“… getting coronavirus is not a death sentence except for maybe no more than 3.4 percent of our population”

I brought this up from another thread:

“GOP Senator Upbeat! Coronavirus May Kill ‘No More Than 3.4 Percent of Our Population’

Such a compassionate man.

Well, that’s a relief. It will only kill about twice as many people (11 million) as the Holocaust (6 million)! No big deal.

  • As the original commenter pointed out, 3.4% of our population would be about eight times as many people as have died in all America’s wars added together. 3.4% is more than ten million people. About 600,000 or 700,000 Americans died as a result of the Civil War, and about 400,000 Americans died in the WW2 struggle.
  • 3.4% is even more than the PERCENTAGE of Americans who died in the Civil War.
  • And those Civil War and WW2 casualties were spread out over some four years.

(The 1918 flu pandemic killed approximately as many Americans as the Civil War.)

39 thoughts on ““… getting coronavirus is not a death sentence except for maybe no more than 3.4 percent of our population”

  1. They’re running the Executive Branch and the relevant Federal agencies then? Could have fooled me.

    1. You have all made my point very clear, name calling and juvinile behavior trumps (no pun intended) civilized discussion. In past posts any facts followed by links to the articles or studies are met with that is not true because that does not support my beliefs or political views. I know that I will never convince you of my beliefs nor will I yours. If you keep surrounding yourself with people of the same ideas, you will not have a chance to see if your ideas are justified. Honestly that is why I put up with name calling and disrespect I get here. I do find some gems that are worth researching.

      1. Check out rationalwiki if you want to look up a subject matter.

        I can’t type out a 10,000 dissertation on why every single Trump policy is wrong, but look at it this way. Today the UN’s Happiness Report came out, and the Nordic countries continued to dominate with democratic socialism.

        Ask yourself why that is, and the why the United States is 18th. And remember the fact that past economic policies like the New Deal would be considered ‘socialist extremism’ nowadays.

        John Maynard Keynes, who’s economic policies pulled us out of the Great Depression said it best:

        “Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work together for the benefit of all.”

        1. See! Made me read!

          The crux of Keynesian economics is to maximize business investment so that capitalists will hire workers which will increase output. Anyone who has read Keynes, and I mean really read him, knows that Keynes was not anti-capitalism. His whole theory is centered around boosting aggregate demand so that capitalists will maximize investment. The only people who focus on the “demand” component as if it’s some “dig holes and fill them up” sort of economic theory, are the ones who don’t understand that the demand component was really all about maximizing business investment by maximizing profits for capitalists. As a businessman Keynes understood that capitalism runs on sales. And sales boom when demand is strong.
          The crux of Keynesian economics is to maximize business investment so that capitalists will hire workers which will increase output. Anyone who has read Keynes, and I mean really read him, knows that Keynes was not anti-capitalism. His whole theory is centered around boosting aggregate demand so that capitalists will maximize investment. The only people who focus on the “demand” component as if it’s some “dig holes and fill them up” sort of economic theory, are the ones who don’t understand that the demand component was really all about maximizing business investment by maximizing profits for capitalists. As a businessman Keynes understood that capitalism runs on sales. And sales boom when demand is strong.

          1. Keynes was not against capitalism, this is the main point of his theory:

            “Keynes said the government should spend more money when people do not have work. The government can borrow money and give people jobs (work). Then people can spend money again and buy things. This helps other people find work.

            Some people, such as conservatives, libertarians, and people who believe in Austrian economics, do not agree with Keynes’ ideas. They say government work does not help capitalism.”

            In other words, Keynes believed in infrastructure spending when things go bad. The government can create jobs. Most of the New Deal concepts from Keynes today is presented as socialism. Hell even Eisenhower’s ideas would be considered socialism today.

            People like to just label things based on what is the hot word to tie to ANYTHING that isn’t directly tax cuts for the rich. No government is perfectly one system or another.

            My point is the fact you do anything with government anymore, its labeled socialistic by the crazy right wing media. Milton Friedman’s supply side economics was basically to give the corporations and most rich in the country tax cuts, to supposedly ‘create jobs.’

            Keynes was before his time on this, because his capitalistic quote REALLY sums up the supply-side econ that Republicans worship. The fact that you give the greediest people money for the greediest of reasons and expect it to ‘trickle down’.

            Well as we saw with Trump’s corporate tax cuts, they did stock buybacks. And FINALLY if you listened to him today, he even admitted as much that his tax cuts just allowed stock buybacks for executives to increase their own pay. He said he didn’t agree with it, but he let it happen! And him saying he didn’t think it would happen is like throwing a raw slab of meat into a lion’s en and expect it not to be eaten. That’s what the rich do, they hoard wealth and when they get it, they try to hoard more. This is why income inequity is so bad.

