After the storm, then what?

[utahjeepr]

If we have learned anything from past experience (with 9/11, 2008 recession, etc) it is that nothing ever goes "back to normal". Crap hits fan, measures are taken for "temporary relief/safety", crisis ends, and those temporary measures ease but not back to zero. Not back to "normal".

I have already started to see talk of "America 2.0", "remaking society", ....

We know that .gov on both sides of the aisle will try to use this pandemic to stuff more of the camel into the tent. They always do.

UN Secretary General , "need to remake society..." to be more egalitarian, more fair to the poor, blah blah blah, gimme 9 trillion .

My magic 8-ball says we are looking at some interesting times once we make it through these difficult times.

[Todd.K]

I hope people continue to wash their hands and stay home if they are sick.

[Belmont31R]

If we have learned anything from past experience (with 9/11, 2008 recession, etc) it is that nothing ever goes "back to normal". Crap hits fan, measures are taken for "temporary relief/safety", crisis ends, and those temporary measures ease but not back to zero. Not back to "normal".

I have already started to see talk of "America 2.0", "remaking society", ....

We know that .gov on both sides of the aisle will try to use this pandemic to stuff more of the camel into the tent. They always do.

UN Secretary General , "need to remake society..." to be more egalitarian, more fair to the poor, blah blah blah, gimme 9 trillion .

My magic 8-ball says we are looking at some interesting times once we make it through these difficult times.

Nothing drastically is going to change as long as you have a decent R governor in your state and DJT is reelected.

People in blue states? Should already be used to sweeping knee jerk reactions to tax, take away rights, and control more of the economy/people.

[Averageman]

For the most part, people have seemed to be hesitant or totally unable to accept that the left is wrong.
Look at the epicenters of this virus, who is in charge, who is now begging President Trump for support and equipment? The very same Governor's who worked to bring him down.
Who ran a carnival scam that delayed the necessary support to the People and Businesses?
It's all hands on deck, but some would rather bitch while the ship sinks than grab a bucket and bail.
I just hope people can take an unbiased look at what happened and why.

But I seriously doubt that will happen.

[HeruMew]

I think we need to sectionalize this topic into two main points:

Legislative Normalcy and Society Normalcy.

In most contexts and days, Society continues forward with little to no "requirement" of the Government. Even after 9/11, the recessions, people are people.

We will go back to eating in restaurants, college classes will resume, schools will go back in session. Life will... resume.

That, in all events and cases (even in the worst of scenarios), is a promised truth (short of full humanity extinction).

Legislative Normalcy, in my opine, is occurring at 99% of all scenarios.

Large Pandemic, Mini Pandemic, No Pandemic, Manufactured Fear, Real Fear, Created Division, Elitism, Statism; it's all a never ending pendulum.

The reality is... this is normal for our "politicians". There is no such thing as a "wasted opportunity".

The sooner we understand that the Legislative Representatives have their own vested interests, and gains to be had by furthering them, the better.

If it was my choice, no one performing a legislative civic duty (not including Government Employees) would collect a salary. Stipend, Expenses, sure. But 175k a year to work a third of the time the Average American does for almost FOUR times the average median income with the best outcomes expected equal of a circle jerk where everyone cucks themselves? Nah.

WE will go back to normal, but they're not impacted like society is, therefore, they will bend us over like they always do. Especially when they have a scared population unbuckling their belts in the guise of "safety".

But, I am sure I am sounding ranty at this point, so I will leave it at that.

[SteyrAUG]

I think one of the changes is many employers will realize they don't need as many employees as they previously thought AND it can be cheaper of some of the other employees they retain work from home.

Look at the evolution of the doctor who once made house calls to your home, to running local in town clinics which were basic "walk in at will" to you need an appointment unless it's an emergency and if it is an emergency to the the emergency room. Now we are at phone consultations and they don't even want you in the building unless it's very, very likely you have it or something just as bad.

Medical care has gone from full service with attendants checking your wipers, fluids and air pressure while they fill it up to completely self serve where you pay at the pump and the air pressure machine probably doesn't even work. That will be more and more of the norm...

