I'm With Stupid wrote:

Fallible wrote:I’m still working. Can easily do my job from home, but I don’t like it.

Me too. But my contract only runs until October so I don't know if it'll be renewed. On the one hand, it's quite easy to just not renew it, but on the other hand, it's quite hard to run a school without teachers. But with children, there's the question of how soon parents will be willing (or allowed) to send their kids back to a proper classroom. With adults, we rely quite a bit of overseas students (probably the last market to return), and you can also expect anyone who has their company pay for classes to have that funding cut. However, it can actually have the opposite effect too, where mass unemployment can cause people to do anything to make themselves stand out and English classes are often one way of doing that. I had some friends who went to Spain after the financial crash in about 2010 expecting it to be really tough, but it was something of a boom time for English teaching because there were so many people who had the same idea of improving a language to boost their job prospects. Unfortunately for me, that sort of thing will probably come a bit too late for me and the short term cash flow issue might be a more pressing issue.

My brother-in-law teaches French & Spanish online now. Could you not try teaching English and/or Malay online, or does your contract prohibit it?

I'm still getting the monthly cheque and that won't change. I'm emergency services and it's nervous times for me, I'm having no choice but to go to work but I'm scared I'll infect the baby, if I haven't already. Our PPE is beyond a joke and our policy handed down to us is to not wear it, in case we scare the public.
We're living with my parents while we do up our new home, a full refurb, so I do have somewhere to hide away if I get sick. But by the time I am, it'll be too late for everyone else. Can't leave them, don't want to hurt them.
Still, we are not going hungry. That's something eh..

a whole lot are hungry and were before Covid

World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley told the UN Security Council that even before COVID-19 became an issue, he was telling world leaders that "2020 would be facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II." That's because of wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, locust swarms in Africa, frequent natural disasters and economic crises including in Lebanon, Congo, Sudan and Ethiopia, he said.

Beasley said today 821 million people go to bed hungry every night all over the world, a further 135 million people are facing "crisis levels of hunger or worse," and a new WFP analysis shows that as a result of COVID-19 an additional 130 million people "could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020."

He said in the video briefing that WFP is providing food to nearly 100 million people on any given day, including "about 30 million people who literally depend on us to stay alive."

Beasley, who is himself recovering from COVID-19, said if those 30 million people can't be reached, "our analysis shows that 300,000 people could starve to death every single day over a three-month period" — and that doesn't include increased starvation due to the coronavirus.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/hunger-pa ... -1.5540045

jamest wrote:

I'm With Stupid wrote:

Fallible wrote:I’m still working. Can easily do my job from home, but I don’t like it.

Me too. But my contract only runs until October so I don't know if it'll be renewed. On the one hand, it's quite easy to just not renew it, but on the other hand, it's quite hard to run a school without teachers. But with children, there's the question of how soon parents will be willing (or allowed) to send their kids back to a proper classroom. With adults, we rely quite a bit of overseas students (probably the last market to return), and you can also expect anyone who has their company pay for classes to have that funding cut. However, it can actually have the opposite effect too, where mass unemployment can cause people to do anything to make themselves stand out and English classes are often one way of doing that. I had some friends who went to Spain after the financial crash in about 2010 expecting it to be really tough, but it was something of a boom time for English teaching because there were so many people who had the same idea of improving a language to boost their job prospects. Unfortunately for me, that sort of thing will probably come a bit too late for me and the short term cash flow issue might be a more pressing issue.

My brother-in-law teaches French & Spanish online now. Could you not try teaching English and/or Malay online, or does your contract prohibit it?

