Apparently there are proposals circulating to pay people to get vaccinated. (Summary here.) The pro/con story is familiar enough. Monetary incentives might increase the uptake rate; but they might also increase suspicion and backfire, or at least not be very effective. Given the large cost involved – the number cited in the linked article is […]
I’m fairly certain I picked it up this past Tuesday. Wednesday night I had a slight throat-clearing cough. Not sure if this was covid related or not. Saturday I had a fever of 100.5, along with some achiness. I got tested on Saturday and received the positive test result on Sunday. Last night was a […]
Our friend Donald Boudreaux is at it again, dispensing misleading statistics that just so happen to favor libertarian outcomes. Two days ago Boudreaux posted some data on hospital capacity that seem to suggest that we do not need to worry about hospitals getting overwhelmed with COVID patients because capacity utilization over time is flat. As […]
I am often critical of libertarian economist Donald Boudreaux. This morning, I sent him an email criticizing a post of his in which he cited a study claiming that pcr tests for covid have a false positive rate of 80% or more. I pointed out that this is obvious nonsense, since overall test positivity rates, […]
Almost all Americans agree that the government should not actively discriminate against blacks and other racial groups, and most believe that private race discrimination should be prohibited as well. Many people would go further and support efforts to reduce the large racial disparities that persist in America despite formal legal injunctions against discrimination. Some believe […]
Progressive websites and even the mainstream media have been surprisingly blunt in their reporting on Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election. Many reporters and commentators have rejected bothsidesism and said openly that Biden has won and Trump is trying to steal the election. Quite a few have gone further and emphasized that his behavior […]
Matthew Yglesias has a good discussion of why the poll-based models that give Biden a high probability of winning are probably right, despite the well-known polling errors in 2016. Nonetheless, it seems reasonable to believe that the poll-based models (538, The Economist) are overstating Biden’s chances, for several reasons. Turnout this year will be unusually […]
From Mark Tushnet: Here’s a thought in the event that there is a Biden appointed commission on court reform. What about a Joint Resolution on Judicial Power: “No court shall hold a federal statute unconstitutional unless it concludes that the statute is manifestly unconstitutional.” Tushnet discusses this suggestion and some limitations here. I am somewhat sympathetic […]
From the NYT editorial board: Of all the things President Trump has destroyed, the Republican Party is among the most dismaying. “Destroyed” is perhaps too simplistic, though. It would be more precise to say that Mr. Trump accelerated his party’s demise, exposing the rot that has been eating at its core for decades and leaving […]
Latest on the relief negotiations is here. Short version, Pelosi and Mnuchin are still negotiating over a $1.9 trillion bill; McConnell is floating the idea of a $500 billion dollar bill, but it is far from clear he can or even wants to pass anything. If Pelosi can get to a deal with Mnuchin, that’s […]