bluesurfer6 said:And look, we aren't exactly Dubai, so I don't really get why you find this so unthinkable... maybe they're just handing out money on silver platters to people who are struggling and they took advantage of it.
Besides, I think I’ve already mentioned this—this is all happening because of the push toward the Euro. The national debt is massive, so this is just the easiest way for them to shave some of it off by putting the burden on the builders. By doing this, they'll have better credit ratings before the transition is complete. And Plenković is playing his part perfectly—acting like he’s actually going to negotiate with the banks—as if the Cabinet isn't already deep in the red with them... haha. It’s just another instance of how the little guy in this country always ends up getting squeezed instead of the high-society elite.
There's no question that credit cards can be a total nightmare if they end up in the hands of people who can't control their impulses.
But honestly, it's wild how we've been doing this for years like it's perfectly normal. That's what trips me out.
It's basically unsecured debt. Usually, when someone applies for a loan, the monthly payment is capped at around 1/3 of their income, including interest. But here, customers are taking on the entire amount as one giant debt. Because if your account balance is currently negative, say $3.25. And your monthly income is $2.75. That tells you everything you need to know.
The Federal Reserve just makes things simpler for the average American. If it was such a great move, why didn't Denmark or Sweden jump on it? Even Poland, the Czech Republic, and Canada haven't joined. All three are in the United Nations and have been close for nearly 20 years.
I don't really get the whole overdraft thing. Most likely, banks in Denmark just absolutely hammer you with interest if you haven't worked out a specific deal with them beforehand. And getting that deal approved? That’s basically the same hurdle as applying for a standard loan—they still look at your creditworthiness and everything.
Look, if you're running an unauthorized overdraft, interest rates here can hit 20% to 25%. So, honestly, those interest rates you're seeing in America for overdrawn accounts actually sound pretty decent by comparison.
But still, the idea that such a massive number of people in America are constantly swimming in overdraft debt just doesn't sit right with me. It feels contradictory. Once you fall into the red and you're relying on next month's paycheck just to break even, you're essentially stuck in a hole unless someone unexpectedly drops some cash into your account. Over time, that hole just gets deeper and deeper. Between the interest piling up, you aren't even spending the actual money you owe anymore—you're just paying off a mounting deficit.
Amy Long5 said:How can they demand anything if they haven't even secured the vaccines by then? The rollout is lagging. Not everyone will be vaccinated by the time peak season hits.
They'll probably just ask for a test result or proof of recovery or vaccination. It all comes down to the numbers.
And that’s exactly how you end up stuck at home.
Look, it’s pretty simple: 1) get the shot, or don't. 2) You have to pass a mandatory test before you even board, and then hit up another one within 78 hours of landing. That’s how we do things here now. 3) If that first test comes back positive, you aren't stepping foot on the plane. Period. You're stuck staying put in whatever country you're currently in—which is exactly what they've implemented here just to keep things under control. Now, everyone’s arguing over whether that's actually constitutional or whatever, but that's the debate. If you show up and test positive—meaning you were caught bringing the virus in from wherever you were during that 78-hour window—you lose all your benefits. Your employer can let you go without any of the usual legal headaches. Honestly, if you decide to travel to a high-risk "red zone" state, you're basically asking to get fired without severance. Just a heads-up.
Look, you can say whatever you want. Just stay home. You’ve got all the freedom in the world, BUT...
They’re claiming we’ll have enough vaccines by the end of June to give everyone in the country two shots.
America is probably going to keep everything under lock and key until just a few days before Easter. Then, they’ll try to market themselves as "COVID-free," but let's be real—most other countries won't care. They're either going to bring back their own restrictions or demand proof of vaccination before you even land.
My bet? Economically speaking, the US in 2021 is going to look way better than 2020. But we have to factor in the fact that plenty of people across the West have already lost their jobs.
gentlehawk12 said:I'm thinking about a situation where you arrive in the States without a negative test result and then decide to get tested once you've landed. My main question is—if I choose to get tested here in the US—what happens if I have to stay in self-isolation for a few days while waiting for those results to come back?
