Posted on 03/13/2020 11:49:01 AM PDT by Kaslin
People are beginning to hoard toilet paper. I went on a normal shopping trip to buy toilet paper last week and could not find any because of all the panic-buying. Social media is full of people storming grocery stores and fighting over two-ply. Hand sanitizer is extremely difficult to find. The Clorox plant up the road from me is running 24 hours to keep up with demands.
But the toilet paper?
The run on toilet paper should be the biggest signal that an economic stimulus plan is not going to work right now. People are being driven by fear, and they are being told to stay out of crowds. People are stocking up on toilet paper because they are convinced they are going to get quarantined or otherwise stuck in their homes.
Giving businesses money, making loans cheap and encouraging people to get out and shop is not going to help. What might actually help is giving people exactly what they expect -- ordering everyone to stay home.
But this presents a way more complicated solution than some want to acknowledge. Shut down schools? And what about the nurses and doctors who have small children. What do we do with those kids?
What about the workers in the restaurant industry who work hourly and won't get paid if there are no customers? If the restaurant can't get revenue, it can't meet payroll. Should the restaurant apply for a loan from the government to pay the workers and possibly risk the financial future of the restaurant? Perhaps. If the restaurant is going to go out of business otherwise, why not try to keep it afloat for some time? But for how long?
Do we make people apply for unemployment in person when we want them not to congregate? Do we start paying people, and, if so, what do we do about the debt and inflation and the value of the currency?
If the government isn't ordering people to essentially shelter in place nationwide, how is this going to contain the virus? If the government does order people to shelter in place, what about the workers who cannot get paid? What about vacation deposits?
These are not easy answers. But they are demanding answers at this point.
What we know about the coronavirus is that it is orders of magnitude more deadly than the flu and highly contagious. What we know is that people are already convinced they are going to be quarantined in their houses and are stockpiling. What we know is that restricting travel will restrict the spread of the virus.
The public is panicked and needs to see serious, grown-up leadership in Washington right now, as well as some bipartisan unity. The public is expecting Draconian efforts and has already baked their expectations into their toilet paper buying habits. The Washington solution seems to be that both sides of the aisle have different, competing economic stimulus plans. They will undoubtedly do both, further driving up spending, the deficit and the debt. I just do not think it will matter right now.
The president can fly Air Force One over major cities and dump freshly printed hundred dollar bills out of the belly of the plane, but if people think they're going to get the coronavirus, they still are not going to take that cash and go shop, eat out or mingle in large crowds. They won't even go to the bank to deposit it. They will, like with the toilet paper, simply stockpile it till the crisis is over.
Before any stimulus can work, the public must trust the health care response. To trust the health care response, President Donald Trump cannot be competing with his own administration's message. The economic fallout is going to grow far worse than the virus unless the Trump administration gets publicly aggressive and gets buy-in from Congress.
Unfortunately for all of us, there is a bipartisan problem in Washington. Both sides have "electionitis," and the only cure is denying the other side any sort of public successes in order to beat them in November. It is not yet known how many Americans will die in the process.
I usually keep about 6 months supply of all paper goods in the house solely because I HATE going to stores.
Nothing says security and safety to me more than a year’s supply of arse wipe.
Oh, it's no act.
OH POO what will we use to wipe our fannies..I will go grab the latest LA Times
How long will it be when at our workplaces we’ll see signs in the restrooms asking us to limit our use of TP?
Black market TP coming to your area!
And when he says, “Say hello to my little friend!”, he holds up a small bottle of GermX? LOL...
Who knew TP was made from Gold.
Are we eating more? If not, why do we need so much extra tp?
We also keep many months supply of certain things, including toilet paper.
Unfortunately, last week we used the last of our huge supply and when I went on what is a normal run to re-supply I was stunned to see the entire aisle empty.
I went home and ordered it online. Delivered by FedEx.
Refilled ALL my medications, even though I don’t need then for a bit.
Just because I’m rational sure doesn’t mean others are.
Guess I should have taken a hint from all those big ‘The World is Ending’ charts being posted here on FreeRepublic.
This panic mongering that’s going on is dangerous.
If we are quarantined we are a few steps from the shower after taking a dump or peeing. People are STUPID.
Reminds me of a little childhood song we used to sing...
Stranded!
Stranded on the toilet bowl!
What do you do when you’re stranded and don’t have a roll?!
If you’re a man you’ll wipe with your hand!
etc., etc.
“Just because I’m rational sure doesn’t mean others are.”
LOL...there’s paradox in them words.
Right now it’s the most valuable commodity out there. I knew it. The people who make Charmin are part of the conspiracy. LOL
We returned home from vacation yesterday and stopped at a supermarket before we went to the house. Toilet paper was completely sold out but we bought all of the ingredients necessary to make hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. Even if there was plenty of toilet paper we wouldn’t have bought any. By the time our normal supply runs out people will have come to their senses.
Chances are, the TP stored by a wall will be shredded if not used within a certain time. If this were in NYC, I can just imagine the mice, um, rats rejoice. Nesting material!!! Baby mice/rats will enjoy the tunnels. What a glorious playground!
Oh no,it’s not their butts they’re worried about wiping. You obviously have not lived around a bunch of females. ;)
Worst comes to worst, I intend to bribe our building’s cleaning lady for a few rolls. Or .. swipe a couple off her cart while she’s inside one of the restrooms mopping the floor. :-D
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