            This is the problem, until Republicans stop the bullshit with the entire policy of giving the keys of the economy to those companies and individuals with no strings attached to hoard more wealth, there’s nothing to talk about.

            It isn’t even socialism to make major changes in this country! Attach the exact same adjusted for inflation ratio of cost of living, cost of college education, minimum wage, tax rates on the rich, and CEO compensation to what it was when the boomers who lecture everyone had when growing up and go from there.

            Fixing what is happening now with people completely collapsing under the weight of this crisis is not even a new economic idea in US history, but when it’s talked about somehow what was going on for decades when FDR was elected is spoken about like some deep Soviet communism.

      2. Ah, declaring victory and going home, or “the full Nixon” as it’s called. That makes you smarter than Trump.

  2. The real problem is that the Trump presidency has split the nation. You are either with him or against him. There is no in-between, no grey area just us and them mentality. When Trump announced he would shut down incoming international traffic, he was labeled a racist. A few days later, he was berated for not doing it soon enough. He was again accused of using government money to bail out the stock market but not the people affected. Now he is being told that we need to support the businesses that support the people who we need to give money to. But wait, wouldn’t supporting the stock market support businesses? No guarantee it would help but it is something. No win!

    The Fingers need to be pointed in both directions. Pelosi added a lot of pork to the first bill to help out those affected by the virus.

    My biggest complaint is that I see a lot of complaints but I do not see the country coming together to help.

    The entertainment industry is saying that they have at least 150,000 support people being laid off. They want the federal government to help. Where are the big stars and their wallets helping out their own? I see them all criticizing Trump for not helping but I do not see them doing anything. In fact, some are calling for Trump supporters to die from the virus. As for myself, I am a RN that works in the Operating Room. We have been told that all non-emergent surgeries will be cancelled. A lot of my fellow nurses support their families and need to work. I am giving up one working day a week so my fellow nurses can work. I am also volunteering to help at the testing stations. My wife is terrified. She has asthma and could be one of the hardest hit. I could say Fuck It but we both agreed we will cross the bridge when we get to it. If I can help others get help quickly, then I am part of the solution and not the problem. Name calling and pointing fingers are not helping.

    Scoop you are welcome to contact me and I will point you in the direction to verify my credentials.

    1. The real complaint against Trump is that he wasted a huge amount of time that was available to prepare for this pandemic by calling the virus a Democratic hoax. That’s a fact. Trump politicized the virus from the get go. You reap what you sow.

      1. Tanner “The real complaint against Trump is that he wasted a huge amount of time that was available to prepare for this pandemic by calling the virus a Democratic hoax.”

        Here is the quote in it’s entire context.
        “One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia, that didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax,’ that was on a perfect conversation, ‘they tried anything, they tried it over and over and they’ve been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning, they lost, it’s all turning — think of it, think of it, and this is their new hoax.'”

          1. The full quote just details how he wasted time with the denying and the politicizing when he should have gotten testing cranked up. He literally said he left sick people to bob in the ocean because bringing them on land would hurt our stats. You’re in the healthcare field, you know damn well: what gets measured (accurately) gets improved.

    2. Your main object seems to be that you can’t please all of the people all of the time. That may be unfair, but it’s no more unfair to Trump than to anyone else. He was accused, if you want to call it that, of “using government money to bail out the stock market but not the people affected” because he was doing exactly that. I don’t think he is being told that we need to support the businesses, except of course by the people who run those businesses (what else would they say?).
      “Pelosi added a lot of pork to the first bill to help out those affected by the virus.” Good, that’s who needs help. Help people by helping people. Let companies turn to other companies for help. They weren’t paying extra taxes to help the country when times were good, they have no place asking for a handout now. Yes, point the finger at Nancy; give her credit. She’s also for means-testing.
      Thank you for being in a place to do some good and for doing that good. No, name calling and finger-pointing don’t help. But neither do denying reality or pretending that we live in the best possible world with the best possible president.

    3. I notice you are silent on the criticism that the most vocal opponents of Trump have done nothing to help out the situation. Where are the calls to Hollyweird to help out their own? Where is the squad telling the nation to help thy neighbor in need? Isn’t the what socialism is all about? Why is the press more obsessed with the political correct term for the virus instead of reporting the current state of the news? Bash Trump all you want, it does not change the situation. Make a difference not a statement.

      1. I’ve donated money so I’m not sure what you’re talking about. And my personal belief would have been to get the for-profit healthcare industry off of getting executives rich and put the research back in the hands of Universities and researchers to get things done, instead of develop products to maintain profit margins.

