COVID-19: What won’t work and what does.

Have you seen this headline?

Tulsa Officials Plead for Trump to Cancel Rally as Virus Spikes in Oklahoma

President Trump will hold his first campaign rally in months on Saturday in Oklahoma, where infections are rising, and officials there are pleading with him to cancel or hold it outdoors.
By Noah Weiland, Updated June 17, 2020,

WASHINGTON — Officials in Tulsa, Okla., are warning that President Trump’s planned campaign rally on Saturday — his first in over three months — is likely to worsen an already troubling spike in coronavirus infections and could become a disastrous “super spreader.”

They are pleading with the Trump campaign to cancel the event, slated for a 20,000-person indoor arena — or at least move it outdoors.

“It’s the perfect storm of potential over-the-top disease transmission,” said Bruce Dart, the executive director of the Tulsa health department. “It’s a perfect storm that we can’t afford to have.”

Will President Trump listen to these concerns? Perhaps. As of this writing, he has not. There is a way he can have his rally and not kill people.

But first:

This is what will not work: 

COVID sign in Tulsa
A sign lists precautions against Covid-19 near Tuba City, Arizona. Arizona is one of several states relaxing restrictions even as cases of the disease rise.
 Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

It won’t work because of human psychology and because of the way COVID-19 is spread.

1. Washing hands helps. But the vast majority of COVID-19 cases are not touch-related. COVID-19 is primarily spread via inhaled droplets.

Also, washing hands thoroughly after each potential exposure is quite inconvenient and unrealistic. You go into a public place — say a grocery store —  and touch a package.

Will you now wash your hands — where? Then you touch another package and another.

How often each day will you do this as you travel about? Will you remember to clean your car steering wheel, door handles, and seats after each potential exposure? Your house doorknob?

2. Coughing into your elbow helps, but not nearly enough. COVID-19 not only is spread by coughing and sneezing. It is spread by talking, laughing, and just plain breathing.

Will you really walk around with your face buried in your elbow?

3. Not touching your face helps. But researchers have shown that humans are compulsive face touchers. We do it many times a day without even realizing it. Breaking that habit would be harder than quitting smoking.

4. Social distancing helps, though 3-6 feet is far too little (is it 3 feet or is it 6 feet?) but microscopic droplets can travel much farther.

And it simply is not possible to avoid coming close to people who are breathing out these droplets. And if you work in a large elevator-building, you’re doomed. There is no way realistically to social distance.

5. Staying home helps, but over the long haul, it makes people insane. We’ve tried social distancing for only 3 months, and already people are refusing to abide.

Further, businesses cannot survive that way. Social distancing is crashing the economy.

All of the above do help, but not nearly enough.

So what will work?

UNIVERSAL MASKING

Mask sign

When you wear a mask, even a simple cloth mask, your emission of COVID-19 droplets is drastically reduced. You can cough, sneeze, talk, and breathe, and your germs mostly will be caught by your mask.

And if the other person is wearing a mask, whatever droplets evade your mask will be caught by his mask. In short, you both will have double protection from each other.

dOUBLE PROTECTION VERTICAL LINE

The only realistic method for stopping the virus, until (if ever) a cure or a vaccine is developed, is universal masking.

See:  The surprisingly simple way to open America in 14 days and avoid a depression.

The states are anxious to “open up,” and Trump is an is anxious to have his rallies, both of which could be done if universal mask usage is mandated.

Universal masking is like herd immunity in that prevents so many people from transmitting the virus that the virus is stopped in its tracks.

Finally, I’ll leave you with this:

Hundreds of doctors call for statewide mask requirement in Arizona
Max Gorden

“I know some people view this as an issue of personal freedom, or political freedom. It shouldn’t be viewed in that regard,” said Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton.

“We are fighting the worst pandemic in over 100 years, and wearing of the mask, the mandating of the mask, is a common sense thing to do to fight this terrible virus.”

Contact your mayor, your governor, and your Congressperson. Demand that universal masking be mandated.

Save your life. Save my life. Save the economy. Save America.

Trump no mask
Or be like him.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

  1. Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
  2. Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics. Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Social Security for all or a reverse income tax

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10.Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

A book you should read

This is a book you should read.

