Tidbits Political Quotations
To Accompany the April 30, 2020 Edition of Tidbits
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2020/Tidbits043020.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

Debt to GDP Ratio by Country 2020 ---
https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/countries-by-national-debt/

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/

 

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

 

New York Times Editor Admits Biden Sexual Assault Story was Censored at Behest of Biden Campaign ---
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2020/04/new-york-times-editor-admits-biden-sexual-assault-daniel-greenfield/

 

San Francisco Chronicle:  Serial Burglary Suspect Free Without Bail Despite Armed Crime Sprees ---
https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Serial-Burglary-Suspect-Free-Without-Bail-Despite-15220682.php

 

Why the low status of opposition to child abuse? ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/why-the-low-status-of-opposition-to-child-abuse.html
Jensen Comment
Pandemic lockdowns are most certainly going to make child abuse a greater problem
There are various problems that stand out with child abuse. The threat of prison does not seem to deter pedophiles who've either not been in prison or who've been in prison multiple times. Non-sexual abuse (think beatings) of children is exacerbated by the present movement to not arrest parents for drug and alcohol abuse that leads to child abuse. Children taken from parents are often not put into much better living environments, partly because of unwillingness of families to adopt older children, minority children, and children approaching expensive college years. Society would probably increase opposition to child abuse if there were better alternatives for abused children. Making abortions more and more difficult will most certainly lead to greater child abuse.

 

What Happens If A Presidential Nominee Can No Longer Run For Office?
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-happens-if-a-presidential-nominee-can-no-longer-run-for-office/
Nobody knows if it happens close to the election date

 

Harvard University announced today that, as part of its expanding efforts to address the urgent threat of climate change, its endowment will become greenhouse gas-neutral by 2050 ---
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/04/harvard-endowment-to-go-greenhouse-gas-neutral-by-2050/
Jensen Comment
This does not mean that Harvard will shed itself in big oil company and automotive investments in its endowments. The big oil companies (think Exxon and Shell) and automobile companies (think GM and Volkswagen) have the most money for alternative energy research, development, and buyouts of smaller companies. By 2020 the big oil and automobile companies will probably be our biggest leaders in alternative energy sources --- if the world economies survive the pandemics and social strife between 2020 and 2050. Universities announcing rapid divestments of big oil and automotive company investments may actually be slowing down the worldwide shift to alternative energies.

 

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio *Shocked* That Inmates Freed Early Are Committing Crimes Again ---
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/04/nyc-mayor-bill-de-blasio-shocked-that-inmates-freed-early-are-committing-crimes-again/

 

Here's how 13 top drugmakers are sprinting to develop a coronavirus vaccine or treatment that can halt this pandemic ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-treatments-vaccine-jj-regeneron-gilead-2020-2?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI%2520Prime%25202020-04-29&utm_term=BI%2520Prime%2520Select
Given that it takes years to really know which vaccine is best under varying living conditions (most people are not now exposed to the virus) and unknown robustness of the vaccine to mutations of the virus
It seems to me that it will be very easy to not choose the optimal vaccine in 2020

 

Clinical trials for coronavirus vaccine begin at University of Oxford ---
https://abcnews.go.com/International/clinical-trials-coronavirus-vaccine-begin-university-oxford/story?id=70286101
It's also common for USA university medical schools to conduct the clinical trials for all Big Pharma new medications and medical devices
The hope is that a coronavirus vaccine will be found that is more like the highly successful smallpox vaccine rather than the flakey flu vaccines

 

Germany to Begin Gradually Reopening Its Economy in the Last Week of April ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-to-begin-gradually-reopening-its-economy-next-week-11586989014?mod=djemCFO

Among the nations of the world, Germany has the fifth highest number of cases accumulated to date (almost tied with France and less than the USA, Spain, and Italy) ---
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

 

American Military Caused the Covid-19 Outbreak in China:  Chinese, Russian, Iranian State-Run Media Colluding To Blame America Regarding Virus ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/856287-state-department-chinese-russian-iranian-state-run-media-colluding-to-blame-america-regarding-virus-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=9GHGkdpWhYe83EFyZJjkFO8_21LdfGwaVfyZOKuqu1nQ.A

 

Any person age 17 to 24 who was claimed as a dependent won’t be eligible for the $1,200 payment or the $500 child bonus ---
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/4/15/21222170/stimulus-checks-dependents-excluded
Millions of college students will be disappointed

What's Up With the Phillips Curve?
https://www.nber.org/papers/w27003#fromrss

Why are environmentalists so upset with Michael Moore's latest error-filled film? ---
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/04/green-brownshirts-strike-at-michael-moore.php

The Coronavirus Crisis Is Starting to Hit Muni Bonds. Why That Matters ---
https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-coronavirus-crisis-is-starting-to-hit-muni-bonds-why-that-matters-51587767452
Much depends upon which muni bonds are largely held in your fund --- times are tougher for the higher yield bonds that are riskier
Also see
https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-shutdown-weighs-on-higher-risk-muni-issuers-11587979801?mod=djemCFO

Newsweek:  The Controversial Wuhan Lab Experiments That May Have Started the Coronavirus Pandemic ---
https://www.newsweek.com/controversial-wuhan-lab-experiments-that-may-have-started-coronavirus-pandemic-1500503

National Bureau of Economic Research: The Subways Seeded the Massive Coronavirus Epidemic in New York City
https://www.nber.org/papers/w27021#fromrss
Jensen Comment
This seems to be the only good thing to say about the shortage of subways in and around Los Angeles

 

Britain’s deserted hospitals: Cancer victims forgotten, vital operations cancelled and ghost town A&Es ---
https://www.infowars.com/britains-deserted-hospitals-cancer-victims-forgotten-vital-operations-cancelled-and-ghost-town-aes/
Jensen Comment
Our local hospital in northern New Hampshire is an empty tomb even though it does not have Covid-19 patients. I know a lot of people want to have surgeries like cataract surgeries, but during this lockdown doctors aren't allowed to operate. In the USA many doctors and nurses and other staff are going without income while their expenses pile up. In the UK they are still being paid to be on "vacation."

