Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

sda

We got off to a bad start when our newly installed American Standard Seer 16 wouldn’t turn on. The exterior fan on the outside unit was defective out of the box. The installers just shook their head and said it happens. Thankfully, after they replaced the fan it’s been fine since. I’m impressed by how quiet it is and we have seen lower utility bills.

jmonroe

sda said:

We got off to a bad start when our newly installed American Standard Seer 16 wouldn’t turn on. The exterior fan on the outside unit was defective out of the box. The installers just shook their head and said it happens. Thankfully, after they replaced the fan it’s been fine since. I’m impressed by how quiet it is and we have seen lower utility bills.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned two years ago I had to replace the condenser fan motor on our Lennox unit that was installed in August of 2008. The starter winding went bad so I had to give the fan blade a spin by reaching through the grill with a table knife (needed something long and thin). Got the part on line in two days and after about 40 minutes it was installed and has purred ever since. I think the part was just shy of a hundred bucks. I'm sure "The Guy" would charged be more than that.

jmonroe

driver100

Yeh, but how much to replace the messed up table knife....and how does Mrs JM like you using a good table knife to fix a fan blade?
You can stay out of trouble by calling "The Guy".

jmonroe

driver100 said:

Yeh, but how much to replace the messed up table knife....and how does Mrs JM like you using a good table knife to fix a fan blade?
You can stay out of trouble by calling "The Guy".

I wasn't using the table knife as a hammer ya know. :@ I was just spinning the fan blade with it. And let's just say that somehow I did screw up the knife, with the money I saved doing it myself I could have bought Mrs. j a couple sets of every day tableware and still had money in my pocket. Sometimes you just have to stop scaring youself and do it.

jmonroe

driver100

.....and every once in a while the DIY thing will catch up with you....but, we won't go there again

stickguy

HVAC, appliances, and cars are the same in that a lot of repairs are pretty simple, if you know what needs to be replaced. and have the specific tools required (and know how to use them), The real trick, and what you usually pay for, is knowing what part actually has to be replaced. Diagnostics are not always easy.

so if a pro tells you that your XYZ relay is defective, and it is the little gizmo held on by 4 screws and plugged into 1 wire, sure it is easy to replace it. But if you have no clue what it is, or how to test it, doesn't do much good that it's a quick fix. And by the time you pay the pro to come out and troubleshoot, they might as well replace it at the same time (since most people don't have the part laying around the house either!)

pensfan83

COVID-19 fear has taken hold....my family is demanding asking that I not go to one of my bi-annual conferences next month in Florida. It remains to be seen whether the hosting organization is offering refunds for those who back out. I've also heard rumblings that a number of vendors and exhibitors are debating whether to pass the spring conference in the hopes this all passes by the fall conference.

abacomike

pensfan83 said:

COVID-19 fear has taken hold....my family is demanding asking that I not go to one of my bi-annual conferences next month in Florida. It remains to be seen whether the hosting organization is offering refunds for those who back out. I've also heard rumblings that a number of vendors and exhibitors are debating whether to pass the spring conference in the hopes this all passes by the fall conference.

They just canceled a huge annual rock concert scheduled for March 20th down in Miami Beach. It's held every year during spring break but due to the corona virus outbreak, the Miami-Dade commissioners requested that the sponsor of the concert postpone the March 20th date. Over 100,000 people attend the three day cocnert each year. It is predicted that the city will lose over $50 million in tourism and business due to the cancelation. This is an example as to why the economy is going to shrink. All over the country, there are hundreds of cancelations of conferences, concerts, etc., not to mention the reduced attendance at sports venues. The Fed dropping the interest rate 1/2 of a percent is really not going to do much for our economy, however it will reduce, substantially, the interest on our national debt for the time being. Can you imagine the cost of interest on the national debt if interest rates were at 5%?

abacomike

Getting ready for my left eye surgery next Tuesday. I start putting two different drops into my left eye tomorrow, 4 times a day until Tuesday. The opthamologist said he won't give me a prescription for eye-glasses until 4 week afer the surgery. Then, I will probaby get Veralux Progressive lenses with minor correction at the top of the lens to stronger correction toward the bottom of the lens for reading close up. As I mentioned before, I am no longer going to be nearsighted as I have been my whole life - I will be farsighted. The reading glasses I bought from Amazon will be useful only until my new glasses are produced with the new prescription in about 6 weeks. That will be a relief.

