How long until life returns to normal?

Yes

I just hope the innovation doesnā€™t involve labeling them as untermensch and gassing themā€¦

Thatā€™s not innovationā€¦itā€™s been done before. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

The bigger question here is, why are wages so low that welfare pays better than an entry level job?

Why do so many women leave the workforce? Because child care costs are as high as college tuition costs. You got 1 kid in day care and even at a moderately decent income level, youā€™re putting the majority of your pay check into your child care. Youā€™re literally working so that you can pay someone else to look after your child. Or you can sacrifice your career advancement opportunities and look after the kid until the public school system can. But even then you need to be home by 3 pm to make sure CPS isnā€™t taking your child away because children under the age of 12 canā€™t be left home alone. Or we can come back to you can put a large portion of your paycheck into childcare option. Only now you get to add the transportation to the childcare center cost because you need to be at the office until 5:30 or 9 pm.

2 Likes

but you know, the truth is we asked for that.

Women wanted to be able to enter the workforce, it is seen as ā€œprogressiveā€.

Traditionally women doesnā€™t work, they stay at home to take care of the family, and men works but he makes enough for the whole family. In many not so progressive countries this is still the caseā€¦ except women staying home is socially enforced.

So I guess the trend started when men had to go fight in WWII and women had to work since all the men were gone. So now women wants career advancement. But who takes care of the family?

1 Like

You think youā€™ll be able to travel widely within three months ? Thatā€™s optimistic !

2 Likes

Iā€™m actually thinking July or August for air travel.

2 Likes

How about having a plan? Thatā€™s the part that some posters are saying is missing right nowā€”and I agree.

Guy

I think this, along with global warming and the WFH push will reduce global air travel significantly for at least a few years . But in a place like Taiwan youā€™ll get bored fast stuck on this island too long.

Remote working is going to be huge for sure. Hopefully less commuter jams in future. The place I work at will figure out how much they can save now.

As for changing the supply chains, I donā€™t really see it happening , generally they distribute the wealth and operate fairly efficiently. More movement from China to SEA thatā€™s all.

Public health investments will be juiced for a few years, see how long that lasts

3 Likes

There are plenty of plans out there, and time will tell if the right one is chosen. I have faith that it will be. Sue me.

Not to point out Elizabeth Warrenā€™s life story, but once upon a time, one family member could get a minimum wage job, work 40 hours a week, and have the money to support the family, paying off the mortgage and covering all food and living expenses with ease.

Nowadays, my income is in the top 10% of earners in Taiwan. I can afford my rent in my appropriate for a young person with no kids apartment, my food, some discretionary spending, and have enough to put 20% aside for retirement. If I had even one kid, weā€™d be living in that same apartment and retirement would never happen. Remember, Iā€™m in the top 10% of earners.

Wages havenā€™t budged in nearly 40 years, but the cost of everything has gone up exponentially. I donā€™t care who looks after the family/kids and who goes to work, but you canā€™t point out women wanting to (gasp) have the freedom to leave the role of housewife for the pathetic treatment of everyone in the bottom 99.9% of the workforce.

3 Likes

Iā€™m well into the top percentage of earners in Taiwan and I canā€™t really afford to buy a house. Well not a decent one anyway. That doesnā€™t look like it will change, they have that system all fixed up.

1 Like

Way too optimistic.:grin: Maybe you can go back to your homeland or Canada, otherwise itā€™s going to be tough enough. And coming back you could still get quarantined for two weeks. Almost certain on that . Unless they approve very good rapid tests but even then ā€¦The infection can not be picked up very well early on.

1 Like

For now.

Yeah, Iā€™ve kind of given up on summering in the U.S. this year. But not because I donā€™t think itā€™ll be possible, just way too much of a hassle.

1 Like

Nah, Iā€™m not interested in litigation. But I have noticed that during the course of my life about half of the so-called political spectrum has made a living by claiming governance is evil and that scientists should be muzzled. (This was how a certain party governed my home country before being turfed out of power.)

In other places, ā€œfreedomā€ has been interpreted politically as ā€œfreedom to not have health coverage.ā€

The delayed costs of such positions have become increasingly clear across the globe.

And: when we look back to other major global shocks (including, say, the oil shocks of the 1970s), what came out of that? New innovative players responding more quickly to the new situation. Japanese auto manufacturers at that time grabbed a larger part of the market compared to the lumbering head-in-the-sand auto manufacturers in the US.

Who will take advantage of this new situation in 2020? Where will be be headed? It will take more than optimism to find a way forward.

Guy

2 Likes

Hopefully people celebrate being able to do the simple things more with their parents and friends ike hug them, hang out with them. I donā€™t see them much anyway and it makes me realise that my life isnā€™t very ā€˜normalā€™ compared to most people anyway.

2 Likes

Yes, it will take innovation too. Something we humans are very good at.

I think thereā€™s a significant chance that travel between Taiwan and North America will be possible by August. But going there for a few weeks, to spend two weeks in isolation before seeing the 80-something parents Iā€™m going to visit (staying lord knows where), and then spend two weeks in isolation on the return to Taiwan? No, thatā€™s not going to happen.

Yea, mainly because you have more people entering the workforce so employers ends up paying less. Supply and demand.

Unless laws requiring any and all employees to be paid a living wage (not sure by what metric) employers will pay what the market says theyā€™re worth. And right now that means less for the same amount of work because more people are around to replace you.

Whereas before only men worked so there are less people available to workā€¦ so they had to pay more.

I donā€™t know, why arenā€™t people paid a living wage? Where is all that money going? For every work surely someoneā€™s making that money. Itā€™s hard to believe that as the top 10% earner you canā€™t even afford a living wage.

But how do Taiwanese making 30k a month even afford to buy a house?

1 Like