Stephanie Kelton explains economics from the standpoint of Modern Monetary Theory and her own inside experiences with U.S. Senators.

She provides you with some her own take about why Congress refuses to acknowledge its unlimited ability to create dollars, and pay for benefits.

The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy

While “the DEFICIT MYTH” is not exactly on point with Monetary Sovereignty, the fundamentals are the same (the federal government’s infinite ability to pay for things and the need for federal “debt”). The book is an easy, enjoyable read.

No economics gobbledygook.

You’ll be able to see how her explanations for the causes of inflation and the need for federal taxes differ from those of Monetary Sovereignty. Read her book, and then we can discuss it from the standpoints of the differences and the similarities.

I recommend it to you. I also recommend it especially to your Congressional representatives, who would do well to learn the facts. After you read it, make a difference in the world by sending a copy to your most intelligent Congressperson.

It’s available on Amazon. Enjoy.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

  1. Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
  2. Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics. Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Social Security for all or a reverse income tax

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10.Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

The left’s suicidal insistence on political purity

The needs of the right are simple.

So long as you are pro-rich, anti-poor, hate those who are not white or not Christian, love guns, and hate abortions for poor women (rich women always can get abortions), you will get the vote of the right-wing.

You can be a lying, crooked, con artist, a draft-dodging, irreligious hypocrite. You can “shoot someone on 5th Ave.” You can be a psychopath or have every bad characteristic known to humanity.

It won’t matter to the religious right. You will get their vote, and not just their vote, but their passionate, unrelenting, angry support.

Yes, the needs of the right are simple.

Into a bizarre future: why the liberal promise of true liberty is ...
What the left wants

No so, the left.

The left is far more complex, so complex, in fact, that is is impossible for one human to meet all their criteria.

You could be pro-poor, anti-rich, pro-black, pro-brown, pro-gay, pro-trans, pro-Jew, pro-Muslim, pro- or anti-abortion, pro-Christian, pro-atheism, pro-women, pro-government, pre-reusable energy, pro- or anti mixed marriage, anti-government, pro- or anti-socialist, pro-immigration, anti-nazi, pro- or anti-guns, pro-or anti-death penalty, pro-or anti-deficit spending, pro-equality, pro-or anti-states’ rights, pro-or anti-democracy, pro- or anti incarceration, pro- or anti-union, a social liberal, a progressive, pro- or anti-military, pro-or anti-police, or any combination of the preceding.

You could be a Keynesian, a communist, pro-or anti-globalist, a Marxist, or a revolutionist, tough on crime or easy on crime.

No matter which of the above you favor, you would find yourself opposed by the majority of the left.

You would not be considered “pure” enough or “too extreme.”

And that is why an incompetent, unintelligent, immoral, swindler like Donald Trump, who clearly hates the duties of the President, but loves the power — that is why he polls well above what one might expect, no matter what he does or fails to do.

If a left-leaning politician is discovered cheating on his wife, he is done or at least, impeached. When Trump cheats on three wives — and brags about it — that is a feature, not a bug.

If any family member of a left-leaning politician takes money for doing nothing, that is a scandal. For Trump, nepotism is a way of life.

When Obama wrongly promised, “You will be able to keep your current health care plans and doctors,” it became an endless, political scandal, on both the left and the right. When Trump wrongly promised, “Mexico will pay for the wall,” the right-wing shrugged.

Consider a left-leaning politician caught cheating on his taxes. Compare that with Trump Foundation.

Trump has hired, then fired, more administration people than any President in history, demonstrating an astounding level of executive incompetence. Who cares? The right-wing worships him. For the left, it would be a terrible black mark.

All of the above is why Joe Biden will have November competition from the left. I don’t know who they will be, but whoever he/she or they are, they will take votes from Biden and in so doing, help Trump stay in office.

No one can be “pure enough” without being “too extreme” to satisfy enough of the left.

As the campaigning goes into the final months and weeks, almost as much criticism of Biden will come from the left as from the right, while very little criticism of Trump will come from the right.

Watch for it.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

  1. Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
  2. Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics. Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Social Security for all or a reverse income tax

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10.Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

The elevator problem in a COVID-19 world.

