Weekend Update with Nico
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Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. If you are a first time reader, we are glad you found your way to comicbookspeculation.com and encourage you to review the wealth of content available on this site.
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We are on Instagram@cbs_daily and on facebook as Comic Book Speculation. You can also find us on YouTube at Comic Book Wars where we discuss comic book news, market trends, speculation and investment strategies each and every Tuesday around 9:30 pm EST. We also have the best Facebook group in comics, we are on Instagram @comicbookwarspodcast and I have a Facebook Page called Nico Time where you can communicate with me individually and share your own thoughts about the hobby. If you aren’t already watching the Comic Book Wars podcast, we’ll be back each and every week to discuss comics, market trends, speculation, investment, sales strategies and more!
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Without further ado,
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This is your Weekend Update!
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Coronavirus Economy Continues
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Whether you believe that we are approaching a global pandemic or that this is the only time in recorded history that compulsive hand washers are winning, there is no denying the ongoing impact of the coronavirus. Early in the week we saw the much anticipated Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier delayed again when Prague closed schools and placed other restrictions on events and travel. Disney shut down the production in Prague and the crew returned to Atlanta. This is the second time filming was interrupted. Earlier this year, plans to film in Puerto Rico were halted following a 6.4 magnitude earthquake.
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By now you have undoubtedly had some part of your daily life affected by COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Whether home life, work life, or on the toilet. Cities and States across the globe are placing comparable restrictions on large gatherings and more than just the comic convention scene is stunned. Large conventions have been postponed or cancelled including; ACE Comic Con, Louisiana Comic Con, WonderCon etc…. Most likely conventions local to you have been cancelled or postponed as well.
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“I wasn’t worried about the Corona Virus until I saw Rambo wearing Gloves.”
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As the week creeps to a close, the NHL, NBA and UFC are all instituting measures to contain the virus. The Fed announced yesterday $1.5 trillion in capital injections to combat the Coronavirus fallout.
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There are a number of retailers who rely upon convention sales for their livelihood. The coronavirus and the corresponding quarantines and containment efforts are a serious risk to the dealers we have all come to know and love. Some of our favorite dealers, who only do shows, who always have the best books at the best prices, are now an at risk population. If you had planned on attending a show or convention that is now not happening, consider spending some of that money with your local shop. These conventions can make or break their year and they will be affected by this.
When I initially drafted this article, I asked the question, “how long until panic sets in?” I’m afraid the answer was “before your article goes from draft to final published form.”
Whether there is cause for panic and concern over the coronavirus or not, there is no denying that it is having a serious impact on the comic community, the comic market and the economy as a whole. The extent of the impact remains unclear. As prices in the comic market soften, many collectors are taking advantage of buying opportunities while others are preparing to liquidate their assets.
I have seen many collectors comment that they are on buying freezes. I suspect that we will see some collectors refrain from buying comics online from certain “hot zone” states and cities.
I would caution all readers to refrain from making decisions rooted in fear. As the old adage goes, “scared money, don’t make money.”
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Nico’s Exploits
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Many have probably heard me say, “you can’t see the full picture when you are part of the frame.” If you haven’t then you’ve probably commented to yourself that “you can’t see the forest for the trees.” From my perspective these are axiomatic truths of life and they apply to our perspective on comics. As someone who returned to the comic market less than two years ago, I am acutely aware that my perspective on the market was infinitely better a year ago than it is today. Why do I say that? Because I had the perspective of someone who was more capable of seeing the market objectively from the outside looking in. Today, I often fear that I am too close to the market to see it objectively. That is why, for a collector, investor, speculator like me – it is essential that I have other collector’s perspectives. I try and surround myself with guys who are better than my at certain areas of the hobby. I allow myself to be acutely aware of their subject matter expertise and try and learn lessons from them whenever the opportunity presents itself.
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I also take every available opportunity to learn from other collectors, content creators, writers, artists, industry professionals, retailers, vendors, investors, speculators and flippers. It is naive to think that I know best about most things in the comic collector community, it is fundamentally insane for someone to think they are right about everything. We need other’s perspectives. It is how we learn.