 

The New Yorker:  Seattle’s Leaders Let Scientists Take the Lead. New York’s Did Not
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/04/seattles-leaders-let-scientists-take-the-lead-new-yorks-did-not?campaign_id=154&emc=edit_cb_20200427&instance_id=17992&nl=coronavirus-briefing&regi_id=2411413&segment_id=26100&te=1&user_id=bd43d720a6c9c7750e7b8fb89f29a522

Thank you Glen Gray for the Heads Up
Jensen Comment
The Mayor of Seattle and the Governor of Washington state are not trying to rise to the presidency of the USA

 

Graphs of "Excess" Coronavirus Deaths in Europe ---
https://twitter.com/florian_krammer/status/1254558695721250822 
The low death rate nations are Austria and Portugal with Sweden Not Far Behind
Portugal shows us that it's not so much a function of how many you protect as it is who you protect with an "iron curtain"
Read the comments

 

Hydroxychloroquine Has about 90 Percent Chance of Helping COVID-19 Patients, States Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) ---
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hydroxychloroquine-90-percent-chance-helping-155637974.html
The probability of helping varies greatly with the condition (think preconditions) of the patient when the medication is commenced

 

History of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) 1638-2020 ---

http://rheumnow.com/blog/nine-lives-hydroxychloroquine

 

Veterans Affairs Secretary Shares Some Key Details About that HCQ Study the Media Is Obsessing Over (like patients were so sick nothing could save them) ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2020/04/22/veterans-affairs-secretary-shares-some-key-details-about-that-hcq-study-the-media-is-obsessing-over-n2567406?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

 

JSTOR on How We're Not Over Reacting to Covid-19: 

Johns Hopkins epidemiologist and infectious disease expert Jennifer Nuzzo on why vaccines aren’t the answer, how COVID-19 is unique, and how to stay safe ---
https://daily.jstor.org/jennifer-nuzzo-were-definitely-not-overreacting-to-covid-19/

Jensen Comment
On the other hand, we may discover that the media and politics allowed Covid-19 to destroy the USA economy. But Covid-19 may have only speeded up the collapse. Covid-19 spending is only a drop in the bucket compared to the bad economics and open borders that will soon rule the economy (and Trump is one of the bigger spenders).

 

The underpinnings of Sweden’s permissive COVID regime ---
https://voxeu.org/article/underpinnings-sweden-s-permissive-covid-regime
Jensen Comment
After growing up as a Norwegian in Iowa, I knew Swedes were different, because my friends and family always said they were different and made jokes about Swedes. In fairness there were also a lot of Norwegian jokes as well (think Ole and Lena jokes). One time when I told a Swede joke at a Catholic university my host, a Swedish nun, told me that Swedes invented the wheelbarrow to motivate Norwegians to walk upright on two legs ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_and_Lena

 

Walter E, Williams:  Benefits vs. Costs and COVID-19 ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/04/22/benefits-vs-costs-and-covid19-n2567256?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=04/22/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

 

Betsy DeVos Releases Billions More in CARES ACT Coronavirus Education Aid ---
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/04/betsy_devos_releases_billions_coronavirus_education_aid.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news2&M=59548612&U=2290378&UUID=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f
The aid falls way short of losses, but there is a lot indirect aid such as the support of unemployed parents with forgivable small business loans.

 

The CARES Act will provide nearly $14 billion to college students and institutions of higher education. ... Colleges and universities can distribute the cash grants to students to use on course materials, technology, food, housing, healthcare and child care ---
https://universitybusiness.com/college-students-cares-act-healthcare-trump-administration-coronavirus/
Also see other aid at
https://www.clasp.org/blog/how-cares-act-supports-higher-education
The aid falls way short of losses, and some college officials are arguing for more student loans in support of existing and emerging student rather than forgiveness of the 1.5 trillion in debt owed mostly by former students.

 

College Groups: "Hold Off on Debt Cancellation in Favor of Loans to Current and Emerging Students" ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/21/college-groups-tell-congress-put-debt-cancellation?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=c53fcd2d51-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-c53fcd2d51-197565045&mc_cid=c53fcd2d51&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Jensen Comment
This misses the point that when you're printing helicopter money there's enough for cancellation of all student debts and future free college for anybody that wants it.

 

 

Tesla’s Elon Musk Goes After CNN For Posting Fake News ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/849401-elon-musk-goes-after-cnn-for-posting-fake-news-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=1Cugtgg08BDw-1AwBlaN1Qmmriw..A

 

Small businesses might need $500 billion a month, Fed official says ---
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-fed-bostic/feds-bostic-u-s-small-business-may-need-up-to-500-billion-monthly-in-support-through-crisis-idUSKBN21Y2MG

No Sweat:  Crank up the printing presses and gas up the helicopters

 

Model this, coronavirus stupidity edition ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/model-this-coronavirus-stupidity-edition.html

 

The Conversation is a Left-Leaning Media Outlet
Coronavirus bailouts will cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars – unlike past corporate rescues that actually made money for the US Treasury ---
https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-bailouts-will-cost-taxpayers-hundreds-of-billions-of-dollars-unlike-past-corporate-rescues-that-actually-made-money-for-the-us-treasury-136138

 

Less Painful for Taxpayers
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

 

Massive spending in a crisis brought bloody consequences in ancient Athens ---
https://theconversation.com/massive-spending-in-a-crisis-brought-bloody-consequences-in-ancient-athens-135915

 

History of Trade Deficits With China ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/terryjeffrey/2020/04/29/us-has-run-up-55-trillion-in-trade-deficits-with-china-n2567824?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=04/29/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

 

Poachers Target Locked Down Wildlife Parks (think Africa but don't exclude North America) ---
https://www.ozy.com/presidential-daily-brief/pdb-315703/?utm_term=OZY&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PDB%20%282020-04-27%2010:32:50%29#article315713

Jensen Comment
And even with the lockdowns lifted tourists will be slow in returning --- partly due to all the savings they depleted during the lockdowns and fear of closeness in airliners and restaurants

 

Medical tests for detecting and monitoring certain diseases have greatly decreased in the U.S. during the coronavirus outbreak ---
https://www.foxnews.com/health/cancer-diabetes-screenings-plummet-in-us-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-report
Did the USA neglect more lethal diseases when overreacting to the Covid-19 virus?
Did it become a dysfunctional competition between cities and states to keep Covid-19 infections down?

