Wednesday, March 10th, 2021
Today is a glorious spring day, so much so I even played lizzard on the garden couch for an hour.
Blue skies, sun, and 23C. This prompted me to partially reopen my outdoor office after lunch, which we had outside, making the most of the warmth set to disappear again over the weekend with snow forecast for early next week. I really cannot deal with the idea of snow and cold. I feel like I have come out of a tunnel and I do not want to go back there. I am ready for summer!
On Friday it is still supposed to be 19C, which would be nice for our quaranniversary, however this may have to be move by a day because of a hockey game. The son of our bubble family is in the BCC HS team which has made it to the Maryland State semi-finals. If they win tonight, they will play in the final; scheduled for Friday. Of course, Saturday will be much colder (12C). On the upside, it would give me more time to prepare and we could start early, but we would of course have to be all bundled up around the fire pits (yes A. will need to bring hers again so we have one for the young people and one for the oldies).
For a change the news is not dominated by the virus but rather by the interview the exited royals gave on Sunday. I am not surprised the second-class celebrities’ stint in the British royal family did not go well. I have always thought this marriage to be more of a publicity stunt for herself than anything else. And even if not, it was highly unlikely that she would succeed in a role in which even Lady Di, who had grown up with all the formalities of royal life, failed. The British royal world is full of protocols, rules for dos and do not dos that I believe to live it and succeed in it one has to more or less give oneself up completely. Generally, I feel about the Sussexes much as I do about Trump – go away, live your life and do not bother the world with news of you. Be happy, good luck, but just go away. No one cares about you anymore.
The other big news is that Biden's US$ 1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan was approved by Congress today, with not a single Republican voting for it in either house desopite the fact that the bill is hughky popular with all Americans, including some 60% of Republican voters.
The legislation will provide most Americans earning under $75,000 a year a $1,400 check, provide billions for vaccine distribution and development, allocate aid for schools to reopen, and expand the child tax credit to up to $3,600 per child. The nonpartisan Urban Institute estimated the bill would reduce the poverty rate to 8.7% this year, compared to a national rate of 13.7% without the bill, and reduce the disparities in poverty among Black and Latino communities compared to white Americans.
The US$ 1.400 check should help J. pay for this month’s credit card bills. I have send her US$ 200 to pay her bills in the Philippines on the condition that the stimulus money does not go to her extended family, but her debt service. She may get a tax return next month which could cover the payment for the next lot of card debt. To ensure she pays of her card debt I have resolved to send her enough to live on. Hopefully this is a fair compromise. If she ignores her debt, her visa maybe denied, leaving her stranded and incomeless. It will be more likely that she can repay me that than US$ 5.000 debt should I bail her out. Also, I can write of a few hundred US$ a month, but I cannot write of US$ 5.000. In addition, I have raised the visa issue with one of the World Bank board members who promised to bring it up in the next HR Board meeting. Let us hope it will get resolved so J. can come back and have an income.
New infections hover between 45-55k per twenty-four hours, so are keeping more or less stable at a high level. Fear of a new surge amidst re-openings and new variants persist. Governor Hogan of Maryland announced yesterday a 50% reopening of pretty much everything, which I find premature given the vaccine roll out is a debacle. We have been sitting tight for almost a year now and two more months or so of the same will not make a major difference. Rather than increasing the spread now with people thinking it is safe given decreasing numbers, it would be preferable to increase vaccine roll out and end the misery. Of course to completely end it, we would need everyone in the world, or at least 60-70% of the global population, vaccinated. This is a challenge scientists are now grappling with.
The Biden administration has announced it will procure another 100 million JNJ doses. With that the USA will have almost double the shots it needs to inoculate its entire population.
I do hope they will generously distribute excess shots to the poorer nations of this world.