Category Archives: Economy
Hydroxychloroquine, Moderna Vaccine and Trump
Hydroxychloroquine is President Trump’s drug of choice at the moment. It’s an anti-malarial drug that some think has an off-label use against Covid-19. On Monday Trump announced that he personally takes the drug. He told the press, “I was just waiting to see your eyes light up when I said this.”
There are risks, its effectiveness against Covid-19 is unproven but he’s taking the drug under the supervision of his physician.
It’s not like he’s mainlining Lysol. Still, the expected media freak-out ensued.
Pelosi offers second opinion on Trump Hydroxychloroquine Therapy
The Speaker of the House recommended against the therapy and diagnosed Trump as morbidly obese. The president countered that she’s a sick woman with a lot of mental problems.
Earlier Monday, Moderna announced that phase one testing of its Covid-19 vaccine showed positive results. So positive that the Dow shot up 900 points. But then Trump stepped the good news.
Civil Disobedience Not What It Used To Be
Civil Disobedience isn’t about fighting for your rights by enduring police dogs and fire hoses anymore.
Last year Antifa thug Gage Halupowski got six years for bashing Adam Kelly in the head during a protest riot. And this year it was Shelley Luther who went to the slammer for opening her hair salon.
Civil Disobedience
The Dallas Morning News reports a judge fined the hair stylist $7,000 and locked her up for a week for re-opening her salon on April 24 in violation of a stay-at-home order.
But the Texas Supreme Court ordered her release the next day.
Meanwhile 77-year-old Carl Manske wasn’t so lucky. His license was revoked for re-opening his Michigan barbershop. So Operation Haircut protesters plan to cut hair in his support on the Statehouse lawn May 20. Governor Gretchen Whitmer says the protest will spread the virus.
Follow The Science of the Covid Pandemic
We’re often told told that truth is relative. That is except when it comes to “The Science.” Then it’s absolute. And we must follow the science.
But it’s kinda tough to pin down “The Science.” It’s always changing. Especially when it comes to Covid 19 models.
A piece by an economist named Brian Wesbury appeared in Real Clear Politics comparing the 2008 mortgage crisis to the current covid crisis. Lenders in 2008 were required to value their assets at market prices. It’s called marking to market. The idea was to “insist on the truth.” But the truth was that the mortgage market didn’t want the stuff. So the banks failed and the larger markets crashed.
Now Wesbury says pandemic authorities want us to mark to scientific models. But the models have never been accurate:
States and municipalities shut down their economies — based on models that predicted 2.2 million deaths in the United States. Hospitals, they said, would be overwhelmed, so we must flatten the curve. The result? They flattened the economy, risking even more lives in the process, and generated panic that made the markets illiquid!
Brian Wesbury – Real Clear Politics
Re-Opening Day for the Economy
It’s time for re-opening… something. While some governors and President Trump are desperate to re-open the economy, many Democrats think otherwise.
We flattened the curve to give hospitals breathing room and delay the virus. But not to stop it.
So far so good. New York City got enough ventilators and made it over the hump. As for the economy – it’s been a bloodletting and it’s on life support. But polls show plenty of people want to keep it that way.
Rich Lowry says they’ve “moved the goal posts.”
Now, the rhetoric around the shutdowns has shifted, and not very subtly — flattening the curve and saving the hospitals are “out,” and not allowing any additional cases to emerge is “in.”
Corona Flat Curve Flattens Elective Treatments
The Corona flat curve flattened elective treatments. Suburban tent hospitals in New York sit unused. And the Navy hospital ship Comfort is shoving off.
Meanwhile hospitals put patients seeking elective treatment on hold. But elective surgery is where hospitals make their money. So healthcare workers have been laid off.
And elective surgery isn’t just nose jobs:
An elective surgery does not always mean it is optional. It simply means that the surgery can be scheduled in advance. It may be a surgery you choose to have for a better quality of life, but not for a life-threatening condition. But in some cases it may be for a serious condition such as cancer.
Johns Hopkins
