Vermont Skier Visits Down Significantly Due to COVID-19

[BenedictGomez]

Would "Joe Q Public" be better off with the amount of their SS contributions with employee match in a private say 401k vs in what in theory atleast is their own, personal, SS "account"? I certainly think so over the entire course of one's say 40yr or so work career...

Yes; and it's not even mathematically debatable. The government cant even confiscate intelligently.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I basically view that 6.2% like some of the bond products I have in my portfolio.

What kind of bonds do you own in 2021?

 

[NYDB]

Mods - please have mercy on the world and nuke this entire thread from the internet. Its the only way to be sure.

 

[deadheadskier]

Yes; and it's not even mathematically debatable. The government cant even confiscate intelligently.

Confiscate? Are you one of those "all taxes are theft" libertarians?

 

[Whitey]

I figured we'd wouldnt do better than 60%'ish. Even in really bad flu years we dont do much better than 40%. Keep in mind, anyone from birth to age 12 is precluded from vaccination, so that artificially makes the 50% seem worse than it really is.

EDIT: I was curious about this so I looked it up. Under 18 is about 22% of the population. Assuming a normalized distribution, that is 15% of the population which cannot be vaxxed, meaning 100% of the potential bogey is actually about 85%. So in reality, at "50% fully vaccinated", it means that 59% of the country who CAN be vaccinated, has been fully vaccinated. That's not far off from my WAG.

BG -

I've been trying to figure this out and I thought it would be easy to find. But I am struggling. Not sure why. Maybe you know? When they are noting people who are considered "unvaccinated", are they including people who had CV19? I am assuming yes, but wanted to confirm. And if the answer is "yes" - isn't that a fairly large group (approx 35M) that we really shouldn't be all that worried about whether they get the vaccine or not? If I had gotten CV19 and had natural immunity - I'm not sure if I would have gotten the vaccine.

 

[deadheadskier]

What kind of bonds do you own in 2021?

Very small percentage of my holdings are in a couple of Bond ETF products. Not a lot.

 

[skiur]

Mods - please have mercy on the world and nuke this entire thread from the internet. Its the only way to be sure.

Umm, did you not notice that one of the main contributors is a mod?

 

[mikec142]

The difference is that from an employers standpoint, there have been numerous worker's rights laws that have been passed, especially in the last decade, that have changed what an employer can/can't legally ask an employee. The line between what can and can't be asked, or asked of an employee by an employer has certainly changed on many fronts over time

I'm not 100% sure what point you are trying to make, but there are numerous private and public companies that are requiring their employees to show proof of vax and to come back to the office. There are tons of colleges that are requiring it too. University of Indiana has mandated that students be vaccinated and they won a legal challenge to that mandate. UVM is requiring students to be vaxxed.

 

[mikec142]

People are stupid when it comes to the math....

Overall - 165M Vacc given, something like 150K breakthru cases, works out to 0.09%.
That's about 1 in 1,000 vacc people will have a breakthru case

And...even though there may be 150K breakthrough cases, there's 600+k people who have died!!

I truly don't get the argument...but I could have a significant side effect (extremely rare). They are more concerned about the rare side effect than the not as rare death.

 

[2Planker]

I'm not 100% sure what point you are trying to make, but there are numerous private and public companies that are requiring their employees to show proof of vax and to come back to the office. There are tons of colleges that are requiring it too. University of Indiana has mandated that students be vaccinated and they won a legal challenge to that mandate. UVM is requiring students to be vaxxed.

Some hospitals are even saying NO EXEMPTIONS.
You get the Vacc or you look for another job

 

[abc]

Some hospitals are even saying NO EXEMPTIONS.
You get the Vacc or you look for another job

I think that's not the best practice.

Weekly, or even daily test, I can see the point. Mandatory vaccination, when we're seeing it doesn't stop them as transmitters against the new variant? That doesn't make too much sense.

 

[boston_e]

I think that's not the best practice.

Weekly, or even daily test, I can see the point. Mandatory vaccination, when we're seeing it doesn't stop them as transmitters against the new variant? That doesn't make too much sense.

