Keeping one’s distance//forwardation; a Masque Judith Goldman

The eye has never seen, nor the h& touched a dollar.

A. M. Innes, “The Credit Theory of Money”

 

Or perhaps it is a misunderstanding to peel back skin in order to bare the mechanics of the mirage.

Rosmarie Waldrop, The Reproduction of Profiles

 

Distance is not a safety-zone but a field of tension.

Theodor Adorno, “Keeping one’s distance,” Minima Moralia

 

The metrics right here! That’s my metrics. That’s all I can do.

_______, pointing to his head, White House press conference, April 10, 2020

 

They had supposed this Pit would have supply’d them for a Month or more…

Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year

 

 

Nobody wants oil in May

there is hardly anywhere to put it. That’s why speculators // who held contracts for May delivery, // to sell to refineries at the last minute // were left with few options // but to swallow the losses

There’s no available storage anymore // So when it’s minus //

a dollar, they’ll pay you a dollar

 

crude futures turned // negative, falling below zero

collapse in demand

contract for future delivery at a price premium

you were always planning to sell it to someone else, you // don't really want oil yourself Lots of people want oil // The buyers come, the oil // comes barreling through

 

To contract future delivery

silent symptoms // or delayed, unusually deferred, but like a barrel // of oil

showing up on your doorstep //

a barrel of laughs

if it has to go, you're going to take a much lower price than you want// you might

even have to pay someone to haul it away

How far the viral cloud // when you laugh // extends

The viral cloud lingers in the air

Touching an object or surface & then touching your mouth nose or eyes

To fix // market inefficiencies

The sweet spot With or without mask the sell price or // the buy price

 

United States Economic Impact Payment Card Program Fee Schedule

Get cash surcharge-free at any in-network ATM

Out-of-network ATM $2.00This is our fee. We waive this fee for your first ATM Withdrawal You may also be charged a fee by the ATM operator, even // if you do not complete a transaction

The stimulus check is not a loan //

It is An Advance refund of next year’s // tax credit

But you may need your stimulus check to pay your taxes

the IRS sent the money // to a bank Citi Tax works with

the customers had not heard of //

Your Economic Impact Payment may have been directed // to the bank account associated with the refund settlement product or prepaid debit card

The bank sent the payments back to the IRS.

did his taxes through TurboTax, which charged him $80, according to his receipt //

unable to afford that upfront he paid another fee, $40 more, for TurboTax to use his refund // to pay what he owed them

H&R Block’s Emerald Card //

block child payment // because one or more parents is an immigrant

Updated May 6, 2020. The IRS has provided instructions for returning stimulus payments made to deceased taxpayers

The Social Security Administration maintains a Death Master File  

 

But the Fed isn’t an ordinary bondholder prepared to accept higher levels of death

But the Fed isn’t an ordinary bondholder: // By law, it has to pay its profits to // the Treasury

when the Treasury makes payments on bonds held by the Fed —

by paying interest or paying it off at maturity —

almost all the money // moves back to the Treasury // cash

moves from one pocket to another // The Federal Reserve buys the government bonds //

to support // smooth // market functioning

 

The running of the factory machines // is very limited today

to tour a facility that makes medical swabs //swabs manufactured in the background will be thrown in the trash, the company said // Swabs produced during that time will be //

discarded

workers in // white lab coats, hair nets, & plastic booties worked at machines making swabs // _______ walked through the room

He did not wear a mask for the visit

 

while other countries have flattened // the curve //

the United States may be prepared to accept higher levels of // death

bulk contracts // to third-party vendors // nurses wearing garbage bags // I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute // injection inside or almost a cleaning // the United States //may be prepared to ration care //

supposing you brought light inside the body, either through the skin or //

some other way //

 

in April, _______ held up a medical swab alongside a Q-Tip he pulled from his jacket pocket //_______ said swabs & chemical reagents needed for tests are so easy to get

Bare-faced, _______ toured a distribution facility in Pennsylvania that specializes in medical supplies.

Bare-faced, _______ toured a Honeywell plant in Arizona that produces N95 respirator masks

that Honeywell told the White House that Trump & his entourage didn’t need to wear masks.

I asked specifically the head of Honeywell, Should I wear a mask? // & he said, Well, you don’t need one 

At the Honeywell plant _______ toured, many employees of the company wore masks. _______’s video showed those employees wearing masks, but he & the executives did not wear them

_______ wore safety goggles during the factory tour but did not wear a mask, //

even though production workers at the facility did / /& a sign was visible that read: Attention: Face Mask Required in this Area. Thank You!