Yeah I'm not allowed to work for anyone else during my contract. But I don't need to. I'm still getting paid in full and still have a full schedule. In fact if they don't renew my contract then they have to pay for me and all my stuff to fly back to the UK, so if it's between keeping me on and bringing someone else in, they would presumably prefer the former. But obviously they would be more likely to get rid of people and not hire anyone new. The thing that will potentially go in my favour is that this is naturally an industry where people move on a lot and a lot of people's contracts are ending periodically throughout the year and some of those people always prefer to move on rather than staying. I have a couple of friends who I know are definitely leaving and perhaps one or two more that I don't know about. The way language teaching works is that people typically pay up front, so you don't typically see any cash flow issues until a few months down the line when people fail to renew. I still have a full schedule of classes, but the number of students in each class is down by probably about half. The kids classes started up again on Saturday but I was on holiday so I don't know how many we've got yet.

Teaching online is an odd one because it takes time to build up a client base and no doubt there will be a lot of people with the same idea. The main problem from my POV is that my living in Malaysia is linked to my job, so if I don't work here, I can't live here. And since last year I broke my leg, I haven't seen as much of it as I wanted to, which is why I want to stay longer.

ouch

In California alone, film and entertainment production supports more than 722,000 jobs and $68 billion in wages, according to the Motion Picture Association. In the last fiscal year ending in September 2019, the industry generated over $2.4 billion in direct in-state spending, according to the California Film Commission.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/26/media/ho ... index.html

We're still getting some Mac biz but not a lot from the larger studios.

Covid... the economic bonuses!

BILLIONAIRE BONANZA 2020 UPDATES
Updates: Billionaire Wealth, U.S. Job Losses and Pandemic Profiteers

May 21, 2020 Update



The number of U.S. citizens filing for unemployment increased to 38.6 million since March 18, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the same two months, the wealth of U.S. billionaires has surged $434 billion – an increase of 15 percent.

The combined fortunes of Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg alone grew by nearly $60 billion during these two months, according to a new analysis, jointly released by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies, which released Billionaire Bonanza 2020 in April to examine billionaire wealth during the first month of the pandemic.
...

Full text at:
https://inequality.org/billionaire-bonanza-2020-updates/

She who controls The Spice controls The Universe...

My bicycle service shop has been running at full capacity since March. This year, Q2 exceeded all of last year for my little shop. Q3 is continuing apace.

I had the funds and foresight to really stock up on some high use items in February. That was a good call, as I've kept stocked on most things all along, even while running at capacity. One of my suppliers must have gotten a shipment of tires, so I was able to restore and increase my tire inventory just this week. I'm seeing glimmers of improvement in supply lines.

I could do a fair bit of bicycle parts retail business this year, if I were set up to do it (parts counter in a brick and mortar shop). I get requests to buy my parts all the time, which I have to refuse. If I sell my service parts, I may as well close the business. I don't think the cycling boom that started this spring is permanent, so I'm not sure it's such a good idea to change my business footprint to chase something that is likely to evaporate next year.

I rent a parking spot for my shop's service van from an automotive service shop. They are seeing a similar increase in business since March.

Billionaires’ ‘pandemic profits’ alone could pay for $3K stimulus checks to EVERY American – report

9 Dec, 2020

American billionaires made so much money during the Covid-19 pandemic that their profits since March are enough to give every US resident a $3,000 check without cutting into their pre-virus wealth, a new report shows.

Over the last nine months, the 651 billionaires who call the US home have increased their wealth by a whopping $1.06 trillion, according to a report published Tuesday by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies. Far from being negatively impacted by the pandemic-related economic shutdowns, the country’s super-rich seem to have thrived amid the policies that have plunged so many ordinary Americans into poverty.

The billionaires’ wealth grew so much that they could cut “every man, woman and child in the country” a $3,000 stimulus check and “still be richer than they were nine months ago,” ATF executive director Frank Clemente said in a Tuesday press release.
...

Full text at:
https://www.rt.com/usa/509162-billionaires-wealth-explodes-covid/

Full text at ... nah, it's ok.

I would submit that there is no such thing as an "American Billionaire". Or a "Russian Billionaire" or a "French Billionaire" or a "British Billionaire".

For the 0.0001% that these people represent, nationality is essentially a meaningless concept when their wealth and power means that they can reside wherever they wish.

