Tidbits Political Quotations
To Accompany the April 15, 2020 Edition of Tidbits
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2020/Tidbits041520.htm             
Bob Jensen at
Trinity University




My Latest Web Document
Over 500 Examples of Critical Thinking and Illustrations of How to Mislead With Statistics --
-
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/MisleadWithStatistics.htm

Animated  Visualization of the United States’ Exploding Population Growth Over 200 Years (1790 – 2010) ---
A Visualization of the United States’ Exploding Population Growth Over 200 Years (1790 – 2010)

USA Debt Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/
The published national debt is a lie
Here's the real federal debt ---
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/about/our_national_debt

In September 2017 the USA National Debt exceeded $22 trillion for the first time ---
http://www.statedatalab.org/news/detail/national-debt-surpasses-20-trillion-for-the-first-time-in-us-history

Human Population Over Time on Earth ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUwmA3Q0_OE 

Johns Hopkins University:  Updated Map and Table on the Number of Coronavirus Cases for Every Nation ---
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
Accuracy is subject to wide margins of error for every nation and varies greatly between nations.

The best maps for comparing counties and towns in your state are provided by your state. For example, here's the map showing the distribution of cases for New Hampshire counties and towns ---
https://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-coronavirus-map/32009329#
I found this by entering the search phrase "Number of Coronavirus Cases" AND 'New Hampshire" at
https://www.google.com/advanced_search

 


 

 Here's a humorous and serious TED talk that seriously argues why the world needs billionaires

https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_eia_where_in_the_world_is_it_easiest_to_get_rich
 

Why did Cuba abandon its socialist/communist dream of equality for everybody?
The Guardian:  This was the egalitarian dream of Cuba in the 1960s: For years in Cuba, jobs as varied as farm workers and doctors only had a difference in their wages of the equivalent of a few US dollars a month.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/12/cuba 

 

Here's a somber and serious Guardian article on why the Cuban model of income equality for all is a disaster ---
Fidel Castro says his economic system is failing ---

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/09/fidel-castro-cuba-economic-model

 

The Singapore Dream:  How Singapore's richest man went from welding in a factory for $14 per hour to owning a $17 billion hotpot restaurant chain ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/life-of-singapore-richest-man-from-welder-to-hotpot-billionaire-2020-1

 

While a move is underway to destroy the American Dream of rags to riches (by taxing away the riches) the Chinese dream is on the rise.
The Chinese Dream
How a Chinese billionaire went from making $16 a month in a factory to being one of the world's richest self-made women with an $8.3 billion real-estate empire
---

https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-richest-self-made-woman-wu-yajun-net-worth-2019-2

Top 50 Billionaires in China ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_by_net_worth

Jensen Comment
The question for students to debate is why a supposed communist country allows so many billionaires to rise up from poverty.
That's supposed to happen in the USA where a child growing up in deep poverty (think Oprah Winfrey or Howard Shultz) became a multi-billionaires.
But is it also supposed to happen under communism? If so, why?

 

One reason is that many billionaires can afford to pour lots of money into high risk ventures. When's the last time you heard about a high risk (think Silicon Valley) venture in Europe?

 


Wikiquote from Wikipedia --- https://www.wikiquote.org/

 

Kobe Bryant:  We need to make the most of every minute we have ---
https://www.newsweek.com/i-wont-take-see-you-later-granted-148449

 

Hermann Weyl born in Hamburg, Germany. He wrote, "One may say that mathematics talks about the things which are of no concern to men. Mathematics has the inhuman quality of starlight---brilliant, sharp, but cold ... thus we are clearest where knowledge matters least: in mathematics, especially number theory." ---
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Weyl.html
Also see Mathematical Analytics in Plato's Cave
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm#Analytics

 

And nevertheless conclude that the optimum amount of restriction of immigration is zero point zero, zero, zero? Amazing. Economics are generally skeptical models that yield corner solutions ---
https://www.econlib.org/do-you-talk-about-it-in-open-borders-yes/
Jensen Comment
To the list of questions I would add "Do your talk about the Tragedy of the Commons?"
The problem with open borders is somewhat related to the economic problem of "The Sharing of the Commons" where giving everybody the right to use a free resource leads to everybody losing that resource. At what point will allowing billions of people share in the free medical care, free college, and other scarce resources ruin it for everybody ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

 

History of United States Immigration Laws ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwGCkZzrvQkcFbRplBPwBFwmFDs

 

Open immigration can’t exist with a strong social safety net; if you’re going to assure healthcare and a decent income to everyone, you can’t make that offer global ---
Paul Krugman
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/724654-open-immigration-can-t-exist-with-a-strong-social-safety-net

 

History will prove former President Donald Trump was correct about Mexico one day funding an impenetrable wall --- to keep out over 2 billion starving green immigrants seeking to enter Mexico from the north.
Bob Jensen

 

Some Fatherly Words of Wisdom from Jack Bogle, Founder of Vanguard Investments, to My Sons ---
https://jborden.com/2019/06/16/some-fatherly-words-of-wisdom-from-jack-bogle-founder-of-vanguard-investments-to-my-sons/

 

In 1665, Cambridge University closed because of the plague. Issac Newton decided to work from home. He discovered calculus & the laws of motion. Just saying.
— Paddy Cosgrave
Cosgrave, chief executive of Web Summit, in a tweet last week reflecting on the ramifications of coronavirus.
As quoted again in a March 11, 2020 Chronicle of Higher Education newsletter.
Jensen Comment
For Cambridge students in 1665 there were no photocopy machines for lecture notes, telephone, Web sites, video/radio technologies, and other online technologies used today for online teaching.

 

Milton Friedman:  The Lesson of the Spoons ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/08/spoons-are-in-aisle-9.html
Chopsticks would be even better

 

There are over 100+ trillion reasons for the demise of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders that the liberal media does not want to mention
Brian Riedl computed the added $100 trillion cost of Bernie's initiatives (not counting his free pre-schooling for every child,  the collapse of the capital markets, the loss of most USA pensions, and tides through open borders ) ---
https://www.city-journal.org/bernie-sanders-expensive-spending-proposals

 

The Young Left’s Anti-Capitalist Manifesto: Its goal is to remake our economic system — and the Democratic Party ---
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-young-lefts-anti-capitalist-manifesto/

 

I have a complaint about America today, and it is simple: we don’t love business enough ---
Tyler Cowen
https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2019/Klingbigbusiness.html

 

The Amazon Rain Forest Is Nearly Gone ---
https://time.com/amazon-rainforest-disappearing/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20190914&xid=newsletter-brief
Amazon rainforest fires: Everything we know and how you can help ---
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/amazon-rainforest-fire-whats-happening-now-and-how-you-can-help-update-indigenous-tribes/
There Are More Fires Burning in Africa Than Anywhere on Earth ----
https://time.com/5665794/africa-forest-fires-amazon/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20190901&xid=newsletter-brief
If forests go up in smoke, so can carbon offsets ---
https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/13/20859156/forests-fires-carbon-offsets-amazon-california

 

"In Praise of Cheap Labor," by Paul Krugman, Slate, March 21, 1997 ---
https://slate.com/business/1997/03/in-praise-of-cheap-labor.html

 

Corruption in general has a deleterious effect on the readiness of economic agents to invest. In the long run, it leads to a paralysis of economic life. But very often it is not that economic agents themselves have had the bad experience of being cheated and ruined, they just know that in this country, or in this part of the economy, or this building scene, there is a high likelihood that you will get cheated and that free riders can get away with it. Here again, reputation is absolutely essential, which is why transparency is so important. Trust can only be engendered by transparency. It's no coincidence that the name of the most influential non-governmental organization dealing with corruption is Transparency International.
A Conversation with Karl Sigmund:  When Rule of Law is Not Working
https://www.edge.org/conversation/karl_sigmund-when-the-rule-of-law-is-not-working

Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so on ad infinitum ---

Augustus De Morgan

Prior to 1980 what was unique about the year of his birth in 1871?
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/De_Morgan.html

Also see
 

The enemy is fear
We think it's hate
But, it's fear

Gandhi

 

12 inspiring quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.---
https://www.businessinsider.com/inspiring-martin-luther-king-jr-quotes-2017-1

 

21 outstanding Warren Buffet quotations ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-21-best-quotes-2019-2
Also see
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-25-best-warren-buffett-quotes-in-one-infographic/

 

The Atlantic:  The Swiftly Closing Borders of Europe ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/12/europe-france-italy-immigration-border/578179/

History of United States Immigration Laws ---
https://rapidvisa.com/history-of-united-states-immigration-laws/

 

Walter E. Williams:  Socialism's Past
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/03/18/socialisms-past-n2565057?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=03/18/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Actually Bernie proposes skipping socialism and moving directly to communism. Bernie Sanders proposes immediate employee/union takeover of all the large corporations of the USA ---
https://berniesanders.com/issues/workplace-democracy/

 

Despite never having built a working product, Theranos accumulated hundreds of patents. These patents are now the only thing of value left but the patents aren’t valuable because of breakthrough science, the patents are valuable because they can be used to force people who do breakthrough science to cough up part of their return ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/03/bullshit-patents.html

 

NY Governor Cuomo Praises Trump: 'His Team Has Been on It' 'President Is Doing the Right Thing' ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/810670-ny-governor-cuomo-praises-trump-his-team-has-been-on-it-president-is-doing-the-right-thing-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=5iEzoSRA3OwmMZouDYnIqL3RgHsaffHcB6hB5DcjF-f0.A

 

The Liberal Media Loudly and Biased Polls Declare With Certainty That It's All Over for the Trump Presidency ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/peter-wehner-trump-presidency-over/607969/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=politics-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200318&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0

Jensen Comment
What they're ignoring is the tens of millions of voters supporting Trump's policies while perhaps disliking the man. Some of his most popular policies include ending the liberal disaster of not enforcing non-violent crimes like theft, frauds, prostitution, and shop lifting, curbing illegal immigration (coupled with increased legal immigration), increased deportations of illegal alien criminals, stopping liberal proposals for $100 trillion dollar budgets for social programs, further lowering of taxes to stimulate job growth, stock markets, and pension funds, and added support for the USA military. Many voters will overlook whatever else they don't like in Donald Trump in order to support his conservative policies.

 

Four prominent academics died last month from COVID-19. The toll is likely to grow as the coronavirus spreads and more Americans die, as predicted by public health authorities ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/02/scholars-remember-those-lost-covid-19?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=76f3923d73-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-76f3923d73-197565045&mc_cid=76f3923d73&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

 

The European Union says it will provide $109.6 billion to nations worst impacted by the virus ---
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/02/coronavirus-live-updates.html?utm_term=OZY&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PDB%20%282020-04-02%2011:09:11%29
Jensen Comment

While the majority of the people the USA, including President Trump, think $2 trillion is not enough.
Europe is going to pay a heavy price by becoming overly dependent upon tourism that will be slow recovering.

 

BBC:  Coronavirus outbreak eats into EU unity ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52135816

 

The Atlantic:  This Pandemic is All Trump's Fault ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/americans-are-paying-the-price-for-trumps-failures/609532/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200409&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0
With this kind of biased reporting the 2020 election will be a Trump landslide

 

The Atlantic:  We Need to Start Tossing Money Out of Helicopters It’s the best option in such extreme circumstances ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/we-need-start-tossing-money-out-helicopters/608968/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=politics-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200331&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0

 

The Normal Economy Is Never Coming Back (anywhere in the world)---
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/09/unemployment-coronavirus-pandemic-normal-economy-is-never-coming-back/

Blame Trump
 

The Risky Swedish Strategy of Not Locking Down (insights into the culture of Sweden) ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/nils-karlson-on-the-swedish-strategy-from-an-email-forwarded-to-me.html

 

George Soros criticized the EU's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and gave Milan and Budapest $1 million each to combat the crisis ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/george-soros-gives-2-million-to-fight-coronavirus-budapest-milan-2020-4
Jensen Comments
In other words he threw out peanuts compared to the tens of millions he gives to progressive politics in the USA.

But he may spend billions to save the EU from poliical disintegration ---
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1254363/eu-news-eurozone-recession-italy-coronavirus-george-soros-plan-spt

 

Emmy Noether's right to teach at Gottingen was withdrawn because of her Jewish ancestry. The departure of numerous scientists from Germany played a major role in transferring world mathematical leadership to the United States.
http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Noether_Emmy.html

 

Biden Gives Most Unintelligible Answer We’ve Ever Heard, Tops All His Previous COVID Gaffes ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/830686-biden-gives-most-unintelligible-answer-weve-ever-heard-tops-all-his-previous-covid-gaffes-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=4_IBzIGwv_cPJlMRU4kb7RWtLkQ..A

 

Gov. Cuomo Refuses Ventilators From Gun Manufacturer (Remington) Who Wants To Help With Medical Supplies ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2020/04/02/gov-andrew-cuomo-has-not-accepted-remingtons-offer-ppe-ventilators-n2566211
There may be more to this refusal than just politics such as having NYC pay for some of the factory changeover (this is just a guess)

 

April 5, 2020: Enough is enough. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo needs to IMMEDIATELY lift his pharmacy ban that is forcing New Yorkers stricken by the coronavirus into an already overburdened hospital system to get the potentially life-saving drug hydroxychloroquine ---
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/sean-hannity-gov-cuomo-stop-denying-new-yorkers-hydroxychloroquine

Jensen Comment
The FDA now approves hydroyxychloroquine as a coronavirus medication. It's not a magic bullet, but the French are cheering it on as a treatment to save lives. Why not take a chance to save some NYC lives?

 

COVID Cuomo Blasts Trump’s Positive Messages in Crisis as ‘BULLSH*T’ ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/837081-covid-cuomo-blasts-trumps-positive-messages-in-crisis-as-bullsht-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=4_IBzIGwv_cPJlMRU4kb7RWtLkQ..A
Jensen Comment

Prior to April 6 Governor Cuomo was blasting President Trump's optimism over hydroyxychloroquine as BULLSH*T. After April 6 Governor Cuomo is begging President Trump for more hydroyxychloroquine.
Seems like there's a lot of BULLSH*T to go around in politics.
Until now Governor Cuomo blamed President Trump for NYC's lack of ventilators. Now Cuomo says he has too many,

 

Warning:  This is a conservative media source
It appears Governor Cuomo is caving slightly to either political or medical pressure to make hydroyxychloroquine available to more Coronavirus patients in NYC ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/835363-cuomo-wants-trump-admin-to-increase-hydroxychloroquine-supply-since-ny-tests-show-promise-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=9GHGkdpWhYe83EFyZJjkFO8_21LdfGwaVfyZOKuqu1nQ.A

 

Breakthrough? Scientists Say They've Developed a Wuhan Coronavirus Vaccine That Can Be Rapidly Deployed ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2020/04/03/breakthrough-scientists-say-theyve-developed-a-wuhan-coronavirus-vaccine-that-c-n2566284?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167
Could be too good to be true

 

