"It’s time to go touchless; The pandemic has accelerated contact-less technologies in offices and stores" by Hiawatha Bray Globe Staff, June 28, 2020
During the COVID-19 lockdown, I’ve almost forgotten what it feels like to pay for something with cash, or to press an elevator button. For many of us, these routine acts aren’t coming back. In the name of cleanliness and convenience, we’re migrating toward a hands-off world.
Makes you want to grab 'em and shake 'em, doesn't it?
Looks like no more runs to Cumbies to get a Globe.
Consumers are coming to depend on contactless payment methods such as Apple Pay and “tap-and-go” credit cards. The credit card company Visa says US usage is up by 150 percent since last year, while rival Mastercard says 51 percent of its US users have gone touchless.
It's the whole global reset, World Economic Forum crowd and their dystopian plan for the future, one they had developed long before the COVID cover under which they are forcing this down our throats.
Fear of COVID-19 infection is driving the rapid US uptake, according to Richard Crone, a mobile payments analyst. “What would have taken five years to achieve . . . has been compressed into two months,” he said.
Yeah, COVID helped advance a lot of agendas. Some are exploiting it, according to the Bo$ton Globe, and others not.
Contactless credit cards, sometimes called tap-and-go cards, are also on the rise. Because you can lightly tap them on the terminal or even hover them above it, the transaction is a lot cleaner than sliding a card into a slot ― ”a viral Petri dish,” as Crone calls them ― or punching a grubby PIN pad.
These cards are hugely popular worldwide, but only last year did US banks began pushing them hard — just in time for the coronavirus.
Oh, what a coincidence there, and to who$e benefit?
Of course, we still expect to touch things in our workplaces — the desk, for instance, or the computer keyboard, but must we touch anything else in the building?
Let's let the germaphobes rule us all. Then we can fall on them and infect them!
Engineers have been trying to create the hands-off office for years, but not for reasons of health. For some, it’s all about efficiency, by eliminating the need to push elevator buttons or even flip light switches.
“Everything that impedes your flow through a space is considered noise,” said Lee Billington, director of connected experiences for the architectural firm Gensler. “It costs time.”
For Robert Hemmerdinger, chief sales and marketing officer for Delta Controls, which makes smart-building technology, it’s about beauty. His company’s clients want to get rid of “wall acne,”he said — that is, the switches, dials, and buttons that deface their nice, clean walls.
These $ick, anti$eptic, control freaks are calling the shots. They want EVERYTHING CLEANSED!
Touchless buildings controlled through smartphones can solve both problems and prevent COVID infection as well. Billington is working with clients on systems that would track the unique Bluetooth radio signal from each worker’s phone. That signal would automatically unlock the proper doors and call up an elevator to take the worker to the correct floor. No contaminated keypads in sight.
I will get to the elevator ride up into wherever you are allowed momentarily.
Delta Controls has already sold thousands of its O3 Sensor Hub systems, which automatically manage temperature and lighting in offices and conference rooms. There’s no need for dirty wall switches; everything is controlled through a smartphone app, and if you’re thirsty, you won’t have to touch the drinks machine. Boston water cooler company Bevi now offers a hands-free dispenser. You use a smartphone camera to scan a bar code on the machine, and your phone displays all the available drink options. Tap the screen to fill ‘er up, and all you ever touch is the drinking cup.
Just wondering what happens during the inevitable hacking or power outage concerning this total surveillance grid with smartphone as the digital ID of which Gates, et al, dream. Rather disingenuous way to delivery it, via extortion through employment, but that's where we are going. No phone, no access to anything.
So will you be locked into a space with no escape during a power outage?
That could get tricky were it any length of time.
It has taken a deadly pandemic to get our attention, but the move toward touchless tech is decades old. Self-opening doors became popular in the 1950s, and automatic faucets and toilets made their debut in the ’80s. Both concepts rely on sensors that detect a person’s movements, but body motions can take you only so far. Remember Microsoft Kinect, the next big thing of 2010? Kinect used an array of cameras to track body movements and let people play games by making hand gestures. The company sold millions of them, before users realized how hard it is for a computer to understand a raised finger or a clenched fist.
Those things are nothing near what is being proposed now by this whoreporate pre$$titute, and can you figure out what this means?
Speech is better; you can tell the machine exactly what you want. Today, one out of four US households has a voice-controlled smart speaker, capable of playing music on command or remotely starting the car, but speech control doesn’t work well in noisy environments, or where privacy is needed.
He has the gall to mention privacy when needed!
Often, the best hands-off solutions aren’t totally hands-off. Instead, we rely on objects that nobody touches but us — smartphones and smart cards. They’re becoming the digital equivalent of gloves and face masks, a final line of defense against a virus-tainted world......
What is tainted it is the bu$ine$$ for which he is corn holing and its endless spew of garbage.
--more--"
Going down now:
"Going up? Not so fast: Strict new rules to govern elevator culture" by Matt Richtel New York Times ,June 27, 2020
Change is coming to the daily vertical commute, as workers begin to return to tall office buildings in New York and other cities. The elevator ride, a previously unremarkable 90 or so seconds, has become a daunting puzzler in the calculus of how to bring people back to work safely after the coronavirus pandemic kept them home for months.
Employers and building managers are drafting strict rules for going up: severe limits on the number of riders (four seems to be the new magic number), designated standing spots to maximize social distance, mandatory masks, required forward-facing positions — and no talking.
This sick fucking bastards do not want us socializing at all!!
That is what is behind the ABSURD SOCIAL DISTANCING and MASKS!
They are UNHEALTHY for YOU but GOOD for THEM!
DON'T TALK to your FELLOW HUMAN BEING and WORKER!
Well, believe me, there are some people I would not want to talk to: those I read from and about every day. Their very presence soils and stains this Earth.
On the good side, the elevator is no longer fart-free so blast away.
Some companies are hiring “elevator consultants” to figure how best to get thousands of people to their desks, balancing risk of elevator density against a potential logjam as riders wait — at least 6 feet apart — for their turns.
They will let you out at lunch to participate in a pre-approved protest for whatever agenda-advancing group is in flavor at the moment.
Reflecting the widespread interest and concern, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to weigh in as early as next week with guidance for elevators and escalators. For escalators, it will advise one rider every other step and hand sanitizer at the top. For elevators, it will recommend limiting the number of riders but won’t specify a number; arrows showing different paths to get on and get off; masks; and signs urging people to “not talk unless you have to,” said Nancy Clark Burton, a senior industrial hygienist at the CDC who is part of the group developing the new guidance.
