Coronavirus spreads. But don't panic! (topical thread)

[Deesse23]

Now this isn't just a rant,  it's an EPIC RANT!!!!! 

This guy make some good points, but damn I'm glad I'm not in his spray radius. Even without the threat of COVID-19, I'd still need a shower after he's done.

A point that really struck me was that *we, the people" are supposed ot save money, while the companies need bailout after 3 months, after making literally billions of profit each year.

Reminded me of the situation of my employer:
2007: They just spent 11bio€ to buy parts of Siemens (ironically what Conti bought was bigger than Conti itself, see below and Contis was worth itself around 10bio at that time). Of course, money they didnt have, but fortunately there are some nice german banks around Frankfurt.
2009: The big crisis hits
Not that the crisis lasted long, but we just had some 10bio€ of debt. Conti panicked and asked for bailout*

Fast forward to 2020: Corona pandemy hits. Conti is in good shape has 9bio€ cash (ok, good move looking back at 2009) and still is whining about how hard life is and how it needs help from government and its employees immediately.


*Ironically the Schaeffler group (ball bearings, Schweinfurt, if that rings a bell) just wanted to take over Conti as well and took an even bigger loan of ca. 12bio€. When Schaeffler wanted to take over, Conti shares were worth 75€, when Mrs. Schaeffler actually had to pay up, the crisis had already unfolded and stock plummeted to 20€.. Fun fact: Schaeffler was smaller than Conti and Conti smaller than VDO Siemens. Talking about small fish eating up the big ones.