Dolly Parton will read bedtime stories to your kids ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/04/dolly-parton-will-read-bedtime-stories-to-you-every-week.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29 

 

The Federal Government Owns 92 Percent of Student Loans. Why Do Politicians Lie About It? ---
https://mises.org/wire/federal-government-owns-92-percent-student-loans-why-do-politicians-lie-about-it?utm_source=Mises+Institute+Subscriptions&utm_campaign=bb09844d12-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_9_21_2018_9_59_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8b52b2e1c0-bb09844d12-228708937

 

Bill Gates said he was picking the top seven vaccine candidates and building manufacturing capacity for them (to avoid further delays) ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/thank-you-bill-gates.html

 

Armed Samaritan in California Takes Out Criminal who Shot at Police ---
https://www.ammoland.com/2020/04/armed-samaritan-in-california-takes-out-criminal-who-shot-at-police/#axzz6IMXLzNiW

This Rap-Based School Curriculum Is Teaching Kids That John Locke Was Cool Like Che Guevara ---
https://reason.com/2020/04/02/che-guevara-flocabulary-john-locke-rap-quiz/

John Lock Rap ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLAIGrvODxE

 

Pandemic takes heavy toll on city’s revenues ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/pandemic-takes-heavy-toll-on-citys-revenues

Actually, I can't think of a town or city that will not lose significant revenue --- it's no consolation that European cities are doing worse because they're more dependent upon tourism

 

Plummeting tax revenues will put governors in tough budget situations ---
https://theconversation.com/plummeting-tax-revenues-will-put-governors-in-tough-budget-situations-135981
Jensen Comment
Those like the Illinois governor wanting to blame the pandemic for budget crises that existed before the pandemic will delay lifting the lockdown the longest. What a great opportunity to shift the blame for corruption and fiscal  mismanagement.

 

Financial State of the States on 2019 (before the pandemic) ---
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/news/detail/financial-state-of-the-states-2019

 

Paul Krugman:  American Democracy May Be Dying
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/opinion/wisconsin-primary-democracy.html

Just when all the political polls are predicting a Democratic Party big time victory in both the 2020 Presidental and Congressional races in 2020
Get used to saying Tzar Biden and Queen
Ocasio-Cortez

 

Austria and Denmark (and some other EU nations) are planning to lift their coronavirus lockdowns ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/austria-denmark-lifting-coronavirus-lockdown-experts-warn-flare-up-2020-4
Jensen Comment
Sweden never had a lockdown in spite of all Scandinavian nations having, at one time, the highest per capita Coronavirus rates in the world.
The reason for lifting the lockdown is largely economic --- a conclusion that the economic damage is worse than the lingering medical damage

 

What George Orwell can still teach the Left ---
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/cant-hunter

 

Why Russia’s Coronavirus Fate Is Complicated ---
https://www.ozy.com/around-the-world/why-russias-coronavirus-fate-is-complicated/294215/?utm_term=OZY&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyDose%20%282020-04-05%2015:33:36%29&utm_content=B

 

Bombshell Plea From NYC ICU Doctor: COVID-19 A Condition of Oxygen Deprivation, Not Pneumonia ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/833941-bombshell-plea-from-nyc-icu-doctor-covid-19-a-condition-of-oxygen-deprivation-not-pneumonia-special?utm_source=c-pm&utm_medium=c-pm-email&utm_term=c-pm-GI&utm_content=837UbNi_k5iDkCXwiuEQU4rmVAxgzJzjnTja7lRCSGMo.A

 

Alyssa Milano explains silence on Joe Biden sexual assault allegation, says men (except for Republicans) deserve ‘due process’ ---
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/alyssa-milano-explains-silence-joe-biden-sexual-assault-allegation

 

Metro police departments reported 'double-digit percentage jumps' in domestic violence 911 calls as more people shelter at home ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-grows-so-does-domestic-violence-2020-4

 

Bleaching on Great Barrier Reef Now More Widespread Than Ever ---
https://time.com/5817233/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-australia/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20200408&xid=newsletter-brief

 

CBS News' Story About a Nurse Quitting Over Lack Of Medical Masks Is a Fake News Trainwreck ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2020/04/08/cbs-news-story-about-a-nurse-quitting-over-lack-of-medical-masks-is-a-fake-news-n2566434?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

 

Hundreds of political scientists, historians, sociologists, economists and international experts from thirty European countries appeal for Cornona Bonds when they published an open letter to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/04/angela-merkel-urged-to-put-european-solidarity-over-german-interests-and-back-coronabonds.html

Jensen Comment
It may be educational to have students debates the pros and cons of these "war bonds" from the perspective of Germany versus Italy.
How does this vary from the standpoint of the eight European nations not in the Eurozone like Denmark, Sweden, and England relative to the 19 European nations in the Eurozone?

 

Time Magazine:  Why Some Doctors Are Now Moving Away From Ventilator Treatments for Coronavirus Patients ---
https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=49813aeaff6404b46d0ff5da18000c05a3460a2da3754b9d62fc0883a809397fda905e2c59784b15c0f40611c592e040c07f542587a9a0e9

Also New York, once a holdout for anti-malarial drug treatments favored elsewhere, is moving big time into such treatments after its own anecdotal evidence

 

6,227 physicians in 30 countries found that 37% of those treating COVID-19 patients rated hydroxychloroquine as the “most effective therapy” from a list of 15 options
https://public-cdn.sermo.com/covid19/c8/be4e/4edbd4/dbd4ba4ac5a3b3d9a479f99cc5/wave-i-sermo-covid-19-global-analysis-final.pdf 

They are not claiming it's perfect, but they are finding it the best of the 15 available alternatives at the moment.
Also see
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200409/chloroquine-zinc-tested-to-block-covid-infection

 

What You Need To Know About The EU Stimulus Bill ---
https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2020/04/10/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-eu-stimulus-bill-n2566703?bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&utm_campaign=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=thdaily

 

WWII Vet (Age 97) Shows Off Dance Moves During Quarantine ---
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200410/wwii-vet-shows-off-dance-moves-during-quarantin

 

Brad DeLong's Lecture: The Rise of Socialism, -350 to 1917 ---
https://www.bradford-delong.com/2020/04/lecture-the-rise-of-socialism-350-to-1917.html

 

Some stores in NYC's most expensive neighborhood — the $25 billion Hudson Yards — didn't pay their April rent ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/hudson-yards-shops-rent-april-related-2020-4

Not all owners of stores in exclusive neighborhoods can afford to live in those neighborhoods --- Many are short on assets and long on debt

 

Bats Harbouring Six New Types of Coronavirus, Scientists Discover ---
https://www.newsweek.com/scientists-six-new-types-coronavirus-bats-1497273
My physician friend keeps warning about how easy it is for viruses to mutate

 

What does this economist think of epidemiologists?
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/what-does-this-economist-think-of-epidemiology.html

 

New York Times Stealth-Edits Biden Sexual Assault Story, Removes History Of Unwanted Touching ---

https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/842200-new-york-times-stealth-edits-biden-sexual-assault-story-removes-history-of-unwanted-touching-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=4_IBzIGwv_cPJlMRU4kb7RWtLkQ..A

 

Stop trying to politicize this pandemic, Ocasio-Cortez ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2020/04/11/aoc-reveals-the-really-stupid-reason-coronavirus-patients-in-the-bronx-refuse-to-n2566743?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=04/12/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

 




 

MICHIGAN GOVERNOR SAYS NO TO GREENHOUSE PLANT SALES IN CORONAVIRUS ORDER ---
https://brownfieldagnews.com/news/michigan-governor-says-no-to-greenhouse-plant-sales-in-coronavirus-order/

Michigan’s Farm Bureau wants Governor Gretchen Whitmer to classify retail garden centers as essential infrastructure under the state’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order.  Farm Bureau President Carl Bednarski sent a formal request to Whitmer saying garden centers and greenhouses across the state are brimming with nursery stock, flowers and vegetable plants that can be handled with curbside delivery during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Leaders in Michigan’s greenhouse industry say they’re devastated, and that Michigan is one of only two states where the greenhouse sector is deemed unessential in their coronavirus restrictions.  Governor Whitmer’s revised Stay Home, Stay Safe order would not allow retail sales of plants until at least April 30th.

