As the stay-at-home orders continue along with the attempt to flatten the curve against the Coronavirus, we celebrated Easter of 2020. The kids stuffed and hid their own Easter eggs all over the house. When they woke up on Easter morning, they ran around looking for them as if they had no idea where they were hidden. It was awesome!
Later that day, Grandma and Grandpa came over to sit in our driveway and spend time together. We drew a chalk line for the kids not to cross. It worked perfectly. We don’t know if or how the kids understand social distancing, but they’re doing a great job of practicing it.
We’ve been doing our part not to go anywhere – for our own safety and the safety of others. So we’ve been getting our groceries delivered. The delivery person drops them outside on our front porch. We let them sit for an hour or so. And then wash the things that need to be refrigerated/frozen and bring the other stuff outside onto the back deck to sit for a few days. It’s probably overkill, but we figure it’s better to be safe than sorry. A squirrel has discovered our treasure trove of goodies and checks it out from time to time. None of our food is good enough for him to mess with – other than fig bars – which he devoured this week.
Our little Adelaide has become quite the bike rider. Almost every day, she begs to go on a bike ride – after attempting to ride up a big hill on Easter and making it without any help, she’s become fearless and wants to ride longer and farther. We rode 12 miles this week with the longest ride being just over 3 miles. Yesterday, Karissa decided to run after we realized that Adelaide’s biking speed is about Karissa’s running speed.
We continue to try to eat delicious foods along with boring foods. I’ve basically perfected peanut butter & jelly oat waffles. We’ve had it twice and loved it both times. Tempeh is a weekend treat. Veggies & beans over potatoes is tasty and filling. And who doesn’t love a burrito/taco? Beans and veggies over pasta with pasta sauce is awesome too! We tried vegan hot dogs and all enjoyed them – wanting more. There’s a bread shortage here, but we put them in corn tortillas with sauerkraut and didn’t notice the lack of bun.
Economically, the record stimulus continues to amaze. The amount of debt we’ve incurred is astonishing and dangerous. Google “Modern Monetary Theory” and “Helicopter Money”. We’re pushing the limits of the notion. I fear we’ll cross the invisible line and crash the entire system. I also fear that we’ve opened the Pandora’s Box regarding unlimited support from government. Why would either party want to incur economic pain to reduce the debt? Look up how Japan has done over the last 30 years – that’s our future if we continue down this path (and possibly even if we stop now).
Also worth discussing is the horrible bailout we gave to the airlines. First of all, companies of all stripes are able to raise money in both the debt and equity markets. Dave & Busters raised equity last week. Macys is raising debt. Cruise lines have been able to issue debt. The idea that airlines can’t access capital markets is asinine. They don’t need a bailout – and letting companies fail is almost as American as apple pie and voting. Airlines failing also won’t crash the economy in the way that a bank failure would have. Bailing out banks protected the entire economy. Saving airlines protects executives. Plain and simple. (I’m a capitalist and think economies ad countries should be allowed to boom and bust. 2008 was a dangerous precedent that’s being expanded upon this time around…to the danger of our future as a country and economic system.)
Anyhow, here’s a comparison of the bailout of American Airlines (2020) vs. Fannie Mae (2008):
We, the US Government/US Citizens made a killer deal in 2008 – we should, as loan sharks. American Airlines got a great deal this time – to the detriment of the US Government/US Citizens.
Georgia and a few other southern states are reopening their economy with cases and deaths still increasing. The President’s own guidelines say that cases/deaths should be declining for 2 weeks before reopening. As much as we hope it turns out ok, the science and math points to it being an obviously horrible decision. Deaths will increase.
Illinois has extended the stay-at-home order until the end of May (for now). We’re forecasting the peak in mid-May – so reopening two weeks later matches the guidelines. We’ve never been so happy to be living in a blue state. It’s sad that a public health crisis is a political issue. Karissa and I are politically different, but are in total agreement about the need to protect public health right now. Math isn’t political. Death isn’t political. This isn’t the flu. Be careful out there!
We’ll wrap up with some random photos we’ve taken this week. E-learning, more snow, a major delivery of mulch, and enjyoing the outdoors!