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Last Saturday, I was blessed to be joined by Source Point Press’s own Frank Gogol on my youtube show “Nico Time”. Frank is an incredibly thoughtful and insightful author who discussed in a very open way his family history with substance abuse, challenges he faced in his upbringing and the passion he shares for our hobby. If you have an opportunity, I encourage you to listen to Frank’s heartfelt plea to pre-order comics. I hope that by taking the time to listen to Frank’s story, you will have a greater appreciation of the need to support independent creators and to add his new book No Heroine to your collection.
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This week I had a really nice time visiting friends on the Simpleman’s Comics YouTube Channel. It was an honor to be an early guest on their new flagship program: Simpleman’s Comics and Friends. For those of you who are unfamiliar, I would encourage you to check these guys out. I am also a big fan of their hot and cold show where they talk about trends in the market. I am very much looking forward to having them appear on Nico Time to discuss comics, the market and listen to their thoughts about the future of the hobby that we all love. If you are familiar with the work that I do on YouTube in the community then you know how important collaboration is to me and how much I enjoy hearing different voices with different perspectives.
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Spider-Man is legit AMAZING
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This week, I’m going to try and encourage our readers to do one thing: go where others aren’t looking. I know I suggested a lengthy dissertation on Golden Age Batman books, and I may provide some info on that topic in a future article. But while people are paying attention to Punchline, the Three Jokers and ramping up for the forthcoming The Batman film, I would like for us to turn our attention where others are not.
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If you are a retailer or vendor then you are already well aware that quietly Spider-Man sells more than any other character in comics. There are more Amazing Spider-Man run collectors than any other character, more Spider-Man lot buyers than any other character, more expensive Spider-Man variants than any other character, more first appearances of key characters in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man than any other book (including Batman and Detective Comics). I commented to a friend of the podcast that I have a lot of work to do on my Spider-Man books.
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For new collectors, I would suggest that you learn your Spider-Man keys first. There may be more of them than any other book, but that also means there’s more opportunities with Spidey than any other character. In an effort to do a better job in my own collecting endeavors, I decided to look at some of the key Spider-Man books. I’m going to try and hit most of the majors in the first 300 issues of the series:
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AMAZING FANTASY # 15 – First Peter Parker
A CGC 5.0 copy sold in a live auction on eBay out of Canada on February 23rd for $23,608.77.
Amazing Spider-Man #1: First Jonah Jameson and first Fantastic Four crossover
A CGC 5.0 copy sold for $8,702.00 on February 23rd on eBay. Dave and Adam’s was the seller.
Amazing Spider-Man #2 : 1st Vulture
Super cool sale of this book on February 23rd when a CGC 5.5 copy sold for $1,680.00.
Amazing Spider-Man #3 : 1st Doctor Octopus
For many die-hard Spidey fans, this is the book they want as much or more than an AF 15 or an ASM1. This book has a ton of upside because Doctor Octopus is integral to the Sinister Six and it is just a matter of time before he makes his way back to the big screen. Sales of this book are always strong, but we haven’t seen the major spikes that we’ve seen with many characters destined for the big screen.
Here’s some recent GPA data to wet your whistle: A CGC 2.0 sold in a live auction for $900 in February; a CGC 2.5 sold a live auction in March for $953; a CGC 3.0 sold in a live auction in January for $1,400; a CGC 3.5 sold for $1,335 in October of 2019; a CGC 4.0 sold for $1,497 in February; a CGC 4.5 sold in a live auction for $1,300; a CGC 5.0 sold $2,300 in February; a CGC 5.5 sold for $2,699 in December. If you are still reading then you are beginning to realize there is always data for these books, because they are always trading hands. If you look at this book at the higher end you will see that the average price of a CGC 8.5 in 2018 was $6,750 with two sales for $6,900 and $6,600 respectively. In 2019 there was one copy of this book that sold in this condition for a whopping $10,300.
Amazing Spider-Man #4 : 1st Sandman
A CGC 3.5 sold for $800 on February 29th.