28firefighter

pensfan83 said:

COVID-19 fear has taken hold....my family is demanding asking that I not go to one of my bi-annual conferences next month in Florida. It remains to be seen whether the hosting organization is offering refunds for those who back out. I've also heard rumblings that a number of vendors and exhibitors are debating whether to pass the spring conference in the hopes this all passes by the fall conference.

Basically every major name in Seattle is ordering telework effective through the end of the month. One school district that straddles Snohomish and King Counties is closed for 2 weeks and transitioning to distance learning.

If everyone works from home and most kids can still go to school, I would be willing to bet that Labor and Delivery at UW and Swedish are going to be awfully busy in about 9 months...

imidazol97

abacomike said:

Getting ready for my left eye surgery next Tuesday. I start putting two different drops into my left eye tomorrow, 4 times a day until Tuesday. The opthamologist said he won't give me a prescription for eye-glasses until 4 week afer the surgery. Then, I will probaby get Veralux Progressive lenses with minor correction at the top of the lens to stronger correction toward the bottom of the lens for reading close up. As I mentioned before, I am no longer going to be nearsighted as I have been my whole life - I will be farsighted. The reading glasses I bought from Amazon will be useful only until my new glasses are produced with the new prescription in about 6 weeks. That will be a relief.

It's been a long run for you between eyes.

I talked to a longtime acquaintance yesterday. He mentioned his new lens has clouded some which the opthamologist says can be cleared with a laser AND his other eye has been almost 5 years behind getting the first lens replaced. The second eye has not clouded up to pass the requirement for replacement surgery.
5 years.

He was asking how long it was between my surgeries: 4 weeks IIRC.

Michaell

28firefighter said:

pensfan83 said:

COVID-19 fear has taken hold....my family is demanding asking that I not go to one of my bi-annual conferences next month in Florida. It remains to be seen whether the hosting organization is offering refunds for those who back out. I've also heard rumblings that a number of vendors and exhibitors are debating whether to pass the spring conference in the hopes this all passes by the fall conference.

Basically every major name in Seattle is ordering telework effective through the end of the month. One school district that straddles Snohomish and King Counties is closed for 2 weeks and transitioning to distance learning.

If everyone works from home and most kids can still go to school, I would be willing to bet that Labor and Delivery at UW and Swedish are going to be awfully busy in about 9 months...

We just had a customer cancel an on-site training next week due to COVID-19 concerns.

If common sense breaks out, this should be controllable. But, we'll see.

abacomike

imidazol97 said:

abacomike said:

Getting ready for my left eye surgery next Tuesday. I start putting two different drops into my left eye tomorrow, 4 times a day until Tuesday. The opthamologist said he won't give me a prescription for eye-glasses until 4 week afer the surgery. Then, I will probaby get Veralux Progressive lenses with minor correction at the top of the lens to stronger correction toward the bottom of the lens for reading close up. As I mentioned before, I am no longer going to be nearsighted as I have been my whole life - I will be farsighted. The reading glasses I bought from Amazon will be useful only until my new glasses are produced with the new prescription in about 6 weeks. That will be a relief.

It's been a long run for you between eyes.

I talked to a longtime acquaintance yesterday. He mentioned his new lens has clouded some which the opthamologist says can be cleared with a laser AND his other eye has been almost 5 years behind getting the first lens replaced. The second eye has not clouded up to pass the requirement for replacement surgery.
5 years.

He was asking how long it was between my surgeries: 4 weeks IIRC.

I have noticed more floaters and clouding in my right eye since the surgery in December. It's been 3 months since the surgery on my right eye. Could not get a closer date for the left eye - he was booked solid.

qbrozen

the virus hit NJ yesterday. I haven't witnessed anything crazy yet. No word from the schools. Both my and my wife's workplaces have sent emails telling people to stay home if they are sick.

pensfan83

28firefighter said:

pensfan83 said:

COVID-19 fear has taken hold....my family is demanding asking that I not go to one of my bi-annual conferences next month in Florida. It remains to be seen whether the hosting organization is offering refunds for those who back out. I've also heard rumblings that a number of vendors and exhibitors are debating whether to pass the spring conference in the hopes this all passes by the fall conference.

Basically every major name in Seattle is ordering telework effective through the end of the month. One school district that straddles Snohomish and King Counties is closed for 2 weeks and transitioning to distance learning.

If everyone works from home and most kids can still go to school, I would be willing to bet that Labor and Delivery at UW and Swedish are going to be awfully busy in about 9 months...

