VICTOR DAVIS HANSON – CORONA, CALIFORNIA AND THE CLASSIC WORLD.
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If you are shut in and have some time. Watch this interview. VDH is always insightful. If you don’t have time here are some highlights.
He is at his farm in California being interviewed by Peter Robinson. He starts out talking about what is going on in California literally right outside his window.
But the question from 19:24 to 22:33 sets up this response (22:33 to 25:15)
“I think it’s important we don’t worship science on an alter…….”
“There is not going to be a magic bullet. Science is an evolutionary process that has a bad and a worse choice. But we want immediate and instant perfection”
“So if you tell somebody today, especially in the coastal corridors and elite global community, that if you’re not sixty and your in pretty good health, you’ve got a 99.9% chance of not dying from this virus. They will tell you, I’m can’t take that risk. Because one in a thousand is not good enough for me. Because I’m a blank, blank, blank, I’m a financier, I’m a college administrator, I’m a media elite and the world is so perfect I’m not going to risk it. And more importantly they are shielded.”
“And this is the central truth of this entire epidemic. who are the hero’s of this epidemic? I haven’t called my financial planner. I’ not helped at all by the Stanford Vice Provost of Diversity Inclusion. It doesn’t matter. I don’t think that Rachel Maddow is doing to save the United States. You know who is? Javier Lopez right now working in the almond fields. Or Joe Smith driving all night to Cosco to get toilet paper their by 6 am. Or the guy you call when your freezer blows up and you need food. And he sows up from Home Depot ad he doesn’t have a mask on and you say” Oh my God he doesn’t have a mask on,” because he’s breathing hard because he’s trying to get you a new freezer.”
“I think that’s been good. Because it really tells us that the essentials of life never change. they’re food, fuel, health, housing. And if you can’t get food. If you can’t go to a food market. If you can’t go to a Home Depot to fix something. If you can’t get fuel for your heating. You are not going to live. You can deal without all the other stuff.”
“There are people in the shadows that we neglected. We thought they were global losers and didn’t make it. I was thinking the other day, I was reading Richard the III, just for the heck of it, and I thought this must be a financial planner when a circuit breaker goes out or a baffle on his toilet doesn’t work he’ll say, “Handy man, Handy man, my kingdom for a handyman,”because he’s helpless.”
Starting at 25:20 he talks about China. Here is an excerpt:
“China is taking advantage of the crisis. China, my god, they have a better understanding of our mind than we do. They’re the most brilliant propagandists I’ve ever seen in there dealings with the western liberal mindset…..”
“…..People are starting to blame the Chinese. But remember the difference is that this media…..which is 93% negative to the Presidency, has been regurgitating Chinese talking points. And they’ve said this till were blue in the face that China is being blamed byTrump to deflect from his own culpability. That”s what they’re professing. We’re not getting through our media a dispassionate disinterested view of the threat China poses. I don’t think that’s going to be sustainable. You know why I don’t?”
“Because the modern left worships at the alter of the European Union. and the feel we want to be where the EU is in ten years. And The EUu is sick of China……because they have a much thinner margin of error in terms fuel supplies, GDP, unemployment and there very angry. And so are Canada, Australia, and Mexico. So I don’t see the propaganda is going to work indefinitely. And the other thing is the left wasn’t too worried about Chinese military domination or economic domination………They focused on human rights violations ad China has a whole potpourri of these…..”
“What I’m worried about most is not that we are going to decouple, because we are. But there are two things that really worry me. One is the process of decoupling. Sort of like a divorce…..there all happy after it’s over…..but during the process both sides lie and connive, and were not lying and conniving. I think the Chinese are not going to allow bank accounts to be unfrozen. They’re Not going to compensate companies for their factories and their investments or ay of the money thats stuck over there in China.”
” The second thing is yes we have to have pharmaceuticals. Yes we have to have rare earth minerals. Yes we have to have military technology. Yes we have to have medical supplies.”
but we have spent a large portion, percentage, of our K through 12 and our under graduate experience and our professional schools on what the Chinese would call “fluff”. Social science dash studies courses and we are not turning out the STEM (science, technology, engineering math) students or the math engineering people the we need to get a grip on these key enterprises…… I don’t think we’re prepared yet to be autonomous in the areas we need to be. And we are going to have to be careful because China has a hold over those supply chains.”
At 53:45 he is asked place the U.S, at this present moment in history, to a point the history of the Roman Empire. This is interesting. Watch the last few minutes. It is a really good summation of where we are today.
WALTER E. WILLIAMS – BENEFITS VS. COSTS AND COVID-19
I’ve written about this in two previous articles, Thoughts About Covid-19 Pandemic, Panic, Power, and Solutions? Or Trade Offs?
But Walter E. Williams does a better job at explaining things than most of us. Let him do what he does best.
Excerpts from the article:
“One of the first lessons in an economics class is everything has a cost.”
“That’s in stark contrast to lessons in the political arena where politicians talk about free stuff.”
“In our personal lives, decision-making involves weighing costs against benefits. Businessmen make the same calculation if they want to stay in business.”
“It’s an entirely different story for politicians running the government where any benefit, however minuscule, is often deemed to be worth any cost, however large.”
“Related to decision-making is the issue of being overly safe versus not safe enough. Sometimes, being as safe as one can be is worthless. A minor example: How many of us before driving our cars inspect the hydraulic brake system for damage?”
“We’d be safer if we did, but most of us just assume everything is OK and get into our car and drive away. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 40,000 Americans lose their lives each year because of highway fatalities. Virtually all those lives could be saved with a mandated 5 mph speed limit. Fortunately, we consider costs and rightfully conclude that saving those 40,000 lives aren’t worth the costs and inconvenience of a 5 mph mandate.”