Amazing Spider-Man #5 : Dr Doom X-over
This book has been moving recently. There have been a number of gorgeous copies trading hands. The February 27 auction is no exception. A CGC 7.5 copy sold for $2,250.00.
Amazing Spider-Man #6 : 1st Lizard
A CGC 3.5 sold for $367 on February 27th; and a CGC 3.0 sold for $296.00 that same day.
Amazing Spider-Man #9 : 1st Electro
A lot of collectors are already interested in whether we will see this character return to the big screen. Mid-grade copies are relatively inexpensive with a CGC 5.0 copy selling for little more than $700.00 on February 23rd while a CGC 6.5 traded hands in a live auction for $612.00 that same day.
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Amazing Spider-Man #13 : 1st Mysterio
A CGC 3.0 sold for $385.00 on February 25.
Amazing Spider-Man #14 : 1st Green Goblin
A CGC 3.5 sold for $927.79 on February 27th out of Canada on eBay; that same day a CGC 2.5 copy sold for $811.00.
Amazing Spider-Man #15: 1st Kraven the Hunter
A lot of the excitement and rumors swirling around about Kraven’s debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have died down, but that hasn’t slowed down sales of this book. Back on February 4th we saw a live auction of a CGC 4.0 bring home a $593.99 price tag, on February 10th a CGC 1.5 sold in a live auction for $256.00, and most recently there were two sales in CGC 3.5 condition for $475.00 and $455.00 respectively.
Amazing Spider-Man #18: 1st Ned Leeds
Amazing Spider-Man #20: 1st Scorpion
Amazing Spider-Man #25: 1st Mary Jane
Amazing Spider-Man #31 : 1st Gwen Stacy and Harry Osbourne
Many modern collectors gravitate towards the first appearance of Spider-Gwen and not the first appearance of Gwen Stacy. I can understand the appeal without agreeing with the decision making. To give you an idea of what kind of opportunity exists out there, a CGC 7.5 with OW pages of this book sold for $483.00 on March 1st. A CGC 9.8 Edge of Spider-verse #2 sold for $500 a week later.
Amazing Spider-Man #37: 1st Norman Osbourne
A CGC 4.0 sold for $82.00 on February 28th. If Sony and Marvel do something with this character, watch out. I am stunned by how far the prices have fallen on this book.
Amazing Spider-Man #38: Last Steve Ditko art on Spider-Man
Amazing Spider-Man #39: First John Romita art and Green Goblin revealed
Amazing Spider-Man #40: Green Goblin origin
Amazing Spider-Man #41 : 1st Rhino
A CGC 4.0 sold for $127.50 on February 27th.
Amazing Spider-Man #50 : 1st Kingpin
Amazing Spider-Man #100: one of the best black covers in comics
Amazing Spider-Man #101: 1st Morbius
Amazing Spider-Man #121: Death of Gwen Stacey
Amazing Spider-Man #122: Death of Green Goblin / Norman Osbourne
Amazing Spider-Man #129: 1st Punisher
Amazing Spider-Man #149: 1st Spider-Man Clone
Amazing Spider-Man #194: 1st Black Cat
Amazing Spider-Man #210: 1st Madame Web
Amazing Spider-Man #238: 1st Hobgoblin (Ned Leeds)
Amazing Spider-Man #265: 1st Silver Sable
Amazing Spider-Man #298: 1st Todd McFarlane art
Amazing Spider-Man #299: 1st Venom (cameo)
Amazing Spider-Man #300: 1st Venom (full)
Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1: first Sinister Six
Which reminds me, we can’t possibly discuss the Silver and Bronze Spider-Man keys without thinking about Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1. One recent sale of note was on February 25th when a CGC 5.5 copy with OW/W pages sold for $1,100.00.
Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16: first Monica Rambeau
I would caution you not to sleep on this book or worse to discard the copy or copies you may already have in your collection. I routinely pick it up in the ten dollar range which is a bet I take every time. It is stone cold right now, but we can expect this character to return in a big way in the MCU. Kevin Feige announced her casting and brought Teyonah Parris on stage to announce that she would portray Rambeau in the upcoming Disney+ series WandaVision (2020). This book is a no brainer for me. CGC 9.6’s are selling for less than $100 right now (e.g., a January 19 auction ended with 23 bids at the lackluster price tag of $63.27). A CGC 9.8 hasn’t sold in the last 90 days on eBay.
