GET OUT THE VOTE 2020

In 1916, 40% of the U.S. chose not to vote. 

In 1966, 40% of the U.S. chose not to vote. 

In 2016, 40% of the U.S. chose not to vote. 

GET OUT THE VOTE !

CQ: Day 85: Birthday Quarantined

Today is my 46th birthday. Our county opened up last week, and most of Pennsylvania is now open (with capacity restrictions, and you have to wear a mask), but we're still self-isolating. It's not that weird for me because we don't typically go anywhere on the yearly anniversary, and we usually get take-out, which we did again today.

Funny thing was - we drove to Dairy Queen to get an ice cream cake, and their driveway was blocked. You had to go in the back way into the parking lot because the drive through, which was open, was wrapped around the entire building. You could only go in IF you were picking up food ordered online, or you were getting an ice cream cake. Our DQ's booths are very close together and not able to be easily socially distanced. I imagine they will try to run the drive through like that all Summer.

During the last two months, neighborhood has had several birthday (and graduation) "drive through" parties - where attendants drive by the person's front yard in their cars. It's a bizarre thing to see. 

I also got my first haircut today in 4 months. Needless to say, my "quarantine cut" had been getting a little out of control. Weird thing was, I had to wear a mask today during the cut, and I had to give them 4 hours of advanced notice then wait an hour outside the salon. 

CQ: Day 83: GDP Could Fall by 53%

A report from the Atlanta Federal reserve now estimates that the U.S. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) could fall 53% in the second quarter of 2020. I wondered what that looked like, and I couldn't find a graph of it, so I created this one, which shows quarterly GDP change since 1947, which is as far back as they calculated it.

It's not pretty.

CQ Day 77: Over 40,000,000 Without Jobs

The number of jobless claims in the U.S. has now risen to over 40.8 million, so much worse than even the New York Times' front page graph showed earlier this month.

The "Great Recession" of 2008 is almost invisible on this graph. These are numbers economists have never seen, never expected, and don't know what to do with.

CQ: Day 62: What About School??

I posted an article to Facebook today that says the future of universities is online, partnering with major tech companies: 

"The post-pandemic future, he says, will entail partnerships between the largest tech companies in the world and elite universities. Think MIT@Google. iStanford. HarvardxFacebook."

I don't know if that's the future but I do know that brick and mortar universities were losing enrollment before the Coronavirus crisis. Now suddenly they've had to do the last two months of teaching online, and they may have to (at least partially) do it this Fall. People are starting to find out very quickly if they're ready for online learning.

That includes grade school and high school as well, though since those kids are traveling long distances, it's a little more doable, at least in the short term. But if we have to socially distance this Fall, then we're going to have to have school run 3-4 times longer each day and have 3-4 times the staff. That's not going to work.

The local charter school has had this sign out for a while but I didn't get a chance to snap it until May 24, 2020 while on a grocery run. This photo was later added to this blog entry.

CQ: Day 58: Unemployment Falls Off A Cliff

Unemployment numbers have now reached over 20,000,000.  For some perspective, the New York Times from page today showed the "graph" of the numbers, which required the entire front page to show how far the U.S. has dropped. Gulp.

Here's another way to look at it, showing jobs added and lost in the last 10 years: 

CQ: Day 48: Gas For $1, Empty Streets, See You Soon

Gas prices have plunged since oil went negative last week. Sam's Club was selling it for $1.49 a gallon today; $1.89 at Sheetz.

In some places out West, it's fallen below $1, something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. The National Average is $1.74, a level not seen for any significant length of time since the 1990s (though a few cents above the New Years 2016 low) The $1.74 level is down from $2.62 at the beginning of the year, $3.99 in 2011, and over $4.00 just before the 2008 Recession. Graph from GasBuddy.com:

I took the photo above on a food run today. Wal-Mart finally got the custom stickers for their floor to direct Social distancing, and their isles are now one-way only.

I was the only car on the road several times today, simply unheard of in this college town outside of major holidays. The photos below show only three cars on the main stretch of North Atherton Street, and an empty College Avenue by the Penn State Bookstore. Both are typically bumper-to-bumper this time of day. The students have been gone now for a month. 

It's eerie out there.

Only grocery stores and take-out restaurants remain open. Malls and major retail stores remain closed, as they have for 6 weeks now. I can't believe it's been that long, and it's a weird thing to continue to see.

The Hoss's restaurant, which features a buffet, has a sign that says "SEE YOU SOON"

I'm just not sure that's going to happen.