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THE VIRUS 2020 - the good, the bad, and the ugly

Converse said:
The dole (Jobseeker payment) should be returned back to the standard rate immediately . Just pay them the standard rate of pay as they can't do much for work at the moment anyway or fulfull their mutual obligations because of COVID-19. I still can't understand why they are getting all this extra money while poor old pensioners still get the same rate of pay through this crisis? What extra expenses do the unemployed have over pensioners during COVID-19?

I can tell you from what I remember I was last getting about $500 a fortnight on the dole. To get that I had to work 2 and a half days a week with "Work for the dole" plus go into my "Job network member" and participate in job search once a week for a few hours and look for about 10 to 20 jobs a week. This was constant for every week while on the unemployment benefits, or what they call the "Jobseeker" payment now.

Now the Jobseeker payment is like that lottery game "Set For Life". Get your fortnightly pay of $750 or $1100 into your nominated bank account and you don't have to do anything at all. Awesome sign me up now! LOL!
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Yes, they must be living the life of luxury in their mansions eating caviar and drinking the most expensive wine.
 
reepbot said:
What do you want me to say, oh beach? Or is this your way of trying to humiliate me for being unemployed?
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Well why don‘t you look for employment Reepbot? It’s been what... about seven years you have been on these forums? I’m not trying to humiliate you, but I don’t get it. Have you looked for any jobs in that time?
 
Affable said:
I would disagree with that as well.

My job search as a 17-19 year old was a nightmare. Even supermarkets and other companies wanted people with experience. Every single place I saw that was 'low-skilled' (eg. restaurants, retail, supermarkets) wanted a range of experience (generally 2+ years) and other drastic criteria that a beginner wouldn't have. Opportunities are no longer available for those with no experience.
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It is something that always irks me when I look at jobs and it only gets worse affable. I often read you must have had ten years experience in doing exactly this same kind of work... really? Have you people got no concept of transferable skills?
 
Isee said:
In all honesty I would never have expected countries like India to fare very well with a virus like covid when countries like Australia with its sparse density and march larger budgets for medical equiptment etc have had its outbreaks. So yes I am skeptical about the figures. What you are referring to here is more about systemic issues of the overpoplation of India and not about PM Modi himself, and how he is handling Covid worse than Trump specifially, which was your original criticism. As Trump has had none of those issues you have just mentioned to contend with (antequated hospitals and medical equitment and a shortage of well trained medical workers) America should not be doing as horriffically bad accross the board as it is if Trump was doing a good job. By the way as Trump demanded that the US government takes control of all the Covid stats from the CDC a few weeks ago (and then suddenly numbers started to drop) I am also skeptical about US figures too.
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...and you should be skeptical about US figures. When thinking about C19 in the US, the first states that spring to mind are New York and California, both blue states which from day one blamed Trump for their own mismanagement. Cuomo, who at least for a moment had ambitions to run for the democratic nomination, did everything wrong, as if to spite Trump and turned around and blasted Trump in every press conference. The situation in NYC for a time was akin to a third world country... not enough beds, not enough staff, not enough ventilators and utter confusion and chaos within the community. Trump is not to blame for Cuomo's childish recalcitrance.

On the other side of the coin we have the red states where most of the conservatives and republicans reside. Many of those god-fearing, often overzealous patriots consider anything that doesn't fit into their picture of the world and how things should be and should be done, as a personal attack on their freedom, on the constitution and on god.
That whole pandemic thing is nothing but a conspiracy to them, the faintest sign of opposition to their pathos triggers aggression and the cry to take up arms.

So, there are two opposing sides Trump has to deal with and attempt to appease if he wants to be reelected. But those are only the most visible, the two sides that are forever at war and almost never agree on anything. The chasm between Left and Right is nowhere bigger than in the US. Trump is also the first president who has to deal with the relatively recent emergence of movements such as LGBTQ, BLM, climate activism, ageism, neo-Marxism, an army of SJWs, the crippling epidemic of PC (political correctness) and many others.
Granted, most if not all of those elements are present in other countries, but nowhere are they as damaging to the fabric of society than in the US. THIS is NOT Trump's fault!