 

1 in 5 doctors (and even a greater percentage of other medical workers) have been furloughed or taken a pay cut as the coronavirus pandemic hits hospitals. Some say they're considering new jobs ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/doctors-see-furloughs-pay-cuts-coronavirus-hospitals-survey-2020-4

Jensen Comment
The impact is not uniform across all states. Whereas many states shut down elective surgeries and many non-emergency services a professor in Oklahoma tells me that his local hospital is has been providing most services, including elective surgeries. I suspect a lot of physicians who can afford it are considering full or partial retirement at a time when coming out of lockdown we will need them more than ever. Two of our best surgeons that I suspect were burned out with surgeries shifted to less intense and stressful medicine.

 

The Atlantic:  How China Deceived the WHO ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/world-health-organization-blame-pandemic-coronavirus/609820/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-weekly-newsletter&utm_content=20200426&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0

 

Scientific American:  The pandemic will kill many directly, but the effort to fight it will incur a huge toll on other aspects of our health and well-being ---
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-true-costs-of-the-covid-19-pandemic/
Jensen Comment
To say nothing of the possibility that it will destroy the global economies (think hyperinflation) and efforts to save the planet (like affording even modest green initiatives)
Today I went to our local hospital for a general practitioner routine appointment. It pained me to walk past the darkened areas of X-Ray, outpatient surgeries, and offices of our top surgeons. It especially pained me to have to walk past the chained off cafeteria. Then I thought of all those folks suffering with cataracts who have impaired vision for extra months or more, and what a backlog the hospital will have when the lockdown is finally lifted. Folks with cataracts, bad knees, bad hips, painful feet, etc. will have to wait even longer because of the backlog. Our local hospital never had a serious number of Covod-19 patients. Our entire county with multiple local hospital had relatively few coronavirus cases, and most did not even have to be hospitalized.  Was so much prolonged elective surgery delay suffering and the laying off of nurses and other hospital staff necessary with so few Covid-19 cases here in the mountains?

 

For China it's a dream come true!

 

 




 

This is the problem with economics. It's not a science. It's a social science at best and, more likely, it's really just a branch of politics. Krugman is clearly voicing a political opinion here, which has nothing to do with economics at all.
https://realmoney.thestreet.com/articles/01/10/2017/yo-krugman-deficits-still-dont-matter

 

Deficit Spending --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficit_spending

. . .

When the outlay of a government (i.e., the total of its purchases of goods and services, transfers in grants to individuals and corporations, and its net interest payments) exceeds its tax revenues, the government budget is said to be in deficit; government spending in excess of tax receipts is known as deficit spending.

Governments usually issue bonds to match their deficits. They can be bought by its Central Bank through open market operations. Otherwise the debt issuance can increase the level of (i) public debt, (ii) private sector net worth, (iii) debt service (interest payments), and (iv) interest rates. (See Crowding out below.) Deficit spending may, however, be consistent with public debt remaining stable as a proportion of GDP, depending on the level of GDP growth.

The opposite of a budget deficit is a budget surplus; in this case, tax revenues exceed government purchases and transfer payments. For the public sector to be in deficit implies that the private sector (domestic and foreign) is in surplus. An increase in public indebtedness must necessarily therefore correspond to an equal decrease in private sector net indebtedness. In other words, deficit spending permits the private sector to accumulate net worth.

On average, through the economic cycle, most governments have tended to run budget deficits, as can be seen from the large debt balances accumulated by governments across the world.

Keynesian effect[edit]

Following John Maynard Keynes, many economists recommend deficit spending to moderate or end a recession, especially a severe one. When the economy has high unemployment, an increase in government purchases creates a market for business output, creating income and encouraging increases in consumer spending, which creates further increases in the demand for business output. (This is the multiplier effect.) This raises the real gross domestic product (GDP) and the employment of labour, and if all else is constant, lowers the unemployment rate. (The connection between demand for GDP and unemployment is called Okun's law.)

The increased size of the market, due to government deficits, can further stimulate the economy by raising business profitability and spurring optimism, which encourages private fixed investment in factories, machines, and the like to rise. This accelerator effect stimulates demand further and encourages rising employment.

Similarly, running a government surplus or reducing its deficit reduces consumer and business spending and raises unemployment. This can lower the inflation rate. Any use of the government deficit to steer the macro-economy is called fiscal policy.

A deficit does not simply stimulate demand. If private investment is stimulated, that increases the ability of the economy to supply output in the long run. Also, if the government's deficit is spent on such things as infrastructure, basic research, public health, and education, that can also increase potential output in the long run. Finally, the high demand that a government deficit provides may actually allow greater growth of potential supply, following Verdoorn's law.

Deficit spending may create inflation, or encourage existing inflation to persist. For example, in the United States Vietnam-war era deficits encouraged inflation. This is especially true at low unemployment rates. But government deficits are not the only cause of inflation: It can arise due to such supply-side shocks as the oil crises of the 1970s and inflation left over from the past (e.g., inflationary expectations and the price/wage spiral).

If equilibrium is located on the classical range of the supply graph, an increase in government spending will lead to inflation without affecting unemployment. There must also be enough money circulating in the system to allow inflation to persist, so that inflation depends on monetary policy.

 

 

But running big deficits is no longer harmless, let alone desirable
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/opinion/deficits-matter-again.html

Paul Krugman, January 9, 2017


Deficits matter always, not just when Republicans occupy the White House

Paul Krugman, January 10, 2017

https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/01/deficits-matter-always-not-just-when-republicans-occupy-white-house/

 

Deficits Matter More When Republicans Control the White House

https://realmoney.thestreet.com/articles/01/10/2017/yo-krugman-deficits-still-dont-matter

Now, it seems, with a little over a week until Donald Trump assumes the presidency, Krugman is saying deficits suddenly matter again and that Trump's plans will lead to crowding out of private investment.

This is the problem with economics. It's not a science. It's a social science at best and, more likely, it's really just a branch of politics. Krugman is clearly voicing a political opinion here, which has nothing to do with economics at all.

The only fiscal thing to fear is deficit fear itself
Paul. Krugman, April 27, 2020

 

Almost a decade has passed since I published a column, “Myths of Austerity,” warning that deficit alarmism would delay recovery from the Great Recession — which it did. Unfortunately, that kind of alarmism seems to be making a comeback.

