Crunching the Numbers

I find it hard to believe that Detroit has more poor people than Chicago.  Last I heard, Detroit's population was less than one million and Chicago's population was over three million.  If every single person in Detroit was poor, that would still be less than one third the population of Chicago.

I think that Michiganders have been pretty compliant with their governor's orders until just recently.  I saw on the news this evening that a bunch of protestors gridlocked traffic in Lansing for a few hours today, and that's the first I have heard of any kind of push back in this matter.  It seems that some people think that the latest round of restrictions has gone too far.  One example they gave was that the use of motorboats is prohibited while use of canoes and kayaks are allowed.  What the hell has that got to do with anything?  There is certainly no shortage of gasoline in the state.  Demand is down because people are generally staying off the streets as directed, and the price has fallen bellow two dollars in some locations.  I can't remember the last time I saw the price of gas dip below two dollars a gallon.  Others are upset because of the perceived arbitrary manner in which decisions have been made about which businesses are essential.  Small businesses and self employed contractors seem to be getting the worst of it, and they are less likely to draw people into crowded situations than the big stores that have been allowed to stay open.

The number of confirmed cases is now over 28,000 with 2,000 deaths.  What they are not telling us is how many of those cases are still active.  Our news anchors report that they have been trying  to get the number of recoveries for weeks, and it was only last week that the number was finally given as 433, where it remains even unto this day.  I doubt that nobody has recovered since last week, it's more likely that their recoveries are just not being reported.

Of course none of this proves anything, and I never said that it did.  All I've said is that I'm starting to wonder about this stuff, and I suppose other people are too.