And while there isn't a cure, there seem to be more than a few effective treatments, some of which are even over the counter so eventually I think this one will get reigned in. The big question is will we be able to totally contain and eliminate it like we did with SARS are will it just be part of the annual cast of bugs, flus and viruses that plague us every year that we treat as best we can assuming we haven't developed a antidote for.

A lot of legit schools do a ton of online content, online study assignments and online testing. I don't think classrooms will go the way of the dodo bird, but it could happen in some version or another, especially if parents now work from home. Upside of that scenario is there won't be a lot of school shootings if nobody is in the building.

So there will be changes and we might end up with a new normal. I know this is dramatic and unprecedented, I've never seen schools say "Hey ya know what, let's just call it good for the year...inn March no less." I've never seen so many people told to "take the month off and don't go to work unless you really, really have to." Lots of people found out that lots of reliable, easy to get entry level jobs like waiting tables or any other service oriented occupations have "no real guarantees of anything." If I didn't see it, I wouldn't have believed it.

Just like every real estate agent became functionally useless after the housing market crash, all those people trying to take care of their families with those kind of jobs just got a huge wake up call. And it's not just working class folks...if you are a consultant and you can't get it done on skype or by phone...nobody wants to take a face to face meeting with you on the off chance they may want to retain whatever kind of service you are offering. In a month people I know personally went for averaging $6,000 a month to more like $600 a month but the cost of doing business stayed more or less the same. The bottom has completely fallen out of their business model and it won't be coming back anytime soon.

Those who saved and put away for a rainy day and hopefully pivot to a new kind of occupation, those who are barely making more than the margins of operation are just done...have or soon will have nothing in reserve and will quickly lose just about everything on the fast lane to square one...starting over from the beginning with nothing.

If we have any kind of serious economic crash like the Obama recession, whole sections of our economy might be devastated and may require more than a 10 year recovery. I don't want to even think about a 20 year climb out of the bottom of a deep hole.

On the other hand, if this virus is somehow contained in the next 30 days (for the most part) and things mostly become business as usual where most people go to work, can sit in starbucks and sip their coffee while surfing the net and then drop by the store to grab a few things for dinner...all without them or the employees having to wear Level 20 Hiroshima model Hazmat suits things could get mostly back to normal with the odd spring of 2020 in everyone's memory.

We could also have established a baseline emergency response plan for any new health risk where people will have a better idea of what to do in the first weeks, and there will be plenty of toilet paper because everyone will have stocked a tactical reserve of 15 megapacks over the summer...you know...just in case.

Despite my smallish pantry compared to the freaking huge kitchen I left behind in South Florida, I'm gonna do my best to keep it hard stacked with the essential and going to attempt to maintain two months of food for a "no matter what happened" event.

[The_War_Wagon]

UN Secretary General , "need to remake society..." to be more egalitarian, more fair to the poor, blah blah blah, gimme 9 trillion .

FIRST thing? Boot those freeloaders OUT of the country.

They can move their HQ to... China.

[flenna]

FIRST thing? Boot those freeloaders OUT of the country.

They can move their HQ to... China.

This should tell you everything you need to know about the U.N.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-...virus-response

[AndyLate]

I would not be surprised to see many older corporations move to a flexible work place/tele work model. Why pay for a bunch of square footage, office furniture, parking, and electricity when you don't have to. Most of my folks could work from home 2-3 days a week with zero impact, dedicated workspaces would not be required for those days, and we could easily stagger our program requirements to cut our office space needs in half.

On a personal level, I will maintain a stock of GOOD masks, disposable gloves, clorox wipes, and hand sanitizer. There will be another pandemic in my life (I'm 51) and it will probably be worse. We will continue to stock non-perishable food and staying home for weeks at a time has helped us fine-tune what that food should be.

Andy

[Alpha-17]

Governments rarely give up their power after a crisis, so I think we'll see an increased amount of overreach. That's probably a "duh" statement, but the interesting part will be that it'll be the States doing a lot of the leg work, rather than the Feds. I'll be curious if we see more Federal funding for states to help them out, or if they'll have to pay their own way. Regardless, it's not going to look good for us.