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I once heard a striking framework for thinking about money that I still use: think about it as if it’s matter, able to exist in different states.
When you’re broke, money feels like a solid: you have a set amount of it, and measure every bit to keep from running out.
When you’re broke, money feels like a solid: you have a set amount of it, and measure every bit to keep from running out.
With a steadier income, money feels more like a liquid: some flows into your accounts, and you have a steady draw of expenses pulling it out. Maybe you can save some in a reservoir, for when you need it later — as a retiree for whom the flow’s dried up, for instance.
Once the numbers become sufficiently large, though, money becomes a gas: all around you, moving at high velocity. It flows everywhere, and its movement can inflate new enterprises (or new bubbles) … but only if it keeps moving.
Okay: sufficiently large numbers? The U.S. economy sports the largest numbers of all.
And it looks as though we’re preparing to choke off its air supply for two months.
This is going to be cataclysmic, I worry—unless public officials plan major interventions _now_.
And it looks as though we’re preparing to choke off its air supply for two months.
This is going to be cataclysmic, I worry—unless public officials plan major interventions _now_.
“We’re expecting [passenger seating] load factors to drop into the 20-30% range. … We are working night and day on support and ideas to [pay workers] even if … demand temporarily plummets to zero.”
This will get real bad, folks. Very.
![“We’re expecting [passenger seating] load factors to drop into the 20-30% range. … We are working night and day on support and ideas to [pay workers] even if … demand temporarily plummets to zero.” This will get real bad, folks. Very.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ETMvp3-XgAIkI16.jpg "“We’re expecting [passenger seating] load factors to drop into the 20-30% range. … We are working night and day on support and ideas to [pay workers] even if … demand temporarily plummets to zero.” This will get real bad, folks. Very.")
This will get real bad, folks. Very.
(^ That’s from the letter by United executives to airline staff, announcing the halving of flight capacity.)
To protect the economy from a hard crash, a measure like this might be nigh-on essential. Good on Romney for putting ideology aside and suggesting it. https://twitter.com/thomaswburr/status/1239578103460044801">https://twitter.com/thomaswbu...
Holy mother of G*d. https://twitter.com/BobStein_FT/status/1239546578219732992">https://twitter.com/BobStein_...
Great proposal.
Some measure on this order seems essential to preventing widespread economic carnage in the months to come — with damage rippling forward into lives, families and communities for years more. https://twitter.com/gabriel_zucman/status/1239548352846426113">https://twitter.com/gabriel_z...
Some measure on this order seems essential to preventing widespread economic carnage in the months to come — with damage rippling forward into lives, families and communities for years more. https://twitter.com/gabriel_zucman/status/1239548352846426113">https://twitter.com/gabriel_z...
And a rescue of this kind is in the distinct interest of plutocrats and banksters — because if a great enough number of homeowners, business owners, and borrowers go t*ts-up, major financial institutions will suddenly have massive quantities of bad debt on their books.
Gotta save the economy from the bottom up, I’m saying. And plenty of others — e.g., Sara Nelson, who represents flight attendants — appear to realize it.
The great unknown is whether Republicans grasp this fact in sufficient numbers before it’s too late. https://twitter.com/FlyingWithSara/status/1239643799913213954">https://twitter.com/FlyingWit...
The great unknown is whether Republicans grasp this fact in sufficient numbers before it’s too late. https://twitter.com/FlyingWithSara/status/1239643799913213954">https://twitter.com/FlyingWit...
Yikes — just … yikes. https://twitter.com/JimPethokoukis/status/1239875103988633600">https://twitter.com/JimPethok...
(*ding!*) 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🛎" title="Bellhop bell" aria-label="Emoji: Bellhop bell"> https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1239981062148759553">https://twitter.com/SenWarren...
Very few should require an explanation of why a spike this sudden and sharp would be catastrophic. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😬" title="Grimacing face" aria-label="Emoji: Grimacing face"> https://twitter.com/SalehaMohsin/status/1240045093958057985">https://twitter.com/SalehaMoh...
That ‘whoosh’ you might hear is the sound, I worry, of an economy accelerating toward terminal velocity. https://twitter.com/morningmoneyben/status/1240330224203694081">https://twitter.com/morningmo...
Wow. Just wow. https://twitter.com/KellyCNBC/status/1240340956081262593">https://twitter.com/KellyCNBC...
(*inhales*)
… Holy sh*t.
A quarter of activity, lopped off, versus the same three months of 2019.
If borne out, this will be disastrous. https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1241038712290643977">https://twitter.com/StevenTDe...
… Holy sh*t.
A quarter of activity, lopped off, versus the same three months of 2019.
If borne out, this will be disastrous. https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1241038712290643977">https://twitter.com/StevenTDe...
Wer& #39;e going need a mobilization like nothing seen in this country since FDR to keep our economy and society from looking like an utter hellscape after this pandemic. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-job-losses-could-total-47-million-unemployment-rate-of-32percent-fed-says.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/3...
These projections are brutal — uniformly brutal. https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1244977429698969605">https://twitter.com/jimsciutt...
It’s been three weeks since I’ve checked on this thread, and … welp. https://twitter.com/thestalwart/status/1252915542270369792">https://twitter.com/thestalwa...