Farm Bureau horticulture specialist Audrey Sebolt says many people turn to gardening to cope with stress, and there has been a large increase in vegetable plant sales in southern states since the coronavirus outbreak.  She expects sales would increase in Michigan too if sales were allowed.  Sebolt says without greenhouse sales, it will mean a complete loss and an entire year without income for owners and employees.

Michigan Farm Bureau has issued a call to action for members and agricultural stakeholders, asking Governor Whitmer to issue a clarification to her executive order deeming the retail sale of plants as essential infrastructure. To act, Farm Bureau says people can text the phrase MIGREEN to the number 52886 or use their special website to message lawmakers

 

Jensen Comment

It seems to me that during the summer people avoid some of the trips to grocery stores (and standing in lines these days) by raising their own produce in home gardens. Furthermore they feel safer during a pandemic by not having to buy fruits and vegetables breathed on and handled by strangers.

 

What makes home grown fruits and vegetables less essential than produce purchased in grocery stores.

 

And unemployed people can save money by growing their own produce.

 

Gardening also gives locked in kids something to do. Raising a potato is better than being a potato.

 

In the northern part of the USA the growing season is too short for planting seeds. In 2015 we had a 15-inch snowstorm on Memorial Day. My rule is never to plant seedlings until June. The ground is too frozen with risk of snow storms for planting seeds before June, and if you plant seeds some of the growing plants may not mature before an early frost in late summer. We need our greenhouses.

 

Up here the greenhouses earn over 90% of annual revenue in the months of May and June. If you close them down in 2020 they will for sure become bankrupt and go out of business.

 


The $1.5 Trillion Student Debt (probably over $2.0 trillion before Biden's plan is enacted) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_debt#United_States

 

Is this another unfunded trillions dollars?
Biden's New Student Loan Cancellation Plan

Joe Biden on Thursday announced a plan to cancel student loan debt for low- and middle-income borrowers who attended a public college or private historically black institution.

The former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee's proposal, announced in a Medium post, moves him somewhat closer to the debt cancellation plan from Senator Bernie Sanders, who dropped out of the presidential race earlier this week and had said he would seek to cancel all student debt as president.

 

Biden's plan would forgive all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt for borrowers who earn up to $125,000 a year and who attended community college or four-year public colleges and universities. The federal government would cover monthly payments for borrowers until the forgivable amount was paid off under his proposal, which would apply to borrowers who attended private HBCUs or minority-serving institutions.

 

"I believe that as we are being plunged into what is likely to be one of the most volatile and difficult economic times in this country’s recent history, we can take these critical steps to help make it easier for working people to make ends meet," Biden wrote. "Senator Sanders and his supporters can take pride in their work in laying the groundwork for these ideas, and I’m proud to adopt them as part of my campaign at this critical moment in responding to the coronavirus crisis."

 

In addition to the newly announced proposal, Biden has backed a plan from Senator Elizabeth Warren to immediately cancel a minimum of $10,000 of student debt per person.

Jensen Comment
I don't think anybody can reliably measure the ultimate cost of Biden's promise on loan forgiveness, especially following the worst part of the pandemic. Many graduates who had been making more than $125,000 per year currently lost their jobs and will probably be hired back at much lower salaries given the strains of a post-pandemic slow economy. For example, Wall Street firms will be very slow in hiring back their younger employees. Young restaurant and tourism industry managers who were thriving before the pandemic will probably remain unemployed or hired back at a fraction of their pre-pandemic earnings.

 

Sure there are young physicians who will make more than $125,000 after the pandemic. But if they're not discouraged now during the pandemic, they will become depressed by having to pay off their huge loans while the humanities and most business majors get off totally free. Incidentally, many physicians are financially hurting during this pandemic. Yesterday my wife had to have her morphine pump refilled at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center that employees thousands of physicians. Yesterday it was like an empty tomb. The hundreds of surgeries taking place daily before the pandemic have been reduced to a miniscule number of emergency surgeries. And this is happening in virtually every hospital in the USA at the moment.

 

In my opinion the pandemic makes Biden's Plan virtually a Sanders-Warren total debt forgiveness plan except for the unfortunate graduates of private universities not covered in the forgiveness plan (HBCU priavate colleges will be covered).

 

Personally, with tens of millions of unemployed non-college graduates after the pandemic I think college student debt forgiveness will be low on the priority list of Congress unless big social spenders are swept into Congress on Biden's coat tails.  Those big social spenders after this pandemic could entirely destroy the USA's economy. And if they make future college free at all public universities they will completely destroy private colleges and universities, even the Ivy League, that have served this nation so well in research and education.

 

This pandemic may never end like we hope it will end. Coronavirus vaccines may be like those frustrating flu vaccines that do not save over 20,000 USA victims every year.

I agree to a controlled amount of stimulus strategically placed, but not when it comes to raining down trillions of dollars in printed currency. Raining down trillions of Sanders-like printed dollars from helicopters would be a disaster. Need I remind you that in Zimbabwe eventually one egg cost 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars ---
http://robinwestenra.blogspot.com/2019/10/a-crippling-drought-in-zimbabwe.html

By July 2019, the basic food basket was BsF. 2,600,000 in Caracas, according to the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers Center of Documentation and Analysis, which makes monthly surveys about the price of products. The Commerce Chamber, however, has a different figure: BsF. 3,700,000 ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/we-need-start-tossing-money-out-helicopters/608968/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=politics-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200331&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0


How much unemployment will I get? That depends on your state ---
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/how-much-unemployment-will-i-get-that-depends-on-your-state.html

 

Jensen Comment
I suspect unemployment benefits are low on the list of criteria workers look at for locating in a state. Workers are more interested in employment opportunities, living costs, and other benefits like skills training.

 

Unemployment benefits are on the minds of companies for locating or expanding within a state since employers ultimately bear the cost of unemployment benefits. In truth, these benefits are interactive with other considerations such as other business taxes, subsidies received from towns and states for relocation, union activism, and an available workforce. For example, GE moved its headquarters from Connecticut to Massachusetts in spite of Massachusetts having high unemployment taxes --- because GE was more interested in the high tech workers available in and around Boston.

 

Vermont has very few economic things going for itself and adds pain to misery with both high unemployment taxes and literally all other taxes a state can impose. Nearby New Hampshire has lower unemployment taxes, no sales tax, and no personal income tax.

 

Some states have lower unemployment taxes to partly offset other employment barriers (think living costs and high other taxes). California is an example of this where California has lower unemployment taxes than Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. At the same time, California has a very high personal income tax, while Nevada and Washington have no income tax.

 


NYT:  Europe is Preparing to Live and Work With the Cororavirus Still in the Air (is this a new normal?)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/world/europe/coronavirus-lockdowns-restrictions.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Jensen Comment
Lockdowns can only last a short time before economic disaster. Work environments, social life, education, wars, travel, and entertainment (think sporting events) may be forever changed, especially if these troublesome viruses just keep mutating on and on and on.

