There's no sugar-coating it
Hello everyone,
Welcome to Not Pretty, Not Rich, a newsletter designed to help you level the playing field. If you were forwarded this email and would like to subscribe, you can do so here.
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This week: You’re not getting away from the coronavirus outbreak
Get Pretty: Hands off
I’ll be straightforward with you, dear reader: The coronavirus outbreak is going to cause some major problems. Government leaders still don’t appear to be taking this seriously, and some cities are all but shut down due to concerns.
So, I’ll just say that you shouldn’t try to be a hero. If you’re sick, stay home. You’re probably not going to die, but if you show up at work right now with so much as a runny nose, you’re probably going to make some enemies. Obviously, not everybody has the luxury of not showing up at work — including me.
But in all seriousness, if you live in a large city or near an area where there’s a concentration of confirmed cases, do what you can to lay low. Don’t touch things, and don’t touch other people. And if you don’t have to go to work, don’t go.
The takeaway: If you’re sick, don’t go to work (if you can avoid it).
Get Rich: There’s no sugar-coating it...
The preceding section likely has some of you tearing your hair out. That’s because, for many of us, if we don’t go to work, we don’t get paid. That’s one of the issues that bubble to the surface when your country doesn’t have national, standardized paid sick leave.
There’s really no way to sugarcoat it: This is going to be a problem. People will go to work because they need a paycheck. That’s likely going to lead to further transmission, causing the crisis to get worse. It’s a policy issue, at its core.
The administration is floating the idea for national paid sick leave — don’t count on it happening, though, because you can’t put that genie back in the bottle once you let it out — and some other measures. We’ll see what happens.
But I know a lot of people are going to find themselves in some very tough financial situations as a result of this outbreak. Right now, there isn’t much you can do. Maybe sign up to work remotely for the Census (they’re hiring!) or see what types of remote work you can find.
The takeaway: Things are going to be tough for a lot of workers out there, and there’s no getting around it.
One other thing: A Joe Rogan guest can help put things in perspective
I know this isn’t the most uplifting newsletter, but we’re looking at a pretty serious problem that could tip us into a recession. I listened to this recent episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast with Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert, and found that he was able to discuss this with more clarity and expertise than almost anyone else I’ve heard.
I suggest you give it a listen.
What I’ve been writing about:
You’ll hear about bond yields falling, and probably wonder what the hell that means. I talked to some experts to help explain it.
Along with the coronavirus, Saudi Arabia decided to kick off an oil price war. That can be a good thing and a bad thing.
If you want to check those articles out and share them, I’d appreciate it.
That’s all for now. Arrivederci.
Sam
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