You can see that comeback in the gradually increasing number of news analyses emphasizing how much debt we’ll run up dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. You can also see it in the rhetoric of politicians like Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, who is blocking aid to beleaguered state and local governments because, he says, it would cost too much.

So this seems like a good time to emphasize two key facts. One is economic: While we will run very big budget deficits over the next couple of years, they will do little if any harm. The other is that whatever they may say, very few prominent figures in politics or the media are genuine deficit hawks, who are actually worried about the consequences of rising government debt. What we mainly have, instead, are deficit peacocks and deficit vultures.

The term “deficit peacocks” was coined by the Center for American Progress for people who preen and posture about fighting deficits without offering realistic policy proposals. I’d broaden the term to include what I used to call Very Serious People — those who inveigh against the evils of debt not because they’ve done a careful analysis but because they imagine that it makes them sound earnest and tough-minded.

The glory days of deficit peacocks were the early teens, an era in which people like Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles were lionized by the news media. As Vox’s Ezra Klein noted at the time, for some reason “the usual rules of reportorial neutrality don’t apply when it comes to the deficit”; the wisdom and virtue of deficit warriors were simply taken for granted.

 

We haven’t heard much from the deficit peacocks in recent years, even though the budget deficit, which declined sharply during the Obama years, soared again under Donald Trump. Funny how that works. But you can be sure they’ll be back in force if Joe Biden wins this November.

What about deficit vultures? That’s the term I’ve been using for politicians who exploit real or imagined fiscal distress to feed a reactionary policy agenda.

After the last crisis, conservatives used deficits as an excuse to cut social programs — for example, a number of states made it much harder to collect unemployment benefits. This time around, McConnell and Trump are trying to exploit deficit fears to force state governments to downsize, undermine (and possibly privatize) the post office and more.

 

Continued in article

 

Jensen Comment
In my opinion, and I'm a bookkeeper deficit peacock rather than an economist, is that it's not so much whether there's a budget deficit as much as it matters regarding the size of the deficit. In basketball the center player's deficit is not so serious when the opponent's center is an inch taller that your center, but it gets more serious when that deficit at the center post if over 12 inches for an opponent who also has extremely long arms and the speed of a gazelle.

 

And now in 2020 the USA will be spending tens of trillions above what was budgeted for 2020 by federal and state governments. The states, some on the verge of bankruptcy before the pandemic, will most certainly go bankrupt unless the federal government showers them with tens of trillions of dollars --- which is probably what will happen in spite of reluctance of the GOP to let the most fiscally mismanaged states (think Illinois, New Jersey, etc.) have a bonanza in aid due to the pandemic.

 

Unlike the states, the federal government will never go bankrupt, because it controls the money supply of the USA. When ultimately spending tens of trillions above budget it sounds simple for the USA's federal government to add trillions more to its current 24 trillion in booked debt (and 120+ trillion unbooked entitlements) to cover the added 2020 pandemic expenses. But whoa, the investors in our 24 trillion National Debt are saying "no more." The fear is that, when the 2020 deficit cannot be financed with more debt or taxes, our brilliant elected officials in Washington DC will turn to helicopter money ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_money

 

Ray Dalio --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Dalio

Trump-Hating Billionaire Ray Dalio says investors would be 'pretty crazy to hold government bonds' right now as central banks continue to print money ---
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ray-dalio-crazy-hold-bonds-now-central-banks-printing-money-2020-4-1029095649
Good financial advice even though it's not very patriotic

Buyers needed for added trillions of planned US government debt ---
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/news/detail/buyers-needed-for-3-trillion-of-us-government-debt

China, Until Recently America's Largest Creditor, Won't Be Funding Your Stimulus Check ---
https://www.newsweek.com/china-treasury-stimulus-check-debt-us-1499541

Jensen Comment
Not many buyers want to buy trillions of new USA debt. So the Federal Reserve will buy it.
Hey isn't that like moving this debt from the Federal government's left pocket to its right pocket?
The least China could do is make some of our helicopter parts cheaper ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_money                                                         

One National Debt buyer dominates all others --- The Federal Reserve (think of it as a debtor investing in his own debt)
But the Federal Reserve is "printing money" in a limited way (QE is not like printing helicopter money)  to buy much of the debt under the fancy name of Quantitative Easing ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing

Jensen Comment
There's no disaster in quantitative easing in times of recession as long as the QA is in relatively small amounts and the money is not being used to finance the Federal deficit ---
https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-quantitative-easing-definition-and-explanation-3305881
It helps maintain investment market liquidity and prevent runs on markets where investors want to withdraw cash (think Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life)
However, as we get into the realm of trillions of dollars these are not small amounts by any means.

There are losers even with more limited QE ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-15198789
Outside investors in our National Debt get hit and become less likely to roll over their investments in our National Debt, thereby making the National Debt a bigger problem

Are there any losers from QE? QE pushes up the market price of government bonds and reduces the yield, or interest rate, paid out to investors. In other words, investors have to pay more to get the same income. 

If market interest rates are lower that depresses the value of a currency because it becomes less attractive to foreign investors. 

The US's programme of QE also kept the value of the dollar lower than it might otherwise have been, a factor not welcomed in some emerging economies. Since the end of QE in the US and with the prospect of interest rate rises there, the dollar has regained strength.

March 16, 2020
Federal Reserve cuts rates to zero and launches massive $700 billion quantitative easing program (since expanded greatly)---
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/federal-reserve-cuts-rates-to-zero-and-launches-massive-700-billion-quantitative-easing-program.html

The bottom line is that to a point QE is not as inflationary as helicopter money, but only to a point under three trillion dollars and counting ---
https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/2900/inflation/inflation-and-quantitative-easing/

See the comments at
https://www.quora.com/Does-quantitative-easing-lead-to-inflation?share=1

Small businesses might need $500 billion a month, Fed official says ---
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-fed-bostic/feds-bostic-u-s-small-business-may-need-up-to-500-billion-monthly-in-support-through-crisis-idUSKBN21Y2MG

No sweat:  Crank up the printing presses and gas up the helicopters

 

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 say forget the helicopters. Let's load up the B1 bombers with money instead of bombs and adopt all the $100 trillion in spending proposed by Bernie Sanders.
The USA will go down in history as the land of milk and honey, although the "going down" part is becoming a short-term forecast.

