I live in Singapore and saw the impact of covid well before most of you if you live in Europe or the US. I put my 401k to cash on the day of the crash and prevented a 25% drop to my account. I also put everything back in the market in early March, when everyone was pulling out. At the end of this year, my 401k is up 100%. I'm not goading about this as much as I'm trying to show that where I was gave me unique insight about covid that helped me make insightful decisions. Today in the US and Europe the outlook is bleak. Closures, deaths, spikes in cases... it's mayhem, yet the market is on fire. Everyone in the US is talking about market collapse and recession. The chairs are set up, retail and pro traders are running around, waiting for the music to stop and ready to laugh off the poor souls who are left standing. In Southeast Asia, however, the outlook is more encouraging. Drastic rules, discipline, and pliable populations have drastically curtailed the risks of catching and dying from the virus. Countries are talking about how to safely reopen and how to restart their small business economy. Greater Asia will be in full recovery mode months before the West does. Soon there will be travel again, business then tourism, while the West will still be struggling with pikes of cases and deaths and media focus on the 5% of instances when the vaccine fails. My point is that we live and think within the constraints or what we experience. Step away from that experience and your outlook changes. I don't need to be an optimist to believe that the world's economy isn't about to collapse. Quite the opposite, vaccines and a drastic drop in deaths and cases will lead to an economic outburst similar to post WW2. The stock market may adjust negatively at first to compensate for the unjustified exuberance against today's economic gloom, but once positive outlooks are firmly recognized, I expect the market to reach new heights.
Absolutely appalling': Hazzard slams backpackers partying at Bronte NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard is not happy about images of backpackers partying at Bronte yesterday, saying he hopes it does not become a super-spreader event. "People in the northern beaches have been doing their part big-time to give not only themselves but the rest of Sydney safe. It is absolutely appalling to see what was clearly a group of people, a large gathering of people who didn't give a damn about the rest of Sydney." Mr Hazzard said NSW Health "had some challenges" early on in the pandemic with backpackers "who clearly wanted to party in the eastern suburbs." He said the behaviour "cannot go on. There is still a major risk for us with COVID, and my message to those people and people who know any of those people, is tell them to stop it, cut it out, or you may well end up with the virus itself ... or you may end up being part of a super spreader event." https://www.smh.com.au/national/cor...-boxing-day-sales-in-cbd-20201225-p56q6a.html
Much of the results of Covid in the community is a result of the community obviously. When idiots have the ability to do what they please, it affects everyone. Very difficult to get on top of this without coming down very heavily on idiots. Roping the area off and fining everyone within would be a start. The fines would help pay for communities needing to deal with the after effects.