Until next time, “Happy Hunting you bunch of Savages!” .
– Nico, Esq.
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Nico,
These articles are my highlight of Friday evenings as they are insightful and spot on. I have regurlarly listened to both you Jimmy and Sleepy for awhile now, and can say that you guys are entertaining.
Much appreciated,
Zack
Sure do. Not only that I enjoy it. Comment every now and then as well.
I will add that one of the first keys I bought as a young collector in the mid/late 80’s was a VG copy of Spider-Man #3. Bought it for
$32.50 at a local half price sale. It was sooo easy to get key issues back then if you weren’t rich. How times have changed.
I read this every week. I read every article here, even the top 100 list that STILL hasn’t been completed…twice…
Coronavirus –
Fact – the CDC estimates that 56,000 people die every year from the flu/flu-like illness. Coronavirus (at the time of writing this) has killed 5,547 people total world wide…..Stop freaking out people.
P.S. Toilet paper isn’t going to save your life.
So comparing a disease (Flu) that has been killing people for over a century with sample sizes and statistics gathered over 100 years versus a disease (Covid-19) that evolved in 2019 with less than 6 months of data and sample sizes and you think you’re comparing apples to apples or have enough information to first, have the audacity to claim your statement as fact when it is not and second to base your advice on this bad information. I’d actually go to the CDC website to see if what you’re saying is what they’re saying or whether it was someone taking incomplete info and spinning it to serve a pre-conceived narrative that you now just repeated. I know it’s getting repeated because co-workers are spreading the same mid-guided wisdom.
This is a perfect example of where stats can be used to lie to you.
Of course, currently, at the moment, the Flu has killed more people. OF COURSE, it’s been around for a long time! Covid-19 just got here and the FACT is, according to the CDC, is that Covid-19 is indeed 10 times deadlier than the flu.
Let’s not cherry pick the data before it’s even complete is what I’m saying
Okay buddy, I should get my facts from a liberal roadie like yourself instead.
I don’t care who you listen to because you don’t actually listen.
You’re not the type that listens. You just hear what you want to hear so if prefer you to hear Rush Limbaugh or some other slanted news source that fits your quaint little narratives and dogma then please, continue to knock your socks off.
If you and I discussed politics it would be a cruel education buddy.
I bet you think Fascism is Left Wing don’t cha?
Come on Ivy League…let me hear you confirm that…lmao…
Ladies and Gentlemen…for the record…LIBERALS have ruined this man’s life and have destroyed morality in America therefore we must support a Silver-spooned New York City Slicking Hustler who never worked a hard day in his life, who was given and handed everything, who is America’s first White Trash so-called Billionaire who bankrupts companies to steal Employee pensions, who was proven to be a massive fraud with respect to Trump University, who won’t show you his taxes, who conspired with a Foreign Government and who uses the US government for the enrichment of his own family…but LIBERALS are the bad guy…
…not the Immature Imbecile Tweetzilla Traitor in office… he’s not the problem…it’s the Deep State Liberal Media Conspiracy!!! 😂😂👍🏻
Totally a “liberal” media conspiracy!! Never mind that any self respecting Christian wouldn’t ever dare attempt to rhetorically reconcile supporting such an Immoral and disgusting and vile human being such as Trump…surely no rational Christian could ever say this is morally correct…you’d have to confess that lie before you were allowed though the pearly gates
I can certainly respect and understand voting for someone totally different and unqualified if you believe it’ll shock a system that has been squeezing and destroying the Middle Class for years…I get that
But when you have a politician pointing the finger at certain demographics like Liberal, Black, Mexican, Immigrant, Muslim, Woman, etc…you have nothing but Far Right Demagoguery
It’s not physical features of a person, black or white, not your gender, not being Liberal or Conservative, worshiping this god or that…it’s about the Haves and the Have Nots…
The people causing the Middle Class harm is the Class above you NOT below you.