 

Burl Ives sings the Big Rock Candy Mountain ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWminVCg3TA

 


 

Jensen Comment
It's a bit more complicated than simply assuming America's poorest citizens are hit the hardest in this pandemic. America's poorest citizens receive resources that have not shut down during the pandemic --- welfare payments, housing subsidies, food stamps, Medicaid, etc. This is probably why the food bank lines are predominantly not our poorest citizens. The hundreds or even thousands of people in food bank lines these days are often driving nice cars, because before the pandemic they had jobs and are now caught in a tight squeeze with bills due and no welfare payments, housing subsidies, food stamps, Medicaid, etc.

 

But some of our poorest non-citizen residents are hurting badly because they don't have the lifeline benefits of our poorest citizens. The non-citizens depend heavily upon the underground economy to give them day jobs for cash needed to feed themselves and their families. The underground economy has heavily shut down, although there still may be some work available.

 

The good news is that the food banks and shelters do not require proof of citizenship. The bad news is that there is not enough free food and shelter available to meet demand from unemployed citizens and non-citizens. Now is not a humane time to refuse sustenance to unemployed non-citizens.

 


 

Here's how 13 top drugmakers are sprinting to develop a coronavirus vaccine or treatment that can halt this pandemic ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-treatments-vaccine-jj-regeneron-gilead-2020-2?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI%2520Prime%25202020-04-29&utm_term=BI%2520Prime%2520Select
Given that it takes years to really know which vaccine is best under varying living conditions (most people are not now exposed to the virus) and unknown robustness of the vaccine to mutations of the virus
It seems to me that it will be very easy to not choose the optimal vaccine in 2020

·        In attempting to counter the coronavirus pandemic, leading drugmakers are researching treatments and vaccines to stop the virus.
 

·        The small biotech Moderna has leaped to the front of the race, with a vaccine candidate that's being tested in people. Pharma giants like Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi are also in the early stages of developing potential vaccines.
 

·        There's no assurance the vaccines will work. It will take at least 12 months to 18 months to determine if these experimental vaccines are safe and effective against this coronavirus, top US health officials have said. 
 

·        That leaves a near-term need for treating those already sick. Other drug companies have been looking to repurpose antiviral drugs as a way to treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. 
 

·        Gilead Sciences is leading those efforts, with trials underway for an antiviral drug called remdesivir. The World Health Organization called it "the most promising candidate" to treat COVID-19. The first results are expected in April.
 

·        The virus' rapid spread has instilled urgency in developmental efforts, which are set to test how quickly these companies can identify and mass-produce effective treatments.

 

The vast majority of the drug industry is now researching treatments and vaccines to counter the coronavirus pandemic that has now killed more than 200,000 people and infected upwards of 3 million.

The companies — including giants like Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, and Gilead Sciences — are taking a variety of approaches. Some are hunting for near-term treatment options, either by testing existing drugs or investigating new antivirals or antibodies. Others are developing vaccines using info about the virus' genetic code.

While drug development is typically a multiyear process that faces significant hurdles, US health officials have been pushing speedy timelines. Several vaccine candidates have already started human testing. It will still take at least a year to determine if any vaccine works against this virus.

With upwards of 1,000 ongoing clinical trials and more than 250 drugs in development to potentially treat COVID-19, the drug industry has flooded into the research space. Many of these studies are repurposed drugs, now being tested as coronavirus treatments.

But early results on these immediate-term fixes have disappointed, leading to the expectation of modest benefits, at best, for patients.

There's more potential in companies crafting therapeutics and vaccines designed to fight this novel coronavirus. Here's how 13 leading drugmakers are taking on that challenge.

All eyes are on Gilead for imminent results of an antiviral

The California biotech Gilead Sciences is repurposing a drug called remdesivir that was previously tested against Ebola. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called the antiviral "the most promising candidate" for a treatment against COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Several trials are testing remdesivir in COVID-19 patients around the world. Data from some of these studies is expected in a matter of days and figures to be one of the biggest events in the biotech industry.

Continued in article

 

Clinical trials for coronavirus vaccine begin at University of Oxford ---
https://abcnews.go.com/International/clinical-trials-coronavirus-vaccine-begin-university-oxford/story?id=70286101
It's also common for USA university medical schools to conduct the clinical trials for all Big Pharma new medications and medical devices
The hope is that a coronavirus vaccine will be found that is more like the highly successful smallpox vaccine rather than the flakey flu vaccines

 

 

People are dying from coronavirus because clinical research is too slow (and I think almost impossible given our changed way of life since March 2020)

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/people-are-dying-from-coronavirus-because-research-is-too-slow.html
Jensen Comment
One of the main reasons for general clinical research delay (maybe forever) is that developers fear massive class action lawsuits. This is why, in most instances, Big Pharma outsources clinical trials to medical schools. However, in some instances the costs of this outsourcing combined with fear of lawsuits leads to failure to test at all (particularly in heart medications and devices mentioned in the above article). Added to the delay is that for successful research outcomes there is the added delay of cranking up production and fear that nations who cheat on patents will develop black market versions of the medication or medical device. In the case of the coronavirus Bill Gates is investing in early production of the seven leading prospects of vaccination to avoid some of the production delays.

 

The big problem is that there's such a long delay imposed by nature itself. How often have we heard that a super flu vaccination is in production only to discover at the end of the season that it's been a flakey flu vaccination. Viruses mutate so quickly and unpredictably. More accurate testing of a vaccination alternative takes years and years --- as in the case of the successful smallpox vaccination.

 

Then there's the issue of ethics. Suppose coronavirus Alternative X is being tested among 500 people chosen at random to receive Alternative X versus 500 who will receive a placebo. Do you want to be one of those test subjects put in a chamber that exposes each of these people to very high risk of infection? Instead we must let those people be exposed in "normal life," and in normal life most people aren't being exposed to the coronavirus, especially during and after the lockdowns. In the olden days we might go to an third-world country and pay poor people whatever it takes to be put into a high risk infection chamber. This is now rightly considered a violation of human rights to even let poor people have such a choice.

