore the problem.

There is a big difference between ignoring a problem and avoiding the total lockdown of society. A REALLY BIG difference.
 
There is a big difference between ignoring a problem and avoiding the total lockdown of society. A REALLY BIG difference.

I agree entirely. This country isn't taking this thing seriously yet. Either people are self-indulgently panicking or they are pretending nothing is wrong. Both answers are stupid, both politically-driven, and now we get to learn what playing politics gets you during a crisis.
 
I agree entirely. This country isn't taking this thing seriously yet. Either people are self-indulgently panicking or they are pretending nothing is wrong. Both answers are stupid, both politically-driven, and now we get to learn what playing politics gets you during a crisis.

Smartest comment of the thread.
 
I agree entirely. This country isn't taking this thing seriously yet. Either people are self-indulgently panicking or they are pretending nothing is wrong. Both answers are stupid, both politically-driven, and now we get to learn what playing politics gets you during a crisis.

Now this I can agree with. What concerns me is this reflex to defer to health experts based on these sorts of projections (not you in particular, but in general, from governors to media to folks next door). It's not that these folks aren't smart -- they're brilliant! It's that they don't have enough to data to draw a clear picture early on, and they're being asked to make decisions based on a desire to limit as much risk as possible from the virus. We don't elect health experts or virologists, though. We elect representatives to balance all of our needs and risks.
 
Now this I can agree with. What concerns me is this reflex to defer to health experts based on these sorts of projections (not you in particular, but in general, from governors to media to folks next door). It's not that these folks aren't smart -- they're brilliant! It's that they don't have enough to data to draw a clear picture early on, and they're being asked to make decisions based on a desire to limit as much risk as possible from the virus. We don't elect health experts or virologists, though. We elect representatives to balance all of our needs and risks.

My company is using a common sense approach. People that can work from home DO work from home, people we can live without for a while go home on full pay, with the caveat that they can be called back at any time, and the rest of us are working following CDC guidelines. On top of that, we turned the attendance policy right on its ear, with no penalty for calling in sick, and disciplinary action for coming in sick.

So far it's working fairly well. We still have enough income to make payroll and the other bills, and we aren't having all of our skilled workforce get the plague. Having a nice, fat profit margin can wait a while.
 
My company is using a common sense approach. People that can work from home DO work from home, people we can live without for a while go home on full pay, with the caveat that they can be called back at any time, and the rest of us are working following CDC guidelines. On top of that, we turned the attendance policy right on its ear, with no penalty for calling in sick, and disciplinary action for coming in sick.

So far it's working fairly well. We still have enough income to make payroll and the other bills, and we aren't having all of our skilled workforce get the plague. Having a nice, fat profit margin can wait a while.

That's nice to hear that your company is weathering this. We have a similar mix of staff working from home and at the office. Thankfully, we've had very few call-offs, and considering that we send people to virus hot spots, I consider us lucky so far.
 
That's nice to hear that your company is weathering this. We have a similar mix of staff working from home and at the office. Thankfully, we've had very few call-offs, and considering that we send people to virus hot spots, I consider us lucky so far.

Yeah, right now when people feel ill, they gotta stay home. I have a guy that will bring their work to them if they're up to it, otherwise we just do without.

People coming in sick costs four times as much production as people calling in sick during *normal* times.
 
Maybe? It's not like shame is a factor.

Could you point me to where he clarified his actual position to his audience, having for years loudly declared drug abuse inexcusable and calling for universally harsh punishments?
if you can find his comments to back what you say above you should have no problem finding his comments on his own addiction and his change of view.
 
The economist is Paul Krugman, who definitely knows what he's talking about. ;)
However, we do have to note that the debt-to-GDP ratio soared between 2008 and 2012, and flattened out after that. It looks like he has a very long time frame for that $2 trillion debt eventually shrinking compared to GDP.

At least $500 billion of the $2 trillion are loans which we can expect to be paid back, like the TARP funds were.
 
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At least $500 billion of the $2 trillion are loans which we can expect to be paid back, like the TARP funds were.

What was done with most of those TARP funds is emperor Palpatine level evil.

But it worked, so okay.
 
The GOP believes they need Fox News and radio conservatives to equalize the playing field against liberal news media. Both sides go too far with rhetoric nowadays to find any rational solutions in the middle. I don't love either side for that reason.

Disagree a little bit. The people on the left that are like Limbaugh are few and far between, and are eligated to mostly unknown blogs. On other words, they won't be interviewing democrat presidents, nor receiving the medal of freedom. Meanwhile the people like that on the right, the Hannity's and Alex Jones and Limbaugh's are extremely well known and extremely well connected to republican insiders. Hell, even Alex Jones has had Trump on his show for an interview. When you compare popular liberal pundits, for example Rachel Maddow, it's just insane to consider this a fair comparison. Rachel Maddow is liberal and has her slant. But you aren't getting the fear mongering and straight up denial of reality and falsehoods that you are getting with the republican/conservative examples. It's vastly different. Comparing Limbaugh or Jones or Hannity with a rhodes scholar that has a doctorate in political science from Oxford is just crap your pants silly.
 