Why don't shut your f**king yap then?
The changes are the result of clear science. COVID-19 is most transmittable when people are in tight confines, particularly indoor settings, where invisible droplets can travel from one person to the next, collateral damage of a seemingly innocuous conversation.
PFFFFFFFFFFFT!
Given all the unknowns with the virus — like how much is needed to cause illness and how much of the aerosol would spread to another rider’s lungs — Richard Corsi, dean of engineering and computer science at Portland State University, couldn’t determine the likelihood of transmission, but he said that the excretion from an infected person not wearing a mask would make an elevator far riskier than, say, standing in much less confined space, for the same amount of time, even indoors.
COUGH!
What ya' say?
His counsel? “Standing as far away as you can diagonally in an elevator would be good, and do not speak,” he said. “That needs to be part of new etiquette,” he added.....
And that is “you have a mask on and you’re not speaking to each other.”
I gue$$ that is the END of UNIONS!
Yaaaaaaaaaay!
--more--"
Somebody got taken for a ride, American, and wow, my floor already?
I think I will stop going into the office period, especially after “COVID-19 has taken a very swift and very dangerous turn in Texas over just the past few weeks.”
"California Governor Gavin Newsom rolled back reopenings of bars in seven counties, including Los Angeles. He ordered them to close immediately and urged eight other counties to issue local health orders mandating the same. More Florida beaches will be closing again to avoid further spread of the coronavirus as officials try to tamp down on large gatherings amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said interactions among young people are driving the surge. South Africa’s health minister warned that the country’s current surge of cases is expected to rapidly increase in the coming weeks and push hospitals to the limit. Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize said the current rise in infections has come from people who “moved back into the workplace.’’ New clusters of cases at a Swiss nightclub and in the central English city of Leicester showed that the virus was still circulating widely in Europe, though not with the rapidly growing infection rate seen in parts of the United States, Latin America, and India. Poland and France, meanwhile, attempted a step toward normalcy as they held elections that had been delayed by the virus. The World Health Organization announced another daily record in the number of confirmed cases across the world...."
Yeah, don't go to the bars but do this:
"In NYC, marking 50th anniversary of Pride, no matter what" By Deepti Hajela and Brian Mahoney Associated Press, June 28, 2020
NEW YORK — There were protests, rainbow flags and performances — it was LGBTQ Pride, after all, but what was normally an outpouring on the streets of New York City looked a little different this year, thanks to social distancing rules required by the coronavirus.
With the city’s massive Pride parade canceled, Sunday’s performances were virtual, the flags flew in emptier than normal spaces, and the protesters were masked.
The disruption caused by the virus would be an aggravation in any year, but particularly in this one, the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march in New York City.
Awwwwww, the gay continent was aggravated about something again.
Awwwwwww! Poor victims yet again!
“It’s a great thing to see because the original Pride started with the civil rights movement,” Matthew Fischer said as he passed out hand sanitizer Sunday at Foley Square. “So we’re really going back to the roots of that and making sure we encompass everything that empowers people to be who they are.”
I resent that because it has nothing to do with civil rights. Gay people can retreat to a closet and hide; a Black man can not hide his skin.
Fischer said it was important this year to show cooperation between the Black and LGBTQ communities, given the recent deaths of George Floyd and others that have sparked demonstrations against police brutality.
Oh, I see. Comingle every agenda and roll it up into COVID-19 chaos for advancement. Of course, one of the most anti-gay populations in the US are Blacks, but set that aside for pre$$ narrative purposes. Thank you.
A number of people in the crowd at Foley Square held signs reading “All Black Lives Matter,” with a black fist surrounded by rainbow colors. Most wore masks, though some scrapped social distancing in favor of hugging friends. One man held a sign advertising free hugs.
I'm wondering, what lives do not matter?
The first Pride march, on June 28, 1970, was a marker of the Stonewall uprisings of the year before in New York City’s West Village that helped propel a global LGBTQ movement. The historic Stonewall Inn, known as the birthplace of the gay rights movement, furloughed its employees and has been shuttered more than three months amid the pandemic, but it announced Sunday it will receive a $250,000 contribution from the Gill Foundation, money that will go toward several months of rent and utilities.
Well, here they are and here is where the funding comes from. It $houldn't be a $urpri$e to anyone.
“I don’t think things will really be back to normal for us until there’s a vaccine, so this is a much-needed lifeline,” co-owner Stacy Lentz said. Organizers of this year’s event in New York City were determined to showcase some of that spirit, with a TV broadcast honoring the front-line workers who have been so necessary in the fight against the virus as well as people and institutions of the LGBTQ community.
All supportive of the agenda, and thus the Globe's National lead with fawning pre$$ that has no concern of COVID at this moment.
The show featured several performers including Janelle Monáe, Deborah Cox, and Billy Porter, and appearances from a number of other celebrities.
That is supposed to make it appealing or.... ?
The Queer Liberation March for Black Lives and Against Police Brutality, meanwhile, marched from Lower Manhattan toward Washington Square Park. The organizers are activists who held a protest march last year as an alternative to the main Pride parade, saying it had become too corporate.
Even the $hakedown pay-offs are not even, but corporate doesn't seem to care. They will when they are put out of business while wondering what they did like a Jerry Springer guest.
Joseph Engargeau feared there might be no event this year because of the coronavirus restrictions. Instead, he felt this scaled-down version better resembled the first Pride than the massive event the parade became. Other celebrations of the day were visual. At Rockefeller Center, more than 100 rainbow flags were placed around the center rink, and the plaza was lit up in rainbow colors.....
Ah, the gays in Lock Step with the Rockefellers, yeah!
All the color$ bleed into one!
--more--"
Related:
"A court ordered the release of a former air force general and leading critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from jail on Sunday, a day after hundreds of people protested outside the Israeli leader’s residence calling for him to be freed. The arrest of Retired Brigadier General Amir Haskel, a former top Israeli general and leader of the protest movement against Netanyahu, has turned him into a symbol of the protest movement that opposes Netanyahu’s continued rule. Demonstrations have been held regularly around the country, with protesters waving signs reading “crime minister’’ and calling for Netanyahu to resign. “A line was crossed that must not be crossed. The reason for my arrest was a desire to silence the protest against the person accused of a crime, Benjamin Netanyahu,” Haskel told a news conference Sunday evening. “In the moral state of Israel, there is no way a person accused of a crime should be prime minister.” The arrests drew angry denunciations from prominent Israelis and sent hundreds out to protest outside Netanyahu’s residence on Saturday, with many slamming the police for making what they viewed as politically motivated arrests. Netanyahu is on trial for a series of scandals in which he allegedly received lavish gifts from billionaire friends and traded regulatory favors with media moguls for more favorable coverage of himself and his family. The trial is set to resume next month....."