All of us have thought at one time or another that we could do things better and that we'd do such and such if we were in our politicians' shoes. The problem here is that we are NOT in their shoes. With our limited grasp of both, the big picture and the many little cogwheels required to make our societies function, we really haven't got a clue why any leader makes any particular decision.

To get rid of our elected leaders and replacing them with incompetent dreamers can only lead to disaster. I am waiting for someone to stand up and declare how precisely they would have handled the pandemic in the US better than Trump, given the myriad of factions he has to deal with.
 
Affable said:
I would disagree with that as well.

My job search as a 17-19 year old was a nightmare. Even supermarkets and other companies wanted people with experience. Every single place I saw that was 'low-skilled' (eg. restaurants, retail, supermarkets) wanted a range of experience (generally 2+ years) and other drastic criteria that a beginner wouldn't have. Opportunities are no longer available for those with no experience.
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Not trying to figure out how old you are, I promise lol. I met a guy who told me that he was looking for a job as forklift operator in the nineties. He had done a Tafe course to obtain his licence, paid for by the government to get him off the dole queue. It was a one week course including practical training.
No one would employ him unless he agreed to work several weeks for free to become an experienced operator. This indicates that the principle of 'learn on the job' is not new. I have never agreed with that attitude.

How would you change this or more importantly, what do you think caused this attitude in the first place?
 
reepbot said:
It's good Queensland have started to get on top of this virus outbreak early with the restrictions.
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Are you trying to avoid a ban by changing the subject? What would you be doing without this forum with COVID-19 happening?
 
Dystopia said:
...and you should be skeptical about US figures. When thinking about C19 in the US, the first states that spring to mind are New York and California, both blue states which from day one blamed Trump for their own mismanagement. Cuomo, who at least for a moment had ambitions to run for the democratic nomination, did everything wrong, as if to spite Trump and turned around and blasted Trump in every press conference. The situation in NYC for a time was akin to a third world country... not enough beds, not enough staff, not enough ventilators and utter confusion and chaos within the community. Trump is not to blame for Cuomo's childish recalcitrance.

On the other side of the coin we have the red states where most of the conservatives and republicans reside. Many of those god-fearing, often overzealous patriots consider anything that doesn't fit into their picture of the world and how things should be and should be done, as a personal attack on their freedom, on the constitution and on god.
That whole pandemic thing is nothing but a conspiracy to them, the faintest sign of opposition to their pathos triggers aggression and the cry to take up arms.

So, there are two opposing sides Trump has to deal with and attempt to appease if he wants to be reelected. But those are only the most visible, the two sides that are forever at war and almost never agree on anything. The chasm between Left and Right is nowhere bigger than in the US. Trump is also the first president who has to deal with the relatively recent emergence of movements such as LGBTQ, BLM, climate activism, ageism, neo-Marxism, an army of SJWs, the crippling epidemic of PC (political correctness) and many others.
Granted, most if not all of those elements are present in other countries, but nowhere are they as damaging to the fabric of society than in the US. THIS is NOT Trump's fault!

All of us have thought at one time or another that we could do things better and that we'd do such and such if we were in our politicians' shoes. The problem here is that we are NOT in their shoes. With our limited grasp of both, the big picture and the many little cogwheels required to make our societies function, we really haven't got a clue why any leader makes any particular decision.

To get rid of our elected leaders and replacing them with incompetent dreamers can only lead to disaster. I am waiting for someone to stand up and declare how precisely they would have handled the pandemic in the US better than Trump, given the myriad of factions he has to deal with.
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Interesting post Dystopia. I think Trump has said irresponsible things during the pandemic but I don't think that validates the argument that another President would have managed the virus better in relation to infections. Is there anyone who wouldn't have difficulty leading a country as complex as the US at this time?

I do believe that freedoms are more important to many Americans than health is. Leaders can try but public cooperation is a very important factor too. Does anyone believe that people in Middle America would be more cooperative overall if Obama was President now?
 
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