Gabfest: And Thereby Hangs A Tail

Discussion in 'Education & Personal Growth' started by Cimorene, Jan 9, 2017.

  1. Kohvachn

    Kohvachn Gold IL'ite

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    Side effects of outsourcing the production for cheaper costs, and globalization?

    You have to be specific here. Its the Market to be saved, not older people's lives! - missed that memo? :wink1: Everything else - least priorities I suppose. It's not until climate crisis will shake the very markets like Coronavirus now, there won't be any solid interventions from the economic elites or their funded govt in place probably. :buenrollo:

    Having said that, I wouldn't exclude the rest of humanity from any blames. We are all in this together. It is our mindless consumption habits and carbon-intensive lifestyles also the contributors. Across the world, consumerism today has come to a near halt but for the essentials to live by in the wake of this pandemic. Businesses have taken hits with the #StayAtHome initiatives. News about Air quality getting better, lakes looking cleaner, reduced carbon emissions, etc. indicating it's still not too late to act more responsibly on our part. Going back to basics is doable after all! Maybe this is THE wake-up call equally for the govt, corporates and the public to refocus and realign our interests, demands, actions, funds, policies, even the future of our politics...... I will daydream on I guess! :lol:

    Anyways... Remember "The 100" science fiction series? Part of the population had taken cover from the apocalypse in the orbits and the other in underground bunkers. The left-outs are well, left on the ground zero and they emerge as the "Survivors". I don't have that kind of moolah to buy a ticket to Mars or a bunker*, so gotta ready myself for the fight in the future, to be the fittest to survive at all costs I guess. Dammit. :crybaby2:Lol.

    * Not Swiss people maybe. Switzerland is the only country in the world that could fit 114% of its population into bunkers in case of an emergency. How cool!
     
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  2. Kohvachn

    Kohvachn Gold IL'ite

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    Indian schools are still catching up on online learning platforms. My nephew's school has announced holidays indefinitely. So are his extracurricular classes and sports. After a week keeping him home and trying to engage, sis has dropped him off at my parents already. Grandparents and the kid are obviously happy to spend with each other, a win-win situation for all. Lockdowns have come about to being with the family more, a spirit that's running high in this pandemic season and I'm kinda missing it. But yeah thanks to technology, there are ways to stay connected. :beer-toast1:
    Not baking? :wink:
     
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  3. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Hope there is something to the whole heat will slow down the virus thing. Half of my brain these days is devoted to single-mindedly worrying about my parents. : (

    Actually I'm not, for two reasons. Firstly, most baking calls for eggs, a lot of them. I don't have the luxury of replenishing them as easily as I used to. I'm avoiding stepping into a grocery store as far as possible so I'd rather use the eggs for breakfast and meals than in making cakes and cookies. Secondly, there is a local family-owned bakery that has been a favorite haunt of ours. We've enjoyed many Sunday brunches there. They are hurting for business thanks to the shutdown. The owner is the sweetest person and a fantastic baker. She's made all my kids' birthday cakes for the past 4 years. They are only open for takeout and I'm buying all my bread and baked goods from them. Doing what little I can. Hoping she can make it through this.
     
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  4. Kohvachn

    Kohvachn Gold IL'ite

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    You just let someone else have their eggs instead. Good job. :wink1:

    Being at home means we tend to eat more and that our shelves empty out sooner than our normal routine days had there been a no lockdown situation. That's more trips to the stores than usual.

    An analysis based on UK consumer habits in the last few weeks has identified that the demands in supplies are largely driven by shoppers making more trips and adding few extra items to their carts each trip as opposed to the "hoarders" who bought large amounts of the same items one time. In actual (according to this study), Hoarders were merely 3% of the buyers! Interesting observation I think, deviating from all the social media and MSM trends that blamed just the Hoarders for emptying the shelves!:icon_pc:

    This gives me hope, nice of you. And, such corner stores are the backbone of India. A timely reminder to buy local as much and support the community, especially during this lockdown period. Thank you! :thumbsup:

    I know. We all are worried. We should be. I don't know what to say. Hang in there, keep your spirits up! Hugs. friends (1).gif
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2020
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  5. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Except here in the US older people, by a large majority, are responsible for foisting comb over Caligula on the rest of us. Same folks who were still attending church in Florida until last Sunday as New York's health care system teetered on the brink. One really has to dig deep to feel sorry for some of these selfish ignoramuses.

    I'm imagining K as Blodreina! : ) I've resigned myself to being just another nameless casualty to whatever calamity ultimately ends civilization.
     
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  6. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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  7. Kohvachn

    Kohvachn Gold IL'ite

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    ....but the zombies! I don't wanna end up a live meat to a dead meat! :imp: Not that end of civilization option EVER. Not even hypothetically. NOPE! :angry:

    [​IMG]
    A ruthless warrior Queen! :hearteyes:
    Yeahhh, I had like to be :wink: buuuuht you see, this future got us the virus enemy! :screamcat:
    ....Imma just hide! hide.gif :lol:
     
  8. Kohvachn

    Kohvachn Gold IL'ite

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    Well, as long as one may have a job to sustain living (and livestock) I suppose? Given this pandemic, the forthcoming recession, the post effects and the uncertainties involved with both events on the world economies and our lives... How prepared are we?!

