Jurgis

@netnet: one can wait for startup down rounds. But as you know there's a bunch of reasons this is problematic. Like rb says there's also the fact that private cos (startups) are much less likely to drop the price 50%+. We can see what happens but I don't hold my breath much. Or wait for new startups to raise money. But similar issue: they won't raise at very low valuation; and likely they won't raise at all until this passes. There might be some opportunities, but likely they would depend on existing network.

Yea. But shouldn't those people have some dough to tide them over though this? Plus calling 200k a year households middle class is quite a stretch. No matter the location. Isn't NYC median household income something like 60k? Yeah, 200k household middle class? LOL. It's actually in top 9%: https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-household-income-percentiles/ I find it quite funny - and sad - when most of my techie colleagues behave as if they are middle class and not somewhere in the 80-90%+.

wabuffo is a veritable source of information. 8)

I thought that product shortages will be short. But it looks like that at least some local stores are having fewer products 2 weeks plus after lockdown than they had after initial buying shock. I wonder why? I am not talking toilet paper that is being hoarded, but I'm talking things that I doubt people hoard: yogurts, sour cream, vegetables. Or things like tooth paste, juice, tea, etc. These are essential businesses and products. And companies should be minting money since people are buying everything without looking at the price. So both manufacturers (Kraft/etc.), logistics/distribution, and grocery store itself should be minting money. So why not stock? Not enough employees? There's thousands who lost jobs, they can be temp hired. Is it because companies think this is short term and don't want to ramp up production? Is it because they don't want to raise prices, so they are not making more profits? But that's not true, since they sell out on even overpriced products nobody bought before. Or is it still supply/delivery shock? Thoughts?

#OnlyInLithuania: Black marketers are selling pregnancy tests as COVID-19 tests... :-\

Can I join this pile? 8)

Then it's certain to be enacted.

No there isn't. But you can ignore a section like "Politics".

What I hate about Microsoft services for individuals is that they require to login to your computer with Microsoft account. This IMO sucks. We share computers and I don't want each computer to have multiple users with Microsoft account linkage and have to deal with account switching, backing up disk space for each account, etc. I hope Microsoft disentangles MS Office (whatever it's called) from Windows login. Like Skype is so far not connected to Windows login, so that's good. Overall though I might stay on my last purchased MS Office (2019, I think) and not move to subscription for as long as I can...

I've heard that MS Teams and Azure use is pretty much exploding. Not sure I like the valuation still though. For current valuation to be exciting I'd have to assume >10% (if not >15%) growth rate long term...

What exactly is bad balance sheet? Are you looking for great business that's ongoing during pandemic or one that is (mostly) stopped? Also you'd have to look at valuation. I'll just scattershoot: EXPE IAC MCO Liberties DFS CVS

Project much? Absolutely guilty as charged. But you should hold up a mirror as well. Well, I asked pointed questions and stirred the pot. Maybe too pointed. But it elicited some interesting answers. So thanks for that. 8) Just to return to OP, netnet asked "What are some ethical ways of proceeding." (emphasis mine). It appears that there were very few (no?) ideas. Which I think is sad both from investors' PoV and from a suffering small business' PoV. But I do understand that it's hard to find a win-win solution. Even harder to find solution that is both win-win and also has win-win optics. It's not impossible, IMO there are people who have done it. Not gonna point fingers, they may or may not volunteer their experience. Still hard. So I'm gonna repeat my easy conclusion: Government help it is! (I have more controversial conclusions, but I think the pot was stirred enough. ::) ) Anyway, good luck, have fun.

OT. Ahh, so this might be an explanation for a belief that you get cold/flu/pneumonia from being cold (or in the cold). It's just the MCC - and maybe some other parts of immune system? - work worse when a person is cold (is outside in the cold), so they are more likely to get infected? Thanks for insight.

We got PapaGino's coupon for online pizza. Somehow I don't think online pizza is very filling.

There is some case/death growth slowdown across countries due to lockdown/shelter-in-place/social distancing/etc. Assuming this trend continues, did we see the market bottom at SP500 ~2300?

I've heard about outside lines at Trader Joe's. IMO this is just insane. More exposure waiting ages in line than in the store. Anyway, not gonna go to TJs until the lines are gone. In Soviet Union line stands you!

I had to look it up. :o

1. Yearly travel spend gonna be down $XK - two or three international trips cancelled. 2. Best Buy stopped appliance installations at home. They deliver to the door, after that it's your problem. We got a dryer installed last day of full installations - pure luck. Appliance breaks - tough luck try to find someone who will fix it... 3. Not very essential services are spotty. Pest control - unreachable. 4. Groceries - we got what we needed in a store. I can't Instacart for groceries for the life of me. Toilet paper is the only elusive staple so far. 5. Local meadow/forest/dog walking place was swamped on Saturday. Cars parked half mile+ before the parking lot illegally on highway side. We got there late afternoon, so we got parking. Lots of people walking/etc. 6. I think I mentioned we waited for 2 hours for Chinese delivery on Sunday week ago. Presumably lots of restaurants closed, so this one was swamped and only had one delivery guy. 7. Some local restaurants do pickup/delivery but with half or quarter menu. I understand why, but it sucks - we pretty much could not order anything. 8. Some online services are borked. The restaurant may be closed, but they don't say it and just silently fail. Double check before ordering or getting mad that the website does not work. 9. RCN called and offered 2x speed for 1/2 price for 2 years. The guy did not say that this is uncancellable contract (early termination is like $600), but still... pretty nifty deal IMO. Unless I missed something else and they borked me. 10. Had door-to-door free energy assessment sales a week or so ago. I think MA put a freeze on that for now though. 11. Non-essential products from China are still being delivered and pretty fast. Bought custom shades, got in a week+. Go Amazon, go China! ;) 12. I mentioned buying home sewn masks on Etsy on other thread. 13. Bunch of activities I am involved in moved to virtual on Zoom. Tai Chi, Zen, etc. Even non-technical people are all Zooming. 14. MIT CSAIL mailing list is pretty active on community stuff like making masks for people/healthcare workers, making ventilators (I'm not sure how realistic this is), some Covid 19 related software projects.

Project much?

I have a good sized property but I still think that parking would be an issue. You can park it in the desert in Nevada (or even California) for cheap.

Yes, the SALT deduction changes definitely impacts RE values in high tax states - NY, NJ, CT and MA. NY probably the worst. LOL. That's likely a reason a friend lost a bid on a house against 5 cash offers two weeks ago. Not. The housing appreciation in the states I mentioned (MA, NJ, CT, NY) is nothing like the appreciation that has occurred on the lower tax coast. lower tax coast? What is that? CA? ::) Also, data? My house in CA was taxed at 1.25% of purchase value plus an inflation adjustment. I paid about 4K in taxes for my house. I bought a house for a lower value in LI. Tax was 11k. It was considered low because the proper owner fought the taxes otherwise they would be 12.5k. My house in MA is taxed 1.8% of fair market value (it cost a bit more) - 10k. So yes, the RE taxes in CA are lower, especially if you are in the house for a long time, because of Proposition 13 and a lower tax rate. Of course adjusted for the enormous prices in the Bay are you may pay more in absolute $. I was not talking about RE taxes. If you talk SALT, you are talking all the state taxes. Yeah, CA RE appreciation has been higher than (most) right coast. But not because of SALT.

The only reason why the recommendation are not changed already because none or too be had anyways and those that can be had need to go to the hospitals first. You can get plenty of cloth masks (best with insert pockets) on Etsy (even if you don't buy from #Lithuania). We also ordered 30 count of disposables from Amazon (boo hiss we evil). I'll let people know if/when they arrive.

No, it isn't. Not at angel investing level. I think it was made clear we are not talking about Uber-size startups. Anyway, I think there's no point to continue this topic. It has been made abundantly clear that investments into small businesses experiencing difficulties is sleazy and reprehensible. At least government support isn't.

Yes, the SALT deduction changes definitely impacts RE values in high tax states - NY, NJ, CT and MA. NY probably the worst. LOL. That's likely a reason a friend lost a bid on a house against 5 cash offers two weeks ago. Not. The housing appreciation in the states I mentioned (MA, NJ, CT, NY) is nothing like the appreciation that has occurred on the lower tax coast. lower tax coast? What is that? CA? ::) Also, data?

Esports FTW! 8)