This is the 21st century aristocracy, and the fuckers own almost everything.

Including you and me.

And they are completely above the law.

They are entrenched and unless stuff is actually being destroyed (and usually even if it is) will always profit disproportionately.

(And RT needn't be so smug, Vladimir and his cronies are fully paid up members of the aristocracy)

ronmcd wrote:Full text at ... nah, it's ok.

Today is RT's fifteenth birthday! (It launched 10 Dec 2005).
Click here to join the celebration!

Tortured_Genius wrote:I would submit that there is no such thing as an "American Billionaire". Or a "Russian Billionaire" or a "French Billionaire" or a "British Billionaire".

For the 0.0001% that these people represent, nationality is essentially a meaningless concept when their wealth and power means that they can reside wherever they wish.

This is the 21st century aristocracy, and the fuckers own almost everything.

Including you and me.

And they are completely above the law.

They are entrenched and unless stuff is actually being destroyed (and usually even if it is) will always profit disproportionately.

(And RT needn't be so smug, Vladimir and his cronies are fully paid up members of the aristocracy)

Yes, I actually agree with all of that.

Mike_L wrote:

ronmcd wrote:Full text at ... nah, it's ok.

Today is RT's fifteenth birthday! (It launched 10 Dec 2005).
Click here to join the celebration!

2005

Here's a focused economic report from Lewis County, Washington:

So far this year, the net profit my bicycle service shop earned is just over $28K. Last year, it was just over $9K. Over three times the business this year, even with the pandemic since springtime.

I don't do sales, just service and wheel building.

In fact, since opening in the spring of 2018, I paid myself this year. I just set aside money for the rest of my recurring expenses for next year, and took an owner withdrawal of $5K. This leaves my shop with $2.5K to start the year, all expenses are paid, parts inventory well stocked, ready to carry on for another year.

My bicycle service shop was a designated essential service by the governor. I never had to close my shop during this pandemic.

My preference to work with my hands, and by myself, seems to have landed me in a business that survives stressed periods. This may be an illusion, though. How the next year unfolds may be different.

Agi Hammerthief wrote:we are all aware that Bicycle Repair Men are real heroes and well needed.

Never gets old.

The_Metatron wrote:Here's a focused economic report from Lewis County, Washington:

So far this year, the net profit my bicycle service shop earned is just over $28K. Last year, it was just over $9K. Over three times the business this year, even with the pandemic since springtime.

I don't do sales, just service and wheel building.

In fact, since opening in the spring of 2018, I paid myself this year. I just set aside money for the rest of my recurring expenses for next year, and took an owner withdrawal of $5K. This leaves my shop with $2.5K to start the year, all expenses are paid, parts inventory well stocked, ready to carry on for another year.

My bicycle service shop was a designated essential service by the governor. I never had to close my shop during this pandemic.

My preference to work with my hands, and by myself, seems to have landed me in a business that survives stressed periods. This may be an illusion, though. How the next year unfolds may be different.

Awesome Metatron. Repair services are pretty recession proof especially for necessities like transport, especially cheap transport like bicycles. It’s what people turn to when their cars get repo’d.

FYI, I’ve spent about $450 so far on bike repairs and tune ups. Mainly to winterize with new tires and break pads for winter biking but also to fix up my bike post-spill in the fall. I have saved about $1200 not taking public transport since the pandemic began.

felltoearth wrote:FYI, I’ve spent about $450 so far on bike repairs and tune ups. Mainly to winterize with new tires and break pads for winter biking but also to fix up my bike post-spill in the fall. I have saved about $1200 not taking public transport since the pandemic began.

Pays for your bike repairs!

My son Primus is very positive about not buying a car. He recognizes it as a sort of self licking lollipop that requires a job just to sustain the car that he would use to get back and forth to the job.

The money he won't spend on a car will buy him a very, very nice bicycle. He's enrolled in the local college, so when there is a medical answer to SARS-COV2, he'll get to take advantage of a free bus pass.