We aren't at that point yet but a number of protocols have been put into place to address anyone who may be travelling to an impacted area both foreign and domestic.

abacomike

Florida has 4 confirmed virus cases - 3 in the Tampa area and 1 near Pensacola. They are monitoring thousands of potential cases.

With so many older (seniors) living all over this state, I predict many more serious cases and probable higher mortality rates down here.

With my eye surgery in a few days and my COPD, diabetes, heart stent, and compromised immune system from hep C prior to being cured, I am staying home as much as possible. I am a high risk senior citizen. 😩😩😩

andres3

fintail said:

The only "socialist" aspect of the American FIRE sector is how it privatizes profits and socializes losses - reverse socialism, in a way.

andres3 said:

So I conclude that "trading and lending activity completely seizing" is a deceptive misleading presumption and assumption. It seems more like banks in the worst shape didn't like that responsible people/banks were appropriately pricing the higher risk of loans to them, so they didn't want to pay the higher interest rates they rightfully deserved to get. So they went SOCIALIST when the kitchen got just a little bit warm.

Reverse Socialism = Socialist for the Rich or 1%

You got it.

tjc78

qbrozen said:

the virus hit NJ yesterday. I haven't witnessed anything crazy yet. No word from the schools. Both my and my wife's workplaces have sent emails telling people to stay home if they are sick.

Our schools sent out a statement Monday. Nothing crazy, just precautions being taken etc.

ab348

abacomike said:

With my eye surgery in a few days and my COPD, diabetes, heart stent, and compromised immune system from hep C prior to being cured, I am staying home as much as possible. I am a high risk senior citizen. 😩😩😩

Smart move. I have a brother who is in a care facility and the last time I was there, notices were posted about some kind of GI affliction (Norovirus?) that was going through the place. Fortunately I avoided that, but I have refrained from visiting since. Now with this outbreak even though no cases have been found here, I am going to keep away from the place for a while. I suspect he won't miss me given his mental condition.

Speaking of the virus hysteria, yesterday the word was that local Costco stores were all out of toilet paper and bottled water because of orders to pull it from stores here and ship it back to their distribution centers, where it would be rerouted to the US market where shelves are bare. I find that odd in that all the packaging and labeling here is in both English and French, so that would be an oddity for US customers to see. Today I was at a supermarket and as I was putting my purchases in the trunk, a cart was wheeled out to the car next to me and the main purchase was large packages of TP, perhaps 8 or 10 of them.

Can someone explain why TP is in such demand? On the surface, it makes no sense to me.

pensfan83

Aaaaand air travel is now restricted and approved on an exceptions basis only and attendance at non-company related events requires an exception as well. Since I'm not about driving 18 hours for a conference looks like my decision is made.

Not all that unhappy about it to be honest, one of my friends is a road warrior for his job and within the past several weeks he's sat next to people on planes in face masks, spritzing sanitizer over everything (and everyone sometimes lol), and those who won't use anything but disposable plates/cups/napkins. He's seen a noticeable decline in terminal traffic in some airports too.

jmonroe

stickguy said:

HVAC, appliances, and cars are the same in that a lot of repairs are pretty simple, if you know what needs to be replaced. and have the specific tools required (and know how to use them), The real trick, and what you usually pay for, is knowing what part actually has to be replaced. Diagnostics are not always easy.

so if a pro tells you that your XYZ relay is defective, and it is the little gizmo held on by 4 screws and plugged into 1 wire, sure it is easy to replace it. But if you have no clue what it is, or how to test it, doesn't do much good that it's a quick fix. And by the time you pay the pro to come out and troubleshoot, they might as well replace it at the same time (since most people don't have the part laying around the house either!)

You are right about the trouble shooting part. If you don't know what's bad, and you insist on doing it yourself, you'll be a lot like a bad mechanic who is nothing more than a parts changer and that can be pretty expensive. In my case with my condenser fan motor, it was pretty easy because the fan wasn't spinning but when I squinted I could hear it humming even with the noise that the AC compressor motor made. If the motor was totally bad the blade would not have spun and the starter winding would not have hummed. If that was the case, I would have been without AC untill I bought a replacement condenser cooling motor. But I was lucky that only the starter winding was bad. So, all I had to do was give the blade a good turn to get it going.

