Cost Benefit Must Be Discussed

There is a growing consensus that Q2 could be the second worst economic quarter in the history of our country, only behind the worst quarter of the Great Depression.  Meanwhile, total US deaths thus far are 350.  This number will ultimately be much higher, but how high does it need to go before it justifies another Great Depression?

https://www.pensford.com/why-flattening-the-curve-is-overrated/?fbclid=IwAR2hGVIYf2gK2EaiTSlSIcDgtJW7Vg5COaKnlkM4kNglnlFEG1P3Kop9cqI

Another one that asks great questions:
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/covid-19-evidence-over-hysteria

Useful To Consider About Infection Rates ...

and other thoughts, worth the long read.

From the CDC’s study on transmission in China and Princess Cruise outbreak -

A growing body of evidence indicates that COVID-19 transmission is facilitated in confined settings; for example, a large cluster (634 confirmed cases) of COVID-19 secondary infections occurred aboard a cruise ship in Japan, representing about one fifth of the persons aboard who were tested for the virus. This finding indicates the high transmissibility of COVID-19 in enclosed spaces

Dr. Paul Auwaerter, the Clinical Director for the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine echoes this finding,

“If you have a COVID-19 patient in your household, your risk of developing the infection is about 10%….If you were casually exposed to the virus in the workplace (e.g., you were not locked up in conference room for six hours with someone who was infected [like a hospital]), your chance of infection is about 0.5%”

According to Dr. Auwaerter, these transmission rates are very similar to the seasonal flu.

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/covid-19-evidence-over-hysteria

On the Basics of Capitalism aka Cooperative Exchange

A reminder of the basic ideas of corporations and risk.

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-the-wrong-coronavirus-stimulus-20200323-h6erlkfgvjg5vlmrizphmgpdb4-story.html

It is not Tamny's easiest writing to understand but I wish I could master his ability to cut through all of the incorrect thoughts we all share about what government is and is not, and how little people understand what they are talking about when they talk about the actions of governments against the people that fund them.

To which one assumes conservatives will reply per the editorial that this is a “liquidity panic," and since it is, the federal government must step in. Except that tight liquidity is a market signal like any other; in this case one logically signaling horror on the part of investors that politicians on all levels are in the process of forcing a centrally planned economic reversal on the most dynamic economy in the world. Conservatives claim to revere market signals, market signals are presently telling politicians to stop the economic asphyxiation they’re forcing on the economy, but conservatives want taxpayers to blunt the signal?
https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2020/03/18/dear_conservatives_if_you_bail_out_everyone_you_bail_out_no_one_486845.html?mc_cid=cdc4762403&mc_eid=7eb43cc72c

A Well Stated Case Against MFA

My thanks to the author.

In a moment like this, with a virus that causes respiratory distress, my two children who have cystic fibrosis may be determined too costly to save. Before the virus hit, a recent ICER report determined that the cost of life-extending medication for CF sufferers wasn’t worth it, even if it was a full cure.

That’s why Medicare for All is so scary. The known practices of withholding care in government-run plans has the potential to put all Americans at risk, no matter the illness. Just this week, the National Council on Disability asked  the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to take proactive steps so that care will not be denied to those with chronic illnesses and disabilities. 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/03/28/medicare_for_all_scares_me_more_than_coronavirus_142779.html

Iceland, Biden Accusation, Unemployed

This will go no where. Three of the greatest heroes in Democratic party lore were far, far worse than Biden's accused of being - Teddy, John and Bill best him easily and they still love those 3.

Who ever timed the notification of this accusation - well played and dirty.
According to Joe Biden, Biden Should Step Down

You may have had this - apparently half of those infected have no symptoms.
https://futurism.com/neoscope/half-coronavirus-carriers-no-symptoms

We're all wrestling with uncertainty - those with the fewest resources bear the most risk of economic failures
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/us/coronavirus-unemployed.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Phase II

Managing the pandemic well doesn’t mean eradication; it means that our ability to mitigate how many people die—our ability to isolate those sick, test their contacts, care for them in available intensive-care beds with available respirators—is working. Social distancing, currently our primary tool to manage the burdens on our health-care system, will eventually give way to efforts to quickly identify those infected, before they can expose others, and also to treat those already exposed. Even before a vaccine is available, the United States will fall into a steady-state suppression effort—which is to say, life will go on, even as public-health officials play whack-a-mole with individual outbreaks.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/there-isnt-going-be-all-clear-signal/608512/