News Feed Addiction
New York issued their “shelter in place” order for 90 days along with explicit instructions that enforcement action was an option for those not complying with the order. According to Governor Newsom, “Shelter in Place” has no deadline or end date for the great state of California. Why is our state not providing an end date to the “shelter in place” mandate? Is anybody questioning the logic of this order? Why are we being so complacent? I haven’t seen any one on the news or in a position of leadership questioning what is happening. Doesn’t anyone think this is odd at a time like this for citizens to continue allowing the herding to continue? In New Hampshire, a small group of individuals sued the state asking the courts for relief from the state mandates related to limiting the size of gatherings. An initial review by the judge denied their request for an emergency injunction stating that the directives set forth by the Governor were in line with other policies given the state of emergency.
On that note, I woke up this morning and observed a hilarious meme on social media; it depicted the Star Trek captain sitting in his chair staring at a monitor which read “status report”. This is exactly how I feel when I wake up in the morning. Instead of wanting coffee, food, or sex, my brain can’t wait to peruse social media or CNN or news feeds for the latest juicy details of what is happening local, nationally, and globally. It is as if Pandoras Box has opened for anyone who wants to delve deep into the mechanics of human coexistence, interpersonal relationships, and government takeovers of their people.
I decided to leave the house and drive around the city of Clovis and Fresno for a bit. First stop was the bank. I wanted to withdraw money to have cash on hand but the banks had closed their doors. As I was parking, it appeared there were long lines at the ATM but again, my mind was imagining the worst-case scenario (playing tricks on me) and there were only two people waiting at each ATM. I had to repeatedly tell myself, “You’re good. Your money is safe. It’s OK to interact with these people”. For some reason, I keep thinking there is going to be a run on the bank and I’m going to lose all of our money like the Great Depression. I think I’ve read to many science fiction and post-apocalyptic books, watched to many movies, and actually paid attention in high school History class to what happened in the early 20th century. Having the banks closed is a little disconcerting because I can only withdraw three hundred dollars daily from the ATM. I’m now thinking this may be why they closed the banks down, so people like me don’t take out large sums of money at one time. After the bank, I fueled up at the gas station. One piece of advice an unknown person gave me about emergency situations was to always have a full gas tank. Off the top of my head I don’t remember the reasoning behind this information; I’m sure there are a lot of explanations, but they elude me right now so I’ll blindly accept and adhere to the wisdom while I can. Further, gas is at an all-time low (2.49-2.89 a gallon depending on which gas station) and does not compromise my bank account.
Driving around the city didn’t do much for me. I observed empty parking lots, vagabonds walking the streets yelling at no one while pulling their shopping carts full of personal belongings, every business was shuttered, traffic was brisk, and drive through lines were longer than normal for those restaurants who were lucky to have a drive through line. I didn’t accomplish much with this outing other than to say to myself, “I’m still alive. I still belong to society. There is hope”.
Back at home, I dialed right back into the internet for one reason and one reason only; I am riveted on watching the stock market nosedive. The sinking ship aptly named, “American Economy”, is intimately linked to that damn stock market and it is breaking apart before my eyes. My worries are not in the loss of individual stock value because I don’t own any stocks. Rather, my CalPERS pension is dependent on the vitality of the stock market. I know (with certainty) that if this downward slide continues over a long period of time, CalPERS will have no choice but to cut monthly payments. Only time will tell but I’m trying to figure out how to deal with this issue now.
Here are a few interesting news bytes from today: (1) Cash is purportedly the new spreader of coronavirus. Calls from industry workers are mounting for cash to be banned. Can anyone say, “Cashless society”? (2) Trump went on record in a rambling impromptu press conference that a vaccine would be available (chloroquine). But when the top U.S. scientist took the podium after Trump, he negated the claim. Who are we to believe?
Last updated statistics for coronavirus cases in U.S.: Close to 20,000 cases and 277 deaths.