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Wednesday, March 18

Economic Quarantine, a Diary: Day 4

Day 4 (Monday, March 16th)


It's bad enough we have the Coronavirus scaring people to death.  This oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia is simply gravy on top of the taters.  A lot of consumers are elated.  Here in Tampa, gas is under $2/gallon.  I like paying less for gas, and since the only work I am doing involves lots of driving, it's certainly saving me money.  Problem is, the oil industry in the U.S. can't produce cheap oil like Russia and the Middle East can.  If prices don't go up, a lot of companies are going to go bankrupt.

On Monday I woke up to news the Las Vegas strip is starting to close.  MGM is closing all its strip casinos.  Last night the Fed cut interest rates to zero.  Trump was happy.  The stock markets?  Not so much.  Watching CNBC, futures were down so much that trading was going to be halted at the opening of markets today.  What started with just my industry being affected is now spreading to many other industries.  Fortunately for others, most of those are W-2 positions which will qualify them for unemployment.  Most of my meeting work is 1099, so probably no relief in sight for the thousands of workers in the events industry.

It's weird that so many places are closed, but I'm sure it's helping people keep money in their pockets.  Wonder how this will affect the Orlando economy.  Is Disney going to keep paying its hourly employees?  What about all the hotels that depend on tourism?  How are all these companies going to stay solvent without revenues?  I don't think a couple weeks will spell disaster.  It will be super ugly, but not Armageddon.  Much longer than that and we could see Great Depression Volume 2.

Financial markets were in freefall again today.  The Dow closed with just shy of a 3,000 point loss, and the biggest percentage drop since Black Monday in 1987.  It's a crazy world!

6 comments:

  1. We have a rental condo and just noticed that in addition to reservations - the rental agency just started tracking cancellations with stated reason "Coronavirus" and the original rental amount. Perhaps for future "loss" claims? I hope Airbnb does that for you or that you are keeping the information. I am enjoying reading your diary as you state the facts as they are happening to you.

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    1. Glad you are tagging along with me on this adventure. I've been saving the emails and already have a spreadsheet for my airbnb reservations, so definitely will have good records if I need them. I was thinking about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I wasn't affected by it, but this area was hit hard and BP reimbursed people for their losses. It would definitely help to recuperate some of the lost income if there was a mechanism in place for Coronavirus.

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  2. I was thinking the same thing about the BP incident. Our condo made it through that incident and will make it through this one. Good records are essential if there becomes a mechanism for lost income recoupment.

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    1. Thanks for the advice. How is the current situation comparing to the oil spill? Is it too early to say?

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  3. Seems too early to say. Anyway, this incident is different. Not caused by a corporation. Not covered by insurance. But you never know what type of legislation that will be passed specific to this incident? We were booked through this month. All reservations dropped after today as it seems the beaches were declared closed. All of April's reservations dropped also.

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  4. I see you mentioned that you are buying carnival cruise stock. Looks like the stock is 1/5th of high for the year? I was wondering if the stock benefits might make it worth it to buy 100 shares for future cruises? On board credit of $50-$250 depending on the length of the cruise. Anything else?

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