The report is by Tia Goldenberg Associated Press, and talk about controlled opposition!
A former general for God's sakes!
Protesters demonstrating against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held flags and banners outside his residence in Jerusalem last month.Ariel Schalit/Associated Press/File 2020/Associated Press
I always look for social distancing and mask observances and, well, you can see for yourself.
As for whatever demonic and blood-soaked party or cretin leads Israel, I couldn't care less.
Meanwhile, right next door:
"Lebanon’s foreign minister summoned the US ambassador to Beirut over comments she made recently in which she criticized the militant Hezbollah group, state-run National News Agency reported Sunday. The agency gave no further details other than saying that the meeting between Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti and Ambassador Dorothy Shea is scheduled for Monday afternoon. Local media said the minister will tell the ambassador that according to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, an ambassador has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of another country and should not incite the Lebanese people against one another. On Saturday, a Lebanese judge banned local and foreign media outlets in the country from interviewing the US ambassador for a year saying that her criticism of Hezbollah was seditious and a threat to social peace. The judge’s ruling came a day after Shea told Saudi-owned TV station Al-Hadath that Washington has “great concerns” over Hezbollah’s role in the government. The move was harshly criticized by many in Lebanon, which enjoyed one of the more freer media landscapes in the Arab world. Others, however, criticized Shea for comments deemed an interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs Since the ban by the judge was imposed on Saturday, several local TV stations aired fresh comments from Shea in which she described the judge’s decision as “unfortunate.” She added that a senior Lebanese government official, whom she did not name, apologized to her. The court decision reflected the rising tension between the United States and Hezbollah. It also revealed a widening rift among groups in Lebanon, which is facing the worst economic crisis in its modern history....."
Seems to be a PANDEMIC that is SWEEPING the GLOBE, huh?
Also see:
"Lebanon is gripped by a deepening financial crisis and talks with the International Monetary Fund for assistance has been complicated by political infighting. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shi’ite group, and its allies are dominant in parliament and back the current government. It is designated by Washington as a terrorist group and the United States has continued to expand sanctions against the group; however, Washington is one of the largest donors to the Lebanese army, making for one of the more complicated diplomatic balancing acts in the region....."
That is new$peak for hypocrisy, and speaking of balancing acts:
"Local protests continue in support of Black Lives Matter movement" by Lucas Phillips Globe Correspondent, June 28, 2020
Every.... single.... day.
During a day that threatened ― and in places poured — rain, events in support of a movement in support of racial justice continued, although it marked the first time in weeks no large-scale rallies were held.
In Cambridge, a controversy over Whole Foods employees wearing “Black Lives Matter” masks continued to simmer as a dozen workers were sent home, and a small group of supporters stood out in front of the River Street location.
“We’re its paying customers and it makes no sense to us” Vibha Pingle, 53, said about Whole Foods not allowing employees to wear the masks. “We’re not fighting for anything other than basic human rights here — and this is Cambridge,” said Pingle, who lives in the city.
And the right to wear a mask of their own! That's the new independence! Which muzzle will I wear?
Pingle and a group of friends have been leading groups of about 50 protesters for at least an hour a day since Friday to show support for employees wearing the masks and put pressure on the store by encouraging would-be customers to shop elsewhere.
I hope the store closes. Then they will be complaining about that saying they can't do that!
Savanah Kinzer, 23, of Boston, has been leading the protest among the store’s employees, who were sent home without pay and could eventually face other discipline as a result of their protest, she said. Kinzer said a dozen employees were sent home Sunday and the company confirmed that.
Is it one N or two?
A spokeswoman for Whole Foods said the company “strongly supports the Black community,” but employees are not allowed to work until they comply with the dress code, which “prohibits clothing with visible slogans, messages, logos or advertising that are not company-related.” She said this policy includes masks. Other masks are offered to employees, she said.
Otherwise, it opens up a whole can of worms about which masks are allowable and which aren't for the lawyers, which is where this is going.
Kinzer said the employees were sent home Sunday after declining to swap out their masks, and she called on other Whole Foods locations to join them in a statewide protest on Tuesday.
More protests! Statewide!
Other events supporting the Black Lives Matter movement were planned during the day and evening in Cambridge, Hyde Park, Newton, Worcester (virtually), Abington, and Hingham, from forums on socialism to voting to old-fashioned sign-holding.
No COVID concern, huh?
At least two of the events were hosted by first-time organizers.
“Hey if we want change to happen, we can’t wait around for it,” said Crystal Neake, 21, a South Boston resident with the group “Voices of Boston” who helped organize an event in Hyde Park designed to promote voting. Heavy rains eventually forced the event to shut down, she said. Still, the newly formed group hopes to “be more constructive in the way we’re being activists,” she said in a phone interview, and voting is “. . . another avenue you can use your voice as well.”
Not pwogwe$$ive?
Related:
"Much of the state is considered to be in a “significant drought,” a result of recent warmer-than-usual temperatures and little precipitation since May, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs announced Friday. Residents in the Connecticut River Valley, and Western, Central, and Northeast regions — the areas where the drought has officially been declared — were advised to minimize overall water use. The state also warned of increased wildfire risk Friday, with 110 wildfires reported in the past 30 days. The declaration came amid dry conditions throughout New England, according to the United States Drought Monitor, a collaboration of University of Nebraska-Lincoln with government agencies to track droughts nationwide. A National Weather Service meteorologist, Torry Gaucher, who noted the agency does not track longer-term trends like droughts, said dry conditions are likely to continue in the near term despite a smattering of pop-up storms Sunday and throughout the upcoming week. “They’ll help out people’s lawns that are turning brown right now, but won’t do much to relieve us of drought status,” he said. “It’s like putting a Band-Aid on at this point.” Still, the spots of heavy rain, along with cooler temperatures expected for much of the coming week, could have positive impacts in some places, according to Gaucher. “Just for individual communities that will get that helping hand,” he said....."
"Much of the state is considered to be in a “significant drought,” a result of recent warmer-than-usual temperatures and little precipitation since May, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs announced Friday. Residents in the Connecticut River Valley, and Western, Central, and Northeast regions — the areas where the drought has officially been declared — were advised to minimize overall water use. The state also warned of increased wildfire risk Friday, with 110 wildfires reported in the past 30 days. The declaration came amid dry conditions throughout New England, according to the United States Drought Monitor, a collaboration of University of Nebraska-Lincoln with government agencies to track droughts nationwide. A National Weather Service meteorologist, Torry Gaucher, who noted the agency does not track longer-term trends like droughts, said dry conditions are likely to continue in the near term despite a smattering of pop-up storms Sunday and throughout the upcoming week. “They’ll help out people’s lawns that are turning brown right now, but won’t do much to relieve us of drought status,” he said. “It’s like putting a Band-Aid on at this point.” Still, the spots of heavy rain, along with cooler temperatures expected for much of the coming week, could have positive impacts in some places, according to Gaucher. “Just for individual communities that will get that helping hand,” he said....."
That was after a cooler-than-average spring, and what is in that rain anyway?
Could it be an accelerant to cause a fire to breaks out before being doused?
Enough splashing around, back to the protests:
Nicole Schick, 32, was also organizing her first event, a rally in Abington, where she lives. The social worker said the event came from the needs of her own household, where she lives with two Black men, including her fiancee. “We needed that sense of safety and security and support,” she said in a phone interview. She said she moved into the predominantly white town from Orlando, Fla., and “it wasn’t clear this was a town to support [the movement] or not.”
Oddly enough, the Globe flew me down to Orlando in the bu$ine$$ section today, but I will save that for the Shicksha's trip back.
What started as a plan to hold signs a few weeks ago grew into the expectation of a rally Sunday evening, said Schick, who is white. “This is what we needed in our home, but there are a lot of people that need this in their homes.”
For Jennifer Ofayande, 18, a Boston resident who was among the Whole Foods employees who were sent home Sunday, she is going to keep on protesting. Her next scheduled shift is Monday and she said she will wear the “Black Lives Matter” mask again.
“It’s honestly going to be the same thing. We’re going to keep putting on the masks. We’re going to keep doing it and see what they say,” she said.
“I just feel like as a Black person it’s my right to do this because it’s showing that I’m here having a voice and that I should be heard,” Ofayande said. “I am also showing that hey, my life matters. It’s not politics: We all have to start leading for a change.”
Think of the absurdity that she is arguing there.
Masking up is a way for her voice to be heard!
What is wrong with the youth these days?
Why are they so dumb and blind?
Are they that easy to manipulate and control?
Apparently so.
--more--"
Notice what they are NOT PROTESTING?
Not protesting wealth inequality, Bezos getting rich short selling his stock, Amazon treating workers like crap, not protesting war policy and all the black and brown corpses that have been stacked like firewood, Palestinian lives don't matter, Haitian lives don't matter (until now!), all that matters is the relentless agenda-pushing garbage promoted by the pre$$ that the kids have glommed onto.
Of course, the bar is now closed anyway:
"It was a truly great Irish pub, a precious thing indeed, so when I heard the news last week that O’Leary’s had permanently closed, I felt a wistful sense of loss, crestfallen that such a fixture in my life was suddenly gone. It was the first pub I loved in the city I had wanted to call home since I first laid eyes on Fenway. It was the scene of some of my fondest memories, reunions, and celebrations that brought rare combinations of family and friends together. And like an old friend, it had seen me through different stages of my life, from the first heady years in Boston past the various milestones of adulthood — career, marriage, family. I hadn’t been there since September, after one of the last Red Sox games of the year. If I had known I wouldn’t be back, that the world was going to spin off its axis, and Fenway Park would stand empty still, it’s safe to say I would have stayed for a few more pints. As it was, I simply made my way home, believing I’d surely return before too long — like always. Since we heard the news, my friends and I have reminisced over all the great times there. Ringing in the year 2000 with a sprawling crowd, spanning generations, that included my sister and the woman my oldest friend, Steve, would marry. They concluded their wedding ceremony by stomping on an O’Leary’s pint glass....."
Do you kids know you are being played or has the educational $y$tem left you too stupid to see it?
Enjoy the future in your $tate-$anctioned care (her latest up and over there is a video from Boston, and I couldn't more dejectedly agree. I see it all around me. It's literally right in front of my face every day. Some are saying the second round of lockdowns won't be as easy as the first, but I see no resistance amongst my fellow citizens. They have let themselves be raped and tortured with barely a whimper, and are now a heap of flesh ripe for sticking).
Been $uch a difficult year for $ome:
"For Boston Scientific, a ‘most difficult year’; Postponed elective surgeries cost the medical device maker half its business, and George Floyd's death in Minneapolis hit close to home" by Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff, June 28, 2020
When Mike Mahoney first heard about the new coronavirus, in January, it struck him as a scientific curiosity confined to China. By early March, the chief executive of Boston Scientific knew it was a global tsunami that threatened to upend the US economy and crush his Marlborough company.
Hmmmm!
That is what it should have been then, if it exists at all. If not, it points to a bioweapon.
A homegrown Fortune 500 firm, Boston Scientific sells medical devices used primarily in elective surgeries. Those procedures were halted almost overnight when hospitals pivoted to treating COVID-19 patients. The effect on the company’s core business was swift and staggering: Sales plunged 50 percent.
Who decides what is an "elective" surgery?
The company had to slash costs, and do it quickly, but Mahoney wanted to avoid layoffs. So on April 2, Boston Scientific made an extraordinary announcement. It was reducing the wages of many of its 36,000 global employees by 20 percent for three months and halving the base salaries of five key executives for six months. Mahoney would forgo most of his base salary until October.
Next month, with elective surgeries resuming in most of the country and sales rebounding, despite coronavirus cases surging in the South and West, Boston Scientific will end the four-day workweek and the corresponding pay cut. Mahoney and other top-ranking employees will continue to receive their smaller paychecks until October. His base salary totaled almost $1.28 million in 2019, although his overall compensation exceeded $15.7 million, including stock and other payments.
Oh, what a difficult year for him!
Mahoney, in his most detailed public remarks about how he is steering Boston Scientific through its biggest crisis since he became CEO in 2011, said the pandemic hasn’t been the only extraordinary challenge.
With a market value of more than $48 billion and operations on six continents, Boston Scientific has about 9,000 employees in Minnesota. That’s about three times the number it has in Massachusetts. Most Minnesota employees work at two campuses in the Minneapolis suburbs.
