REPLY ALL in Book Seven: Reconstruction 2020

When I was working warehouse jobs and retail, I always had a sneaking suspicion that OSHA was bullshit. I mean… Best Buy would make me single-handedly load/unload the heaviest shit Appliances sold without so much as a spotter. The understanding was “safe is what we can afford” and employees were expendable. WELL, Iowa just gave me a great reason to think, “Yeah. OSHA doesn’t understand employment law for shit. Which is sad since they are supposed to be all about employment law!” You see… Iowa OSHA just lost a lawsuit. One of their employees filed a complaint against them for “harsh, hostile, or abusive workplace environment.” OSHA, in turn, fired him on pretextual insubstantial grounds. The court reviewed the case and said, “No duh this was retaliation. You fired him for missing ONE meeting ONCE. And you’ve never ever fired anyone for missing a meeting ever before.” So there you go… Iowa’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is full of shitty people. Who’da thunk it?

In COVID News, Iowa went from 3 cases in one county to 124 cases covering approximately 1/3 of the entire state. Meanwhile, the first county to have confirmed cases has requested that the Governor declare a Shelter in Place Order. She is presently unwilling to do so, but we’ll see what happens as the day continues. Further, Iowa has our first fatality for COVID as well. So… dangerous disease… spreading like wildfire… exponentially increasing… CDC says if Iowa doesn’t slow the virus by April 1st, we’ll be one of the states with “an overwhelmed medical response”. Buuuuuuut… welcome to a red state. We’re still trying to figure out which is more important… human life or the economy. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t envy my boss. He has to give his two cents on any proclamation or legal decision the county announces. But the County’s proposed official response to COVID was rejected by my boss for being, and I quote, “too easily exploited by those who would prefer not to work for a living. It promises too much aid without enough return and we can’t risk the county’s entire economy over something like this.” So… yeah. Good to see people lockstep with party politics. I KNOW OFFICIALLY DECLARE GOP TO NO LONGER MEAN GRAND OLD PARTY AND NOW DECLARE THAT IT SHALL STAND FOR GREED OVER PEOPLE.

I mean… after all....
NCAA tournament: Cancelled
Free Comic Book Day: Postponed (was to happen in May)
Summer Olympics: Postponed (was to happen in June)
World Health Organization: Declares that there is no set date for when things can return to normal; encourages countries to play it safe and monitor the situation.
President Trump: basically says that he wants everything “back to normal” by Easter because the economy “can’t survive” the Social Distancing.

This is the kind of logic that has never made sense to me. Because it fundamentally embraces shortsightedness and a complete lack of forethought. Possible Realities:
(1) America succeeds with Social Distancing and flattens the curve until such time as we have proper PPE and ventilators. March, April, and May economic figures are abysmal and apocalyptic but June, July, and August figures are record breaking as people celebrate the end of the crisis.
(2) America succeeds with Social Distancing and flattens the curve until such time as we have proper PPE and ventilators. March, April, and May economic figures are abysmal and apocalyptic and the remainder of the year is flat with no strong positive economic upturn.
(3) America fails with Social Distancing and our hospitals are entirely overwhelmed. Now, not only are people with COVID spreading it to more people and more people are dying from it… but overwhelmed hospitals and medical staff can’t properly respond to the Non-COVID matters either. Diseases that would have otherwise been cured or stalled are now spiking in fatalities. Millions die (the last prediction for a no-response death toll was around 4 million.) With that many people getting sick and dying; the economy tanks.

So… either we do this RIGHT and encourage people to spend like crazy in celebration afterwards… or we do this wrong and the economy tanks anyway. Am I wrong?

It is funny. I have a lot of friends who are swearing off Social Media right now because they are sick of seeing the various things about COVID. Frankly, social media is the only place I can go to right now for positive news and hope. The governments I am a part of or live under are absolutely screwing the pooch here. Seeing people on social media thriving, raising kids, doing GOOD THINGS is what gets me by. Because while our President is a fucking joke; at least there are still honest-to-God good people out there still.