People have been likening the economic devastation caused by this health crisis to the effects of war. Here’s a thought that occurred to me today: in the aftermath of wars (or other great disasters), a major part of the economic recovery consists of rebuilding all the infrastructure that’s been destroyed. (After World War II, the American economy was greatly stimulated by the need to rebuild a shattered Europe.)
That won’t be happening here. Our infrastructure is all intact — we’ve just stopped using it.
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So the recovery will be that much faster because there’s no need to rebuild anything. We’ll just go back to work and pretend the whole episode never happened. Printing money to keep people fed is inflationary but old people dying is deflationary — the pension checks stop and the house goes up for sale.
Farmers have to plant their crops this spring but most all other activities can wait until the crisis is over.
Gentlemen of Man Chat . . .
Please stop blathering and pull out your sewing machine and get to making medical masks.
The life you save may be your own!
If you don’t have a sewing machine, pick up a needle and thread.
Instead of knitting socks and making bandages for our boys on the front . . .
We need a . . .
Mask Movement!
The cavalry ain’t coming, boys.
America must save Herself.
Enough with the blather, boys!
Tear up the sheets, pick up your needle and thread, perform a little meaningful War Work.
Please.
And . . .
Thank you!
I’m not terribly handy with needle and thread, Eugenia. But I’ll be glad to stand guard with the old Mossberg 12-gauge while the local womenfolk do what’s needed.
I haven’t seen Eugenia in quite a while.
” . . .while the local womenfolk do what’s needed.”
Men blathering on meaninglessly while womenfolk do what is needed, same as it every was.
Fine. No problem.
Same as it ever was!
To those of you with good sense . . .
To those of you with better sense than Malcolm Pollack . . .
Make the masks, wash and bleach them. Drop them off at a your local clinic or hospital. Do it now, please.
Your guns, gentlemen of Man Chat, ain’t no defense against this virus, the thought is absurd.
Gentlemen of Man Chat, in this time of national crisis unknown in living memory, are you also willing, as Malcolm Pollack clearly is, to hide behind your womenfolk?
Man up, men!
Good Lord, Eugenia, I thought you were joking, so I offered a jest in return. (Anyway, my wife’s no better at sewing than I am.)
I almost think you might be serious. Have you got that fella of yours sewing masks, then?
No? Hell, I reckon with my lever-action Henry I can hit me a vahrus ‘tween the eyes at 40 yards.
In a word . . .
Yes!
The One Eyed Man, a fine gentleman of Man Chat fame, my dear dear love, the best man I have ever known, the sweetest man on God’s green Earth, that man with the eyes like golden honey, with those warm and luscious, oh so kissable lips – The One Eyed Man! – is a medical mask making rock star.
Nah, gentleman, I ain’t joking, not a whit. Serious as cancer, yes, I am.
Further, in addition to the home manufacture of medical masks, The One Eyed Man is manning his business and checking-in on the vulnerable venerables in our community.
I am aware of my great fortune, for certainly not every man is the man The One Eyed Man is, but . . .
Every man can try.
Gentleman, do your duty.
Heavens, madam. Get a room.
The OEM and I would love to get a room, our own room would be swell, but alas . . .
In our home in California, to protect ourselves and each another, the OEM and I are isolating even from one another, sleeping in separate beds, in different rooms, and on separate floors.
Cry cough, sore throat, no fever.
As of now, in California, to be tested for the coronavirus one must either be in respiratory distress, exhibit oxygen deprivation by way of blue lips or bluing extremities, or have a fever of 103F, so, as it is the wisest course, we self-isolate even from one another.
A room sounds swell. Snuggle bears nap time, with classical music playing and the OEM giving me fits of giggles, but for now . . .
Make those masks, Gentlemen of Man Chat.
And, while you still can . . .
Play snuggle bears with the ones you love!
https://bustednuckles.com/2020/03/21/your-attention-please/
Eugenia,
I hope you will forgive the banter; you caught me rather off-guard, and I never know, with you, just how much tongue you have in your faux-Victorian cheek.
I hope you and Peter stay safe and healthy. It’s good of him to go out and help your elderly neighbors.