Some colleges are saying basically no exemptions as well (except for maybe a VERY tiny number of people who have a legitimate medial reason), but all the BS "religious exemptions" are not allowed.

Nothing is 100%... it is true that as far as we know vaccinated people can still contract and spread covid. That does not mean there is still not a layer of protection and that vaccinated people are still less likely to spread it, especially to other vaccinated people.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

vaccinated people are less likely to get sick and less likely to die. significantly. that's the only information that matters.

I'm at a point where I'm almost glad I can be vaccinated, protected from serious illness or death, but still spread it

you want to not get vaccinated? fine, here's my viral load. have fun with it. ::cough cough::

 

[boston_e]

Hard question to answer because standard investments result in a finite amount of cash where as SS not only lasts until the end of your life, it can also benefit your spouse until the end of their life too. If you work up until full retirement age at 67 and you and your spouse only live to the average age of say 77, then SS wouldn't appear to be that great of a return. But if one or both of you make it well into your 90s, it does look like a pretty good return. SS also can't get crushed in a market crash like a 401k or other investments can.

The other unknown here is what the long term societal cost would be to getting rid of social security. BG, Dr, Jeff or you or I would likely wisely invest that money and potentially do better in the long run. There is likely a vast segment of the population who will not, and then will be more of a financial burden on society once they have stopped working and have no income (which could for sure affect all of us).

 

[BenedictGomez]

I'm at a point where I'm almost glad I can be vaccinated, protected from serious illness or death, but still spread it

you want to not get vaccinated? fine, here's my viral load. have fun with it. ::cough cough::

This is seriously ****** up.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Confiscate? Are you one of those "all taxes are theft" libertarians?

Not at all. Taxation is 100% necessary to run a functional society. Social Security, however, is not.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

play stupid selfish antisocial games get stupid selfish antisocial prizes.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I've been trying to figure this out and I thought it would be easy to find. But I am struggling. Not sure why. Maybe you know? When they are noting people who are considered "unvaccinated", are they including people who had CV19? I am assuming yes, but wanted to confirm. And if the answer is "yes" - isn't that a fairly large group (approx 35M) that we really shouldn't be all that worried about whether they get the vaccine or not? If I had gotten CV19 and had natural immunity - I'm not sure if I would have gotten the vaccine.

Yes, but that's not a bad thing statistically, as people who get COVID19 should also get vaccinated. People who've had 2 doses of an mRNA vaccine are more protected than someone who caught & recovered naturally from COVID. Given, however, that the naturally contracted COVID cohort does have some protection as you are correctly noting, it is useful to know that number as well, and so you'll often hear virologists lump them together when they speak of herd protection.

 

[mikec142]

Quoted from CNN:

"Neil Barr, the chairman of Davis Polk, one of the largest and most prestigious US law firms, sent a memo to staff Monday morning announcing that all the firm’s employees would need to be vaccinated to return to the office in September or no longer be allowed in the building.
According to the memo obtained by CNN, all employees must prove they are fully vaccinated by Sept. 13. If not, their ID card will be deactivated, and they will not be permitted to enter any of the firm's US offices. The memo adds that the law firm will make accommodations for medical reasons or religious beliefs.
Davis Polk employs approximately 1,000 lawyers around the world, with US offices in New York, California, and Washington, DC"

I have zero issues with this.

As a side note, who here thinks that employees at this firm who refuse to get vaxxed and don't have acceptable medical or religious reasons have the same shot at getting promoted as those who happily get vaxxed?

 

[KustyTheKlown]

durst organization in nyc (big commercial real estate player, known to most bc of robert durst, but a legit player despite a murderous relative) is saying vax by labor day or be fired.

good. I'm all for the stratification of society and excluding the selfish anti-social from the benefits and privileges of being a citizen.

New York real-estate giant The Durst Organization says it will fire non-union workers who fail to get a COVID-19 shot by Labor Day

The Durst Organization said the mandate for corporate staff, which has some exemptions, was driven by employees who want "a safer environment."

www.businessinsider.com