        And you don’t want to mention Trump or his Congress, when intel came out about the spread what happened? A GOP Congressman didn’t help his fellow man like you say. He let his rich donors know so they could pull their stock out of the market, and pulled 1.6 million out himself.

        You want to point the finger, point it at who YOU support since they are the ones causing the problems. And for you Trump supporters, you made that decision to not help thy neighbor when you decided to deport parents and throw kids in cages four years ago.

        Personally, you can go fuck yourself in my opinion. I hope you enjoy all the healthcare needs of the cages you threw sick immigrant children into the past four years. If you voted for and support Trump, you’re not my neighbor, and I could give a shit less about you.

        1. Sorry to inform you that it was Obama administration that started the boarder policies that separated families. Your attitude is what has caused the problems in our society today. No discussion, just adolescent name calling to shut down any intelligent conversation. You have your opinion and I have mine. Why should I give your opinion any credence when you insult me? That is what both sides are doing now and look where it has gotten us!

          1. You don’t get to choose your facts, that’s the problem.

            Every single President had a policy with how to deal with immigration. Obama used it for the surge at the time and only broke up families based on if parents were criminals, and it was a circumstantial policy that went into effect SIX years after he was president. Obviously implementing DACA and other policies were not exactly some grand racism based attack like Trump’s policy.

            This wasn’t used as a campaign promise like Trump, who used aggressive ICE raids to break up families belong to though, and who supports them, and who invented this ridiculous idea of a fucking wall. So asking to care for your neighbor when everyone knows his stump speech and policy was to do that aggressively has no sympathy from me.

            I’m not going to have a discussion with someone who can’t understand simple logic and understand human decency, or do simple logic based on facts and research.

            The circumstance now is the boomerang of four years of Trump. The fed rate has no lower to go. The corporate tax cut completely went to stock buybacks and now the deficit has ballooned into what’s going to be a gigantic recession.

            This shit matters, you don’t get to choose your reality, say climate change is a hoax, the coronavirus is a hoax, and not take scientific fact seriously.

            The is no ‘both sides’ when one side claims some batshit uneducated ignorant stance and expects to have a conversation with someone using logic to do the right thing. That’s the problem. Your uneducated ignorance does not equal someone elses knowledge. Opinions are not equal.

            You want to learn something? Go read the countless supporting studies for climate change, Medicare for All, lack of effectiveness of a wall for criminals that use ports of entry, lack of effectiveness of tariffs in general, and corporate tax rates cut effects on the economy for starters.

            You cannot defend an uneducated opinion because of your own personal bias when direct evidence is out there that your worldview is completely incorrect.

          2. Bawitdaba, the border you refer to is spelled border, not boarder. And when it comes to adolescent name calling, may I introduce to Rush Limbaugh and many other leading lights of the Right?

      2. Wow, you’re all over the place, but in order, more or less…
        Pointing out that Trump fucked up doesn’t make someone his “opponent”, just an accurate describer of the situation.
        What has fucking Hollywood got to do with anything? Why do you think they aren’t helping their own?
        The squad? They’re basically doing exactly that – passing a bill so people who need some slack get it.
        No, actually, socialism isn’t about disaster response. It’s more about planning an economy so that it’s not forever cycling through bust-boom-bust all the time.
        The press isn’t obsessing over the name of the virus, that’s you. The press is reporting the current news, it’s just not the news you like best. O’Donnell does try work in something upbeat every half hour just to dial back the grim a little.
        “Bashing” Trump – pointing out his actual mistakes as he works hard to erase them – is worth doing because it might get him to step off and leave this to someone competent if he gets that he is being watched.
        Yes, everyone should try to make a difference for the duration and beyond. But that doesn’t require a vow of silence, it isn’t either/or.

        1. Senator Burr (R) of NC Sold Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Stocks After Suggesting U.S. Was Prepared for Coronavirus…hmmm talk about moral bankruptcy.

      3. Socialism is using the public using the mechanism of government to assist members of the public. It is sad Bawitdaba pretends not to know this, and engages in other forms of intellectual dishonesty. I guess you have to, in order to justify the unjustifiable and defend the indefensible.

  3. Brobonk’s ability to think for himself appears limited. He needs someone to do the job for him.

      1. Italy uses a mixed public/private system. It spends much less money than the US per capita yet has one of the highest life expectancies in the world.

        If you would bother to do any reading on just this site alone you would’ve realized that Italy’s problems were unique but they rose to the challenge anyways. Beats waiting for Tucker Carlson to give Trump his marching orders.

