commenting at Instapundit

on a post about how Hispanic support for DJT is surging in spite because of his interest in honest labor:

I talk to my plumber, and my customers. In Castilian when I can. They pay cash. If only I could get them to hold on to their receipts.
They avoid holding receipts, or using credit, or keeping detailed records on their purchases, *in my opinion* because they have a cultural inclination to avoid anything---records, receipts, banks---that El Gobierno can exploit to find their money, because El Gobierno that they came here to get away from has screwed them over on the basis of such records, and they assume all governments do that. It's distrust of the Sheriff of Nottingham, plain and simple.
They keep inventory instead of cash when they can. A truckload of plumbing parts is harder for the Highway Patrol to seize than a wad of cash. Sharkbite fittings and Google Nests are the current favorites.
Trump could leverage this distrust, damned hard. While he's at it, he can challenge asset forfeiture, for the same reason.

I assume they'd also be more successful in their businesses if they kept better records and knew better where their money is going.  Lack of these records probably leads them to devalue their own labor in pure dollar terms.  They could charge more if they knew what their labor was truly worth, and I'm confident they'd rather charge more.  

More on coronapanic

A fetching woman visited Big Box last night, inquiring about sanding respirators.

The word choice alone was telling. 

I showed her our empty shelves.  They're right next to the Tyvek coveralls, and she loaded her arms with about 10 packages of those.  Then she asked about concrete-mixing troughs. 

"You're assembling a decon."

I wish I were better at reading faces, because hers changed. 

"You could get the same function with lower shipping and storage costs by using sheet plastic to line a cardboard box or a hole dug in the ground.  Next aisle over, 4 and 6 mil thickness." 

Then I showed her the pool chlorine. 

QOTD

Of course, in a situation like this, money can only go so far. As the CDC has demonstrated, containing an outbreak is more about decision-making and hard choices.

ZeroHedge, CDC Reports 6 New US Cases Of COVID-19 As Total Hits 59; Italy Surpasses 400: Live Updates

and this:

Are we the only ones who feel that this sounds like justification for closing the border? 

 Big Box Retail Home Improvement Operation is out of N95 masks.  A caller inquired last night.