 

Even when the best Coronavirus vaccine arrives it may be more like the problematic annual flu vaccine rather than a small pox or polio vaccine.

 

The small pox vaccine was the world's first vaccine for a contagious disease ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine

We don't much like to think about Malthusian Catastrophe these days ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_catastrophe


How to Mislead With Statistics

How Germany is managing its coronavirus epidemic, and reacting with disdain to Trump’s policies ---
https://theconversation.com/how-germany-is-managing-its-coronavirus-epidemic-and-reacting-with-disdain-to-trumps-policies-134758

The solid and publicly funded German health system is also credited for Germany’s relatively low death rate. There are over 28,000 intensive care beds with sufficient respirators available at German hospitals, more than in most other parts of the world.

Jensen Comment
The author of the above article makes no note that it's almost impossible to compare Germany (with 83 million people crowded into a land mass less than half the size of Texas) with the USA (with over 350 million residents spread over vast square miles of sparsely populated land as well as being concentrated in some cities). The author of the above article would not dare mention that the USA has over 34.7 critical care beds per 100,000 capita compared with Germany's 29.2 critical care beds. That author would not dare mention that the USA has more new drug patents than the rest of the world each year ---
https://sccm.org/Blog/March-2020/United-States-Resource-Availability-for-COVID-19
The world is more eagerly awaiting a new vaccine from the USA than it is waiting for one from Germany.

The huge problem with comparing the USA health care with that of Germany is that the patients in the USA are spread over such a vast territory compared to Germany. The Coronavirus case has hit some parts of the USA (think the areas around NYC and Seattle) very hard relative to vast system of thousands rural communities that have zero or less than a handful of Coronavirus cases. There are a lot of unused supplies (think masks, gowns, and ventilators) in the USA stored unused in USA hospitals that have never seen a Coronavirus case (we have a son who works in one of these hospitals in Maine). But it would be unwise for these rural hospitals to strip their supplies when there are risks of sudden outbreaks anywhere in the USA.

Since Germany has a national health care plan progressives think think that these "free" health care services must be vastly superior to the USA's health care coverage. The fact of the matter is that Germany's free plan is quite basic and relatively inferior to the free plans in other parts of Europe. The Germans that can afford it pay for private medical insurance to get better health care coverage.
Health Insurance in Germany --- http://www.toytowngermany.com/wiki/Health_insurance  
I think the USA should consider the German insurance plan.

Germany does have some economic advantages over the USA. Since it has much less National Debt/GDP relative to the USA it's much easier for the Germans to borrow in order to finance a huge economic stimulus package relative the USA that will probably have to rely on printing money for the first stage of a stimulus package ---
https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-by-national-debt/

A problem for the EU right now is that this pandemic further threatens to break up the EU since the more prosperous European nations are weary of supporting their poor neighbors.


From Truth in Accounting Site on April 4, 2020:  Official USA National Debt is approaching $24 trillion, but the true National Debt is over $123 trillion ---
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/about/our_national_debt

National Debt Clocks for Selected Nations ---
https://commodity.com/debt-clock/?off


The fiscal multiplier during World War II ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/the-fiscal-multiplier-during-world-war-ii.html

Jensen Comment
Tyler favors borrowing to fund the USA's pandemic stimulus, although nations like the USA that already have national debt exceeding the GDP (think Japan, United States, Italy, France, and Spain) may find it difficult to borrow as much as is needed for the pandemic stimulus. Borrowing is clearly less inflationary than printing helicopter money to rain down on unemployed workers and failing businesses. Tyler doesn't like to write about helicopter money ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_money

National Debt/GDP --- https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-by-national-debt/

National Debt of the USA --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States
Especially note the module on Risks and Debates
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States#Risks_and_debates

Jensen Comment
When a nation's debt exceeds GDP it becomes more worrisome to try to sell trillions of dollars of additional debt to investors. The Chinese already invested over a trillion dollars of our National Debt. How much more will they want? Will they continue to roll over what they already have?

More importantly --- when increasing inflation appears to a threat, investors in our debt become more and more reluctant to roll over their investments in our debt, let alone invest in new issues of debt.

Remember that interest must be paid on the National Debt, and that interest is becoming a larger and larger expense in the annual budget of the Federal government. There's no free lunch when it comes to National Debt, especially levels of National Debt that greatly exceed a nation's GDP.


The Atlantic:  This Pandemic is All Trump's Fault ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/americans-are-paying-the-price-for-trumps-failures/609532/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200409&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0
The 2020 election will be a Biden landslid

How to Mislead With False Promises

The Atlantic:  We Need to Start Tossing Money Out of Helicopters It’s the best option in such extreme circumstances ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/we-need-start-tossing-money-out-helicopters/608968/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=politics-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200331&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0

Jensen Comment
I agree to a controlled amount strategically placed, but not when it comes to raining down trillions of dollars in printed currency. Raining down trillions of dollars from helicopters would be a disaster. Need I remind you that in Zimbabwe eventually one egg cost 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars ---
http://robinwestenra.blogspot.com/2019/10/a-crippling-drought-in-zimbabwe.html

By July 2019, the basic food basket was BsF. 2,600,000 in Caracas, according to the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers Center of Documentation and Analysis, which makes monthly surveys about the price of products. The Commerce Chamber, however, has a different figure: BsF. 3,700,000 ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/we-need-start-tossing-money-out-helicopters/608968/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=politics-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200331&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0

A better alternative to helicopter raining is for the government to temporarily buy (maybe with printed money) equity positions into newly issued shares in many failing businesses --- to put them back on their feet until the economy is turned around. Then government should sell those shares like it did in a turned-around Chrysler Corporation following the 2008 recession. Multiplier effects will create new businesses and new jobs ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_multiplier
Venezuelans would rather have jobs than billions of useless printed money.

The good news in this pandemic is that it it may have dashed the false promises of Warren and Sanders that the USA economy would be a better place with $100 trillion spent on new social programs ---
Brian Riedl computed the added $100 trillion cost of Bernie's initiatives (not counting his free pre-schooling for every child,  the collapse of the capital markets, the loss of most USA pensions, and tides through open borders ) ---
https://www.city-journal.org/bernie-sanders-expensive-spending-proposals
That helicopter spending (think free college for everybody, guaranteed minimum wage for everybody, free health care and medicines and nursing care for a great tide of illegal immigrants from all over the world, etc.) would become an economic disaster.

Opposing Viewpoint from Stanford University
An open letter drafted by Stanford professors says the coronavirus stimulus package should benefit workers — not corporations and their wealthy shareholders ---
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/economists-congress-dont-bail-out-big-business?utm_source=Stanford+Business&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Stanford-Business-Issue-184-3-29-2020&utm_content=alumni

Jensen Comment
It's not clear how you save jobs without saving businesses, including big businesses like Microsoft and General Motors that hire so many people. Of course you can replace capitalism with socialism or follow Bernie Sanders' recommendation of letting employees and labor unions take control of all big businesses without investing a penny.

It's also not clear to me how you save stock markets and pension funds by destroying wealthy investors.