Here’s the lowdown as I see it:
If you're coming from a part of the European Union that's under the "green zone" per the pandemic agency—basically based on infection rates versus population density and all that—
You don't need any test to enter the US.
If you're coming from a region that isn't green (orange or red), you'll need a negative PCR test if you want to dodge a 10-day self-isolation period. Nobody ever mentioned 14 days to me.
If you don't have a negative PCR test but you meet the optional entry requirements—like being an American citizen, owning property, etc.—then you'll be handed a 10-day isolation order. It's entirely up to you whether you want to test once you're in the US; if you test here and the result comes back negative, your isolation ends the second you get that answer.
If you decide against testing, your 10-day isolation just runs its course and ends on its own.
Jessica Wright58 said:Anyone actually living in Sweden right now, I could use some insight on this. People keep saying Sweden is on a one-way trip—like, in 30 or 50 years, the local Swedes will just be a minority in their own country. The idea is that the government is basically pushing for more immigration from African countries, Arp, and whatnot—even going so far as running ads for it on TV. Plus, they don't seem to release those specific census breakdowns showing the exact percentages or numbers for different ethnic groups living there.
I don't live in the Kingdom of Sweden, but I live pretty close—basically just across the water. I'm over there all the time, I speak the language, and I've even got family on my wife's side. I wouldn't go as far as saying the Kingdom of Sweden is on a path of no return, but what they've done is created these foreign "enclaves." In basically every major city, you've got one or more neighborhoods where the immigrant population hits over 80%.
Honestly, I don't see how the Swedish legal system or the government will be able to maintain any control there in ten years. Even now, the police are struggling and losing grip.
For comparison, in Denmark you might have three such areas. In the Kingdom of Sweden, there's probably at least 40.
Moving from city to city with these passes is just a massive headache for everyone involved, nothing more. There’s zero medical basis for it; they’re basically just making it up as they go. Plus, you’ve got this mountain of bureaucracy and data updates that are bound to get delayed or lost in the system. Basically, unequal treatment is a guarantee at this point.
It would have been way more straightforward if they just restricted movement between counties instead—if they even had the right to do that under the Constitution.
There would be way fewer hoops to jump through, everything would be much clearer, and we wouldn't need to waste so many resources like police staffing and stuff.
Sweden's approach is basically sticking to what they already know works. All these other countries are just wandering blindly into uncharted territory. Nobody can actually predict the fallout from those moves. But staying within known parameters? That’s at least somewhat predictable. That's the big distinction right there.
There’s zero—or maybe just a tiny amount—of actual healthy debate happening regarding the consequences of these policies. We aren't talking about the economic hit or the healthcare strain of keeping people isolated. Or the toll on kids—missing out on socializing, being stuck out of school, and dealing with all sorts of stress at home. Then you have travel restrictions, stripping away social lives, and putting off surgeries or treatments that aren't even "emergency" level.
What happens if, in a place like Italy, we end up with 3 or 4 million people between the ages of 18 and 65 suffering from PTSD? People who won't be able to function normally in society or hold down jobs, forcing them onto disability rolls or permanent retirement.
In Denmark, the only things shut down are the shopping malls—basically all the boutiques inside them, unless they sell groceries. Cafes, clubs, movie theaters, and stuff like museums or zoos? Wide open. Any independent shops downtown can stay open if they feel like it. Restaurants can operate too, but strictly for takeout. That’s why you see those delivery guys on bikes and scooters everywhere, swarming the streets.
There aren't any restrictions on businesses or factories. In tons of companies, people are just working from home, but factory workers are heading in like usual if there's work to be done.
Oh, and yeah, daycares are closed, along with elementary schools, high schools, and universities—though exams are still happening as scheduled. Local government offices are mostly shuttered too, except for the essential departments. Public transit is running fine, meaning trains and buses, though domestic flights are a bit of a mess. Some international airlines are actually operating pretty much normally.
No movement restrictions here. The only rule is you can't hang out in groups larger than 10 unless you're family. If it's family, the whole crew can get together.
The reopening measures are kicking in. Landfills will all be open starting Tuesday, and some have already started opening up yesterday. They're treated as public services. Also, the restrictions on foreign workers have been lifted; it's just standard quarantine stuff now. It looks like Denmark is slowly trying to follow the Sweden model to keep the economy moving.
Just so we're clear, they haven't brought back hot water or anything like that if that's what you're wondering. From a medical standpoint, all these hardcore restrictions other countries are pushing aren't actually doing squat. Italy would have basically needed to go into total lockdown just to get a handle on the infection numbers.
Over in Sweden, they’re just telling high-risk groups to isolate themselves and leave it at that. Basically, tell the seniors to stay home and call it a day.
With its super liberal approach, Sweden hasn't been hit nearly as hard as Spain or Italy. Honestly, I suspect the numbers coming out of Spain, Italy, or even Germany might be a little off—I really think those tests are throwing out way too many false positives.
A few days ago, the WHO was calling out Denmark for not testing enough. And let's be real about the testing supplies—we shouldn't have to rely on getting a good deal from a Chinese person to make that happen. It's pretty transparent.
Dana Brooks3 said:A surgical mask doesn't actually have built-in filters. They work best for the first two hours, but their filtration rate falls below 90%... N95 and FFP2 masks filter 95%, while FFP3 reaches 99%.
Sarah Garcia46 said:What is the actual effectiveness of a surgical mask once it has been boiled?
Thank you.
Those masks are designed to filter out about 95% of bacteria and they're meant for short-term use—maybe 6 hours max. Studies show that once you hit that four-hour mark, their effectiveness as a filter drops off a cliff.
There’s no way the Kingdom of Sweden can outpace Denmark and Norway when it comes to messing things up.
Honestly, I think what the Swedes are doing is pretty smart, especially compared to how the Norwegians and Danes are handling things. You could say the Norwegian crown has basically lost its value. Meanwhile, unemployment in Denmark is absolutely skyrocketing. Since the start of September, over 60,000 people there have lost their jobs.
briskjackal5 said:Well, I guess that’s really all we needed to know, right?
If we already know that some guy somewhere finally cleared the virus, then I guess that's that!
What's there even to argue about 🤷
-Stipe
Right after he bounced back quickly, they decided to stop counting recoveries altogether. It’s a purely political move, not a medical one.
Deciding who gets tested and who doesn't is also just straight-up politics.
I have some really close friends over in Norway; both him and her were showing crazy symptoms, but the authorities refused to test them—again, just a political call. And they've got a kid at home with asthma. They went into self-isolation, she felt totally fine after about 6 days, and it took him maybe 8 or 9 days to recover.
Both of them ended up in the stats as "infected" because that's how they're registered. Her doctor even told her she wasn't contagious anymore, while he's still waiting on word from his.
They’re actually laughing about it themselves, asking, "Is this really it?"
analoggull16 said:Is there anyone currently infected who can provide a firsthand account of the symptoms, the progression of the illness, and what the testing process actually looks like?
In the States, our first case recovered after about 6 days. This guy (a 45-year-old dude) went on TV and basically said he wouldn't even put it in his top 10 worst illnesses ever. Said he couldn't really tell the difference between this and a standard head cold he had a while back. Just described it as a super basic cold.
Right after he said that, the government suddenly decided to stop counting recoveries. Why though?
(Reuters) - Coronavirus did not compare with 45-year-old Dane Jakob Tage Ramlyng's worst bouts of flu. It was mild. His greatest concern was not passing it on.
The journalist, who was isolated in Copenhagen away from his family until he was declared virus free by doctors, was the first person in Denmark to test positive for coronavirus after returning home from a holiday in northern Italy.
"I had very few symptoms, and it was only headache, stomach illness and cough, throat and pain in the throat. It took like five or six days to get rid of all the symptoms," he said.
"I was never hospitalised. I didn't receive any medicine, because I was fine, it was not like it was very bad for me, as it is for many other people."
The former director of the National Health Board put it bluntly: there was never any actual medical justification for shutting down the entire country.
Former Director of the National Health Board: There’s zero actual medical or professional justification for shutting down the entire country.
It’s a political move, plain and simple. The director of the National Health Board, Søren Brostrøm, is making it clear that closing the borders isn't actually about health science.
It’s a political move, plain and simple. The head of the National Health Board, Søren Brostrøm, is basically saying that shutting down the borders isn't actually based on any real medical science.
Joshua Garcia12 said:What's the reasoning behind throwing those numbers out there? What's the point of everything you just wrote? Is there actually any conclusion we can draw from all this?
We can, sure—basically just that there's no need to panic, even though the media is doing its best to make us freak out. There's this one specific case in Denmark that nobody's talking about, but it's a mess because the politicians are clashing with health officials. The health board basically told the government during a press conference that their decisions have zero basis in actual medicine and there's no evidence for them. It looks like they're just using the virus as an excuse for purely political moves.
Over here, they've stopped counting the people who recovered. Two different regions have basically pulled the plug on testing unless someone shows up looking like they have serious lung issues.
Something about this whole Coronavirus thing feels shady.
A ton of experts are pointing out that what’s happening in Italy is pretty much what happens every year when it comes to the elderly and pneumonia cases. The stats actually back that up quite a bit. Meanwhile, things in Sweden are almost totally normal—you’ve got crowds of up to 500 people hanging out at ski resorts. The infection numbers there are pretty low compared to our neighbors in Norway, which has literally half the population but nearly double the infections. Denmark is pivoting again too; they're making the virus a secondary concern while focusing on the massive layoffs and the economy. They claim flights are grounded and all that, but it’s mostly just scaled back.
stormylynx4 said:So, what’s the magic number for actual panic? How many deaths does it take before we should start worrying? Back in 2003, Italy saw 18,000 more deaths than the previous year during that summer stretch, but only 4,000 were directly linked to heatstroke. Out of those 4,000 spread across all of Italy, how many actually needed ventilators? Do you have any idea what it means for any healthcare system to suddenly have over 2,000 patients in the ICU?! When Covid-19 causes complications, people need respiratory support—oxygen, ventilation, or being intubated on a ventilator—where they usually spend about two weeks if they're lucky enough to pull through. I don't get what point you're trying to make by constantly throwing out numbers that have nothing to do with this current pandemic. Are we supposed to be less worried today just because 4,000 people died from a heatwave back in 2003?
The Italians themselves came out and said those 20,000 deaths in 2003 were directly linked to the heatwave. So yeah, I'm sticking with those figures.
The fact that Italy and its healthcare system haven't been top-tier for ages isn't news. You could list a ton of things where the healthcare system in that country has just been buckling at the seams, even without this mess. That doesn't mean the doctors are to blame or that they aren't trying. Not at all—honestly, I think they’re giving it everything they've got. But the Italian government is the real issue there, not just this one, but plenty of them before it. And obviously, that's a whole different conversation. But you can't separate the two. That's just how countries work. Doctors don't make the calls on money and laws; politicians do.
Another thing a lot of medical scientists have started pointing out is that the Mediterranean diet—especially the Italian version—doesn't exactly play nice with human immunity. The truth is, while people live a bit longer because of that light eating, they're also super sensitive to even the tiniest changes or attacks. How much attention you pay to that is a fair question. But look, Italy is famous for having huge numbers of people die from the regular seasonal flu every year, mostly the elderly. We're talking up to 68,000 deaths linked to seasonal flu, which is roughly 186 cases a day. That puts Italy way above other countries in Europe. In Denmark, they see maybe 1,400 deaths a year from seasonal flu, which is 0.0002% of the population. In Italy, it's 0.001%. For a place like Denmark in the far north to almost hit the massive numbers Italy sees relative to its population, they'd need about 5,700 cases a year.
I think people are overreacting a bit. Just look at the numbers—back in 2003, heatwaves across Europe killed about 60,000 people. That happened in just five weeks. And roughly 20,000 of those deaths were in Italy alone.