Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2020 March 13

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March 13

Why are all of the retailers that send me emails sending me emails about COVID-19?

I get why my employer is emailing me about it. I get why the government is emailing me about it. But does it seem like literally everybody (Best Buy, Publix, Winn-Dixie, Sam's Club, Walmart, Perkin's Restaurant, Target, PeopleReady, and several others) doing it when I don't recall any of them doing anything like this in the past with viral outbreaks or other disasters? I'm curious if the government or some organization is giving out free money to companies to take measures to stop the spread of the virus, if it's just a branding thing to deter a drop in sales, or if there's some other reason. 73.156.246.142 (talk) 00:54, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

What do the emails say? Are they advice on how to stay safe, or do they give information specific to the senders?  --Lambiam 01:00, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

The stuff I've been getting seems intended to reassure, that the company is taking all necessary measures to prevent spread of the virus. I don't think it would require government payola to see the publicity advantage in sending out those emails. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:11, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

"Never let a crisis go to waste" is an old saying, but most of the search hits for it right now (at least on duckduckgo) are about Covid-19. It will probably be a little longer before serious levels of disaster capitalism are visible. Overpriced hand sanitizer on ebay doesn't count for this purpose. 2601:648:8202:96B0:54D9:2ABB:1EDB:CEE3 (talk) 02:32, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Alex Jones, for example, was recently ordered by a judge to cease and desist from selling fake coronavirus cures. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:09, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Sure, but I wasn't counting small potatoes like that. It sounds like Trump is about to do some kind of Wall Street bailout involving hundreds of billions of federal bucks. Obviously the details matter, and I don't know them, but that's the kind of thing I had in mind. Massive grifts and don't forget that tax cuts cure all ills. 2601:648:8202:96B0:54D9:2ABB:1EDB:CEE3 (talk) 20:27, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Looks like it's on: [1] (paywalled); [2]. From yesterday: [3] 2601:648:8202:96B0:54D9:2ABB:1EDB:CEE3 (talk) 21:07, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

I hear that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has taken the radical step of honoring nursing licenses from other states; that baby step in the direction of free markets would seem to fit the definition of "disaster capitalism". —Tamfang (talk) 08:19, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Right now it looks like another Wall St bailout is in progress (reserve requirement eliminated,[4] "quantitative easing" which seems to mean free money). That's more like what I had in mind. I wonder if we can start the Reference Desk National Bank and print some money for indigent Wikipedia editors. 2601:648:8202:96B0:386A:A40C:EBB1:ACC0 (talk) 19:06, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Write-in

Is there a list of official write-in candidates (who have filed a "Declaration of Intent to be a Write-In Candidate") running within the city of Chicago for the March 17 primary election? 147.126.10.36 (talk) 04:02, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

I called the Cook County Clerk's Office and the woman who answered, Karen Yahbo (or something that sounds like that), said no. There is no public list. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 16:53, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

That sounds like Karen Yarbrough, the Cook County Clerk. Their office has information on Cook County elections that occur outside the city of Chicago. The city of Chicago has its own office. Do they have an official list? 147.126.10.36 (talk) 06:14, 14 March 2020 (UTC)