 

Chinese and Oxford studies tested vaccines in a high risk chamber will good results for a handful of monkeys. But these samples are too small for generalization and will not please animal rights groups. More importantly the best animal results in high risk chambers may not be the best results for millions of humans in lower risk environments ---
http://www.science.smith.edu/ast214/2020/04/28/success-in-animal-vaccine-for-covid-19/

 

Clinical studies of coronavirus vaccinations will have a high risk of false negatives for people in both test groups simply because they were not exposed in a high risk way to the virus. This is particularly a problem for test subjects in nursing homes who are now being more carefully shielded from exposure.

 

It would be monumentally difficult to run clinical trials in New Zealand or Mongolia or Siberia where so many people are geographically separated due to huge distances between very small towns and farms.
 

Added to this is the issue is a great mystery of the coronavirus immunities.
Covid-19:  South Africa versus Louisiana

As of April 17 South Africa reports 2,605 Covid-19 cases to date and 48 deaths
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
South Africa has almost 60 million people with over 80% being Black African

As of April 8 Louisiana reports 17,030 Covid-19 cases with 652 deaths (with an abnormally high proportion being African American)
https://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/communication/viewcampaign/2605?&uid=h5d%2Afvl6n%5B&nowrap=1
Louisiana has 4.6 million people with over 32% being African American

Even with reporting discrepancies there should be an investigation of why African Americans are so much more prone to die from Covid-19 than Black Africans. There are many possible reasons even after doubting the degree of testing and poor record keeping in South Africa ---
https://wgno.com/news/health/coronavirus/louisiana-covid-19-cases-reach-12496-with-409-deaths/ 
International comparisons of most anything are complicated. This is especially so in the case of the great 2020 pandemic!

 

 


Chronicle of Higher Education:  Harvard Bows to Pressure From Trump to Forgo Coronavirus Relief Money ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Harvard-Bows-to-Pressure-From/248613?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1166429&cid=at&source=ams&sourceId=296279

 

Ivy League Schools Say They Will Keep PPP Funds As Harvard, Princeton (and Stanford) Reject Under Pressure ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/855188-harvard-princeton-to-reject-coronavirus-funding-as-other-ivy-league-schools-say-they-will-keep-the-funds-special?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=697zxgAhCmuHg4vas74EBzlnoWM3eNVp0oCrhLuQnY-I.A
Some Ivy schools like Dartmouth are still undecided

 

Ouch:  Predicting it will lose up to $475 million because of the pandemic, the Johns Hopkins University will halt contributions to employees’ retirement funds for a year
https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs-md-johns-hopkins-pay-cuts-20200422-tjkj7pipj5f3xm5xc372wuao4u-story.html?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1166465&cid=db&source=ams&sourceId=296279

Predicting it will lose up to $475 million because of the pandemic, the Johns Hopkins University will halt contributions to employees’ retirement funds for a year, and administrators will take pay cuts of up to 20 percent. (The Baltimore Sun)

 

Jensen Comments
That's peanuts compared to what state retirees will lose if and when their states declare bankruptcy due to declines in revenues (think sales taxes, fuel taxes, and income taxes) amidst soaring expenses (think explosions in Medicaid and unemployment insurance payouts). The relief needed by states is so enormous that even helicopter money advocates are skeptical of state bailouts, in part because enormous state bailouts were needed for some states even before the pandemic ---

 

Why Mitch McConnell’s State Bankruptcy Idea Is So Stupid ---
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/why-mitch-mcconnells-state-bankruptcy-idea-is-so-stupid.html
McConnell does not want the pandemic to be a bonanza for some states who badly mismanaged (sometimes fraudulently) their finances before the pandemic. But there has to be a better way out of the current disaster in the financing of all 50 states.

 

USA States on Deepest Trouble for Paying Bills (your state was probably one of them before the 2020 pandemic hit) ---
https://www.data-z.org/state_data_and_comparisons/
As expenses soar (think explosions in Medicaid and unemployment insurance payouts) in this pandemic state revenues  (think sales taxes, fuel taxes, and income taxes) collapse

 

LA Times:  Newsom’s secretive $1-billion (with a B) mask deal with Chinese automaker sparks bipartisan concerns ---
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-20/gavin-newsom-n95-masks-byd-chinese-company-california-legislature

 


Is it still the happiest place on earth? Disney, likely bracing for a lengthy shutdown, will cease paying 100,000 of its park employees this week, leaving them to rely on state aid instead ---
https://www.ozy.com/presidential-daily-brief/pdb-310900/?utm_term=OZY&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PDB%20%282020-04-20%2011:19:17%29#article311001

 


 

Helping the Homeless in USA History

 

Poor Farms --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poorhouse

 

County Farms in Iowa --- https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2014/04/06/care-started-county-poor-farms/7374971/

 

County Farms in Minnesota --- http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/38/v38i08p365-377.pdf

 

Hennepin County tells library workers to staff homeless hotels (including preparing and delivering room service meals) ---
http://www.citypages.com/news/hennepin-county-tells-library-workers-to-staff-homeless-hotels-or-take-pto/569514121

 

Jensen Comment

Why not community college staff and other county employees?
The big question is whether this is a long-term job reassignment since the homeless hotels may not be emptied after the lockdown is lifted.
In this case I think the plan is not to close the homeless hotels with the pandemic is over. Professional county employees may be more than willing to help on a short-term basis but not so willing to make career moves. Hennepin County will then have to bear the cost of new homeless hotel workers.

 

Providing free hotel and meal services will attract many of the state's homeless to migrate to Hennepin County. How many incoming homeless can the county afford?

 

When I grew up in Iowa most of Iowa's counties (there are 99 relatively small counties) had county farms for the homeless and other poor people who were either too poor or too ill to care for themselves. These farms prevented most homelessness. Services were minimal in a period where county farms were not subject to such stringent regulations as we find for long-term care facilities in the 21st Century. Many hobos, however, preferred to ride the rails in those days rather than live in county homes. Many of them were alcoholics.