You have it wrong
There is nothing worse than couch potato doctors and couch potato media news ie social media ill-educated commentary
The FACTS about Coronavirus are real. The Coronavirus is 10 times deadlier than the flu in terms of its death rate when statistically broken down with the numbers we DO have.
The Trump Administration, whether you think they are worthless Right Wing Christian fanatics or whether you think they are the Imperfect messengers of Jesus, they dropped the ball BIG TIME. Compare any previous administration reaction to a new public disease and you see people moving into action to prevent a larger pandemic.
This fool only reacted when his ass realized it was hitting the stick market. Piss poor show to say the least.
I work in the Event Industry. I haul the Exhibit Booth from warehouse to convention center.
The Event Industry is going to lose multi millions if not billions. There are people in this industry preaching false non sense as week putting their bottom line in front of their client’s health.
I understand the frustration but it’s a piss poor showing if all you care about is your client’s pocket book and not the health of the person and their family.
It’s the same feeling I get from the comic book industry. Trusty me, I feel your pain, my sales are way down for comics and I froze my spending after C2E2 but I’m not writing articles that contradict and put doubt in people’s minds about the accuracy of the reporting or putting out the notion that this is some hoax or Democratic conspiracy to defeat the most incompetent President in American history.
That’s just plain out irresponsible and shows petulance over something out of your control
Man, I can’t tell you how IRRESPONSIBLE people’s reactions are to this.
I’m thankful to the media for keeping me updated. It is precisely their job to do so. The Media has NOT blown this out of proportion.
However, what has caused panic and hysteria are the REACTIONS or OVER-REACTIONS from the general public. It’s how we are all reacting to this news that makes the pandemic worse.
Have no doubt, it’s here and more people are infected than you know because the US still does not have enough tests. When you have Democratic and Republican Governors telling you the Feds aren’t doing enough that should tell you why things spiraled to the level they did.
I’ve live through Ebola, MERS and SARS (two previous strains of Coronavirus) and the administrations acted quickly and decisively following the advice of drumroll please SCIENTISTS!! What a novel concept.
At this point we are waiting to hit the peak of the bell curve with respect to infections but won’t know if we’re over that hill until more people are tested.
Stop preaching you don’t know this or don’t know that or that the Flu is this and Corona is that.
Whoever writes that stuff is full of shit and speaking out of heard and repeated group think ignorance
Preach a better and more responsible message even though I know it can be tough as this is hitting our pocketbooks. Do the right spread the right info
This virus is much more contagious and dealt than the flu. Anyone who starts throwing up numbers comparing the flu to Coronavirus is acting the fool. Don’t be simple minded, especially when you’re not a doctor!
Apologies Nico
I read your article every week. It is is one of the best and most well thought out pieces on the comic book industry out there if not the best weekly review.
Keep up the great work!
I think you missed the point on what stallguy was originally trying to say before this thread got out of hand. He ended his initial comment with “don’t freak out”…That is good advice as some are literally freaking out. The Corona virus is aggressive to be sure but it isn’t apocalyptic either by any stretch of the imagination. Preparing is different than hording and a lot of people are hording, buying significantly more than they will ever need to ride this out.
If I recall, when Trump first began dealing with the virus he started by banning travel from high risk areas of the world. Many started calling him a racist and a xenophobe for doing that. Most of those making those accusations are opposing political figures and media personalities who do not like him. Fact is early on he was proactive. He did begin with travel bans before it was accepted by certain “groups” of people. He did allocate roughly 2 billion in emergency spending/funding stating he would give whatever Congress needed when they put a bill together. That’s exactly what is happening. Seriously, what on earth more could he do?
Early on it looked as though the US might not get hit that hard. Not much more that anyone could go on. The US is not a communist country where the governemnt can just shove people around and do as it pleases. It can’t just shut down no questions asked. If Trump did anything close to that early on the same people who criticized his travel bans would be calling him a dictator. Some people out there are just hate mongers that will talk down to anybody who doesn’t fly their particular. banner. Not saying that is you, but when it comes down to it Trump didn’t drop any ball….He picked it up before most in the US were even playing the game.
