DramatistDreamer

Prepare for a steep drop in the financial markets today. Personally, I could care less about them, because when Wall Street thrives, it matters little to the average person with no investments and little savings.

A lot of victims of late have been relatively young. Compare what the U.S. considers "relief" compared to another country like Canada.

I agree. There are fundamental structural problems that are keeping the working poor, poor. And it's just compounding over time. Take distance learning. Some cities/school districts have students that don't have access to computers or Internet access, everyone just seems to forget this. Now, some states with poor school districts are scrambling to try to get a computer and WiFi hotspot access to every student that has neither. Why was this of no concern until now?? Actually, municipal governments should have been allowed to build their own secure networks but the corporations who built the broadband infrastructure and have already benefited mightily for over 20+ years (not including tax incentives) feel as though they should continue to reap the financial rewards in perpetuity, so they block (or try to block) all and any efforts for local/municipal governments to build their own Web. GW Bush was the one who sent out those 'one-time' stimulus checks which did absolutely nothing for most people (I was one of those people) in the midst of a 'mini-recession'. That was before 9/11 which spurred most of the country (including NYC) into a larger recession which was before the Great Recession years later. Obama's stimulus (which was bullied down to a stingy total) was simply to dig out from the worst of the Great Recession and try to keep from going under into a Depression. The thing that really causes me to SMH and be dubious about the effects of this stimulus is that corporations will still get most of that money. Excuse me if I err, but wasn't it less than three years ago that corporations got a ginormous Tax Cut?? Yet, these companies still wring their hands about not being able to maintain and sustain?? Where did that money go? It sure didn't go toward better pay and benefits for employees! That's right, it went into company stock buybacks!! I'm sorry but many of these corporations are already sitting on money and should not be allowed to make scads more. Also, not all of the working poor will be getting checks. During 9/11 many NYCers discovered that there were delivery people (some of whom died in WTC) who delivered food to workers in offices. These workers often stayed 6 or 7 in one room because they could not afford even a studio on their own because they didn't make enough money. Those people don't have the proper documentation for this type of one-time check. There has to be a better way but American hasn't found one, or doesn't want to find one. FWIW, solar would have provided a good way to lower costs (one of my mother's neighbors has solar and his utility bill is a fraction of the average bill) but federal funding (which had gone into the state's coffers specifically for solar installation/maintenance) was not renewed. I was helping my mother to get solar when the company announced that federal subsidies had been pulled and they were no longer processing new applications. There are many ways to change the systems in place but these corporations and their politically-connected cronies won't let that happen. The same corporations that will be getting the biggest chunk of that stimulus money. Anyway, this bill is not a fait accompli since it still has to go to the House.

Some people are saying that this will mean slower hard courts but I hope this won't be the case. Hard courts are already too slow, if anything, they need to be made faster. There are too many slow non-clay courts in professional tennis. If this keeps up, players under 30 will inevitably have shorter careers than those over 30 will have had by the time they retire.

Interesting ad. I wonder whether it will be effective. Many Americans are desperate to believe that this stimulus will somehow stave off the inevitable.

Roger and Mirka Federer are donating 1 million Swiss francs to help vulnerable Swiss families.

Hantavirus has been around for a very long time. Someone would have to literally come in direct contact with infected fecal matter to get it. It is not spread person to person. There are panic mongers trying to spread more anxiety through social media.

Osaka has the best chance out of the pack. She has a Netflix documentary in the making, that LeBron James' production company is producing. Even having said that, tennis has only become more of a niche sport in the last decade or so. Many of the most charismatic players that have emerged tend to be the least consistent ones. You also have a point that tennis will be competing against all the other sports like NBA that has a much higher degree of popularity.

Also, tennis revenues will be looking at steep declines without these veteran players. Let's be real, those players bring an enormous amount of ad dollars, media attention and they put butts in seats.

The reality is that many companies and organizations will not be able to make their way back after this coronavirus outbreak is over. Let's hope, at the very least, that the NRA is one of those organizations.

The U.S. Open, whose social media usually ignore, has been posting classic matches in full on their YouTube page. Speaking of the U.S. Open-

Sending you good thoughts and hope that you will maintain good health @JaneAusten

From Spain.

In NYC, officials are setting aside the Jacob K. Javitz Center, which, if you know NYC/Manhattan streetscape, is quite far removed from the center of Midtown Manhattan, down by 11th Avenue, which is pretty isolated and was never that accessible (but hopefully is moreso now). If something like that is going to work, it's probably going to have to be in a setup similar to this. I hope this will be of serious consideration even after the most serious dangers have passed. This pandemic has really shined a light on all the deficiencies in the system. It should be a point of civic pride to fix the deficiencies. Or else, what type of society/world are we living in??

The only problem with that strategy of setting aside centers for recuperation of mild and moderate symptoms possibly failing in a place like the U.S. is that you have places like Darien, CT that have rabid NIMBY-ism. It's the reason why the U.S. has such a vicious cycle of homelessness.

The NYT has this article with comments from scientists and other experts who have been involved in fighting other infectious diseases about how coronavirus can be stopped-- they all seem to agree that harsh measures are really the only successful way, which seems anathema to how most Americans function. The Virus Can Be Stopped, but Only With Harsh Steps, Experts Say

Well, if these prison riots in Colombia are any indication as to how desperate people might react when they feel as though there are no safeguards, it won't bode well, especially in terms of law and order. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/bogota-prison-riot-over-coronavirus-kills-nearly-two-dozen/ar-BB11xWUq

Several days ago, someone tweeted that COVID-19 is like a giant black light that is showing up all of America's c*m stains. Graphic but true, I think.

Supposedly, Placido Domingo has tested positive for coronavirus too.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a permanent trend. Also, people need to remember that most figures are for NY state, not just NYC. People in upstate and in the suburbs are not living like 'sardines' in a can.

California definitely HASN'T done the level and amount of testing that NY has done. Like Cuomo has said, more testing, more positive test results. NY has tested about 45,000 people while California has tested just over 12,000 people.

Okay, this is funny. Just to lighten the mood.