      2. You’re an idiot. Universal healthcare has nothing to do with the response of a government in a pandemic with lockdown procedures, which is what Italy failed at.

        If there were a vaccine or cure, I can tell you what wouldn’t work: having the for-profit pharmaceutical industry charge $500 out of pocket in your preferred system, dumbass.

        1. Brobonk is indeed an idiot, IMO. And there appear to be enough like him to give Trump a real shot at re-election. It’s enough to make a person cry.

  4. Trump is an idiot, of course.

    It’s 3.4% of those who get it. And even then, it’s 3.4% of those we know who have gotten it via testing, and that number is likely extremely low, given the sheer percentage of people who have no or very minor symptoms and the limited testing in many nations.

    In short, if you look at the actual number of deaths against the extreme worst case scenario planning and predictions, we’re not seeing it. What we’re seeing is what we have: numbers very similar to SARS but much more contagious. (everyone forgets this is SARS-COV2, pretty much literally SARS 2.0 despite the other names we’ve given it)

    If it was as deadly as they say, given how contagious it is, China would not have the relatively low numbers of dead they have. Overpopulated, forced to detect and figure out what they had, they managed to hold it to a few thousand.

    That’s no apocalypse.

  5. I lack a sense of proportion??? Or want to read the site with my head in the sand??? I’m part of a vast majority of people stuck in quarantine with an industry that has been decimated. My point was simply that the Trump administration has been far from perfect, as have other administrations dealing with far less (W=9/11, real shit / Obama=Benghazi, fuck that noise), but I believe everyone is doing their best. I simply wanted to thank you for what your site brings to people…clever entertainment and interesting takes on life.

    Scoop, if you choose partisanship over viewership, that’s your call. Trump isn’t perfect but he’s also not the devil. And the same goes for ol’ Uncle Joe. But I’ll retreat and leave the facts to the brilliant, objective minds at the adults table. Thank you again, Scoop, for your years of thought-provoking and fun content.

    1. As I see it, there is no partisanship. There are only the facts. Most of the time, Trump’s lies and inability to see beyond his own self-interest are not fatal. Now they are.

      He may be doing his best, as you say, but that’s not really relevant, because his best is very, very poor. He is extremely good at marketing and persuasion, but he’s just not a very bright guy and he has some serious psychological issues, which means that he’s just not suited for a crisis where decisions must be based on facts and science, as opposed to bullshitting and bluffing one’s way through.

    2. The sense of proportion is the bullshit comparison you make. Just because email servers, Benghazi, and Obama arrogantly eating Dijon mustard has been the FOX News reality for about a dozen years ongoing, doesn’t mean its objective reality.

      Comparing five people dying in Benghazi and several millions spent on investigations by Republicans doesn’t come anywhere close to the war in Iraq, this coronavirus, or about a hundred thousand other things. Americans died in an embassy attack just two months ago in Africa and it was a damn backpage story. Americans *JUST* died in Iraq in an Iranian proxy attack all because of idiot offing their second in command, which seems about 10 years ago now, but is now even a backpage story.

      That’s proportion. The GOP and FOX News would propagandize Ted Bundy and spend money saying he’s no worse than someone eating a hamburger from McDonalds.

      Remember, it was this idiot, his FOX News propaganda artists, and supporters who were saying this virus was a Democratic hoax just a couple weeks ago. Ignoring objective truth is not “doing the best we can.”

      And that’s what the GOP has been doing for a very long time. It’s too bad a virus or catastrophe doesn’t adhere to the FOX News ‘alternate reality’ agenda huh? Now we see where the bullshit lies, and has lied (literally), for a very long time.

  6. I love you, Scoop. And this is your site. But the partisan shit is blah. Could Trump be better in this time of crisis? Probably, but the same could be said for about anyone in his position (see W reading to a classroom or Obama blaming Benghazi on an irrelevant YouTube video). Did we hammer when Uncle Joe called the recent China travel ban racist and other names when it happened (that has saved thousands of lives)? Maybe, in some circles that I’m not a part of.

    We’re all living this new reality and your site is fun, thought-provoking and always entertaining. You’re a very bright guy, definitely bright enough to know what Michael Jordan knew (“even Republicans buy shoes”). Might be a time for being happy rather than always trying to be right? Especially when we live in such a time of upheaval and alternate news facts.

    I’ll come down off my cross and thank you for your updates and groundbreaking work.

    1. Benghazi? Benghazi was a nothing that would have been forgotten by the middle of the next week if the Republican Party hadn’t been looking for a stick to beat Hillary Clinton with. BENGHAZI was a partisan witch-hunt. Try remembering Beirut under Reagan if you want a significant event.

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