 

My Grandmother Dourte used to feed hobos on a daily basis on her back porch ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm

 

I suspect there might still some county farms in Iowa, but to my knowledge homeless people in the USA are not migrating to those counties in order to live on a county farm. One reason is that the county farms probably do not allow residents to partake of alcohol and narcotics. Another reason is that the USA now has Social Security retirement, Social Security Disability, and Medicaid that provides free nursing home care that is probably higher quality than life on a county farm. The USA now for the poor has welfare, food stamps, housing subsidies, and other safety nets. One reason some these very poor USA citizens are not standing in lines for free food and shelter during the pandemic is that their safety net services are still provided during the lockdown. The people in line for free food and shelter these days often own nice cars but are temporarily unemployed without incomes.

 

The San Francisco Mayor's plan (since approved) is to put 7,000 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 medical care.
https://www.city-journal.org/san-francisco-plan-to-shelter-homeless-in-luxury-hotels

This article does not discuss how to staff the hotel and meal service services. Presumably, either the hotels will be paid by the city to provide such services or the City will foot the bill for temporary hotel employees and food. Very few cities can afford to do this in homeless hotels on a long-term basis, and if so tens of thousands of homeless will migrate to San Francisco for a chance at luxury. Thousands of homeless have already migrated to San Francisco, because it does not arrest homeless for drug dealing and non-violent theft. It's also popular as a sanctuary city for homeless not wanting to be deported.

 

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
There are no homeless people in Cuba, but even Castro admitted that the egalitarian economy was not sustainable.

 


Almost Every Hospitalized Coronavirus Patient Has Another Underlying Health Issue, According to a Study of New York Patients ---
https://time.com/5825485/coronavirus-risk-factors/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief-pm&utm_content=20200422&xid=newsletter-brief

Hospital analysis: Nearly half of COVID-19 hospitalized patients are obese ---
https://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Hospital-analysis-Nearly-half-of-COVID-19-15213495.php

. . .

The data showed that 9 of 10 patients had an underlying medical condition, including:

—Hypertension: 49.7%

—Diabetes: 28.3%

—Chronic lung disease: 34.6%

—Cardiovascular disease: 27.8%

—Obesity: 48.3%

While the report does not confirm obesity as an independent risk factor, when it occurs in conjunction with an underlying medical condition it can aggravate the severity of COVID-19.

For patients aged 18 to 49, obesity was the most prevalent underlying condition, according to the study. Nearly 60 percent of those hospitalized were obese.

The CDC defines an obese person as one with a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or more, for example, a 6-foot-tall male who weighs 217 pounds. (Exception: Muscular physiques may have high BMIs without being obese or even overweight.)

 Jensen Comment

The study does not mislead by stating that preconditions make people more likely to become infected with COVID-19. For that we would also need data on the proportions of people with preconditions who did not become infected, What it does show is that people that become infected are more likely to be hospitalized, although much more evidence is needed to see how global this finding is in the USA and the world. Since older people are more likely to be suffering from one or more of the preconditions mentioned above (not so much obesity), it may well be that older people are not necessarily at higher risk if they don't have these preconditions.

Interestingly, cancer is not mentioned as one of the preconditions although cancer is one of the main reasons for hospitalization in general. Other conditions leading to hospitalizations in normal times are currently low at present, particularly elective surgeries such as new knees, hips, spinal surgeries, etc. For this reason many of the rural hospitals in the USA are nearly empty.

Profiles of patients in hospitals are hard to compare because of the gray zone of nursing homes where lots of patients die before being taken to hospitals. One of the leading causes of death in nursing homes is pneumonia, although pneumonia is often the weakened immunity late killer for patients suffering from severe preconditions.

Also many terminal patients are kept in their own homes, often under hospice care, thereby reducing hospital statistics due to preconditions.

CNN seems to confuse correlation with cause when reporting patients with hypertension are higher risk of being infected (without necessarily being hospitalized) with COVID-19 --- 
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/health/blood-pressure-coronavirus-wellness/index.html
The CDC reports that there's no evidence of preconditions leading to higher risk of infection ---
https://phassociation.org/covid-19/

What might be interesting is to compare hypertension or other preconditions between African Americans versus Black Africans

London School of Economics:  Between 42 percent and 57 percent of deaths from the coronavirus in Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium have been linked to care homes for the elderly" ---
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/coronavirus-spotlight-hard-hit-elderly-homes-toll-emerges-200418083848929.html
Estimates run slightly higher at
https://ltccovid.org/2020/04/12/mortality-associated-with-covid-19-outbreaks-in-care-homes-early-international-evidence/
Older patients are more likely to have one or more preconditions.

Covid-19:  South Africa versus Louisiana
As of April 17 South Africa reports 2,605 Covid-19 cases to date and 48 deaths
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
South Africa has almost 60 million people with over 80% being Black African

As of April 8 Louisiana reports 17,030 Covid-19 cases with 652 deaths (with an abnormally high proportion being African American)
https://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/communication/viewcampaign/2605?&uid=h5d%2Afvl6n%5B&nowrap=1
Louisiana has 4.6 million people with over 32% being African American

Even with reporting discrepancies there should be an investigation of why African Americans are so much more prone to die from Covid-19 than Black Africans. There are many possible reasons even after doubting the degree of testing and poor record keeping in South Africa ---
https://wgno.com/news/health/coronavirus/louisiana-covid-19-cases-reach-12496-with-409-deaths/ 
One of those possible reasons is the higher incidence of malaria in Africa and the higher use of medications I dare not mention in this thread.
Are African Americans more prone to obesity and/or hypertension than Black Africans?
Confounding the statistics is the higher proportion of young people among Black Africans relative to African Americans (I did not verify this, but it's a pretty good guess).
International comparisons of most anything are complicated.

 


Walter E. Williams:  Fixing College Corruption ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/04/15/fixing-college-corruption-n2566832?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=04/15/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

America's colleges are rife with corruption. The financial squeeze resulting from COVID-19 offers opportunities for a bit of remediation. Let's first examine what might be the root of academic corruption, suggested by the title of a recent study, "Academic Grievance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship." The study was done by Areo, an opinion and analysis digital magazine. By the way, Areo is short for Areopagitica, a speech delivered by John Milton in defense of free speech.

Authors Helen Pluckrose, James A. Lindsay and Peter Boghossian say that something has gone drastically wrong in academia, especially within certain fields within the humanities. They call these fields "grievance studies," where scholarship is not so much based upon finding truth but upon attending to social grievances. Grievance scholars bully students, administrators and other departments into adhering to their worldview. The worldview they promote is neither scientific nor rigorous. Grievance studies consist of disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, gender studies, queer, sexuality and critical race studies.

