Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

Here is the list of things that can open in Ohio in 6 days:

Aquariums
Art galleries
Country clubs
Ice skating rinks
Indoor family entertainment centers
Indoor sports facilities
Laser tag facilities
Movie theaters (indoor)
Museums
Playgrounds (outdoor)
Public recreation centers
Roller skating rinks
Social clubs
Trampoline parks
Zoos

Here is the list of things that can't:

Cedar Point

Kings Island

It's all stupid. That should explain it.

The world has moved on, the virus doesn't matter anymore, the protests do. The media controls the thought processes of the masses.

And casinos. Casinos cannot open.

OhioStater said:

Here is the list of things that can't:

Cedar Point

Kings Island

I am having way too much fun watching the discussions on Facebook and Pointbuzz myself

Market tends to price in expectations. If the expectation is the Fed will cut interest rates the market will rise before the rate cut is announced. When the rate cut happens, there is no change in the market. Fed Open Market Committee meets and doesn't cut rates and the market drops even though interest rates stayed the same.

Same is true when companies miss expected earnings. Market begins to question whether long term expectations will be met.

Its more nuanced and complicated than that. But at this point, there is confidence in the US economy on a long term basis. Despite the short term issues.

TheMillenniumRider said:

The world has moved on, the virus doesn't matter anymore, the protests do. The media controls the thought processes of the masses.

I don't understand what you're trying to say here. Weren't all these reopenings scheduled before the protests? Or are you saying that nobody is paying attention to the inconsistency of the reopenings because of the protests?

I don't, at all, understand the confidence in the future of the market. I haven't touched our (managed) retirement or kids' college funds but about 80% of our rainy day fund normally invested in indexes is in cash right now. I just don't see a whole lot of businesses withstanding two months of zero revenue and then multiple months of diminished revenue. Like, how is consumer confidence going to absorb that kind of hit?

And God forbid if we see a second wave (which is my prediction). Then the market is really going to tank.

I'm thinking more and more that you can bet on a second wave. For many reasons I need to get the local economy going as much as anyone. That said, here is a cautionary tale. City of St Petersberg, FL started their summer camp program this past Monday. By day 3 they already had 3 summer camp counselors test positive for Covid-19. They didn't get Covid this week. They likely got exposed to it a couple of weeks ago. What happened a couple of weeks ago? Memorial Day weekend and Florida by and large diving into Phase 1 of the President's Reopening Plan. This isn't over...and rushing out to my favorite amusement park isn't going to be a priority for me for a while.

GoBucks89 said:

Most retirement savers would be better off with a handful of low cost index options.

Our retirement plan has a nice set of Vanguard index funds. Low fees, not much thinking required after one decides on an asset mix. Mine has been aggressive, b/c I had a long window. Now that I’m in my 50s I am thinking about changing that.

And I’m with the skipper. I am planning to spend my summer recreation in a kayak in the river, far away from other paddlers.

ApolloAndy said:

Weren't all these reopenings scheduled before the protests? Or are you saying that nobody is paying attention to the inconsistency of the reopenings because of the protests?

This is from an Ohio perspective so I can't speak for other openings around the country. The listings of things opening June 10th were announced at Gov. Dewine's press conference yesterday (June 4th).

It appears that Cedar Fair and Kalahari are now suing the state to reopen.

You know what's going to be interesting whenever these orders end? The lawsuits. I can imagine a small business type of class action lawsuit over the inconsistency of how these orders were dealt out and subsequently enforced (or not).

I haven't touched our (managed) retirement or kids' college funds but about 80% of our rainy day fund normally invested in indexes is in cash right now.

From what I know of your age and that of your kids, this is consistent with a positive long term view of the market.

Most financial planning experts would say to have all of your rainy day fund in cash. Rainy days often come when the market is down so it could be a double whammy if the rainy day fund is invested in the market. Not just in the current environment but always. That can vary depending on the amount of funds in a rainy day account and other short term liquidity that is available.

If Cedar Point is open and they show some ability to run it reasonably well, I think its likely my daughter and I will make our annual trip. We shall see.

Unemployment came back down a bit in today's report, but a lot of it was attributed to restaurant reopenings. I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect that's going to be temporary.

GoBucks89 said:

From what I know of your age and that of your kids, this is consistent with a positive long term view of the market.

Most financial planning experts would say to have all of your rainy day fund in cash. Rainy days often come when the market is down so it could be a double whammy if the rainy day fund is invested in the market. Not just in the current environment but always. That can vary depending on the amount of funds in a rainy day account and other short term liquidity that is available.

Yep. College (x3) is 8-12 years away. Retirement is ~25 years away. I should be more specific when I say "Rainy Day" fund. It's basically money that is beyond our emergency car repair/house repair/medical emergency funds and beyond our accumulated/accumulating vacation fund. It's essentially the money we've saved over the years with the sole intention of investing it for growth.

For what it's worth, Dewine is holding another press conference today at 2:00 to address the lawsuits filed in Ohio.

Cedar Point, specifically, got an amendment added to a House Bill which is set for a hearing on June 9th at 11 AM. In case any of you hang out at the statehouse.

ApolloAndy said:

I don't understand what you're trying to say here. Weren't all these reopenings scheduled before the protests? Or are you saying that nobody is paying attention to the inconsistency of the reopenings because of the protests?

The second one, the world is focused on the race wars. The reps at work have the news on quite often, all I used to hear was virus this and virus that. Now its barely a blip on the coverage.

These protests do raise some interesting questions about the point, if there even is much of one anymore, of continuing these social distancing/capacity practices. By all accounts, the media and the public at large should be losing their minds over the potential these are creating for spreading COVID-19 again, but...nothing.

Perhaps that is because the purpose they serve outweighs the risk in the peoples' minds.

They tried marching on Teams, but everyone kept their mics on. Total chaos.

For what it's worth, I have a cousin who has been very active (marching, etc.) in Vallejo, CA, and said he was shocked how many have been in masks. In fact, the masks themselves have become a place to place a symbol/words, etc.

Well, there's also a super strong case to be made that what the protesters are asking for is also a public health issue. It's no secret that the virus disproportionately hit people of color and so racial justice in housing, income, and opportunity (and also not getting shot by police) is also an enormous part of the solution to the virus.

I wholeheartedly support the cause. My point is that the media, for all their cries of, "Stay home! Social distance!," is doing a horrifically terrible job of looking out for these people by staying as quiet as they are about the virus. Either it's a health issue or not, and if it is, the media should be looking out for these at-risk communities by imploring them to find methods of protesting that don't involve flooding city streets. It strikes me as pretty unsupportive of the media to stay as quiet as they are about the risks of COVID-19 spreading heavily through communities via these protests.

These protesters are putting themselves at significant risk if COVID-19 actually behaves the way we've been told it will, and I worry for them because it'd be horrible if they got themselves and a lot of other people sick when all they were trying to do was stand up for a good cause. If it spreads, though, a lot of people are going to have to redirect their anger internally. If it doesn't spread, fantastic, but then I don't want people to suddenly act like we should all be deathly afraid of it anymore. Viruses don't take breaks for protests.

Cedar Point/Kings Island can open starting Friday, June 19th.