Posted on 05/09/2021 8:57:26 AM PDT by george76
Just last week I was invited to speak in front of a group of people. It was the first time I had that kind of opportunity since March of last year. It was in a meeting room of a larger restaurant. We had permission for 50 people. About 30 showed up as it was a cold and rainy morning in Northwest Indiana — a typical lovely spring day.
I didn’t know what to expect except it was to be in front of a group of like-minded conservatives to discuss the various topics of the week. I love to speak in front of people and the last 14 months has ripped that from me.
It has cost me money and virtually shut down part of what I do for a living. In the end, I had a blast. I am scheduled to do it again next week as well and am already looking forward to it. Maybe, just maybe, it is a little hint of the opening up of America. Either way, getting back to the way we were isn’t going to happen and the length of time it takes to reopen will also take a lot longer than most are willing to admit.
We shut down an entire economy in March 2020. That has never happened before. Which leads you naturally to the fact that nobody on this planet knows what it is like to start back up an economy from scratch. When it finally fires back up to 100% open, what will it look like?
How long do you think the plastic partitions will stick around? I bet you they are there for the election of 2024 and beyond. We are raising a group of young people who are used to wearing a mask.
Will they continue even after we get the all clear? I bet you there will be a certain group of people that will continue to wear masks, almost religiously, for the next 10 years. Heck, we have a president that said that wearing a mask is patriotic.
That is where I get confused. The very thought of loving this country has been considered by some on the left as a little bit racist and definitely xenophobic — if you love this country that must automatically mean you hate people from other countries.
Patriotism is bad. But then if we wear the mask, it is an act of patriotism which is good. I don’t follow the logic — maybe because there isn’t any logic. The same logic that applied while taking a picture, indoors, with 96-year-old former President Jimmy Carter and his 93-year old wife Rosalynn — maskless. But then, while voyaging out into the wild outdoors, you don your face diaper for the throngs of reporters — outside and distanced.
Go figure.
It is exactly that kind of behavior that is going to delay our growth in getting back to normal. When do you think you will be on a packed elevator again? CEO’s across America have made it clear that only a handful are going to demand 100% attendance back in the office.
Don’t get me wrong, it took a while to get used to staying at home, but more Americans say that they are more productive.
David Zervos of the investment bank Jefferies put out a piece recently comparing the first three months of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2020 versus 2021. In total, he wrote, the 2021 first quarter GDP came in at $19.09 trillion versus 2020 at $19.01 trillion. What is more incredible is that the total workforce required to attain each level of output was 5.6% less in 2021, according to Zervos.
That my friends is a startling fact — one that is here to stay. More drive-thrus and less sit downs. More deliveries, less pick–ups. Mom and pops have been decimated. The workforce, too. That is not going to be "getting back to normal" any time soon.
Maybe there is a healthy dose of skepticism too. It hurts my brain to go over the things that the government has backtracked on over the last 14 months. Some of it was innocent and only because they didn’t know any better and some of it not so innocent.
As it turns out, there were a lot of things that were told to us as gospel and science that later turned out to be more rumor than fact. I think that is now the biggest problem with the vaccine. Boy, oh boy, we have celebrities, both washed up and relevant, shoving the vaccine down our throats everyday on TV. You are not allowed to ask any questions. Just roll up your sleeve and obey. Now, you all know by now that I am not an anti-vaccine person. It has been a big reason as to why our economy is doing better than most others around the world.
And, thanks to the last administration and Operation Warp Speed, we are seeing some signs of life in the U.S. that closely resemble what used to be normal. The problem is that vaccine distribution has slowed. I really feel that it has been compromised by the governmental flip-flops.
There has been no consistent message and that continues. Just look at the last joint session of Congress. They have all been vaccinated. They were all wearing masks and socially distanced. What exactly is the message they are sending about the vaccine? It seems to me it is more of a message of futility than a message of caution. Most Americans can see right through it.
I know I do — and I can breathe right through it too.
Good article and I agree with just about everything the author wrote.
One interesting observation about our little town here on the San Francisco Peninsula. All of the local restaurants (and there are MANY) in our downtown moved to outdoor dining a year ago. The city granted them permission to use the diagonal parking spots on Main and State Streets for dining, so many of the restaurants built nice raised platforms surrounded by planters, barrels, and fences; installed outdoor heaters; planted hedges and flowers; hung banners. With this transformation, the downtown looks different and better in so many ways than it was. On Friday and Saturday nights, the outdoor dining places are packed! And they are quite busy on the other nights of the week as well. The whole place has a festive, European feel which is really nice.
The thing that absolutely cracks me up is everybody dining and drinking is maskless for an hour or two, yet they dutifully don their masks for a 30 second stroll down the sidewalk to their parked car a dozen yards or half block away.
The belief in the magic face amulet is astonishing. Somehow dining, drinking, talking and laughing temporarily end the fear, but it resumes as soon as they depart the safe zone. People are nuts.
No statistical difference in covid infection rates between mask- wearers and non-mask- wearers.
Masks are political theater; Americans should be ashamed at how long it has allowed politicians to perpetrate such a fraud.
It’s going to be interesting to see what fraction of people are still wearing them in 3 months, 6 months, 12 months and 2 years. California is the worst.
And a lot of federal government money. That's another difference between 2021 and 2020. About another year worth of spending?
Key phrase.
“mixed messaging”
I think the consistent message is “obey, unconditionally”. Not mixed at all.
It wasn’t about a cold virus going around. It was SOLELY to stop America’s turn to Trump and MAGA, and to kill the economy and our culture.
This was done to install a command economy and an authoritarian society.
Everything else is hype and bullshit.
Face diapers as a trend... I’m old enough to remember when going braless was the trend.
Sigh...
And tube tops right after that.... *sigh*
Northeast U.S. isn't far behind.
“It is exactly that kind of behavior that is going to delay our growth in getting back to normal. “
He just doesn’t get it. There is no INTENT of getting back to normal. This was an overthrow of our government and culture and a power grab.
The sooner guys like this realize that, the sooner they can understand what is happening and stop looking for signposts that we are headed back to “normal”.
Mixed lies
Trish Regan said that this China virus is another impeachment scam against Trump all over again.. like the fake Russia - Mueller witch hunt..
Then, Fox Business ( RINO Ryan ) pulled her show
That and, "Let's hate Trump".
Same thing in Italy and the rest of the world?
Yes, I do that. Why? Not because I think it does any good. I think it's ridiculous. I do it so that the petty dictators who run my city and state allow me some semblance of a normal life and allow my favorite eateries to be more or less open.
Of course it's stupid. I'm a hockey fan. The team plays the game with no masks. The players take their breathers on the bench with no masks. But the reserve goalie and the coaches wear masks. Why? So that the morons peddling this as "science" let them play the game they love.
We have LOTS of petty dictators here in California, but none have them have accosted me for going maskless outdoors. I’ve had two Karens (one woman, one guy) bug me, once at the beach and another time on a hike. The woman at the beach was going apoplectic and I thought she might have a brain aneurism right there on the spot. She screamed “Where are you from? Go back there!” I calmly replied “Right here in California for nearly 50 years.” That was fun.
I think it’s a LONG stretch to think that a small handful of people going maskless on the sidewalk is going to cause the Powers That Be to cancel outdoor dining.
Ain't "science" grand?!
But, I have two kids in the restaurant biz. If health inspectors find unmasked people away from a table in a restaurant, it's the restaurant and employees who pay the price, not the customer. I want my kids to keep their jobs
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