MY MASK PROTECTS YOU; YOUR MASK PROTECTS ME. WEAR A MASK.

If you were reading this site on May 5, 2020, you saw “The surprisingly simple way to open America in 14 days and avoid a depression.”

The message was:

If you wear a mask, your virus-carrying saliva will not be transmitted to others. And if everyone else wore a mask, their saliva would not reach you.

Additionally, your own mask does afford you some protection.

So, if everyone wore a mask, the double protection would simulate a form of “herd immunity.”

We would not have to close down businesses. We would not have to wait for a cure. We would not have to wait for a vaccine.

Normal life could go on.

Today, I read an article about the problem with office building elevators. Here are a few excerpts:

The Elevator Arises As The Latest Logjam In Getting Back To Work
Written by By Lauren Weber, Midwest correspondent, Posted on June 11, 2020 by Jerri-Lynn Scofield

As America begins to open up, the newest conundrum for employers in cities is how to safely transport people in elevators and manage the crowd of people waiting for them.

If office tower workers want to stay safe, elevator experts think they have advice, some practical, some not: Stay in your corner, face the walls and carry toothpicks (for pushing the buttons).

Not only have those experts gone back to studying mathematical models for moving people, but they are also creating technology like ultraviolet-light disinfection tools and voice-activated panels.

To mitigate those risks, elevator experts stress, those riding elevators should wear masks, resist touching surfaces as much as possible and use items such as disposable tissues or, indeed, those toothpicks to touch the buttons.

Also, use hand sanitizer frequently.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends limiting time in elevators and taking one-directional stairs instead, when possible, as well as maintaining 6 feet of distance.

Karen Penafiel, executive director for the National Elevator Industry Inc. trade association, also recommends people face the elevator walls and not talk to minimize the spread of respiratory droplets that could carry the coronavirus.

The article also included the following illustration:

Do you see anything wrong with this?

–Resist touching surfaces.
–Disposable tissues.
–Toothpicks to touch the buttons.
–One-directional stairs
–Stay in a corner
–Face walls
–Ultra-violet light
–Hand sanitizer
–6-feet distancing
–Don’t talk
–One person per trip
–Avoid touching walls and handrails

Not only are they burdensome, impractical, and some are downright silly, but they don’t solve the problem: The COVID-19 virus is transmitted primarily by airborne saliva droplets inhaled.

That problem is addressed best by wearing masks.

–Six-feet distancing in an elevator is mostly impossible, but anyway, 6-feet is insufficient.
–Face the wall or stand in a corner? Really? Never heard of air circulation?
–One-directional stairs? Have you ever worked in a high-rise office building? (I don’t get the “one-directional” part. The person behind you will walk right into your droplets still floating in the air.)
–Carry toothpicks, tissues? Let’s get real.
–Don’t talk? How about don’t breath, cough, or sneeze?
–One person per trip? You’ll get to your office just in time to leave.

And look at that illustration. The person isn’t even wearing a mask, the #1 transmission preventative. In the entire 1,000-word article, the word “mask” appears just twice, inconspicuously.

If everyone wore a mask, you could take an elevator without worry. If you touch a button, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer. That’s it.

No need to find a corner to hide in. (There are only 4 corners.) No need for ultra-violet light (which has not proven to work on COVID-19). No need to walk up 40 flights of the “UP’ stairs, and then find the “DOWN” stairs to walk down. No need for impossible and useless social distancing in a closed elevator.

MY MASK PROTECTS YOU; YOUR MASK PROTECTS ME. WEAR A MASK.

We don’t even need a N-95 masks. Ordinary, cheap, surgical masks, like the kind outside of hospital rooms, will trap our saliva just fine.

If everyone else wore one, we all would be protected. COVID-19 would become less a problem than the seasonal flu (which also would be stopped by masks).

Doctors and nurses have been wearing those cheap masks long before there was a COVID-19 virus. Why? To protect their patients.

Remember this slogan:

MY MASK PROTECTS YOU; YOUR MASK PROTECTS ME. WEAR A MASK.

Every elevator building should mandate masks and give out free ones, and those who violate should be prevented from entering.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

  1. Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
  2. Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics. Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Social Security for all or a reverse income tax

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10.Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY