Jun 24th, 2020 | Tom Talks

TOM'S LIFE UNDER COVID-19 Change of pace. Tom takes it outside, under the big, old oak tree, to talk about how life under lockdown has changed him. Find out how he feels about the return of live sports, the reopening of bars and restaurants, and how this quiet period at home could change him forever.

How will life under lockdown change you? Write Tom and compare notes: tom@blowmeuptom.com.

HOUR 1

Comments

Submitted by TallTim on

You're a millionaire. You have zero financial needs and live in one of your two homes.

Blaming the current election cycle for the re-opening is a bit disingenuous -- we would have had to do it eventually. I'll explain it, since you seem to be out of touch with people living from paycheck-to-paycheck. Most americans have zero savings. Most had some savings for at best a month, maybe two -- and that is IF they were somewhat prepared. But most are not, given their low income.

As you may know, unemployment spiked, hard. The hardest hit sectors were the people that live check to check. (Service industry, Retail) Unemployment checks aren't saving these people. The "PPP" program isn't saving these people. Most small businesses didn't get any grants/loans in the first place.

So when I hear a multi-millionaire say that they think things shouldn't re-open, all I can think is "Damn, you really don't care about regular people, do you." Average americans don't have the money buffer you have, or the ability to sit at their ranch talking into a Yellowtec microphone that costs as much as a used car about how re-opening is a bad idea.

The furloughed need work. They need income. And that isn't going to happen if things don't get going again. Many will be evicted after the moratoriums expire.

And even if you don't care about the "little people", state tax revenues will be absolutely decimated without small businesses reopening. And it will become YOUR problem when the states/counties have to hike taxes to make up for the shortfall. That includes property taxes, of course.

I figured you were more sympathetic than what this show revealed. I'm surprised and a bit sad about it, really. I guess money does change people, after all...

Submitted by TomLeykisNNN on

...for people who laughed when I warned of the need for a TWELVE MONTH EMERGENCY FUND who now complain because they're not ready for an actual EMERGENCY. They were busy wasting their money on trucks and SUVs they didn't need (and couldn't afford), houses they were in no position to afford, stupid, lazy services such as Grubhub, Doordash, Uber Eats and Postmates, running up $300+/month tabs at Starbucks, wasting money on shit such as vaping, the list goes on and on. Now these people are AFRAID of what comes next? TOUGH LUCK!

 

tom

Submitted by TallTim on

..you aren't addressing the people I was talking about. I'm not talking about people who are well-off like you are. I'm not talking about people who have the ability to save, but don't.

No, I'm talking about the people you don't care about in your last piece -- the service industry workers, the restaurant owners, the bar owners, the hotel owners. According to you, since you can shelter in your expensive ranch (with a pool too, nice) that everything is just fine and fuck 'em all. I find that callous attitude to be a bit out of touch, as I mentioned in my prior post.

Economic side-note - UBS put out a research letter that stated the USA loses about 3% in GDP output for every month we're shut down. That's a lot of jobs and businesses that aren't going to make it back. The very same that you were willing to chuck over your shoulder because you have a freezer full of meat brought to you by your hired help.

You got yours, so screw the rest, right?

Submitted by Gabedrew77 on

If the corrupt and incompetent administration would have taken this seriously from the beginning instead of denying it, we wouldn't be in our current situation.

I mean, we could start taking it seriously *now* and we could have this virus down to a trickle in a few months, but yeah - aim your frustrations at Tom.

Submitted by TallTim on

... of this outbreak, which was China. The CCP knew about human-to-human cases. The WHO parroted the party line that there were no person-to-person infections, then they flip-flopped on the whole story.

This entire pandemic rests on the shoulders of Xi and the CCP that runs China. That's it. When they suppressed Doctor Li from sounding the alarm, detaining him, torturing him and forcing him to sign a confession of being a "troublemaker", that is what allowed this thing to escape China's borders.

Everything else is an afterthought, but no one wants to take China to task on this -- because corporations are beholden to revenue streams coming from that corrupt communist enclave.

So if you have to pick the apex of this pyramid, I'd say aim a bit higher until your sights rest on the CCP banner.

Submitted by Gabedrew77 on

Sure, China should be blamed too.

But Dear Leader knew about this back in January/February. And he did very little. Sure, he closed down SOME travel from China but at that point the US was already infected.

I don't give a shit about the WHO or China right now. That has no impact on what's currently going on in the United States. Trump claims to be in charge and like he says, "Whatever happens, you're responsible. If it doesn't happen, you're responsible."

So by his own words, he's responsible for the US being in the worst possible situation for COVID-19.

Submitted by AnaheimDog on

I could talk about this ad naseum. Restaurants have always been a cesspool and a ripoff and on top of it, its OLD, CHEAP FOOD and its always been that way, but for some unknown reason, all the SHIT from our past, the STUPID SHIT WE DID, is all coming into focus together at once, its truely something to observe and reflect on. Aunt jemima syrup, pepsi, most of the garbage you spend your money on is the move of a un-enlightenef person. Even if you are not well off, or especially if, you would be WISE to hear Toms message, in this podcast.

Submitted by AnaheimDog on

Ive witnessed the construction of maybe 20 new, botique hotels built alongside the freeway in the past 3 years. A bunch of richy richers are shitten their pants on a daily basis im guessing. My point is, this is hitting US, you better take notice and figure it out, be on top, dont get buried. Disneyland is FUCKED, ANAHEIM IS FUCKED, BASEBALL, HOCKEY IN ANAHEIM IS FUCKED, THE SUBWAY THAT COST LA 10 BILLION IS FUCKED. There may never be a vaccine, there will be more, different viruses next year and the year after that. We wont ever return to pre-covid life, we are forever changed, recognize this and make a plan

Submitted by mwkirlin on

For three months, I have incorporated long walks into my daily routine. Today, I did get a breakfast burrito and coffee. Looking at my Twitter feed, I saw this podcast was posted, and looking at the length I knew it would be almost exactly as long as it would take me to walk home. There were a few delays, one of which was a lady who stopped to talk to me, letting me know three large elk literally walked across the road right behind me while I was listening to the podcast. I did not notice them at all. I was reminded of what I figured out last March, that this was great for me. This podcast just cemented that attitude for me as well. I live alone and am on salary, and incorporate my work into my life, not the other way around. I have had my own projects and have done some of them, mostly work related but some home related, and I have more, a lot more to go. But you are not kidding: this time is a gift, and I realized it pretty much when it happened. It is a golden ticket to care for myself, and I have had a three month head start on when I thought it would happen. Thanks, Tom, for the reminder that this is how I should look at it. Sometimes, your affirmation is more meaningful than anything I could receive. This was one of those times.

Submitted by cpk on

I am so glad to hear that you're getting healthier, getting rid of the mountains of salt and sugar that restaurants and processed food contain. - It's way better. I too have been very content just to be outside, I planted flowers and stuff and I'm stoked to see them bloom, and hanging out with my dogs and going for dog walks is so simple yet so fulfilling now that other distractions have been removed. I totally get it! I'm almost in your age group, so I do understand that younger folks might be having a harder time with all of this. You and I got to have all of those debaucherous years of boozing, hooking up, going to concerts etc., pursuing career goals, etc - people in their 20s and 30s haven't gotten much of that out of their systems so I do understand how it sucks for them.

Submitted by JboDiesel on

Tom,

Man I got to tell you, I'm a person that lives check to check, I live in a 800 sq foot apartment and I agree with everything you just said about finances and preparing for the financial apocalypse. I dumped all my money in the credit cards that I have and I never felt better! Most people CHOOSE not to reflect on their lives and see where the pitfalls and traps may lay, but more than anything want you to be sympathetic of their carelessness in preparing for the unknown. I've prepared and now I navigate accordingly.