Our Current Situation

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John Boy
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Our Current Situation

Post by John Boy »

I'm glad we have this forum so we can get together occasionally and discuss what we (jokingly?) consider the most important thing in the world. It's getting harder by the day to "keep calm and carry on," and our situation together looks to get much more serious and dangerous before it gets much better.

I don't have any special words of wisdom for the Board. And as I've told many clients, I don't have any "pink magic fairy dust" to sprinkle on everything to make it all better. All I have is my thanks to all of you for being here, and my hopes that you will do whatever it takes to keep yourselves and your loved ones safe from harm. Our world has weathered some pretty grim stuff and we'll get through this as well.

Be well and stay safe.
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twelvefootboy
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by twelvefootboy »

John Boy wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 10:11 am I'm glad we have this forum so we can get together occasionally and discuss what we (jokingly?) consider the most important thing in the world. It's getting harder by the day to "keep calm and carry on," and our situation together looks to get much more serious and dangerous before it gets much better.

I don't have any special words of wisdom for the Board. And as I've told many clients, I don't have any "pink magic fairy dust" to sprinkle on everything to make it all better. All I have is my thanks to all of you for being here, and my hopes that you will do whatever it takes to keep yourselves and your loved ones safe from harm. Our world has weathered some pretty grim stuff and we'll get through this as well.

Be well and stay safe.
I, for one, welcome some escapism. This is one of those life changing moments that adds to your stress budget. It will be good to have this in the rear view mirror. To quote from my very shallow pool of movie quotes, we must "Endeavor to Persevere". Now back to my pod :).

May your next life changing moment be your million dollar run on Jeopardy!
Disclaimer - repeated exposure to author's musings may cause befuddlement.
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Volante
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by Volante »

I, for one, am (so far) enjoying my first time legit working from home. Day drinking! WOO!

It'll likely get frustrating as we enter week three since I don't have all my available tools (though they might amend that by then).
The best thing that Neil Armstrong ever did, was to let us all imagine we were him.
Latest movies (1-10): Everything Everywhere All at Once (10), Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken (6), Black Sunday /1960/ (6), Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (7)
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MitchO
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by MitchO »

I'm seeing a lot of posts or commercials about trying to help various people or places in various situations, but none of it helps me ... I'm out of work, my comp package ends this month, and all the jobs I would interview with would be for companies in NYC. So .. no one is interviewing, never mind hiring. LinkedIn predicts that a real drop in hiring counts is yet to come, but no gift certificate or mortgage forgiveness helps my scenario. :/
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trainman
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by trainman »

I was reeeeeeeeal lucky to, after about eight months of unemployment, be hired as a contractor at a company at the beginning of the year... and then be hired full-time at the beginning of March, for a job that I can do from home for the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately, those eight months of unemployment in 2019 (after a 22-month period of unemployment that began in 2016) did a number on my finances -- I wish I could offer more monetary assistance to the various relief funds that are already being set up, but I'm not yet in a position to do so.
Bamaman
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by Bamaman »

I am in the grocery business, so my job is pretty safe. Right now I am stocking shelves and can see first hand what this has done to the supply chain. I have been at this store three days and have yet to see toilet paper.

So I am very lucky to have a job. But I do have concerns about being among the public. I am doing my best to avoid getting too close to anyone. The county I live in has only had one confirmed case, so I am hoping for the best.

My wife is better off. She drives a school bus so she is out of work but still getting paid.
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triviawayne
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by triviawayne »

The next time they treat me like crap at work, I just may have to remind them I’m “essential”
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TenPoundHammer

Re: Our Current Situation

Post by TenPoundHammer »

The McDonald's I work at is currently drive through-only, and busy as ever.

Both churches that I play organ for have canceled until May, but I'm making most of that back with overtime. I've also put in an inquiry at a music website, but I don't know a.) if they have any plans to hire me, or b.) if it's a pay job or not. Either way I'd like to write for them.
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floridagator
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by floridagator »

I wish I'd taken the hint when I saw that Jeff Bezos sold 4 billion dollars worth of Amazon stock over a two-week period ending February 6th. That is a level of insider trading unprecedented in all history.

Instead of taking the cue to sell everything, I invested $14,000 on February 7th.
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StevenH
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by StevenH »

I am lucky to be able to work from home for my day job. I just pray that the economy doesn't go further south and jeopardize my job security.

I also work part time at Publix stocking shelves. That job has provided me with extra spending money and kept me from going crazy from boredom on the weekends, but I am paranoid about going to work my shifts there now for obvious reasons. I have seriously thought about quitting.

