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With the U.S. economy hitting on all cylinders, along comes the coronavirus out of China. The irrational fear of the new virus has sent stock markets down 20% from their highs and struck fear in the hearts of Americans.
This is the quickest spreading and most troubling viral situation coming from Asia since "Gangnam Style."
One of the Americans who contracted coronavirus was a Washington-based postal worker. If anything can slow this thing down, a postal worker is our best bet.
Keep in mind, if you contract the coronavirus, the risk of death is only about 2%. Crossing the Clintons politically has a higher chance of death.
The reason it spread is that China, a communist regime, would not own up to it quickly and do what was needed to do to contain it. I thought that was the charm of command-and-control big government: the ability to control a country when something like this happens, as it does every five to 10 years.
Countries with supposedly strong central governments, like totalitarian Iran and North Korea, have been hit the worst. It might be time to send North Korean Ambassador Dennis Rodman back there to work on this crisis. It would be important to warn North Korean health officials to wash their hands before coming into contact with Rodman.
The risks are hyped-up by the media hyenas who view it as one last chance to derail Trump's re-election and to get eyeballs watching their dramatic interpretations amid failing ratings. Sadly, since the media has cried "wolf" so many times (Russian collusion, Ukrainian-based impeachment, etc.), no one will trust them just when we need to be able to trust them.
While we have the same CDC and health systems we had under Obama, the tone of the media and Democrats is that somehow Obama would have done better with this, implying his charisma alone would have kept the virus at bay. Mayor DeBlasio of New York has asked transit riders not to get on subways if they have a cold, forcing many to urinate at home.
With his pals in media pushing for a coronavirus-induced recession, and suddenly being a lock for the nomination, Joe Biden has had a great March. It is just sad that he is not all there to appreciate it.
We will get through this, but we must keep it in perspective. Panic is not a strategy. Wash your hands, keep your grandparents away from others, and be sensible. More than 50,000 die each year of the regular flu. As of Thursday afternoon, we have about 1,300 infected with the coronavirus in the U.S. and 30 deaths. Most are folks sent back here from cruise ships, along with those they infected. Trump's idea to control the borders doesn't seem so dumb now - eh, Left?
Letting my Wall Street background speak, this week's drop in the stock market is more about Putin and Saudi Arabia fighting by cutting oil prices. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down 20% Monday, thus further exacerbating the overdue market correction. Gas prices should go to $1.75 levels, helping consumers. Oil could go down to $30 a barrel. Hell, that's a good price for just the barrel.
We have a high-level virus spreading that mostly hurts older folks. There has been talk about shutting down Congress for a month until all this passes. In every tragedy there is a silver lining.
So stay positive and be sensible. We didn't survive the Spanish Flu (which killed 50 million in 1918), depressions, recessions and two World Wars to be killed by a virus named for a Mexican light beer.
Contact Ron Hart at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.
Ron HartView other columns by Ron Hart