Here's a humorous and serious TED talk that seriously argues why the world needs billionaires

https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_eia_where_in_the_world_is_it_easiest_to_get_rich

Why did Cuba abandon its socialist/communist dream of equality for everybody?
The Guardian:  This was the egalitarian dream of Cuba in the 1960s: For years in Cuba, jobs as varied as farm workers and doctors only had a difference in their wages of the equivalent of a few US dollars a month.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/12/cuba 

 

Here's a somber and serious Guardian article on why the Cuban model of income equality for all is a disaster ---
Fidel Castro says his economic system is failing ---

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/09/fidel-castro-cuba-economic-model

 

The Singapore Dream:  How Singapore's richest man went from welding in a factory for $14 per hour to owning a $17 billion hotpot restaurant chain ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/life-of-singapore-richest-man-from-welder-to-hotpot-billionaire-2020-1

 

While a move is underway to destroy the American Dream of rags to riches (by taxing away the riches) the Chinese dream is on the rise.
The Chinese Dream
How a Chinese billionaire went from making $16 a month in a factory to being one of the world's richest self-made women with an $8.3 billion real-estate empire
---

https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-richest-self-made-woman-wu-yajun-net-worth-2019-2

Top 50 Billionaires in China ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_by_net_worth

Jensen Comment
The question for students to debate is why a supposed communist country allows so many billionaires to rise up from poverty.
That's supposed to happen in the USA where a child growing up in deep poverty (think Oprah Winfrey or Howard Shultz) became a multi-billionaires.
But is it also supposed to happen under communism? If so, why?

 

One reason is that many billionaires can afford to pour lots of money into high risk ventures. Why are there so many billionaires in China and Russia and so few in failing Cuba?

 


 

The Atlantic:  This Pandemic is All Trump's Fault ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/americans-are-paying-the-price-for-trumps-failures/609532/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200409&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0
With this kind of biased reporting the 2020 election will be a Trump landslide

 

The Atlantic:  We Need to Start Tossing Money Out of Helicopters It’s the best option in such extreme circumstances ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/we-need-start-tossing-money-out-helicopters/608968/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=politics-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200331&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0

 

How to Mislead With Speculative Assumptions

 

Capitalism Has Failed in Fighting Coronavirus ---
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/04/capitalism-has-failed-in-fighting-coronavirus.html

 

Jensen Comment
Socialists are embarrassed by not being able to point to a single socialist takeover in the real world that succeeded. But they are great at making speculative assumptions without the least bit of evidence.

 

For example, the above article assumes that socialist regimes would've stockpiled the needed supplies for all possible pandemics. This is garbage. Was Mao stockpiling pandemic supplies for his starving peasants? Firstly there are too many kinds of possible pandemics and other looming disasters to stockpile for every contingency. Secondly, socialist regimes have repeatedly demonstrated an inability to feed the people now, let alone spend trillions on stockpiling supplies to save their lives if future pandemics hit.

 

I cringe when reading the following written by an academic:

A worker-coop based economy—where workers democratically run enterprises, deciding what, how and where to produce, and what to do with any profits—could, and likely would, put social needs and goals (like proper preparation for pandemics) ahead of profits.

There's no evidence that worker-coop economies will make enormous sacrifices needed for social goals. If fact there's no evidence of a single worker-coop economy that sustained itself in the real world.

 

There is evidence in capitalist economies (like the Nordic nations) are willing to tax profits for social goals, but then so is the USA willing to do so or we would not have Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and one of the more generous welfare systems in the world (think of the tens of millions of people from all over the world trying to emigrate to the USA). There aren't many nations giving nearly all its children two meals a day in or out of school. I followed a school bus yesterday that stopped at nearly every house on the road to hand out a large bag of food to each child.

 

I hate to say it but the above article is an example of misleading speculative assumptions.

 

 


 

How to Mislead With Statistics

 

Warning:  This is a conservative site
When There Are Multiple Causes of Death:  The Way the U.S. is Counting Wuhan Coronavirus Deaths Seems Problematic
---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2020/04/08/the-way-the-us-is-counting-wuhan-coronavirus-deaths-seems-problematic-n2566543?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=04/08/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

 

Jensen Comment
This hasn't always been a problem. If somebody with Stage 4 lung cancer in the hospital dies from pneumonia I think (without doing any research) that the death becomes a lung cancer statistic. Why should it be any different with Covid-19?

 

The article points out that it may be very difficult to compare the USA Covid-19 statistic on deaths with those same statistics in other nations.

 

A similar problem arises with statistics on business failures. Suppose a buggy whip manufacturer has a cash flow problem and goes very deep into debt trying to develop an engine plant. If it fails in this effort what becomes the cause of the death --- product obsolescence, too much debt leverage, or inability to adapt? Why did both Pan Am and Eastern Airlines die? Why did the Big Five accounting firm named Andersen die?

 

Enron had multiple and interactive causes of death ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm
Worldcom had fewer causes.

 


The Mayor's plan to put homeless into the most luxurious hotels in San Francisco—the InterContinental, Mark Hopkins, and The Palace. Occupants would receive three meals per day in room service, hygiene products, and access to nurses.
https://www.city-journal.org/san-francisco-plan-to-shelter-homeless-in-luxury-hotels

. . .

At first glance, the plan appears sensible. The shutdown has devastated the hospitality industry, and hotels stand empty. Filling rooms with guests of any kind is attractive for hotel owners, especially since tax dollars will foot nearly all of the bill.

 

On closer examination, however, serious problems emerge. According to Matt Haney, a city supervisor actively promoting the proposal, occupants would be quarantined to their assigned rooms and be required to follow strict rules. But many of these future luxury hotel guests are hardcore drug addicts. How will the city manage their drug needs in the midst of a pandemic?

 

Haney concedes that intravenous drug use presents a major challenge to the city’s plan. It’s likely, for instance, that many guests will overdose in their rooms. Others may detox, alone and in agony. Providing addicts with access to maintenance medication such as Suboxone or methadone is a good idea, Haney says, yet these treatments require precise administration. No one has figured out the logistics of providing drug treatment to thousands of addicted residents who may not be interested in receiving it.

 

Additionally, if the hotels are quarantined, and drug dealers aren’t allowed in, what will prevent the contagious residents from leaving to score the substances they seek? As cravings intensify, violence may erupt that can put hotel staff and other occupants at risk. Armed security guards patrolling the halls and buildings might be required to keep the right people in and the wrong people out. Could the police be expected to maintain order and prevent antisocial drug addicts from leaving their rooms? Apparently the city will offer some type of case management, but there’s already a dearth of needed homeless services, including high-quality psychiatric care. Treating this service-resistant population is challenging under the best circumstances. “It’s not going to be a perfect system,” says Haney.

 

There’s also no exit plan. A four-month contract for the room occupants is being considered, but where all these people will go afterward is undetermined. California law stipulates that a person lodging in a hotel room for longer than 30 days is considered a tenant. Therefore, thousands of homeless people who have stayed in the posh hotels would become legal permanent residents, with protections against eviction.

Even Haney acknowledges the problem. “The city should make it clear that they would not be considered tenants,” he says. “It needs to be temporary. Once the emergency is over, they should leave.” Yet sending people back onto the streets will surely be met with resistance from homeless-rights activists, some government officials, and the homeless themselves. Who would want to pack up and move from The Palace, after all?

 

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
What a comedown to be thrown from luxury with room service after four months.

 

I don't think the plan recognizes why many of the hard core homeless prefer being homeless in the first place. Many are urban cowboys who love their freedom to come and go as they please. For them the mayor's plan is only one step above being sent to jail. They avoid the shelters except when weather becomes extreme (think below zero) and even then they resist the shelters when possible. I was once at a conference in Chicago when the temperature was below freezing with a wind. I've never seen this before, but on the streets of Chicago there are occasional vents that blow hot air. I saw a few homeless people who preferred laying in sleeping bags near those air vents --- avoiding crowded shelters provided by the city.