Time to move out of there, pronto!
In late May, when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck in a harrowing scene captured on video, Floyd’s death and the ensuing riots literally hit close to home. Some workers, he said, live near where Floyd was killed or where fires erupted in the days that followed.
They called the police but the phone rang and rang and rang..... until a computer-generated voice came on and said the number you have dialed is not in service at this time, please check the number and dial again.
Boston Scientific temporarily put five employees and their families up in hotels and provided grief counseling to workers, a spokeswoman said. Mahoney and other members of the executive committee attended an hour-long Zoom meeting with 350 employees from around the world. Many of the workers belong to an employee resource group called Bridge that seeks to advance the careers of Black staffers. Some said they identified with George Floyd because they or their relatives had been mistreated by police over the years.
Boston Scientific, which has drawn praise for its commitment to diversity, took other steps, as well. The company promised to donate $2.5 million to anti-racism programs and contributed at least $250,000 to the Greater Twin Cities United Way, and it released a statement that not only condemned discrimination but also urged employees to confront such behavior if they see it at work.
“Speak up when you experience or witness intolerance, mistreatment or bias in action,” the executive committee wrote. “No matter what the issue, say something . . . Saying nothing when such instances arise condones the discrimination or micro-aggression.”
Precious Morton, a quality manager at Boston Scientific’s site in Alpharetta, Ga., said the commitment to diversity is genuine. “It’s definitely more than just talk,” said Morton, 33, who is Black and oversees seven Bridge chapters for employees across the United States.
Either of the challenges — a pandemic-related business meltdown and unrest in a city where many of its employees live ― would have tested a chief executive. Together, said Mahoney, a Chicago native who speaks in measured tones, they created what has “clearly been the most difficult year” since he took the helm almost nine years ago.
Boston Scientific was hardly the only medical device company staggered by the postponement or cancellation of elective procedures. Medtronic, Abbott, and Stryker were also among those whose revenue took a dive.
“This was Armageddon,” Wall Street analyst Vijay Kumar, managing director of Evercore ISI’s health care and technology team, said. “Hospitals stopping procedures was a scenario none of us could have ever fathomed.”
Really?
Even after Event 201?
Founded in Watertown in 1979, Boston Scientific makes dozens of products, from coronary stents to endoscopic devices, used by a wide range of medical specialists. About 70 percent of its products, Mahoney said, are for procedures considered “deferrable,” or elective. Because of the pandemic, just about everything that wasn’t an emergency was put on hold at hospitals and clinics across the country.
I don't know; coronary and endoscopic sound more than "elective" to me.
Mahoney arrived at Boston Scientific from the health care products giant Johnson & Johnson, where he headed the New Jersey company’s medical device and diagnostics group. Boston Scientific had struggled for years, losing business to rivals and facing thousands of lawsuits that alleged it had marketed unsafe surgical mesh used in pelvic repair surgeries. Many of the problems stemmed from the company’s $27.3 billion purchase of a rival device maker, Guidant Corp., a 2006 deal widely derided on Wall Street.
OMFG!
That's the same company that lied about talc powder causing ovarian cancer for decades, and one that has been awarded a ro$e by the Trump administration to roll out whatever toxic poison is going to be ion the COVID vaccine vial.
The ince$tuou$ne$$ of the bu$ine$$ knows no bounds!
Mahoney earned praise for revitalizing Boston Scientific through savvy corporate acquisitions and the roll-out of new products. The company also publicly set goals for workforce diversity and shared data about whether it was meeting those benchmarks.
In January, when Boston Scientific began tracking the outbreak of COVID-19 in China, where the company has operations, “nobody expected it to leave” that country, Mahoney recalled during a telephone interview last week. “We said to ourselves, if this ever comes to the US or Europe, it’s going to be very difficult.”
Oh, yeah?
By early March, after cases began spreading in the United States, there was no doubt that the mushrooming health crisis was also a business crisis for Boston Scientific. On March 18, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that all elective surgeries and nonessential medical procedures should be postponed to preserve hospital beds and equipment for coronavirus patients.
For the rest of us, too -- almo$t.
Around the same time, Boston Scientific canceled all travel by employees and then directed most of them to work from home. Some, including hundreds of employees who ship products from a distribution center in Quincy, continued to work onsite, but shifts were staggered to limit the number of people in the building.
Then came the pay cuts. Boston Scientific put most of its full-time US workers who aren’t involved in sales or manufacturing on a four-day workweek. Hours for part-time employees were maintained at a level to preserve benefits. The company enacted similar cost-cutting measures abroad. Boston Scientific has about 17,000 workers in the United States and 19,000 overseas.
The board of directors also decided that each director’s annual cash retainer would be halved for the year, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Kumar, the Wall Street analyst, said Mahoney made the right move by cutting pay rather than eliminating jobs. “If I was a Boston [Scientific] employee and I was told I was going to get a 20 percent pay cut, I might be breathing a sigh of relief,” he said. “Look at the unemployment right now. And by the way, I have a CEO who says he’s going to forgo his salary. That’s management saying, ‘We feel your pain.‘ ”
Yeah, $ure.
As coronavirus cases have fallen in recent weeks in much of the country and elective surgeries have resumed, Boston Scientific has begun to slowly let employees ― particularly lab scientists ― return to work sites. Nonetheless, company executives know that cases are on the rise in parts of the country and that the crisis is hardly over.
Have they really?
I gue$$ it is whatever $hit you are shoveling on a given day, huh?
At its sprawling headquarters in Marlborough, about 10 percent of the workforce is back, but the cafeteria remains dark, and water fountains are taped over. Employees and visitors must have their temperatures taken by a heat-sensing camera in the lobby. If it’s below 100.4 degrees, they can proceed.
Where is my ball bat?
Mahoney, who spent 90 days working from his home in a Providence suburb, said he’s delighted that employees are returning. Sales have rebounded, and — with many patients who postponed surgeries rescheduling them for later this year ― he expects the company to make more money in the fourth quarter than it did in the last quarter of 2019.
“We knew the business would eventually come back,” he said.....
Not what was reported on Friday, and maybe he could use some tele-mental health for the state of delusion in which he appears to be living.