“With the costs and benefits in mind, we might examine our government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first thing to keep in mind about any crisis, be it war, natural disasters or pandemics, is we should keep markets open and private incentives strong. Markets solve problems because they provide the right incentives to use resources effectively. Federal, state and local governments have ordered an unprecedented and disastrous shutdown of much of the U.S. economy in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.”
“There’s a strictly health-related downside to the shutdown of the U.S. economy ignored by our leadership that has been argued by epidemiologist Dr. Knut Wittkowski, formerly the head of the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design at Rockefeller University in New York City.”
“Wittkowski argues that the lockdown prolongs the development of the “herd immunity,” which is our only weapon in “exterminating” the novel coronavirus — outside of a vaccine that’s going to optimistically take 18 months or more to produce. He says we should focus on shielding the elderly and people with comorbidities while allowing the young and healthy to associate with one another in order to build up immunities.”
“Wittkowski says, “So, it’s very important to keep the schools open and kids mingling to spread the virus to get herd immunity as fast as possible, and then the elderly people, who should be separated, and the nursing homes should be closed during that time, can come back and meet their children and grandchildren after about 4 weeks when the virus has been exterminated.”
“The bottom line is that costs can be concealed but not eliminated. Moreover, if people only look at the benefits from a particular course of action, they will do just about anything, because everything has a benefit. Political hustlers and demagogues love promising benefits when the costs can easily be concealed. By the way, the best time to be wrong and persist in being wrong is when the costs of being wrong are borne by others.”
“The absolute worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, and possibly its most unrecoverable damage, is the massive power that Americans have given to their federal, state and local governments to regulate our lives in the name of protecting our health.”
“Taking back that power should be the most urgent component of our recovery efforts. It’s going to be challenging; once a politician, and his bureaucracy, gains power, he will fight tooth and nail to keep it.”
In the article it mentions Dr. Knut Wittkowski former head of The Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research design at Rockefeller University. Here is a link to the interview Leading Scientist Claims Lockdown And Quarantine Is A “Human Catastrophe“, at collective-evolution.com. I will put up the video here.
Here is the video.
Click here if it is taken down.
This is what happens when you don’t comply with the big government narrative. YouTube Censors Viral Video Of California Doctors Criticizing “Stat-At-Home” Order, at zerohedge.com.
OUR FOUNDING FATHERS ARE PROUD OF SOUTH DAKOTA GOV. KRISTI NOEM
Although Never Officially Shut Down, South Dakota Governor Unveils ‘Back To Normal’ Plan, by Tristan Justice, at thefederalist.com.
Excerpt from the video:
“I also noted that my role as it relates to public safety is something I take very seriously. But ultimately it is the people themselves that are primarily responsible for their safety,” They are the ones who are entrusted expansive freedoms. They are free to exercise their rights to work, worship, and to play or to stay at home and to conduct social distancing.”
“I’ve been very clear. As Governor, I did not dictate to the people of South Dakota. I did not tell you what activities you could do which ones were officially approved of or not approved of. I didn’t begin arresting or ticketing or fining individuals for exercising their rights. Nor am I going to do that today.”
“……In South Dakota in an unprecedented situation we find ourselves in today it publicly reveals the principles that we hold so dear. It is our people that makes us great. It is not our government……Our State motto is “Under God The People Rule”. That is what our system of government is all about. The people of South Dakota are the source of the power and the legitimacy of our government. Not the media. Not the politicians. Not political parties. That’s a healthy perspective for an elected official to keep in mind…...”
“The plan I’m unveiling today puts the power of the decision making into the hands of the people where it belongs…..I want to thank you for proving the wisdom of our founders by showing that people can and should be rusted to utilize the freedoms and liberties each and every day.“
The number of politicians that speak like this can be counted on one hand. This should give us hope that if we can find one who understands individual liberty and the proper role of government there has to be a few more. The good news is Governor Noem can inspire others to think like she does.
I was in awe when she said “The People of S.D. are the source of the power and the legitimacy of our government. Not the media. Not the politicians, Not political parties. That’s a healthy perspective for an elected official to keep in mind…”
This is masterful. She trusts the people with the burden of responsibility for leading themselves. It is powerful because people respond better when they have skin in the game. She also fires a not so subtle warning shot across the bow of tyrannical media, politicians and bureaucrats.
I have a great deal of respect for Gov. Noem. She is swimming against the current of progressive central planners. But she strikes me as someone who is tough enough to make it all the way upstream.
SATIRICAL HEADLINES
Scientists who Didn’t Predict A Single Thing Accurately For Last Two Months Confident They Know What The Weather Is Going To Be Like In 100 Years, at babylonbee.com.
“WORLD—Authorities in the scientific community who touted faulty COVID-19 models are “pretty confident” they know what the weather is going to be like in 100 years, sources confirmed Wednesday.”
“The scientists say they have settled on a climate model that confirms the earth’s average temperature will be either 1 million degrees Celsius or below freezing, give or take 1 million degrees.”
People Who Go Outside, California Prisons Release Thousands Of Felons To Make Room For Skaters, Surfers, at babylonbee.com.
“We need to free up those prison cells for the really dangerous people, like beachgoers,” said Governor Gavin Newsom at a press conference.”
Food Supply Disaster Averted As Chick-Fil-A Miraculously Feeds Entire Nation With Just 5 Chicken Sandwiches, 2 Waffle Fries, at babylonbee.com.
Newly Mustachioed Bill DeBlasio Unveils Special Red Armbands For Police Enforcing Lockdown, at babylonbee.com.
CARTOONS
AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT 