As I have traveled eastward over this spring I have attempted to list the major changes in public life that occurred between January 2020 and May 2023.
These will be:
-1. New, never before seen conditions that are now common in American life.
-2. Exponential increases or decreases in conditions that were present before Covid19 changed our world and are now, 2, 3, 4 or more times more common than before or 1/3, ½ or ¼ less common. For these I will list a multiple from my observations. Decreases are very much less than increases, indicating a weighting of social pressure.
The area under observation included:
-1. The Pacific Northwest
-2. California Bay Area
-3. Chicago Area
-4. Pennsylvania
-5. Maryland
Categories
-1. Mobility
-2. Economy
-3. Society
Mobility
26 categories
-1. Amtrak: 25% less people take the train than in 2019
-2. Light rail: 25% less people take the light rail
-3. Local bus service has expanded and improved everywhere without an expansion of passengers, indicating that this service is intended for those who have yet to arrive in Murica.
-4. Cab service is at ¼ of previous
-5. Sedan service is at 1/3 of previous
-6. Bicyclists at ½ as common, despite ten fold expansion of bike lanes.
-7. Auto traffic is at pre covid levels, but congestion is twice as bad in cities as auto lanes have been replaced with bike lanes, making most four lane primary streets into single lane each way.
-8. e bikes are 10 times more common.
-9. free electric scooters are 1,000 times more common nationwide.
-10. scooter chairs and other disability means are twice as common.
-11. private buses and shuttles are twice as common.
-12. private train cars are 10 times as common.
-13. freight trains are 4 times as common and twice as long, making rail traffic 8 times heavier than pre plague times.
-14. pedestrians by race: Asian = same, latino = same, Caucasian = x2, African = 1/3
-15. gas prices x2
-16. car and truck prices x2
-17. rental car availability ¼
-18. train tickets +25%
-19. Bus fare +25%
-20. illegal dirt bikes and ATVs in urban areas x20
-21. illegally parked campers in urban areas x1,000, yes one thousand
-22. traffic stops down by ½
-23. road rage x4
-24. tractor trailers, box trucks, no change
-25. motor cycles down by 1/3
-26. train accidents x20
-27. car accidents x2
…
Economy
38 categories
-1. Businesses closed x4
-2. Businesses boarded up but open: NEW
-3. Businesses with reduced hours x100
-4. Reduced service x10
-5. Price increases across the board but less than double
-6. delivery instead of carry out x20
-7. male service instead of female x2
-8. female clerks instead of male in grocery stores x4
-9. wages + ¼
-10. help wanted signs x 20
-11. signing bonuses on help wanted signs: NEW
-12. out of stock x10
-13. retail security x 10
-14. armed security x 10
-15. medical police x 2
-16. medical waits x4
-17. medical costs x2
-18. remote medical appointments: NEW
-19. medicine prices x2
-20. medical shortages: antibiotics & blood thinners
-21. medical weed: NEW, everywhere, all kinds,
-22. weed rage: NEW
-23. public weed use x1,000
-24. public needle use x100
-25. public meth cooking: NEW
-26. public drinking x100
-27. drunken rage x 10
-28. vaping x4
-29. cigars x2
-30. cigarettes x2
-31. fiction sales [for me] x3
-32. fiction display space in brick and mortar x2
-33. combat arts training down by ½
-34. NFL is woke: NEW, a 180 degree turn
-35. MLB is woke: NEW
-36. Percentage of woke commercials increase x4 to all
-37. Female focus: sports x10, movies x 4, TV x2, commercials x2, news x2,
-38. shoplifting x 100
…
Society
52 categories
-1. comping x4
-2. hiking x 2
-3. public leisure, dining, etc. down by ¼
-4. visible police ½
-5. female police x4
-6. police of color x 2
-7. murder x 2
-8. carjackings x 10
-9. car theft x 20
-10. assault x 4
-11. battery x 2
-12. human trafficking in public x4
-13. prostitution x3
-14. tranny advocacy x10,000
-15. homosexual advocacy x 100
-16. racial politics x4
-17. political correctness x4 in more mundane spheres
-18. demands that you forgo HIPPA protection: NEW
-19. private military contractors on patrol x 10
-20. private police department buildings: NEW
-21. ‘Behavioral Health’ centers: NEW
-22. Rehab centers x2
-23. Online drug rehab and treatment: NEW
-24. Pregnant white women robbing black men: NEW
-25. Vacant houses x2
-26. homeless tents x4
-27. homeless without tents x2
-28. homeless shelters x 2
-29. homeless tiny houses: NEW
-30. rent up ¼
-31. fat people x4
-32. supper fat fucks x4
-33. middle easterners x3
-34. Latinos up ½
-35. Africans x4
-36. Asians up ¼
-37. Indians, Pakis and Sikhs x2
-38. wounded warrior signs x3
-39. pet welfare signs x10
-40. cat owners x 2
-41. increase in number of cats x 2
-42. increase in stray/lost cats x10
-43. dog parents x2
-44. stolen dogs x2
-45. Caucasian homeless in black ghettos x1,000
-46. public insanity x10
-47. urban gunfire x2
-48. flags at half mast: NEW, from the death of a president once every ten years to a quarter of all municipal flags being half mast in any given week in any given local.
-49. Home invasion x100
-50. public abduction x10
-51. mass shootings x10
-52. medical masking: NEW, with a ground floor of 5% [Caucasian] to 25% [Asian] of all Americans wearing masks outside depending on race and location. Currently 20% of blacks on Baltimore City buses wear masks, most Asians in all circumstances, with boomers and millenials among Caucasians masking at Asian levels.
Total number of significance changes
NEW Conditions
Mobility = 0
Economy = 8
Society = 8
Significant Increases
Mobility = 16 to include costs, means and activity
Economy = 25
Society = 42 increases in behaviors, mostly delusion, hedonistic or pathological
Significant Decreases
Mobility = 9, mostly in use
Economy = 1 decrease, in sporting participation
Society = 1, the only social activity that remains below pre covid levels is public participation in such leisure as dining out.