--more--"
Related:
"Forty years after a sadistic suburban rapist terrorized California in what investigators later realized were a series of linked assaults and slayings, a 74-year-old former police officer is expected to plead guilty Monday to being the elusive Golden State Killer. The deal will spare Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. any chance of the death penalty for 13 murders and 13 kidnapping-related charges spanning six counties. In partial return, survivors of the assaults that spanned the 1970s and 1980s expect him to admit to up to 62 rapes with which he could not be criminally charged because too much time has passed, yet nothing is certain until he actually speaks in a Sacramento State University ballroom pressed into use as a courtroom to provide for social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. Investigators early on connected certain crimes to an armed and masked rapist who would break into sleeping couples’ suburban homes at night, binding the man and piling dishes on his back. He would threaten to kill both victims if he heard the plates fall while he raped the woman. A guilty plea and life sentence avoids a trial or even the planned weekslong preliminary hearing. The victims expect to confront him at his sentencing in August, where it’s expected to take several days to tell DeAngelo and Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman what they have suffered. The killer racked up a series of monikers for his crimes over the decades, including the original Night Stalker, but it wasn’t until years later that investigators connected a series of assaults in central and Northern California to later slayings in Southern California and settled on the umbrella Golden State Killer nickname for the mysterious assailant whose crimes spanned 11 counties from 1974 through mid-1986....."
If any ever deserved death (a former cop to boot), but what's with the sour puss?
"The mystery sparked worldwide interest, a best-selling book, and a six-part HBO documentary, “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” that premiered Sunday. It was only the pioneering use of new DNA techniques that two years ago led investigators to DeAngelo, who was fired from the Auburn Police Department northeast of Sacramento in 1979 after he was caught shoplifting dog repellent and a hammer. He previously had worked as a police officer in the Central Valley town of Exeter from 1973 to 1976, near where the Visalia Ransacker struck more than 100 homes south of Fresno. Investigators painstakingly built a family tree by linking decades-old crime scene DNA to a distant relative through a popular online DNA database. They eventually narrowed in on DeAngelo with a process that has since been used in other cases nationwide, but said they confirmed the link only after surreptitiously collecting his DNA from his car door and a discarded tissue. His defense attorneys have publicly lobbied since then for a deal that would spare him the death penalty, though they did not respond to repeated requests for comment before Monday’s hearing. Prosecutors who had sought the death penalty cited the massively complicated case and the advancing age of many of the victims and witnesses in agreeing to consider the plea bargain....."
It is just a ‘‘relief for all of us to move on with our lives,” and I won't be watching HBO or anything that comes out of Hollywood these days. Time to boycott that filth.
The year is going to keep getting worse for this guy:
Trump’s attacks seen undercutting confidence in 2020 vote
That is assuming we had any.
Trump takes down tweet approving racist chant
Too late.
Rolling Stones threaten suit over Trump’s use of songs
F**king has-beens.
Retire already, you greedy f**ks, or did you waste all the loot?
Of course, if the Democraps lose they will blame Russia!
Minneapolis officials press new police body-cam rules
Just abolish them already.
Mississippi lawmakers OK measure to change state flag
Another fixture of life gone.
Now raise your glass!!
Suspect in Ky. rally shooting had been asked to leave
He stood his ground and is a case a study in privilege.
"Group calls for urgent nursing home reforms amid COVID-19" by John Hilliard Globe Staff, June 28, 2020
This after the Globe minimized the huge hole in the $afety net (that's how we all got rich, though) and washed clean the hands of the governor.
As the coronavirus pandemic moved through the state’s nursing homes leaving thousands dead, longstanding practices in those facilities and in state government contributed to the number of deaths, a watchdog group calling for reforms said Sunday in a report to state leaders.
The Pioneer Institute called for a series of measures in its report, including tighter oversight and transparency in the care of some of the state’s most vulnerable residents, as well as regular testing and the appointment of a top official to oversee nursing homes’ responses to COVID-19.
The report also called for prioritizing access to any future vaccine for nursing home residents and workers.
“The conditions that led to this tragic outcome appear to have been in place for years,‘‘ said the report. “Such conditions, combined with failure to prioritize the needs of nursing home populations, resulted in the unacceptable lethality of the virus in the state’s long-term care facilities.”
Jab, jab, jab, and how did it get in there?
Jab, jab, jab, and how did it get in there?
As of Sunday, the state has reported 23,399 cases of the disease in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, along with 5,086 deaths. Coronavirus cases have been reported in 369 facilities, according to state data.
Barbara Anthony, Pioneer’s senior health care fellow who co-wrote the report, said the state must take immediate steps to control the infection and prepare nursing homes for the duration of the pandemic.
“This is a matter of the utmost urgency,” Anthony said in an interview Sunday. “We’re not through with this virus [because] it’s not through with us.”
Maybe, but I'm through with you and the damn Globe. You are polluting the world with your noxious spew.
Deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities account for nearly two-thirds of the statewide death toll due to the virus, according to state data. That’s a rate much higher than the national average of under 40 percent for nursing home deaths, according to the report.
Maybe, but I'm through with you and the damn Globe. You are polluting the world with your noxious spew.
Deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities account for nearly two-thirds of the statewide death toll due to the virus, according to state data. That’s a rate much higher than the national average of under 40 percent for nursing home deaths, according to the report.
The number of nursing home deaths locally due to COVID-19 “is a severe blot on the public health history of Massachusetts,” the report said.
Just a blot, not a crime!
Just a blot, not a crime!
On Sunday, the state reported 19 new deaths in the general population due to the coronavirus, bringing the death toll to 8,060. The number of new cases ticked up by 224, reaching a total of 108,667, an increase from 108,443 cases reported a day earlier.
There they go again, tossing numbers at you with no context, no veracity, no transparency.
There they go again, tossing numbers at you with no context, no veracity, no transparency.
In a statement, Jim Stergios, Pioneer’s executive director, said there was a glaring contrast between the state’s “hypervigilant” closure of schools and its preparations for hospitals, versus steps taken to ready senior care facilities for the coronavirus.
“Given the risk profile of eldercare residents, we hope that lessons learned in the first wave of the pandemic translate to permanent reforms in Massachusetts nursing homes,” Stergios said.
SIGH!
SIGH!
By the time Governor Charlie Baker closed nursing homes to visitors in mid-March, according to the report, it was too late. The virus had already infiltrated most homes through staff or visitors.
OMFG, they are blaming staff and families for the outbreak when it was the government's policy of placing alleged COVID-19 cases in the nursing homes that caused this.
Many of those staff or visitors were probably asymptomatic, the Pioneer report said, and community transmission accelerated the spread of the disease.
Yeah, you were sick and didn't even know it.