In 2017 and 2018, authors Pluckrose, Lindsay and Boghossian started submitting bogus academic papers to academic journals in cultural, queer, race, gender, fat and sexuality studies to determine if they would pass peer review and be accepted for publication. Acceptance of dubious research that journal editors found sympathetic to their intersectional or postmodern leftist vision of the world proves the problem of low academic standards.

Several of the fake research papers were accepted for publication. The Fat Studies journal published a hoax paper that argued the term bodybuilding was exclusionary and should be replaced with "fat bodybuilding, as a fat-inclusive politicized performance." One reviewer said, "I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article and believe it has an important contribution to make to the field and this journal." "Our Struggle Is My Struggle: Solidarity Feminism as an Intersectional Reply to Neoliberal and Choice Feminism," was accepted for publication by Affilia, a feminist journal for social workers. The paper consisted in part of a rewritten passage from Mein Kampf. Two other hoax papers were published, including "Rape Culture and Queer Performativity at Urban Dog Parks." This paper's subject was dog-on-dog rape. But the dog rape paper eventually forced Boghossian, Pluckrose and Lindsay to prematurely out themselves. A Wall Street Journal writer had figured out what they were doing.

Some papers accepted for publication in academic journals advocated training men like dogs and punishing white male college students for historical slavery by asking them to sit in silence in the floor in chains during class and to be expected to learn from the discomfort. Other papers celebrated morbid obesity as a healthy life choice and advocated treating privately conducted masturbation as a form of sexual violence against women. Typically, academic journal editors send submitted papers out to referees for review. In recommending acceptance for publication, many reviewers gave these papers glowing praise.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on professors who let students cheat ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#RebeccaHoward

Bob Jensen's threads on professors who cheat ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#ProfessorsWhoFabricate

Bob Jensen's threads on grade inflation ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#RateMyProfessor

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


Jacinda Ardern --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacinda_Ardern

Leadership Greatness

How to Mislead by Comparing Apples to Oranges

New Zealand’s Prime Minister May Be the Most Effective Leader on the Planet ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/jacinda-ardern-new-zealand-leadership-coronavirus/610237/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-weekly-newsletter&utm_content=20200419&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0

Jensen Comment
Scholars know very well that leadership success varies greatly with time and place. Churchill was what England needed in WW II but not what was needed after the war. Herbert Hoover was not a great president of the USA 1929-1933 but may have been a great president 1940-1948.

Jacinda Ardern’s leadership during the 2020 pandemic seems to be what New Zealand needed, but would she be as effective when leading other nations after the pandemic is ended?

Great leaders were at the right place at the right time. Lousy leaders were either lousy leaders in general or more simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Calling a leader great or bad is also dependent upon performance criteria. Is a military leader to be judged primarily upon successful strategies in time of war or admiration by those under his command as they go down in defeat (think Robert E. Lee).

Leadership must also be judged on the basis of a time interval such as short-term versus long-term. For example, Castro had admirable success in turning Cuba around in the first two decades following his  revolution. However, in the late 20th Century even Castro admitted that his economic miracle was just not working, and now Cuba is returning to his hated capitalism.

I judge the economic performance of New Zealand in the 20th Century as mediocre relative to Singapore. Jacinda Ardern’s leadership of New Zealand in the 21st Century seems to be more of the same. She may be what's needed during a pandemic, but I question whether she's the best choice when the lockdown is lifted. She may be effective when dividing up a small pie, but maybe she should be judged by the size of the pie she bakes.


A Wealth Tax is the Way to Fund the Pandemic ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/opinion/coronavirus-wealth-tax.html
 

A Wealth Tax is Not the Way to Fund a Pandemic ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-04-21/coronavirus-a-wealth-tax-isn-t-the-right-way-to-pay-for-pandemic?sref=y8VYjYe4

Jensen Comment
Note that a wealth tax is more symbolic than a viable way to raise the trillions of dollars being spent on the pandemic to date unless you impose an enormous wealth tax.

Firstly, if the you want to eliminate billionaires you can send them all to tax havens like Monaco before you get the legislation passed.

Secondly, taxes are collected in cash whereas billionaire wealth is invested in things other than cash (think stocks, bonds, patents, and real estate), Forcing billionaires to spend trillions in assets to raise cash to pay taxes could collapse the stock markets, bond markets, real estate markets, and pension funds at a time when the USA is struggling to keep those markets from collapsing entirely.

Thirdly, billionaires are not stupid. Thev've seen fit to protect themselves in constitutional law and obedient bipartisan legislators making passage of a serious wealth tax almost impossible.

Nations like Sweden, France, and others that passed wealth taxes found wealth taxes to be a disaster and later rescinded most the wealth taxes and even high marginal income taxes ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_tax#Criticisms

Adding an enormous wealth tax on top of all the other economic disasters of the 2020 pandemic will become another nail in the coffin of the USA economy relative to the world economy that now knows better than to impose serious wealth taxes.

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
 

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 Valle

I don't think China is giving any thought to a wealth tax as the result of the 2020 pandemic. China understands economics these days better than most USA voters.


Lawyers will hate it, but do we need liability reform for when businesses are finally unlocked in this pandemic?
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/04/covid-19-liability-reform-for-the-eventual-reopening.html


New Numbers Confirm Social Security’s Dismal Fiscal Outlook (but not as dismal as for Medicare and Medicaid) ---
https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/danieljmitchell/2020/04/24/new-numbers-confirm-social-securitys-dismal-fiscal-outlook-n2567581?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=04/25/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Jensen Comment
One of the problems with Social Security is that legislators decided to spend SS Trust Fund dollars and replace them with IOUs.

A second huge problem is that rather than fund a national disability program separately legislators decided to merge it with Social Security that was originally intended only for retirement relief for old age survivors. Whereas Social Security retirement beneficiaries contributed part of their wages over their working years toward their benefits, disabled people who've never paid a penny into the trust fund can commence collecting benefits at any age.

I'm not arguing that the USA should not have benefits for disabled persons. I think, however, that legislators should have had the guts to make it a separate program from Social Security.

 

 




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/