03Panther said:
I have a legitimate question for guys that know more than me bout this... means almost anyone!
I know almost two years ago, when "we" add a 35% tariff to import steel, the price of domestic steel went up 35%. I can only assume that was nothing more than greed, and the assumption the public is too dumb to notice. But why did the price of scrap DROP 60% at the same time? Is there an answer besides greed?
I don't know this, but my guess is: The price rise was simply the market and realistically what was supposed to happen. It was not very practical to make steel in the US since it was cheaper to just import it and (most?) US manufacturers could not compete at that price. If the price of imports goes up 35%, then, if you make steel in the US, you can raise prices (making it more viable) 35% to match the new market.
The reason it is not likely greed is because if they could make money previous to the 35% bump, they would (maybe far fewer could). The only greed involved would be that they could not make enough money previous to the 35% bump to make it worth it (if you want to call that greed). You could say the ones that could make it pre-35% are being greedy, but that's the new market price. If they have a lot to sell, they can afford to undercut the market a bit if they want.
Not sure about scrap, but obviously a drop in demand. Maybe most scrap goes out of the country (e.g. when scrap prices went way up when China was in a building boom), and with less need to sell it back to the US = less need?
(note: obviously not COVID related, but it's nice to take a bit of a break from that some times)
aircooled said:
03Panther said:
I have a legitimate question for guys that know more than me bout this... means almost anyone!
I know almost two years ago, when "we" add a 35% tariff to import steel, the price of domestic steel went up 35%. I can only assume that was nothing more than greed, and the assumption the public is too dumb to notice. But why did the price of scrap DROP 60% at the same time? Is there an answer besides greed?
I don't know this, but my guess is: The price rise was simply the market and realistically what was supposed to happen. It was not very practical to make steel in the US since it was cheaper to just import it and (most?) US manufacturers could not compete at that price. If the price of imports goes up 35%, then, if you make steel in the US, you can raise prices (making it more viable) 35% to match the new market.
The reason it is not likely greed is because if they could make money previous to the 35% bump, they would (maybe far fewer could). The only greed involved would be that they could not make enough money previous to the 35% bump to make it worth it (if you want to call that greed). You could say the ones that could make it pre-35% are being greedy, but that's the new market price. If they have a lot to sell, they can afford to undercut the market a bit if they want.
Not sure about scrap, but obviously a drop in demand. Maybe most scrap goes out of the country (e.g. when scrap prices went way up when China was in a building boom), and with less need to sell it back to the US = less need?
(note: obviously not COVID related, but it's nice to take a bit of a break from that some times)
The tariff on steel was to give domestic production a boost by letting them compete against low cost foreign goods. The questions you have to ask are these: Is there any steel made in the US? If so, are those companies profitable? Are they capable of ramping up production? Is there remotely enough to meet demand? If the answer to any one of those is "No", then your steel just got 35% more expensive, and its not coming down until American manufacturers can get efficient enough in union busting and ignoring environmental regulations to produce steel 35% cheaper.
This was posted near the very beginning of this thread. I find it interesting to come back to now.
Currently we (US) are at about 4.5M confirmed cases and 150k deaths. Adding 50,000 cases and 1,000 deaths per day.
Stay safe out there.
My mother is locked down in a nursing home where there have already been three infections including two employees who may have had contact with my mother.
My bosses' Father in Law just died on a respirator in a local hospital after being infected with Covid 19.
We hit a new record on deaths in a single day in Dallas County today.
Most of the stores and restaurants here are open.
All barber shops and beauty salons here are open.
Quite a few of the bars here are open illegally.
We just held a NASCAR race where 65,000 at 50% capacity were allowed in.
Schools here are about ready to open.
I still see a lot of people here not social distancing and not wearing masks in public and some are actively aggressive about it. One guy pulled a gun in a Wal Mart the other day because they asked him to put on a mask.
I am over 60 and have high blood pressure.
When is it time for ME to stop being panicked?
You sir, need to be VERY careful.
I found a good site for info (obligatory warning about bad data in general):
https://covidactnow.org/us/tx?s=785141
In reply to aircooled :
I am beginning to believe that there is a 50% I will not live to drive the Miata I am building in garage right now, but working in the garage is safer than being out in public.
I have trouble sleeping. I worry about it all the time.
Every time I read another article in the news about somebody complaining about wearing a mask or wanting the bars opened, I want to get the whole family and the dogs in my motorhome and make an illegal dash for the Canadian border or putting all my money into a large boat and heading for New Zealand.
In reply to Snowdoggie :
So my parents are mid 60's and both questionable health. Overweight, diabetic and high blood pressure. My cousin came to visit her mother and sister and while she was here found out her husband picked up the vid at work. *EDIT* She got home and also tested positive. *EDIT* Her mother got sick. Her sister did not. Neither of my parents did. All were in close contact, hugs and kisses etc.
I still refuse to be scared of this. It's no different than 2 dozen other ways you can die. If its my time, well it's been fun. Ain't none of us getting out of this life alive.
You might consider not leaving the house at all (if you are not doing that already). I suspect Texas will eventually follow the NY and Sweden curve, but I don't know how long that will take.
To give you an idea of how bad it is:
12% positive test rate is pretty bad, but not horrible. That may not be very comparable to other states though as I suspect there is lower amounts testing in TX (e.g. even sick people not getting tested).
It could be worse, and we all might want to put some positive thoughts in for those at GRM headquarters:
19% positive test rate, 100% ICU used! Not good!
In reply to Snowdoggie :
You can only do the things you can do. Be careful. Be safe. Work on your Miata.
I go to work every day but the building I work in is empty. I park in a basement garage and ride the elevator by myself to the top floor and sit in my office by myself behind a closed door. If I go into a hallway I put my mask on. My job is essential. I worked through the shutdown. I use curbside pickup for groceries. I rarely get out of my car outside for any reason.
Quite honestly, if I didn't have a job to go to every day and I had to stay at home and watch the news, I would probably go insane.
bobzilla said:
....I still refuse to be scared of this. It's no different than 2 dozen other ways you can die. If its my time, well it's been fun. Ain't none of us getting out of this life alive.
No reason to be scared, just be careful. Being careful means there is no real need to be scared (at least you are doing what you can).
For some, maybe, more optimistic news Sweden (the control group of the world) continues to show a decline and New York is still very flat. There has got to be some sort of (at least preliminary) herd immunity going on (maybe related to the suspected t-cell immunity). Of note of course is that both these places paid a HUGE price to get where they are, but perhaps, others can get there without the death (which we are much better about protecting from and preventing now).
Texas and Florida appear to be our canaries in the coal mine....
Snowdoggie said:
I go to work every day but the building I work in is empty. I park in a basement garage and ride the elevator by myself to the top floor and sit in my office by myself behind a closed door. If I go into a hallway I put my mask on. My job is essential. I worked through the shutdown. I use curbside pickup for groceries. I rarely get out of my car outside for any reason.
Quite honestly, if I didn't have a job to go to every day and I had to stay at home and watch the news, I would probably go insane.
You're doing the right things. You can't speed up or slow down the world around you. Find some peace in your wrenching if you can. Take some pictures and show us.
mazdeuce - Seth said:
Snowdoggie said:
I go to work every day but the building I work in is empty. I park in a basement garage and ride the elevator by myself to the top floor and sit in my office by myself behind a closed door. If I go into a hallway I put my mask on. My job is essential. I worked through the shutdown. I use curbside pickup for groceries. I rarely get out of my car outside for any reason.
Quite honestly, if I didn't have a job to go to every day and I had to stay at home and watch the news, I would probably go insane.
You're doing the right things. You can't speed up or slow down the world around you. Find some peace in your wrenching if you can. Take some pictures and show us.
When I found out about my Mother on Friday I spent the weekend working on the suspension under the motorhome. Working on cars is a good way to take your mind off things. At this rate the Miata will have an LS3 and race tires under it by next year.
aircooled said:
You might consider not leaving the house at all (if you are not doing that already). I suspect Texas will eventually follow the NY and Sweden curve, but I don't know how long that will take.
To give you an idea of how bad it is:
12% positive test rate is pretty bad, but not horrible. That may not be very comparable to other states though as I suspect there is lower amounts testing in TX (e.g. even sick people not getting tested).
It could be worse, and we all might want to put some positive thoughts in for those at GRM headquarters:
19% positive test rate, 100% ICU used! Not good!
I thought an infection rate of less than 1 was considered incredibly good news meaning the spread is slowing?
Things are getting weird here. I just got an e-mail from my bank stating that the branch I use near the office has been shut down. They didn't explain why, just that it was shutdown and listing other branches I can go to. I haven't used anything but an ATM for months but it is still strange that they suddenly shut it down. Three weeks ago the Wal Mart Food Market in the same neighborhood closed down for a week for deep cleaning because of multiple COVID infections among employees. I have a funny feeling that the bank got hit too and they just aren't admitting it. Nothing to see here. Move along.
In reply to MrJoshua :
Those numbers are for the entire state including West Texas, East Texas and lots of sparsely populated rural areas and the border with Mexico where they really are getting hammered. The numbers in Dallas are probably a lot worse. For a week Dallas County was getting over 1,000 infections a day.
In reply to Snowdoggie
Acooled and bobzilla are about as far apart as can be on what the "right" thing to do is, but reading a bit into their posts, they are both telling you almost the same thing. Do what ya can - hope for the best! A good attitude actually helps boost the immune system!!!
The most important thing you can do... Remove all external inputs from your TV!!! (Unless you have to have sports
... And sports on tv ain't what it used to be, either). One of the best things I ever did for my health.
I haven't been through that part of TX in many a year, but you should still be far enough from Dallas to not have to go, unless someone puts a really big caliber to your head...
Sounds like you have safe(ish) work situation (although boring/maybe depressing {I like being alone at work}) ,food, and hobbies. A LOT better than 50/50 chances in my opinion.
My wife will tell you panic and worrying work GREAT...everything worries about enough to make her sick - never happens!
Be as careful as YOU are comfortable with, avoid as many people as ya can, and have as much fun as you can.
Stay safe, and best wishes.
Snowdoggie said:
Things are getting weird here. I just got an e-mail from my bank stating that the branch I use near the office has been shut down. They didn't explain why, just that it was shutdown and listing other branches I can go to. I haven't used anything but an ATM for months but it is still strange that they suddenly shut it down. Three weeks ago the Wal Mart Food Market in the same neighborhood closed down for a week for deep cleaning because of multiple COVID infections among employees. I have a funny feeling that the bank got hit too and they just aren't admitting it. Nothing to see here. Move along.
I got a similar note for my local bank (I never go in, all ATM). They did admit however it was because of the need for a deep cleaning.
Dallas gets 1,000 infections a day. Houston gets more. Houston already has refrigerated trailers pulled by 18 wheelers to stuff the corpses in, just like NYC got.
Way out in Marfa you might have three coyotes and road runner get infected, and that's on a bad day.
In reply to Snowdoggie :
I know you are concerned about your physical health, and those around you.
Please watch out for your mental health.
In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :
It's hard to stay sane when all you ever see is the inside of your office, the inside of your car and the inside of your house.
I haven't been to the dog park or Cars and Coffee or an autocross since this mess started.
I think everybody around here is a little bonkers right now.
To quell your fears a bit, even in a hot spot, unless you are doing stupid stuff (e.g. bars, large gatherings) your chances of catching it are very small percentage wise. Heck if you went out without any precautions (not being stupid), it would still be very low. The number of infected are still a small percentage of the population even in the hot spots.
Add in being careful (mask, distance, aware of your hands, hand washing etc) cuts even those number significantly. It's all a numbers game.
What your primary concern of course is the risk associated with if you actually catch it. Given your situation you would very likely get a bad case, but your chance of death are still very low. The thing that seems to trick up most (where people who are being careful let their guards down) is dealing with family and friends, so be careful with that (DO try to socialize in anyway you can safely though).
In other words, 50/50 you see the finish of the Miata is probably, realistically, more like 99% (considering you are being smart). Pretty good odds if you ask me.
Also, look to see if any Cars and Coffee groups (or others) are doing drives. They did a few here. That way you can at least be part of something car related. I suspect, sadly, that in Texas, they just do a normal show.
And yes, maybe avoid the news. I am not sure you will get much from there except fear.
Snowdoggie said:
In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :
It's hard to stay sane when all you ever see is the inside of your office, the inside of your car and the inside of your house.
I haven't been to the dog park or Cars and Coffee or an autocross since this mess started.
I think everybody around here is a little bonkers right now.
Go for a drive. Go to the hills. Go find where the road meets the horizon. Get out of your house, and stop scaring yourself to death.
Signed, COVID-19 survivor.
