Coronavirus: Not Looking Good — Yves Smith

 

Update on what is known. A lot remains unknown or unclear, especially in the fog of panic. There is also considerable misinformation.

The push is on to isolate the disease to prevent pandemic. This creates an impression that the worst is already happening when it is not. The worst case is a mutating virus and as far as is known, this is not happening — yet. 

Let's keep this is perspective though. The likelihood of contracting coronavirus is still very low in most places, and the likelihood of dying from it lower. The likelihood of contracting one of the ordinary garden-variety flus, and perhaps dying from it, is vastly higher. Existing flus are already at epidemic levels in most areas, especially crowded ones. 

The same precautions regarding good hygiene against ordinary flu and coronavirus are recommended, except there is as yet no vaccine for coronavirus. But the risk most face is from the ordinary flus that happen to be active this year. 

The medical community is advising to get a flu shot if you haven't, even if it seems late in the season. Flu season lasts through March and the tail can be the worst. But flu vaccines don't guarantee that one won't contract a case of the flu. 

Good hygiene is the first line of defense, along with limiting possible exposure. This is what the medical people do. Of course, medical personnel cannot avoid being exposed to cases they are treating, so they wear surgical masks. These are not yet popular in the US, but they have become a staple other parts of the world, especially in Asia where population density is high.

This is already having a huge economic impact in China as swaths of the country virtually shut down. The likelihood of this spilling over into the global economy is rising, especially if coronavirus "goes viral" internationally. 

Naked Capitalism
Coronavirus: Not Looking Good

Yves Smith

David F. Ruccio — Socioeconomic position and health

Apparently, measuring the levels of two molecules—an individual’s C-reactive protein and fibrinogen (as in the charts above)—and matching them against their socioeconomic position starts to reveal the hidden mechanisms connecting social inequality and health. And the missing link turns out to be stress.

Debt is a major cause of stress, and a rent-based economy is based on debt. Poverty is another major cause of stress, as is financial and economic precariousness. As more people join the percariat, stress increases and health declines.

Occasional Links & Commentary
Bloody hell!
David F. Ruccio | Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame

Allison J. Pugh — What Happens at Home When People Can’t Depend on Stable Work

My research, involving men and women who experience varying levels of job insecurity, suggests that the dampening expectations they have for employer commitment requires them to moderate the kinds of feelings they allow themselves to have in the event of a layoff. This is especially true for less-educated workers, who are most likely to say they could lose their jobs in the next year.…

So when we talk about work today, we have to talk about it in the context of an unrequited contract, our collective acquiescence to the notion that work can no longer be counted on....

Wake-up from a sociologist. The psychological impact of job insecurity can be devastating, as is shown in health and suicide statistics such as cited by Anne Case and Angus Deaton.

JG to the rescue.

Harvard Business Review
What Happens at Home When People Can’t Depend on Stable Work

Allison J. Pugh is a sociologist at the University of Virginia and a 2016-17 Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, as well as a 2016-17 American Council of Learned Societies Fellow

Oliver Milman — More than half US population lives amid dangerous air pollution, report warns

Not just climate change. I changed my place of residence, previously large cities, in 1973, something I would not have done otherwise. Never looked back. I did some short stints in cities since, working on projects, fortunately never in stinkpots.

The Guardian
More than half US population lives amid dangerous air pollution, report warns
Oliver Milman

AFP — World Health Organization: Outdoor air pollution a leading cause of cancer

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday classified outdoor air pollution as a leading cause of cancer in humans.

“The air we breathe has become polluted with a mixture of cancer-causing substances,” said Kurt Straif of the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

“We now know that outdoor air pollution is not only a major risk to health in general, but also a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths.”

The IARC said a panel of top experts had found “sufficient evidence” that exposure to outdoor air pollution caused lung cancer and raised the risk of bladder cancer.

Although the composition of air pollution and levels of exposure can vary dramatically between locations, the agency said its conclusions applied to all regions of the globe.

Air pollution was already known to increase the risk of respiratory and heart diseases.

The Raw Story
World Health Organization: Outdoor air pollution a leading cause of cancer
Agence France-Presse

Jeff Spross — Bombshell IMF Study: United States Is World’s Number One Fossil Fuel Subsidizer

Between directly lowered prices, tax breaks, and the failure to properly price carbon, the world subsidized fossil fuel use by over $1.9 trillion in 2011 — or eight percent of global government revenues — according to a study released this week by the International Monetary Fund.

The biggest offender was by far the United States, clocking in at $502 billion. China came in second at $279 billion, and Russia was third at $116 billion. In fact, the problem is so significant in the U.S. that the IMF figures correcting it will require new fees, levies, or taxes totaling over $500 billion a year, or more than 3 percent of the economy.

Climate Progress
Bombshell IMF Study: United States Is World’s Number One Fossil Fuel Subsidizer
Jeff Spross

As Warren Mosler says, a subsidy is a negative tax. Now we learn that it is necessary not only to eliminate the subsidies but to increase taxes and regulation (which increases costs) in order to save the home planet.

But developing an inexpensive, renewable, clean source of transportable energy is of the highest priority to avoid severe culling of the species.