Yep, the numbers are out of date. As of this AM, Johns Hopkins puts the Italian death rate at 9.5%. The slope of the log plot of case rise on the NY times front page puts the US curve as steeper than Italy had.
Barring heroic action, a death rate of 2.5% is woefully optomistic.
Well, they are now. IMHO.
Christ, what an asshole.
I had read predictions that US democracy might collapse in a decade, but it looks like that might happen sooner than expected.
Let them eat chloroquine!
Would he feel this way if he knew HIS life was one that would be sacrificed for “the economy”? Or if he had to watch his children get ill, suffer and slip away?
It’s kinda refreshing to see them finally admit that they view the US economy as a giant meat grinder which turns precious human potential into cash to spend on improvements to human meat grinder technology.
If I get the disease I’m not going to recuperate in my own house and potentially infect my family.
Is this genocide?
Well it sure ain’t rock and roll!
Perhaps he realised that quite a few of them might be ‘triggered’ into realising the limits on resources were entirely imposed by the 1% and he could hear the sounds of guillotines being sharpened.
At the very least the BBS community rules could do with a little relaxing seeing as they seem to imply it is prohibited to call for assassination of named individuals, IIRC
Well, much of the financial services industry (but by NO means all!) is clearly unproductive - I can’t be arsed to find out where this fuckwit made his money, but plenty of hedgies making money out of shorting the economy would certainly qualify in my book.
Highly recommended reading:
And frustratingly I cannot find the tweet right now but yesterday some fuckwit Brexiteer in UK said pretty much the same thing. Bizarrely at the same time other Tory Brexiteers told Priti Vacant Patel (Home Secretary) that perhaps she got the new immigration rules a tad wrong and maybe we do need more lower-paid/unskilled workers to come here. You can’t make this stuff up!
ETA - found it. “Do we really want to kill our economy?” He leaves the other part unsaid.
And some people will agree and call it wisdom, too. 
Re: his two points; (1) generally expensive to maintain, and (2) not productive.
Considering the number of people in Congress, and the number of millionaires and billionaires older than 60 and not in excellent health (looking at you, final Koch brother, Donald Trump, and so many other hoarders of wealth), he’s not entirely wrong. /s
Never forget, any time they point out something their opposition “wants to do”, they are really showing us what they would do in a heartbeat. They are the fascist party. Period. Anyone who supports the GOP and this administration at this point are supporting fascism.
Perhaps they figure the economic bump the gravediggers will receive will offset the hit. And as others pointed out, they are focused on the savings from social security, Medicaid, and all the precious resources people over 60 use. They just need to remember, for the cull to be truly effective, anyone over 60 that escapes the virus will need to be killed manually, so as the rich start popping out of their bolt holes, smack them down like they’re in a game of whack-a-mole.
Finally, be sure to start killing everyone as they reach the age of 60 to avoid the problem happening again. Over time, lower that age limit a bit each year to help extend all of the money and resources the older people keep using up.
Do you want Logan’s Run? Because that’s how you get Logan’s Run.
(All said with a huge dollop of snark, but seriously, fuck everyone that thinks like Scott A. McMillan. If they want a cull to save the economy, it makes more sense to clear out the people at the top hoarding the wealth and get all of that money back into circulation. Skim off the top, not the bottom. Plus there are far fewer of them so it’s easier to accomplish. One millionaire has to be more of a drain on the system and society than ten thousand elderly people, if for no other reason than the millionaire adds to the misery of millions – directly through their greed and by preventing progress to protect their wealth. Cue the pitchforks and guillotines.)
Yes. That too.
My related thought was that one of the benefits of elders is they often imbue moral values and ethics, but he apparently has no experience with this process.
Don’t forget Stephen Miller.
I would like to make some yard signs that say “This fence will not protect you” and post them at the entrances to gated communities (like where this guy probably lives). Or use spray paint so they can’t immediately remove it.
A daily reminder that there will be a reckoning.
I really hate gated communities.
He’s offering a false choice.
He seems to think if we just let the virus run its course and go about business as usual the economy won’t be impacted. But if a majority of the population is out sick then things will still grind to a halt.
He also thinks he’s offering “the hard choice we need to make”, but the real hard choice, the choice history will show should have been made in January when the first cases were detected in the USA (or at least February when it was clearly spreading), is a complete and immediate shelter-at-home quarantine order, with immediate testing of anyone coming in from overseas. Politicians are so afraid of making the wrong choice, that they make the wrong choice.
Or maybe what he’s really doing is offering sound financial advice: “invest in crematoriums and mortuaries now!”
That just looks so… unsanitary.
Over here that would be a criminal offence.
But as the country returns to work, residents and analysts doubt the near-zero community transmission rate, worrying that leaders have prioritised restarting the economy over decisively containing the virus. While public health experts, as well as citizens, say the situation in China has improved dramatically – the result of aggressive testing, quarantines and social distancing – many doubt the numbers are as good as officials have reported.
survival of the fittest, baby!
