Donald Trump Goes Absolutely Bonkers Over China (Last Thursday) President Trump erupted with a series of demands and threats against China, focusing on various claims about its role in the current pandemic. I have here noted some issues with China’s conduct, but Trump makes it completely impossible that there will be any of the much-needed […]
Coronavirus dashboard for May 2: good news, but still primarily due to NY Here is the update through yesterday (May 1). As usual, significant developments are in italics. The trends in new infections, deaths, and in testing have all turned positive – if not positive enough. But the good news remains primarily a NY story. I […]
by Ken Melvin Judges, Ideologues, Dogmatics, and Bad Decisions A judge should be wise enough to look to the possible consequences of his or her decisions. A judge should be wise enough to change his or her mind. A judge should generally accord these qualities to the decisions of his or her predecessors. And, given […]
by Dale Coberly WHAT THE TRUSTEES REPORT ACTUALLY SAYS WORST CASE: we wait until 2035 and then have to raise the payroll tax 4.13% (2% for workers, 2% for employers) in order to pay for promised benefits. OR have to cut benefits by 25%.The trade-off is about 20 dollars per week […]
On April 20th Georgia Governor Kemp called for “reopening more of the state’s economy to minimize the ‘terrible impact of Covid-19 on public health and the pocketbook.’” It would apply to certain non-essential businesses. Kemp, who was later told by Trump it was too early to reopen Georgia’s economy, was following Trump’s lead to begin […]
Arnold Kling writes (my bold): Yesterday’s post on lockdown socialism was unusual for me, in that it was not aimed at persuading someone who might disagree. Let me approach the topic by trying to make the best case for the other side. If I were a lockdown socialist, I would argue as follows. We want […]
Coronavirus dashboard for April 30: the US has the worst record in the world, by far Here is the update through yesterday (April 29): Number of new and total reported Infections (from Johns Hopkins via arcgis.com and 91-divoc.com): Number: South Korea: ZERO (4 detected from incoming flights at airport) Number: Taiwan: ZERO Number: Vietnam: ZERO Number: Germany: […]
The widely followed IHME model of coronavirus cases has been much too optimistic The IHME model by the University of Washington has gotten a lot of attention in the past month, most likely because it has always forecast a much lower number of total deaths caused by coronavirus than, for example the Imperial College […]