I agree entirely. This country isn't taking this thing seriously yet. Either people are self-indulgently panicking or they are pretending nothing is wrong. Both answers are stupid, both politically-driven, and now we get to learn what playing politics gets you during a crisis.

Wanting to stay alive is "politically driven"?? Damn, never thought I'd hear you spew something like that! :lol:
 
Rush Limbaugh: Economy Being Destroyed 'Under The Guise' Of Saving Lives

Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday suggested stay-at-home measures to protect people against the coronavirus pandemic were destroying the economy "under the guise" of saving lives. He also gave air to a conspiracy theory that Democrats and communists were plotting the downfall of capitalism.

"Are we just going to sit by and watch $22 trillion - that's the value, that's the sum total of the GDP, that's the U.S. economy - are we just going to sit by here and watch it evaporate?" the right-wing radio host said on "The Rush Limbaugh Show." "Because that's what we're doing, under the guise of not losing any unnecessary life - meaning we want to try to save as many lives as we can."


Now, I don't agree that this is some Democratic, socialist plot by any means, but the economy is getting tanked as a result. If the US GDP goes down by 50% and unemployment is up by 30% next month that's worse than Depression stats. Rush has nothing left to lose with his diagnosis, so he's flame-throwing for sure. But any truth or straight up horse****?

Rush made more sense when popping oxy.
 
Here you go.

There are your projections, ranges, everything. That's one model with updated information and continually revised projections. Just look at those ranges! Worse-case scenario does not mean "likely outcome."

OK, but you're using results WITH social distancing in place everywhere - that's the assumption of that model, stated right at the top - to argue that those measures are not necessary. Surely you see that's illogical.
 
Rush made more sense when popping oxy.

That's when I used to listen to his program. But I think that's because he was less jaded back then.
 
The medical community shares part of the blame.

For sure....the ones at the top....the ones who understood how the nation was being failed by the political leadership and stayed quiet so as to not rock the boat and put their very well compensated careers at risk. But almost everybody in your local hospital had no idea how badly they have been failed till these last weeks when most everything that they were told would happen if the nation confronted a pandemic on the scale of 1918 did not happen, or happened poorly.....putting their lives at risk and making it difficult for them to save patients.
 
So human lives are more important to you than the economy?

They're kind of the same thing. The economy is people going about their lives, making their choices, doing what they do. Human lives have extraordinary value, but that value isn't derived from extending life at all cost.

I could extend the life and probably happiness of my aging grandmother if I quit my job and care for her full time. Long term, that is not the best choice for everyone else in my life, though. If my resources were unlimited, I wouldn't have to choose.

But both life and resources are limited. So we must choose.
 
They're kind of the same thing. The economy is people going about their lives, making their choices, doing what they do. Human lives have extraordinary value, but that value isn't derived from extending life at all cost.

I could extend the life and probably happiness of my aging grandmother if I quit my job and care for her full time. Long term, that is not the best choice for everyone else in my life, though. If my resources were unlimited, I wouldn't have to choose.

But both life and resources are limited. So we must choose.

I've always wondered why some ancient cultures supported human sacrifice. Now I know.

For example, GhostlyJoe is perfectly fine with sacrificing people to the god of capitalism. :shrug:
 
I've always wondered why some ancient cultures supported human sacrifice. Now I know.

For example, GhostlyJoe is perfectly fine with sacrificing people to the god of capitalism. :shrug:

They are all coming out of the woodwork now. It would be a stunning sight to see if I hadn't been expecting it.
 
Hillary called them Deplorables. I called them by their rightful names, Nazis.
 
OK, but you're using results WITH social distancing in place everywhere - that's the assumption of that model, stated right at the top - to argue that those measures are not necessary. Surely you see that's illogical.

They're not necessary. They're what we chose in pursuit of a desired outcome. Much of that outcome is still based on unknown factors and chance. That's reflected in the projection I linked.

I mean, if the worst-case in those projections happens, it's still going to be very, very ugly. If the best-case happens, it's basically the flu. Not shutting down for coronavirus is a risky choice, as the worst-case scenarios are truly devastating.

But this lockdown is an economic time bomb. It took $2T in borrowing to buy us one month.

There are big risks no matter what course of action we take. But I question the assumed authority to lock us all down like this, and I definitely question the wisdom of handing the reins over to wildly speculative projections.
 
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I've always wondered why some ancient cultures supported human sacrifice. Now I know.

For example, GhostlyJoe is perfectly fine with sacrificing people to the god of capitalism. :shrug:

“Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,
but to be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but
for the heart to conquer it.”
 
“Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,
but to be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but
for the heart to conquer it.”

"Let me die for Trump's re-election."
 
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