Has that WORN AS THIN WITH YOU as it has with ME?
Yeah, you were sick and didn't even know it.
Has that WORN AS THIN WITH YOU as it has with ME?
A lack of testing and personal protective equipment along with shortages of staff who had appropriate infection-control training created dangerous conditions that spiraled out of control, the report said.
Whatever. That's just cover for criminal politicians.
Whatever. That's just cover for criminal politicians.
“While residents and staff at most homes have now been tested once, there is no publicly available plan for how to ensure sufficient testing and adequate PPE going forward,” the report said.
The Pioneer report said many practices by the state heightened nursing home residents’ vulnerability, including a program offering the facilities additional funding if they admitted COVID-19 patients from hospitals.
Yeah, MINIMIZE the FINANCIAL INCENTIVES offered by the CRIMINAL GOVERNMENT!
Yup, more $$$ for a COVID diagnosis, more money to put on a murderous ventilator, and more money to infect the nursing homes and kill our beloved useless eaters.
We are talking MAJOR EVIL HERE, folks!
Yup, more $$$ for a COVID diagnosis, more money to put on a murderous ventilator, and more money to infect the nursing homes and kill our beloved useless eaters.
We are talking MAJOR EVIL HERE, folks!
Pioneer quoted research from the Massachusetts Advocates for Nursing Home Reform that suggested half of the facilities that participated had signs of “severe operational deficiencies,” according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS.
“It is not clear how facilities with low CMS grades became COVID checklist-compliant so quickly,” Pioneer said in the report. “This incentive structure needs reform to prioritize quality of resident care over monetary gains, with ongoing transparent oversight from state officials prior to placement of COVID patients.”
Time to nur$e this blog home.
Time to nur$e this blog home.
Another issue was whether nursing homes were being held to state standards for emergency preparedness, according to the Pioneer report. Those plans, which include pandemic flus and diseases, require isolation and protective personal equipment measures.
The report said there was “no clear evidence” that state and federal surveys have applied these standards in a thorough and consistent manner.
Neglect is still murder!
Neglect is still murder!
The state’s most recent infection control audits revealed that more than one-third of these facilities failed to comply with measures intended to stem the disease’s spread as of May 21, according to the report. The audits were ordered amid public scrutiny of COVID-19′s impact on nursing homes.
Requests for comment from the Baker administration were not immediately returned Sunday evening.
I wonder why!
They hope this will blow over.
I hope the families hire lawyers and sue!
I wonder why!
They hope this will blow over.
I hope the families hire lawyers and sue!
The Pioneer report also called for regular testing of residents and staff; requiring nursing homes to report test results directly to the state Department of Public Health; and preventing employees at a facility with an outbreak from working at other nursing homes.
Nursing homes should also subject workers and visitors to temperature checks, and collect the names, addresses, and phone numbers of anyone who enters, to help facilitate contact tracing, the group said.
They are of no help then!
This whitewash of a report is more agenda-pushing garbage!
They are of no help then!
This whitewash of a report is more agenda-pushing garbage!
Anthony, who oversaw the state Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation under former Governor Deval Patrick, said the scope of deaths among nursing home residents due to the disease shows disrespect for the well-being of the state’s seniors.
“We have been denigrating, or devaluing, the lives of older people throughout this pandemic,” Anthony said.
“This is going to happen again, unless those steps are taken immediately, and with vigor,” she said.
Related:
Police find Old Port businesses in compliance after complaints
They are enforcing the COVID restrictions in Maine as the state reports 37 new cases and no deaths from coronavirus, while in Vermont there were 2 new cases for a statewide total of 1,202.
Also see:
Police find Old Port businesses in compliance after complaints
They are enforcing the COVID restrictions in Maine as the state reports 37 new cases and no deaths from coronavirus, while in Vermont there were 2 new cases for a statewide total of 1,202.
Also see:
Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
I see sly evil there.
It's never enough!
Time for your flight back to Orlando:
Time for your flight back to Orlando:
"Tourists absent, Orlando area’s workers struggle" by Eve Edelheit and Brooks Barnes New York Times, June 28, 2020
ORLANDO — While most people have received one-time stimulus payments from the federal government, UNITE HERE, a union representing 30,000 hospitality workers in the Orlando area, recently said that at least 1,500 of its members had yet to receive any unemployment payments from the state. Florida has been one of the slowest states to process jobless claims, in part because its system was designed to be arduous.
Few areas of the country rely on tourism more than Central Florida, which is home to Disney World, SeaWorld, Universal, Gatorland, Legoland, and a plethora of smaller attractions. An estimated 250,000 people work in the leisure and hospitality industries, accounting for 25 percent of jobs in the area, according to the trade organization Visit Orlando.
Most workers whose livelihoods depend on Orlando’s ability to attract tourists in large numbers have managed to get by as the amusement economy shut down around them — though for some it has been a struggle.
Recent weeks have brought a new kind of purgatory for tourism workers in the region. Will spiking coronavirus cases in Florida halt the reopening that was beginning to happen? Disney, for instance, has been calling back employees ahead of a limited return to operations on July 11.
Not only that, a second shutdown is underway, one that is going to last for an ENTIRE YEAR!
Recent weeks have brought a new kind of purgatory for tourism workers in the region. Will spiking coronavirus cases in Florida halt the reopening that was beginning to happen? Disney, for instance, has been calling back employees ahead of a limited return to operations on July 11.
Not only that, a second shutdown is underway, one that is going to last for an ENTIRE YEAR!
“To Disney’s credit, they have done everything in their power to mitigate our safety concerns about returning to work,” said Paul Cox, who also serves as president of Disney World’s stagehand union. “People are mostly terrified that the company is going to stop the recalls. That would be a disaster. People are barely hanging on as it is, and unemployment benefits will end soon.”
So will the job.
So will the job.
Others are worried that going back to work will lead to infection. With the coronavirus now rampaging in Florida, one Disney employee started an online petition asking the company and government officials to reconsider their reopening timelines. It had about 16,200 signatures on Sunday.
I suggest no one go there. Let Disney close.
I suggest no one go there. Let Disney close.
Disney World employs roughly 77,000 people. A Disney spokeswoman on Friday reiterated that the resort would begin opening on July 11 and that “several thousand” employees (“cast members” in Disney parlance) had already been called back in preparation.
“Cast members are incredibly eager to return to their jobs at our theme parks,” Disney said in a statement.