 

What is the main part of the discourse // what goes in parentheses

Is hoarding aggressive or // passive aggressive

$1 bottles of Purell on Amazon for $8-$70 each

There’s looting & then there’s looting Use hand Sanitizer for corporate handouts

as persons // with no corpus

quid pro quo of a general substance

hand sanitizer changes hands, // a foreign currency

when we sanitize for 10x the price

upcharging or a sharp markup // Sellers like to sell forward

also to shortsell during a shortage

supply & demand, the sell //

price & the buy price // something not real embedded in // the real

Give me a quote

robbing the same to pay the same

when citing a price no longer in debt to itself, the object //

shifts across contexts,

suggesting new aspects // of the supposed state of things

the opportunity cost as though a living substance //

atomized lifeforce of hand sanitizer

the good is detached from the seller’s world &// attached to that of // the buyer

antibacterial wipes puts paid

 

When _______ visits a Ford manufacturing plant in Michigan on Thursday, everyone at the facility // will be required // to wear a mask

Whether _______ wears one himself remains to be

Face masks are required to be worn by everyone, in all facilities, at all times, the document reads

Under the section Who needs to wear a face mask? the document states ALL Ford employees, agency, visitors, contractors & vendors Face masks will be provided upon // entry & must be worn at all times //_______ on Thursday did //

not wear a mask for coronavirus protection // during the public part of touring a Ford Motor Co. plant in Michigan, // despite a state law & company policy requiring // facial coverings there

 

to bet on price // movements with no intention // of taking delivery

what is a hedge a parenthetical remark // a write-off

For what would the future be, // if it could not be something other

than the future?

 

Man Charged in Scheme to Sell 125 Million Nonexistent Masks

attempting to sell millions of nonexistent respirator masks to the government

// millions of genuine 3M masks //

however a lawyer for the company said it does not // manufacture masks at those sites

 

unmask, v. (used with object)

to strip a mask or disguise from // to reveal the true character of; disclose; expose // Military. to reveal the presence of, // by firing

unmask, v. (used without object)

to put off one's mask; appear in true // nature

Wearing swim goggles instead of face shields

50 states // all trying to buy the same equipment // then the federal government tries to purchase the same equipment

is when somebody else outbids you, your order just is gone

have sent costs skyrocketing // prices // officials bidding against one another to acquire // in a

offering a much higher price // to pay 15x the usual price

the government has said, // You've got to get out there & compete

_______ tweeted some states & hospitals have insatiable appetites & are never // satisfied

Sometimes when they know they don’t need it, they // want it anyway, _______ said

that the county was told the surgical face masks would be delivered that day, // but that the federal government had taken the N-95 masks // told the government had taken the entire 35,000-mask order

Try getting it yourselves, _______ said

 

A promise binds a future it cannot // bind // Quantitative

easing it is pageantry to

oil is socially // distanced from its // price

Its barreled body the reflection of something disembodied

no one is taking delivery //

no one is reading the playbook

 

How do supply & demand// create an equilibrium price? //

Also called a market-clearing price, // herd immunity price //

the law of supply says that at higher prices, sellers will // supply more of an economic good

until the market finds // an equilibrium price

If prior infection prevents a second // infection

as the price of a good goes up, // so does the opportunity cost of buying that good

When they are asymptomatic, people will naturally avoid purchasing a product

Hedging

Oil on a respirator // oil as non-essential essential worker // oil on guaranteed minimum income // oil, with qualified immunity

The United States could begin purchasing U.S.-produced crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

the Reserve can take an additional 77 million barrels of crude.

_______ has ordered the Energy Department to fill the reserve “to the top”

 

There’s looting & then there’s looting

A headstart on the future //

In a formal calculative space // control arrangement // astroturfing

days run together // inside the brackets //

In arrears

America is open // for business // but we need

To disinfect the point of sale

Point of sale // point of contact // contact tracing

How many contact // hours not

touching // the touchscreen

if what makes the present pass is lacking, prorogued

& if you are outstanding in its retraction

The seller pays // the buyer to take it

For its value is nothing // but the force of the buyer’s attachment

sanitizer // mammon // asset // at the Michigan capitol // chambers a round

 

Suppose the distance reduced to zero, that is to say that the object to be perceived coincides with our body

Whatever the polls direct // when the disinfectedfuture comes due

This is the break-even price // moratorium

on evictions price, the price at which to // print

The money, // print the money // print the money // print the money // print the money //

print the money // print the money //   //