May 2021- Topics of Interest
Shortages Everywhere!
I suspect most people have read something lately about a ‘shortage’ of one thing or another that is hampering economic recovery and driving up prices of many commodities. Everything from microchips to potato chips. Some shortages are very serious, such as the effect a shortage of various types of microchips is having on auto production and sales. Most auto manufacturers have already cut back on production (a.k.a. worker layoff’s) of new models because they cannot obtain the ubiquitous little wonders that control just about everything in a car these days, from engine timing and performance to the fancy dashboard displays that turn cars into rolling entertainment and work centers. Not just cars and trucks, but the agricultural equipment industry is also having problems and cannot ship many items like tractors, combines, and other types of equipment. Dealers are struggling not because of lack of demand, but lack of product to sell.
This problem has spread to consumer appliances also. If you have bought a washer, dryer, air conditioner, or just about any type of appliance in the last few years you know that they are mostly microprocessor controlled, and do all the thinking for you. My wife hates this. Complains all the time that she cannot even wash clothes how she wants because the darn machine only allows you limited options, to save water, energy, etc. But…try and find an appliance that does not work this way! It goes on and on with so many of the consumer electronic devices we can no longer live without. More shortages are coming of things like TV’s, cameras, even things some people live their lives on called ‘smart phones’. Result – prices are going up. Supply and demand, we keep hearing.
Then there is something else to worry about with shortages – food items. Some might have noticed how a number of major retail chains have been using a practice called ‘bringing forward’ shelf items to make it look like there is plenty there. Look behind the first couple of rows and the shelves are empty. At the first sign of some kind of panic those shelves will empty in a day or two. No store today has more than 3 to 5 days at most of inventory on hand. If anything is disrupted for any reason, shelves go empty. Have you also noticed how some prices have gone up rather dramatically? Even if not, the old trick of using smaller package quantities and charging the same amount is more common now than ever, in my observation.
What all this means, and what is going to happen in the days ahead is above my pay grade to figure out. But there is one thing that really, really concerns me. I am reading frequently now that there is a major coffee shortage just around the corner. I can live with my old car awhile longer, don’t need potato chips or that kind of stuff (on my diet), and I will nurse the old washing machine along awhile longer. But NO COFFEE (or at such a price that it may as well be unavailable)!! I’m sorry, but the line is drawn there! If that happens, there is going to be one very grumpy, half awake, miserable person with a ‘deer in the headlights’ look wandering around, forgetting whatever it was he went out for. If you happen to see me then, please, have a little mercy and patience. Tea, although I do like it also, just does not cut it! Funny…just a little over a year ago we were not even thinking about this stuff. Along comes a glorified flu virus, and a fraudulent election that swept a clueless doddered into the White House, and how life changed. Go ahead – take my car, my phone, my washing machine, my TV, but don’t you dare try to take my coffee! We will have words……
- Paul Lynch, Chairman PCGOP Communications Committee
Mass Confusion on Masks
What is going on? Are we supposed to wear the masks or not. Obviously, this point needs clarification as so many are confused just headed out and about for the day. So, I did my homework to get to the bottom of it. I aim to add clarity to the situation and share some important facts along the way.
First, CDC Head, ‘Flip-flop’ Fauci has changed his mind on the mask-wearing guidance repeatedly over the course of 15 months since the COVID -9 pandemic hit the US. As of May 13th, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced another new guidance. In fact, their guidance is a 180-degree turnaround.
So, if you're fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the CDC now says you can stop wearing your mask and stop social distancing — inside and out. The specific guidance quoted from our top public health agency states, "Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal or territorial laws, rules and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance,".
The latest changes have left many people with too many questions and some health professionals admittedly ‘stunned’. However, it is really clear that our federal government is now leaving it up to the states, businesses and employers and such to determine the rules of engagement and make the call on mask-wearing. To date, many states have had already rolled back mask mandates to re-open their economies.
So, what have our leaders done about mask-wearing in the 10+ days since? Well, vocal public figures have perplexed us with their behavior, made declarations and followed through with a demonstrated lack of integrity. For instance, many of us are asking ourselves, “Why is Joe Biden wearing a mask during a Zoom call with other world leaders (none of which were wearing one) or wearing a mask while sitting by himself. Worse, Biden was double-masked while seated 12’ away from the Japanese Prime Minister whom he hosted at dinner, yet he has been fully vaccinated. Now take Lori Lightfoot, Chicago's (some say Beetlejuice-look-a-like) Mayor. She said on Monday, May 23rd, "I’m going to continue to wear a mask in public and I’m going to encourage others to do so." But, then she is seen in a video a short while later at a crowded social gathering not wearing one as she had just promised to do.
Our CDC and our trusted media have long barked about ‘following the science’ as it relates to reducing the spread of the virus even when they have known the scientific outcomes. It seems they now finally are settling on what the science actually tells us. A very recent scientific study out of Denmark is perhaps the best scientific evidence to date on the efficacy of masks was published in March 2021. The researchers had hoped that masks would cut the infection rate by half among wearers. Instead, the number of people getting infected was ‘not statistically significant’ between masked and unmasked people. Researchers concluded that masks are ineffective to controlling viral spread. The study in the academic journal Annals of Internal Medicine casts more doubt on policies that force healthy individuals to wear face coverings in hopes of limiting the spread of COVID-19. Even the New York Times reported, “Researchers in Denmark say that surgical masks did not protect the wearers against infection with the coronavirus in a large randomized clinical trial.” Other mask-effectiveness studies that have claimed otherwise have love-since been retracted.
Dr. Fauci himself has known for years that an individual’s health is negatively impacted during a viral pandemic by wearing a mandated mask. A new report concerning a 2008 study revealed “It was secondary bacterial pneumonia—not the influenza virus by itself—that killed most of the millions who perished in the 1918 flu pandemic,” Co-author NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. stated, "The weight of evidence we examined from both historical and modern analyses of the 1918 influenza pandemic favors a scenario in which viral damage followed by bacterial pneumonia led to the vast majority of deaths". Authors further suggested “that current pandemic preparations should include stockpiling of antibiotics and bacterial vaccines,” and not masks (the probable cause of the bacterial pneumonia).
In fact, just last week (May 21st), a paper was published in the New England Journal of Medicine stated: “We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. . . . . The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.”
Also last week, Dr. Fauci answered some very pointed questions about mask-wearing in a Senate hearing. He was suddenly caving to admit that Senator Rand Paul was right that wearing a mask after being vaccinated is just ‘theater’. In conclusion, the masks do harm rather than good and do not prevent the spread of viruses.
So, choose to wear a mask if you prefer, but understand it is only to satiate your anxiety. More importantly, for those of us who choose not to mask up, please know we are following the science and value our liberty to choose to do so. Many of us woke up some time ago and realized the ‘theater’ was always about taking away our liberty and not about preventing the spread of disease. Lastly, and for those who protest saying that the choice of being vaccinated or not was ignored in the consideration of mask-wearing, I say “The science does not support that the COVID-19 vaccines provide immunity to any virus so it is irrelevant.” This fact explains why vaccinated folks still contract the virus.
- Kathryn Lawrence, Finance Chair & Secretary (Chemist & MBA)