    Aside from that, there is another, a bigger Freakonomics point of view here. The cases of medium-sized poultry and dairy farm owners.

    One use-case would be: this lockdown situation means customers not walking into restaurants and ordering fancy foods (that's >70% decrease in visits for India by Google stats), forcing limited operations and cutting down raw materials for the retail kitchens, importantly anything perishable is a definitive no-no. Sure, this sends a shock through the whole distribution chains involving many suppliers, sub-suppliers, producers, and farmers since customer demand has fallen. Imagine if the raw materials are perishable goods like eggs, dairy, meat, fish, veggies, and fruits? When orders are canceled, producers end up with surplus stocks (and wastages). They can divert the stocks to alternative buyers, say Grocery stores now, who may be willing to take the orders from as many as suppliers possible to keep their shelves stocked but it means selling/supplying at least price value than usual given the surplus stocks situation. At some point, they might be driven towards the unfortunate decision of halting fresh productions. Think, this is where the govt stimulus packages for businesses come useful (without getting into the politics of it), so they can cope with the pandemic supply shock and their employees aren't fired.

    Back to the case of mid-sized poultry and dairy farmers, what about the chickens and cows, the eggs and the milk? Animals can't stop producing, obviously. So they have to find buyers somehow. (Then there is the logistics limitations and labour issues as well). Some have opted to offer locales more quantity than usual and with heavy discounts, just to clear off the produces and minimize food wastages. But for how long? When there is no/only minimal revenue, how had they feed the livestock and their own families? How had they adjust to the crisis?

    Here is an article about the plights of cheesemakers taking hits from both sides (input, as well as output, is a crisis to them being buyers and suppliers at the same time). Kinda puts the economics behind buying eggs and bread from local corner stores in the right perspective:

    “At the end of the day, consumers have a choice where they shop. I want people to get creative about how they’re shopping, who they’re supporting, and do it intentionally. "

    "Our simple message is, ‘If you see our cheese out there, buy it because you could be saving a creamery."

    Farmers can sell off their chickens to the buyers that the WaPo talks about, that's one alternative to survive the crisis maybe. Since there is demand there, farmers can get a good value I suppose, and keep the lights on too? My wishful thinking here. :innocent:

    This is only at the local scale, insert global supply chain scenarios. Order cancellations because sinking customer demands in the lockdown period in one country could mean losses in millions, as well as jobs for another economy if it's export-dependent mostly. Example: The case of Bangladesh.

    What a mess really! Guess, post the COVID19-era it would be interesting to watch the geo-political-socio-economic trends, how globalization would take a turn (or a toll) onward, the impact of the same, etc......that is of course if we make it through this virus apocalypse* alive and healthy! :relieved:#CancelCorona

    *Maybe, maybe...we are living in the past of a doc in the future who is working on a cure right now and will time travel soon, save us all from this disaster pandemic? Or the least alter the timeline events so none of this ever happened, everything is just fine and normal in the world? Not? Just stories haan. :smirk:
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2020
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  9. Kohvachn

    Kohvachn Gold IL'ite

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    Also...

    I love fairy tales (you know that already) and I ain't missing an opportunity to share one. :tongueclosed:

    JointPics_20200330_233905.PNG

    Lol, sweet. "The Cock And The Bean" - a Russian story btw. Possibly there is some political subtext in there but picture this as any supply chain ecosystem. Failure of one input or output anywhere in the distribution is just gonna cost all the actors involved: the current status we are in! Plain and simple*.

    * (Posts #2318, #2319 is just my understanding. There could more viewpoints to this, 'm open to learning). :blush:
     
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  10. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Depends on the country you live in. Nowhere else in the world are businesses and jobs being destroyed at the rate they are in the US. American workers are facing a devastating one-two punch. A majority of this country lives paycheck to paycheck with near zero savings. We are the only industrialized nation to have tied health insurance to employment, meaning those out of jobs no longer have access to healthcare. European nations like Germany and Denmark have effectively put their economies in the deep freeze. They have social safety nets that will protect both individuals and businesses as long as their economies remain shutdown, not to mention socialized healthcare. Germany has a program, Kurzarbeit, designed to protect workers during economic crises. It is a state funded short-term employment program where the government covers part of lost wages. Other countries like Italy, Britain and Denmark are paying up to 80% of salaries with the guarantee that workers will return to their jobs once the shutdown ends. That isn't to say these nations will not experience a recession, rather that it is likely to be less damaging than the looming unemployment apocalypse in the United States.

    America Is Having an Unemployment Apocalypse. Europe Chose Not to.
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2020
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