Could more have been done? In hindsight sure, but again that means drastic steps would have had to been taken without any proof of what was to come…What would most people have said if six weeks ago Trump ordered Disney parks to close and all travel abroad to be halted because there was four or five reported cases int he US? People would have laughed hysterically and demanded his head on a platter. Talk about a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation. In my opinion he did a decent job with all that has been going regardless if he is hated or loved in certain circles. It’s not great right now but it could have been much worse as well.
I will end on this note…My advice to anyone who reads this site is to keep politics out of comic enthusiast articles. They just don’t mesh well. Things get out of hand quickly and nobody has a good time with what was originally written about. Sites like this are supposed to be fun and a distraction from issues we all have to endure such as the Corona virus.
Communism has nothing to do with it although the response by their government, to keep things as quiet and downplayed as long as possible is the same response you got from a Capitalist government that is now run by a Far Right Christian Fanatical Cabinet.
His response came 2 months two late. We knew about the virus back in November 2019. He did NOTHING. That is the opposite of what every American President before him did in the same circumstance.
No there was nothing Trump could have done to prevent the virus from getting here, no one can blame him for that, but the response and the lack of preparation and lack of a plan for x amount of days and weeks made everything soooooo much worse…he made it worse for all of our families with respect to the care we will need and he hammered the economy into recession with stubbornness and stupidity.
No one ever called Trump a Racist for calling for a travel ban with respect to Coronavirus. That’s taking two different stories and blending them together. Has Trump been called a Racist because of his proposed Travel Bans? Yes but that has to do with his Immigration Policy and not his mishandling of the pandemic.
A fourth grader can make the argument that Trump’s Immigration Policy is Racist and Xenophobic based on the evidence and the demographics he is targeting. Let’s not BS each other…it’s xenophobic at best if not outright racist.
Trump’s response to the pandemic has been a complete disaster and utter failure. A brilliant display of sheer incompetence.
He disbanded the NSC Pandemic Team and when the Press called him on it, of course he said he didn’t know who fired them but of course it wasn’t him. Just like everything else..nothing is his fault…this so-called president is accountable for nothing unless it’s has a positive news story behind it or it only says something nice about him…
So, not only does he disband the NSC Pandemic Team but the United States still does not have enough tests to know how bad the contagion is here.
Why? Because quote, “There’s 15 people here, next week there will be Zero” so-called president’s quote.
Covid-19 started when? Nov 2019? No response from the US President until the second week of March when the US Stock Market begins to tank.
No National Pandemic Team – Not Enough Tests to know exactly what stage we are in – Dr. Fauci stated to Congress that the Government FAILED with their initial response.
Yeah, seems like he’s doing a great job if you’re watching RT Times, Fix News, or getting your info directly from the Traitor President of Twitter.
The other 2/3 of the country see the truth
Keep writing, Nico. I read them every week.
Very much enjoy reading this every week – keep them coming!
Whatever you say Krypt. Again, roughly two months ago when there were a handful of cases confirmed in the US, Trump began travel bans while being ridiculed by leading Democrat Politicians. No getting around that. That’s how it played out. There is only so much that can be done when those who control half the house refuse to even try out of pure spite. To even attempt to put blame on Trump for any global market “tanking” is just desperation. It’s a freaking global pandemic, every market on earth is “tanking”..Which will be temporary except for maybe China. Unfortunately, the virus was probably in the US significantly longer than anyone first thought, spreading with no way to detect it. Nothing could be done to even minimize the spread of this virus outside of using force. That’s not how it is done in the US as I explained earlier. As it stands with where the US is now in regard to understanding this virus and how to prevent it, this country most likely won’t be hit nearly as hard as China, Italy or Iran and again, normality will follow in a matter of months. Whatever, it is obviously a waste of time dealing with you. You will only run from the issue if your personal narrative is not bowed down to and use any excuse to hate monger that you can such as spewing absolute nonsense if someone doesn’t read the same newspaper as you do or watch the same news channel as you do. That’s beyond childish and that is completely on you. There is no need for me to address you as I would any rational adult regardless their political position because you certainly are not one. I’ll leave it at that. Goodbye.