Version 2.179

Zeta made landfall in Louisiana as a category 2 hurricane: six people dead so far and almost two million without power. This was the 27th named storm this year, even though only 25 had been in the forecast. I am not sure what is up with Republican presidents and massive hurricane seasons. 

We are in the final stretch of the campaign and it is easy to feel complacent. There is still so much support for this President and I am sure today's GDP numbers serve to justify many people's vote, even though GDP is still 3.5% below what it was at the end of last year. But very few people remember past GDP numbers or understand how GDP forecasts work.

Of course, there are also people who are going to look at this and be upset because they will feel that many are better off, while they have been left behind. But what else is new? This is not a tide thay lifts all boats. If anything, this tide routinely sinks a few.

Between the stress of the election, the roaring number of cases, and my workload, I have been feeling super-stressed. My neighbor suggested that I get one of those massage gadgets, so I ordered one today on Amazon. If this thing works, it may end up saving me a ton of money.  Before the pandemic, I used to get one or two massages a month, at least. I guess my dog is well suited for me because he is also a sucker for a massage.

The thing with the economy is that we had evolved to a more labor intensive economy, with many people working in the gig economy in the area of services. This virus has destroyed many of those jobs. It’s hard to imagine when we’ll go back to normal. We still need at least nine more months to see how things are going.