Income Tax, Infectious Diseases and Fear
It’s tax season, which is keeping me very busy. Many people procrastinate, which makes the last 3-4 weeks a challenge. Often times the reason they procrastinate is plain and simple: FEAR. Fear of finding out they might owe some money or fear that they might trigger an audit. Usually, those events do not occur.
They say that George Washington never told a lie, but there were no income tax forms in his day. We can be thankful to be living in America, with all its imperfections, and the payment date is April 15th.
That brings me to the coronavirus panic. Common sense seems to have escaped many people, including politicians and the media. Flu season begins around November 1st and lasts until the end of April. Thus far, there have been more than 20,000 fatalities related to the flu. To date, there have been 25 deaths reported from the new coronavirus in the United States, most of those were elderly or suffered from other health ailments. Is the disease serious? Yes, it probably is, but possibly not any more serious than the flu.
We have 630 cases of coronavirus and 25 deaths and people rush to Costco to clean the shelves of toilet paper. We have 300,000 deaths each year in America related to obesity, yet when that news comes out we come up with a new Doritos flavor.
FEAR has best been described as False Evidence Appearing Real. This situation can be managed with just a little common sense. Wash your hands more often. Cover you mouth when you cough or sneeze. Fewer handshakes and more elbow bumps.
JUST DON’T STOP LIVING!