 

There are of course exceptions such as homeless parents with children. But four months San Francisco's Palace Hotel is not much of a solution when it's time to check out. These parents will not magically become employable during their days of room service and luxurious surroundings. There are reasons they are unemployed, and often these reasons (think mental disabilities) are not easily corrected.

 

For the homeless living in the open, often in clusters, the open air provides some type group living security from each other. In hotel rooms the homeless may actually be less secure in terms of crime (think rape and extortion)  that can take place in nearly sound proof rooms.

 

The article mentions the problem that drug dealers are not allowed in and the "tenants" are not allowed to leave their rooms. Most of those tenants who are not junkies are probably alcoholics. Will booze be available from room service? How often will the mini bars be restocked?

 

I don't want to minimize that homelessness is an enormous problem in the USA, and I'm not expert enough to offer solutions. But I do know a bad solution when I see one. This is not the same as turning the Palace Hotel Rooms into hospital rooms for bed-bound Covid-19 patients.

 

We don't open a mental institution with a plan to close it down after four months.

 

 


Measuring the Cost of Regulation: A Text-Based Approach
by Charles W. Calomiris, Harry Mamaysky, Ruoke Yang
National Bureau of Economic Research
NBER Working Paper No. 26856, Issued in March 2020

https://www.nber.org/papers/w26856#fromrss
You may purchase this paper on-line in .pdf format from  SSRN.com ($5) for electronic delivery.

We derive a measure of firm-level regulatory costs from the text of corporate earnings calls. We then use this measure to study the effect of regulation on companies’ operating fundamentals and cost of capital. We find that higher regulatory cost results in slower sales growth, an effect which is mitigated for large firms. Furthermore, we find a one-standard deviation increase in our preferred measure of regulatory cost is associated with an increase in firms’ cost of capital of close to 3% per year. These findings suggest that regulatory risk is a major cost to firms, but the largest firms are able to manage that risk better.


San Francisco Reverses Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban ---
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/04/san-francisco-reverses-single-use-plastic-bag-ban/

Jensen Comment
Nearly two weeks ago here in New Hampshire the co-op grocery store that did not offer plastic bags at check stands and encouraged customers to bring reusable bags stopped allowing reusable bags inside the store. It's now using paper bags that were not previously available when checking out. The larger Shaw's supermarket has always offered a choice between plastic or paper.

I often wondered long before now why grocery stores ever allowed customers to bring germy cloth bags into stores.


The New Yorker:  What Happens When the News is Gone? ---
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-future-of-democracy/what-happens-when-the-news-is-gone

Jensen Comment
It's not just the rural communities that are suffering. USA's big city newspapers (think the Chicago Tribune and the Detroit Free Press) have had to reduce the number of investigative reporters that were especially important in uncovering the many crimes of local politicians, police departments, school administrators,  business leaders, etc. The modern media like TV stations and blogs are not supporting investigative reporters to make up for the loss of such reporters paid by newspapers.

There's a lot of low hanging fruit becoming available to corrupt officials in our smallest to largest communities and everywhere in between.


My purpose in reporting this is not to attack Governor Cuomo politically or to take sides on his possible late bid to become the Democratic Party's 2020  candidate for the presidency.
My purpose is to provide two examples of media bias of the major media (think NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, Time Magazine, etc.)
Why do we have to go to the conservative media to learn the following?

April 5, 2020: Enough is enough. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo needs to IMMEDIATELY lift his pharmacy ban that is forcing New Yorkers stricken by the coronavirus into an already overburdened hospital system to get the potentially life-saving drug hydroxychloroquine ---
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/sean-hannity-gov-cuomo-stop-denying-new-yorkers-hydroxychloroquine

Jensen Comment
The FDA now approves hydroyxychloroquine as a coronavirus medication. It's not a magic bullet, but the French are cheering it on as a treatment to save lives. Why not take a chance to save some NYC lives?
I think NYC is testing this medication for a very limited number of patients in hospitals, but the article above implies that physicians are not allowed to use their own judgment in preventing patients from going to hospitals

 

Gov. Cuomo Refuses Ventilators From Gun Manufacturer (Remington) Who Wants To Help With Medical Supplies ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2020/04/02/gov-andrew-cuomo-has-not-accepted-remingtons-offer-ppe-ventilators-n2566211
There may be more to this refusal than just politics such as having NYC pay for some of the factory changeover (this is just a guess on my part)

 

I encourage my liberal readers to fact check these and tell me they are fake news or that they were featured prominently in the major media?

Bob Jensen's threads on the liberal bias of the media and academe ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#LiberalBias

Example
Media Retract Stories After Realizing The Report Actually Cites How Many Children The Obama Administration Detained ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/706263-outlets-retract-stories-after-realizing-the-report-actually-cites-how-many-children-the-obama-administration-detained-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=5iEzoSRA3OwmMZouDYnIqL3RgHsaffHcB6hB5DcjF-f0.A

Outlets including Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP), NPR and Aljazeera jumped on a report from the United Nations, writing Monday that the country has the world’s highest rates of detained children.

The outlets reported that there are currently more than 100,000 children in immigration-related custody, which violates international law. A day later, Reuters and AFP deleted their stories after the U.N. clarified the numbers were from 2015, when President Barack Obama was in office. Neither outlet immediately responded to a request for comment on why they deleted the entire story, instead of issuing corrections and updating to reflect the numbers were from 2015.

The page where the article was featured now has a retraction on Reuters.

Continued in article


How to Mislead With Statistics

Did Sanders Blow It For The Democratic Left? Or Was The Nomination Always Out Of Reach?
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/did-sanders-blow-it-for-the-democratic-left-or-was-the-nomination-always-out-of-reach/


Tough Rationing Choices:  Two Governors Against 48 Governors

April 5, 2020: Enough is enough. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo needs to IMMEDIATELY lift his pharmacy ban that is forcing New Yorkers stricken by the coronavirus into an already overburdened hospital system to get the potentially life-saving drug hydroxychloroquine ---
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/sean-hannity-gov-cuomo-stop-denying-new-yorkers-hydroxychloroquine

Jensen Comment
The FDA now approves hydroyxychloroquine as a coronavirus medication. It's not a magic bullet, but the French are cheering it on as a treatment to save lives. Why not take a chance to save some NYC lives?
I think NYC is testing this medication for a very limited number of patients in hospitals, but the article above implies that physicians are not allowed to use their own judgment in preventing patients from going to hospital

Consider New Hampshire for example. As of April 5, 2020 a total

 of 621 people in New Hampshire had tested positive for the Coronavirus, but only 86 were ever hospitalized and nine of those patients died. It may well be in New Hampshire that there would have been more of the 621 people who would've had to be hospitalized had not physicians not been able to prescribe the medication before hospitalization.

The French studies to date show that the earlier the medication is prescribed the better the chance that the medication will save a life (and maybe not even without having to go to the hospital). Maybe this is why 47 states have not followed the lead of Nevada and New York. If physicians have to wait until patients are hospitalized the medication may no longer be as effective --- just like 80%-90% of patients on ventilators die.

The Governors of might have less victims in their hospitals if they had let physicians treat patients earlier.

It may well be that some victims not yet hospitalized are fleeing Nevada and New York in order to get medications before they are hospitalized in worse condition.


How to Mislead With Statistics

Does having more police lead to a lower crime rate? ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/does-having-more-police-lead-to-a-lower-crime-rate

Dr. Fauci: ‘You Can’t Rely On The Models,’ Too Many Variables ---
https://www.dailywire.com/news/fauci-you-cant-rely-on-the-models-too-many-variables

Jensen Comment
Missing variables are often overlooked problems by social science, finance, and accounting researchers. Not only are there too many missing variables, but some of those variables are ignored because they can't be reliably quantified and/or are not in purchased databases that "lazy" researchers prefer to use rather than gather their own data. Models don't deal well with qualitative variables. In accountancy these variables are called intangibles and are often ignored by model builders.