I hope that everyone on this board can stay safe!
MattKnowles
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by MattKnowles »

floridagator wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 3:07 pm I wish I'd taken the hint when I saw that Jeff Bezos sold 4 billion dollars worth of Amazon stock over a two-week period ending February 6th. That is a level of insider trading unprecedented in all history.

Instead of taking the cue to sell everything, I invested $14,000 on February 7th.
Bezos stock sell-off was automatic. If I'm mistaken please correct me so I get better information. It was set-up so that once Amazon stock goes over a certain value it sells off automatically.

And the Senators that recently sold off their stock after being briefed on the situation will also avoid charges of insider trading. Their argument is that they based their sell-off on publicly available information. They're probably lying, but their explanation does seem totally valid. It was reported in February that carbon emissions in China were down something like 30% to 40% as a result of the outbreak. Even though China's economy had a huge contraction and they are linked to the world economy the stock market continued going up for some reason.

Also, predictions based on the yield curve inversion last year ended up being completely correct.
I had a dream that I was asleep and then I woke up and Jeopardy! was on.
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econgator
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by econgator »

MattKnowles wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 5:05 pm
Bezos stock sell-off was automatic. If I'm mistaken please correct me so I get better information. It was set-up so that once Amazon stock goes over a certain value it sells off automatically.
Yes and no. From a CNBC article: "The transactions were made as part of a prearranged 10b5-1 trading plan, according to the filings."

A 10b5-1 allows major shareholders to sell predetermined amounts of stock at predetermined times. So, yes, it was automatic, no it had nothing to do with the share price (i.e. it wasn't a limit order or stop-loss order).
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twelvefootboy
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by twelvefootboy »

floridagator wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 3:07 pm I wish I'd taken the hint when I saw that Jeff Bezos sold 4 billion dollars worth of Amazon stock over a two-week period ending February 6th. That is a level of insider trading unprecedented in all history.

Instead of taking the cue to sell everything, I invested $14,000 on February 7th.
Amazon stock on 2/6 - $2050
on 3/21 - $1846, down ca. 10%
Anything else he bought with that money that was equity related - down 33% (DJIA at 29K -> 19K). Let's hope he bought DJIA futures :). We know he didn't sell to help pay his taxes.

Bezos' net worth about 120B, so I wouldn't cue on his selling 3% :roll: . Btw this isn't a troll - you poked some curiosity, and this is some additional context. I am fine with Bezos making first generation money. But it should be taxed at 40+% and his heirs left with a meager billion or so.

Now, THIS is a troll :lol::
It normally takes a Democrat president 8 years to straighten out the broken economies they inherit. DJIA up 228% under Clinton, 148% under Obama, -5% under Trump (watch this space), -26% under Bush. So, our stock will be worth more than toilet paper by 2028 :).
Disclaimer - repeated exposure to author's musings may cause befuddlement.
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ElendilPickle
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by ElendilPickle »

I work for a plumbing/HVAC company. We have a contract with our local public school system, so while the schools are closed we are hooking up swamp coolers and doing some other big jobs that we can't work on while students are present. At the moment most of our other contract jobs are moving forward as well.

My husband has finished his last in-person class remotely, and his instructors have worked out a way for him to do his lab assignments at the places where he has clinicals, so he is still on track to graduate at the end of April.
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morbeedo
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by morbeedo »

Work from home only works when I don’t really have any work to do. I work in NYC, so I’ve been able to walk to work the last couple of weeks, but starting tomorrow the office is closed so work from home is mandatory until...?

My birthday is 4/4. I had plans to go to DC that weekend to visit friends and run the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race (cancelled). Amtrak is waiving change fees, but if you want to cancel your ticket, you have to call them. Imagine if this country invested in high-speed rail and infrastructure generally. The oil/gas lobby ruins everything!

I hope that the COVID-19 crisis leads to structural change in this country, but I’m not that optimistic.
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DBear
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by DBear »

I work for a certain retirement pensions company known for an odd-shaped building. Pretty much scrambling over the past week, but finally got a laptop with the software tools to work from home. Just in time, as the mayor just put Denver on shutdown starting tomorrow evening.
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jjwaymee
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Re: Our Current Situation

Post by jjwaymee »

I work in the control room of a commercial nuclear power plant. It's been very interesting recently. In addition to the sending non-essential employees home, we have also restricted access to the control room to only those with a critical business need, we are using nitrile gloves when operating components on the boards, and, starting later this week, there will be a temporary guard shack halfway up the main driveway to the plant. At that checkpoint they will take our temperatures and immediately turn away anyone running a fever.

At some point they will most likely consolidate us into fewer shifts with a designated "relief crew" to cover illnesses. If things get really bad they will sequester us onsite for a prolonged period of time. It's already happening at other power plants.
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