“The new protocols we have put into place for our phased reopening will help guide our cast and guests to enjoy the parks experience in a responsible way.”
Uh-huh.
I don't think so. COVID-19 has made it no fun anymore.
Uh-huh.
I don't think so. COVID-19 has made it no fun anymore.
Before the coronavirus halted travel in March, Orlando was booming. The convention center, the second-largest in North America, had announced a $605 million addition; billions of dollars’ worth of new theme park attractions and hotels were on the way; and Orlando International Airport was working on a $3 billion expansion.
Yeah, before the BIG LIE of COVID came along, bu$ine$$ was booming and people were having fun. Now they are in a blind rage.
In any event, f**k your indu$try. You threw in with this. Now live with it.
Yeah, before the BIG LIE of COVID came along, bu$ine$$ was booming and people were having fun. Now they are in a blind rage.
In any event, f**k your indu$try. You threw in with this. Now live with it.
With local officials estimating it could take five years for visitation to rebound from the pandemic, many of those growth projects are being scaled back or postponed. Unemployment in the Orlando metropolitan area was 22.6 percent in May, the highest level since Florida began its current estimating process in 1976. Universal Orlando made sweeping layoffs last week.
Or NEVER!
Who cares about Mickey Mouse and his band of perverts anyway?
Or NEVER!
Who cares about Mickey Mouse and his band of perverts anyway?
Here is what some Orlando-area workers had to say about the limbo that has decimated Central Florida’s tourism industry:
Sorry, couldn't hear 'em through the mask.
Sorry, couldn't hear 'em through the mask.
--more--"
At least the NBA is starting up.
That should save their sorry a$$es!
Related:
"Boeing has Federal Aviation Administration approval to test its 737 Max to demonstrate it can fly safely with new flight-control software. Flights could begin as soon as Monday, a major step in the company’s effort to get its best-selling plane flying again. The Max was grounded in March 2019 after two fatal crashes, in Indonesia and Ethiopia, killed 346 people. The resulting crisis cost Boeing billions, including compensation to victims and airlines. It also led to the ouster of the chief executive, set off government inquiries, and raised questions about the rushed effort to build and approve the Max. Certification flights conducted by FAA pilots will probably take place in the Seattle area, where the plane is made. A top Boeing test pilot will also be on the flights. If the flights are successful, it could still be months before the planes are deemed ready to fly. If the FAA identifies further problems, Boeing may need to make additional changes. The crashes were caused in part by anti-stall software that automatically pushed the nose of the plane downward. Boeing developed a fix, though regulators late identified other problems."
Thank God it is time for the drink service:
At least the NBA is starting up.
That should save their sorry a$$es!
Related:
"Boeing has Federal Aviation Administration approval to test its 737 Max to demonstrate it can fly safely with new flight-control software. Flights could begin as soon as Monday, a major step in the company’s effort to get its best-selling plane flying again. The Max was grounded in March 2019 after two fatal crashes, in Indonesia and Ethiopia, killed 346 people. The resulting crisis cost Boeing billions, including compensation to victims and airlines. It also led to the ouster of the chief executive, set off government inquiries, and raised questions about the rushed effort to build and approve the Max. Certification flights conducted by FAA pilots will probably take place in the Seattle area, where the plane is made. A top Boeing test pilot will also be on the flights. If the flights are successful, it could still be months before the planes are deemed ready to fly. If the FAA identifies further problems, Boeing may need to make additional changes. The crashes were caused in part by anti-stall software that automatically pushed the nose of the plane downward. Boeing developed a fix, though regulators late identified other problems."
Thank God it is time for the drink service:
"Starbucks is the latest company to say it will pause social media ads after a campaign led by civil rights organizations called for a boycott of Facebook, saying it doesn’t do enough to stop racist and violent content. Starbucks said its actions were not part of the #StopHateforProfit campaign, but that it is pausing its ads while talking with civil rights organizations and its media partners about how to stop hate speech online. The announcement follows statements from Unilever, Coca-Cola, Verizon, Patagonia, REI; Magnolia Pictures; Levi’s and others. Some will pause ads just on Facebook; others will refrain from advertising more broadly on social media. Facebook executive Carolyn Everson has said that the platform is committed to purging hateful content. “Our conversations with marketers and civil rights organizations are about how, together, we can be a force for good,” said Everson."
Too bitter, and here is how you have to pay for it:
"Gold futures edged closer to $1,800 an ounce — a level last seen at the end of 2011 — as demand for safe-haven assets surged amid concerns over rising coronavirus infections. Bullion rose as deaths surpassed 500,000 worldwide and confirmed cases exceeded 10 million — a chilling reminder that the deadliest pandemic of the modern era is stronger than ever. The precious metal rallied 17 percent this year as governments and central banks implemented stimulus measures to aid economies battered by the pandemic. Investors are increasingly turning to gold as a store of wealth, and banks including Goldman Sachs Group forecast it will hit a record $2,000 an ounce in 12 months."
Too bitter, and here is how you have to pay for it:
"Gold futures edged closer to $1,800 an ounce — a level last seen at the end of 2011 — as demand for safe-haven assets surged amid concerns over rising coronavirus infections. Bullion rose as deaths surpassed 500,000 worldwide and confirmed cases exceeded 10 million — a chilling reminder that the deadliest pandemic of the modern era is stronger than ever. The precious metal rallied 17 percent this year as governments and central banks implemented stimulus measures to aid economies battered by the pandemic. Investors are increasingly turning to gold as a store of wealth, and banks including Goldman Sachs Group forecast it will hit a record $2,000 an ounce in 12 months."
Oil is like ca$h now:
"Chesapeake Energy, a shale drilling pioneer that helped turn the United States into a global energy powerhouse, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The Oklahoma company said Sunday that it was necessary, given its debt of nearly $9 billion. It has entered a plan with lenders to cut $7 billion of debt and said it will continue to operate. The oil and gas company was a leader in the fracking boom, using unconventional techniques to extract oil and gas from the ground, a method that has come under scrutiny because of its environmental impact. Other wildcatters followed, racking up debt to find oil and gas in New Mexico, Texas, the Dakotas, and Pennsylvania. More than 200 oil producers have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past five years, and that’s expected to continue as the pandemic saps demand for energy and depresses prices. Chesapeake became a colossus, reaching a market value of more than $37 billion. Then the 2007-2009 Great Recession sent energy prices into the basement. The company on Friday was valued at around $115 million."
The crash was suspicious, but if so, why are gas price up?