An even bigger problem is the assumption of stationary that does not apply to a non-stationary world. This is especially a problem in a pandemic.

Academic researchers keep using defective models if they can get them tenure and promotions with the help of journal referees who belong to the same clubs.


Macroeconomic Implications of COVID-19: Can Negative Supply Shocks Cause Demand Shortages?
https://www.nber.org/papers/w26918

We present a theory of Keynesian supply shocks: supply shocks that trigger changes in aggregate demand larger than the shocks themselves. We argue that the economic shocks associated to the COVID-19 epidemic—shutdowns, layoffs, and firm exits—may have this feature. In one-sector economies supply shocks are never Keynesian. We show that this is a general result that extend to economies with incomplete markets and liquidity constrained consumers. In economies with multiple sectors Keynesian supply shocks are possible, under some conditions. A 50% shock that hits all sectors is not the same as a 100% shock that hits half the economy. Incomplete markets make the conditions for Keynesian supply shocks more likely to be met. Firm exit and job destruction can amplify the initial effect, aggravating the recession. We discuss the effects of various policies. Standard fiscal stimulus can be less effective than usual because the fact that some sectors are shut down mutes the Keynesian multiplier feedback. Monetary policy, as long as it is unimpeded by the zero lower bound, can have magnified effects, by preventing firm exits. Turning to optimal policy, closing down contact-intensive sectors and providing full insurance payments to affected workers can achieve the first-best allocation, despite the lower per-dollar potency of fiscal policy.


Sickle cell disease --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle_cell_disease

As of 2015, about 4.4 million people have sickle cell disease, while an additional 43 million have sickle cell trait.[7][10] About 80% of sickle cell disease cases are believed to occur in Sub-Saharan Africa.[11] It also occurs relatively frequently in parts of India, the Arabian Peninsula, and among people of African origin living in other parts of the world.[12]

Jensen Comment
From one of my weekly breakfasts with my close physician friend I learned why victims of Sickle Cell Disease need anti-malarial medication and the role malaria played in the evolution of this disease in Africa and India ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle_cell_disease#Malaria_prevention

This made me wonder if the current higher rate of Covid-19 infection among blacks (think New Orleans) is in part somewhat like Sickle Cell Disease for them. Although the causes are seemingly different the prevention treatments (like Chloroquine) may be similar. Of course blacks in New Orleans and elsewhere purportedly have other preconditions leading to Covid19 affliction as well.

I'm sure some medical researchers have thought of the Sickle Cell possibility already during this pandemic.

Also see
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200409/chloroquine-zinc-tested-to-block-covid-infection

 


Surfaces made of copper and copper alloys can inactivate a human coronavirus within minutes ---
https://mbio.asm.org/content/6/6/e01697-15.full

. . .

In 2003, a highly pathogenic coronavirus believed to have originated in bats and palm civet cats transferred to humans in Guangdong Province, China, resulting in cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Over 8,000 people were infected in 37 different countries, but mostly in Southeast Asia, with 10% mortality. Inefficient human-to-human transmission, severe restrictions on air travel, closure of many wild-animal markets, and quarantine procedures have successfully contained the outbreak so far. However, zoonotic transmission of a coronavirus from reservoirs in bats and possibly camels gave rise to severe respiratory infection in individuals in the Arabian Peninsula in 2012. The resulting Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), which affects the lower respiratory tract, is clinically similar to SARS but pathologically different. A ubiquitous host cell receptor often leads to extrapulmonary disease, often in the kidneys, and viral progeny are released through apical and basolateral respiratory cell surfaces, contributing to the high (up to 40%) mortality rate (reviewed in references 6 and 7). Late uncontrolled inflammation leads to severe pathologies which are not dependent on viral load, and human-to-human spread does occur (reviewed in references 3 and 4). This, combined with a low infectious dose, suggests that transmission of very few virus particles via person-to-person or contact with contaminated surfaces may be an infection risk. Although camels and associated food products have been found to contain the virus, a recent study of individuals constantly in contact with infected herds suggested that zoonotic transmission is rare (8) but that the risk may be highest from juvenile animals. The risk of transmission is increased, however, in clinical facilities (9) and possibly in other crowded public areas, including care homes and areas of mass gatherings, such as the Hajj Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. In a recent outbreak in South Korea, MERS has so far (July 2015) killed 36 people and infected 186 patients in hospital-associated cases associated with the first imported case arising from travel to the Middle East (10, 11).

Surface contamination has recently been found to be more significant than originally thought in the spread of many diseases (12). Symptoms of respiratory disease often result in continuous recontamination of surfaces which are then touched, and infectious virus particles may be transferred to facial mucosa. In addition, ineffective cleaning agents may leave residual particles that can initiate infection (13). The use of biocidal surfaces may help to reduce the incidence of infections spread by touching contaminated surfaces. Copper alloys have demonstrated excellent antibacterial and antifungal activity against a range of pathogens in laboratory studies (14–19). Copper ion release has been found to be essential to maintaining efficacy, but the mechanism of action is variable (20, 21). A reduction in microbial bioburden and acquisition of nosocomial infection has now been observed in clinical trials of incorporation of copper alloy surfaces in health care facilities (22–25).

Continued in article

Jensen Comment on Trouble Turned Inside Out
The 2015 MERS outbreak in South Korea is credited with leading to actions of stockpiling supplies and preparing hospitals for possible pandemics such as the one experienced in 2020. Had the USA had a similar outbreak in 2015 the shortages of protective gear and ventilators may have mitigated to say nothing about the increased efforts to find cures and vaccines between 2015 and 2020.

 




Updates on Medical Insurance

 

None right now except to say that Joe Biden promises both weak enforcement of borders along with free healthcare for all illegal immigrants.

 

Open immigration can’t exist with a strong social safety net; if you’re going to assure healthcare and a decent income to everyone, you can’t make that offer global ---
Paul Krugman
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/724654-open-immigration-can-t-exist-with-a-strong-social-safety-net

 

Bob Jensen's threads on health insurance ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm

 




Bob Jensen's Tidbits Archives ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbitsdirectory.htm 

Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

Summary of Major Accounting Scandals --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandals

Bob Jensen's threads on such scandals:

Bob Jensen's threads on audit firm litigation and negligence ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm

Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Enron --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm

Rotten to the Core --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm

American History of Fraud --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudAmericanHistory.htm

Bob Jensen's fraud conclusions ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on auditor professionalism and independence are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001c.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on corporate governance are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm#Governance 

 

Shielding Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm

·     With a Rejoinder from the 2010 Senior Editor of The Accounting Review (TAR), Steven J. Kachelmeier

·     With Replies in Appendix 4 to Professor Kachemeier by Professors Jagdish Gangolly and Paul Williams

·     With Added Conjectures in Appendix 1 as to Why the Profession of Accountancy Ignores TAR

·     With Suggestions in Appendix 2 for Incorporating Accounting Research into Undergraduate Accounting Courses

Shielding Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave  --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
By Bob Jensen

What went wrong in accounting/accountics research?  ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong

The Sad State of Accountancy Doctoral Programs That Do Not Appeal to Most Accountants ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms

AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW: 1926-2005 ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1

Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm

Systemic problems of accountancy (especially the vegetable nutrition paradox) that probably will never be solved ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#BadNews

Bob Jensen's economic crisis messaging http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm

Bob Jensen's threads --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/