My thoughts, applying very much to Britain, as I'm pretty hazy on exactly how people are fixed in other countries. My gut feeling, based on conversations, reading posts on the 'net, studying the news, is that by a good 2:1 margin, most people in Britain still see the Corona virus as the threat which is head and shoulders above the rest - and unless they've been directly impacted by the economic damage of lockdown, they barely notice it at all. The main reason for that is the amount of money that the Chancellor (finance minister) has poured into subsidising employers' wage bills, mortgage 'holidays' for home buyers, subsidies to some (but not all) businesses - basically, he's been borrowing like a shopaholic on speed, and spending money like a sailor on shore leave after 9 months at sea. At some point this spring, however, whether the Chancellor likes it or not, he's going to have to turn off the taps, and admit to Joe Public that the Magic Money Tree is a myth. Unemployment has been surging for months, and the numbers of job vacancies have fallen off a cliff. More? Students due to graduate this year have had their final year studies trashed and their grades rendered dubious, to say the least. School leavers not going to university are in the same plight, and every parent of teenage children must be wondering not "can my son / daughter get a job which will build into a career", but "can my son / daughter get any kind of job at all?" So even if parents are securely placed as far as their income is concerned, they'll be wondering how long they'll have to carry on supporting their offspring. Levels of mental breakdown amongst school age children have reached a point where pre-teens have been committing suicide, and paediatricians are reporting that the majority of child / teenage hospital admissions are now psychiatric cases rather than physical illness or injury. Meanwhile, more and more businesses are going under, and every time we read the news, ministers and their 'scientific advisors' are repeating warnings, and hinting that lifting restrictions may be put back. This last week, they've gone from 'possibly April', to 'more or less by the summer', to 'don't book a holiday for this summer, not even one on Britain', to 'we hope to back to normal by the end of this year' to 'some restrictions will be with us indefinitely' (without specifying which ones). And Joe and Josie Public? Picture Wile E. Coyote, off the edge of a cliff, just before he notices that there's only thin air under his feet. Think share buyers on Wall Street in late August, 1929. FWIW, I think that by this autumn (fall), large numbers of people will be selling anything they can possibly do without, for any price they can get, just to keep the wolf from the door. Gunner
@snwcmpr - 'My Back Pages' - mind, I still think that the version done by The Byrds was the best! Gunner PS Hmm - I think that's one to upload to the Entertainment thread!
I wonder if "non-essential" shops being closed has forced people online and once there they have seen the wide variety of camping stoves that are actually available compares to the limited range to be had from most big box stores. If they get their heads around the idea that used items doesn't mean landfill, they'll probably be heading over to CCS and staying. Regards John
It simply isn't accurate comparing out of control government expenditures to drunken sailors on shore leave. The sailors are, after all, spending their own money!
Very true, @Fettler - and your post reminds me of what Margaret Thatcher used to say when any of her ministers or their bag carriers were rash enough to mention the phrase 'government money':- "What government money? The government doesn't have any money - it's taxpayers' money!" I only wish that truth was burned into the brain of every politician on Earth. Gunner