The most interesting part was to determine which direction to spin it because with a bad starter winding you can make any motor spin in either direction by turning it mechanically in the direction you want it to turn. Since I paid attention when I had "Air Flow 101", I got it right the first time (air flow has to be up). If you guess wrong all you have to do is shut the AC off and when the fan stops you turn the AC back on and spin the blade in the opposite direction. No @driver100, you do NOT reach in and try to stop the turning fan blade with the table knife. I'll let you figure out why you shouldn't do that. When you come right down to it a motor is really pretty dumb. Without a starter winding, like a lot of drivers, it doesn't know which way to turn.

jmonroe

jmonroe

abacomike said:

Getting ready for my left eye surgery next Tuesday. I start putting two different drops into my left eye tomorrow, 4 times a day until Tuesday. The opthamologist said he won't give me a prescription for eye-glasses until 4 week afer the surgery. Then, I will probaby get Veralux Progressive lenses with minor correction at the top of the lens to stronger correction toward the bottom of the lens for reading close up. As I mentioned before, I am no longer going to be nearsighted as I have been my whole life - I will be farsighted. The reading glasses I bought from Amazon will be useful only until my new glasses are produced with the new prescription in about 6 weeks. That will be a relief.

@Mike, we hope your cataract surgery goes well. Coincidentally, I just came home from my 5 week checkup following my cataract surgery. The doc said he did a good job and gave me my prescription for new glasses. He said wherever I get my glasses I should go to a Medicare approved place because Medicare will pick up some of the tab, not all but some. I don't remember that being the case when I had cataract surgery on my right eye in the Summer of 2009.

Again, good luck.

jmonroe

imidazol97

abacomike said:

Florida has 4 confirmed virus cases - 3 in the Tampa area and 1 near Pensacola. They are monitoring thousands of potential cases.

With so many older (seniors) living all over this state, I predict many more serious cases and probable higher mortality rates down here.

With my eye surgery in a few days and my COPD, diabetes, heart stent, and compromised immune system from hep C prior to being cured, I am staying home as much as possible. I am a high risk senior citizen. 😩😩😩

I would worry more about Flu A and Flu B that have killed 16000 so far this year in US. But hand washing, not touching face, staying away from crowds, and avoid folks who sneeze, cough, etc., sounds like good methods.
A nurse was commenting on a radio show last night that she kept a 3-6 foot distance because the droplets from coughs and sneezes as well as respiration can travel 3 feet before settling. She used that for her patient's safety and for her own as much as possible.

The media is trying to make every case a breakdown of society, but we've been through these things before. As an older person, at the first sign of any disease, I'd see a doctor for any antivirals or antibiotics for other things they can give.

Our doctor communicates by text messages with my wife for refills, etc.. Since he knows both my wife and myself now, I'd suspect he'd prescribe even if he didn't have an open office visit time. I'd dread going to the doctor's office now because I'd have to be careful.

I have a colonoscopy next week. This will be interesting how they're handling everything.

28firefighter

My son's school is closed effective immediately through 3/10, with the possibility for it to extend up to 14 days or longer. Now the fun starts.

driver100

ab348 said:

abacomike said:

With my eye surgery in a few days and my COPD, diabetes, heart stent, and compromised immune system from hep C prior to being cured, I am staying home as much as possible. I am a high risk senior citizen. 😩😩😩

Can someone explain why TP is in such demand? On the surface, it makes no sense to me.

Have you ever tried going for very long without it?

driver100

jmonroe said:

stickguy said:

HVAC, appliances, and cars are the same in that a lot of repairs are pretty simple, if you know what needs to be replaced. and have the specific tools required (and know how to use them), The real trick, and what you usually pay for, is knowing what part actually has to be replaced. Diagnostics are not always easy.

so if a pro tells you that your XYZ relay is defective, and it is the little gizmo held on by 4 screws and plugged into 1 wire, sure it is easy to replace it. But if you have no clue what it is, or how to test it, doesn't do much good that it's a quick fix. And by the time you pay the pro to come out and troubleshoot, they might as well replace it at the same time (since most people don't have the part laying around the house either!)

No @driver100, you do NOT reach in and try to stop the turning fan blade with the table knife. I'll let you figure out why you shouldn't do that. When you come right down to it a motor is really pretty dumb. Without a starter winding, like a lot of drivers, it doesn't know which way to turn.
jmonroe

A real DIYer could use a long bladed screw driver instead of one of Mrs JMs good kitchen knives.

driver100

28firefighter said:

My son's school is closed effective immediately through 3/10, with the possibility for it to extend up to 14 days or longer. Now the fun starts.

Your son in school.....I thought he was born about a year ago!
Talk about time speeding by, only 3 1/2 weeks to go before we head back home from paradise.

28firefighter

He's 3 now. He goes to a school that does infant through kindergarten education, focusing on early preschool, preschool, and kindergarten.

fintail

I had to go into the city and back this morning - traffic was a breeze. Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook all trying to get people to work from home. Northshore school district closed for 2 weeks IIRC, which means I'll probably avoid Monday skating.

Stopped by a supermarket, seemed normal, markets are crapping the bed again, looks like just another day in March of 2020.

cdnpinhead

It's a good time to be an antisocial retiree.

ab348

jmonroe said:

I'm pretty sure I mentioned two years ago I had to replace the condenser fan motor on our Lennox unit that was installed in August of 2008. The starter winding went bad so I had to give the fan blade a spin by reaching through the grill with a table knife (needed something long and thin). Got the part on line in two days and after about 40 minutes it was installed and has purred ever since. I think the part was just shy of a hundred bucks. I'm sure "The Guy" would charged be more than that.

This old Jimmy Hatlo cartoon must have been based on you, or maybe your ancestors...

abacomike

Just hit 90 degrees here in south Florida - been running the AC since yesterday. I don't remember the temps hitting 90 degrees in early March in the 20 years I have been living here. It's downright hot!

suydam

28firefighter said:

He's 3 now. He goes to a school that does infant through kindergarten education, focusing on early preschool, preschool, and kindergarten.

Interestingly, in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus, not a single child under 5 has contracted it. It’s Mostly an adult disease. One theory is that young children are routinely exposed to many different Coronaviruses, so they may actually have better immunity than adults.

driver100

28firefighter said:

He's 3 now. He goes to a school that does infant through kindergarten education, focusing on early preschool, preschool, and kindergarten.

Hard to believe....even 3, time flies.

28firefighter

suydam said:

28firefighter said:

He's 3 now. He goes to a school that does infant through kindergarten education, focusing on early preschool, preschool, and kindergarten.

Interestingly, in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus, not a single child under 5 has contracted it. It’s Mostly an adult disease. One theory is that young children are routinely exposed to many different Coronaviruses, so they may actually have better immunity than adults.

Yeah - the concern seems to be that they're lovely carriers and can still spread it, even though they show no symptoms. Seems plausible. I get sick way more often than Sam does.

jmonroe

ab348 said:

jmonroe said:

I'm pretty sure I mentioned two years ago I had to replace the condenser fan motor on our Lennox unit that was installed in August of 2008. The starter winding went bad so I had to give the fan blade a spin by reaching through the grill with a table knife (needed something long and thin). Got the part on line in two days and after about 40 minutes it was installed and has purred ever since. I think the part was just shy of a hundred bucks. I'm sure "The Guy" would charged be more than that.

This old Jimmy Hatlo cartoon must have been based on you, or maybe your ancestors...

Well, that cartoon on the left pretty much looks like the back wall of my garage but it's a bit smaller than my 16 foot tool bench. That dude needs more tools. Now, that cartoon on the right looks like a wannabe that's just starting out. That could be our poster buddy @driver100.

jmonroe

tjc78

He's 3 now.

It's goes so fast!!! My little guy turns 6 in a week. My daughter is 4.

andres3

tjc78 said:

He's 3 now.

It's goes so fast!!! My little guy turns 6 in a week. My daughter is 4.

Mine turned 6 last November! I think I recall saying the TTS would only be good until she turns 8.....

stickguy

Dang, I am old. I barely remember those youngster years.

roadburner

jmonroe said:

I wasn't using the table knife as a hammer ya know. :@ I was just spinning the fan blade with it. And let's just say that somehow I did screw up the knife, with the money I saved doing it myself I could have bought Mrs. j a couple sets of every day tableware and still had money in my pocket. Sometimes you just have to stop scaring youself and do it.

jmonroe

I would hate to think that I would have to call a professional anytime one of my vehicles or appliances had the slightest issue.

stickguy

had a bad evening. Went to pick up a pizza for dinner. parked away from the building (of course) and while walking across parking lot, see a guy that had parked in front for some reason decide to change where he was parked. And he proceeded to back right into the back corner of my TLX. scraped the heck out of the bumper corner, but I think repairable, but worse was put a dent in the fender above the bumper. not sure if it can be popped out or what will be needed.

did not need this hassle now. Need to call insurance agent in the AM to get this process moving. I just hope it works like it should and I am only out the time to get it fixed. Because I really don't feel like having to go all Andre fighting with insurance companies!

and really glad it is a lease. Just fix it and move on. Because I think this car is jinxed.

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

pensfan83 said:

COVID-19 fear has taken hold....my family is demanding asking that I not go to one of my bi-annual conferences next month in Florida. It remains to be seen whether the hosting organization is offering refunds for those who back out. I've also heard rumblings that a number of vendors and exhibitors are debating whether to pass the spring conference in the hopes this all passes by the fall conference.

They just canceled a huge annual rock concert scheduled for March 20th down in Miami Beach. It's held every year during spring break but due to the corona virus outbreak, the Miami-Dade commissioners requested that the sponsor of the concert postpone the March 20th date. Over 100,000 people attend the three day cocnert each year. It is predicted that the city will lose over $50 million in tourism and business due to the cancelation. This is an example as to why the economy is going to shrink. All over the country, there are hundreds of cancelations of conferences, concerts, etc., not to mention the reduced attendance at sports venues. The Fed dropping the interest rate 1/2 of a percent is really not going to do much for our economy, however it will reduce, substantially, the interest on our national debt for the time being. Can you imagine the cost of interest on the national debt if interest rates were at 5%?

One thing that wasn’t canceled in my area was lawmaker lobbying day in Albany. This is where all the downstate non-profits come asking for tax money. This year they brought thousands of high school kids as props. So evidently it’s healthy to take a bunch of people from the area of NY state where all the known virus patients reside and stuff them together in buses before turning them loose on upstate.

Different priorities I guess.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

abacomike said:

With my eye surgery in a few days and my COPD, diabetes, heart stent, and compromised immune system from hep C prior to being cured, I am staying home as much as possible. I am a high risk senior citizen. 😩😩😩

Can someone explain why TP is in such demand? On the surface, it makes no sense to me.

Have you ever tried going for very long without it?

In Iran hoarding TP will get you executed.

oldfarmer50

cdnpinhead said:

It's a good time to be an antisocial retiree.

Finally, my time has come!

jmonroe

@stickguy, I hope it's only an inconvenience and goes quickly with the repairs. If this is the only hit your car took I wouldn't be concerned about it being jinxed. But I don't believe in jinxes so I'm probably not the guy to listen to about this.

Keep us informed about how it goes.

jmonroe

stickguy

well, it would have been worse if it was the wife's car that I am in the process of trying to sell!

tjc78

Really sucks!!! Hoping for a painless process to get fixed. The beauty of it being a lease is you aren’t on the hook for DV.

stickguy

I told the wife. lease nice, buy old! as long as the insurance part is not a hassle, getting fixed should not be a big deal. I hope.

jmonroe

stickguy said:

Dang, I am old. I barely remember those youngster years.

If you want to feel old, wait until one of your grandkids goes to college. That's what I have to face when Grandson #1 goes off to Penn State this Fall. It could be worse, like if I had to pay for it.

jmonroe

imidazol97

oldfarmer50 said:

abacomike said:

pensfan83 said:

COVID-19 fear has taken hold....my family is demanding asking that I not go to one of my bi-annual conferences next month in Florida. It remains to be seen whether the hosting organization is offering refunds for those who back out. I've also heard rumblings that a number of vendors and exhibitors are debating whether to pass the spring conference in the hopes this all passes by the fall conference.

They just canceled a huge annual rock concert scheduled for March 20th down in Miami Beach. It's held every year during spring break but due to the corona virus outbreak, the Miami-Dade commissioners requested that the sponsor of the concert postpone the March 20th date. Over 100,000 people attend the three day cocnert each year. It is predicted that the city will lose over $50 million in tourism and business due to the cancelation. This is an example as to why the economy is going to shrink. All over the country, there are hundreds of cancelations of conferences, concerts, etc., not to mention the reduced attendance at sports venues. The Fed dropping the interest rate 1/2 of a percent is really not going to do much for our economy, however it will reduce, substantially, the interest on our national debt for the time being. Can you imagine the cost of interest on the national debt if interest rates were at 5%?

One thing that wasn’t canceled in my area was lawmaker lobbying day in Albany. This is where all the downstate non-profits come asking for tax money. This year they brought thousands of high school kids as props. So evidently it’s healthy to take a bunch of people from the area of NY state where all the known virus patients reside and stuff them together in buses before turning them loose on upstate.

Different priorities I guess.

We're gonna see a lot of that double system for a few months.