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More Coronavirus Miscellania

By May 6, 2020Commentary

And another of our esteemed investment banks, Goldman Sachs weighs in with a dire warning that Sweden isn’t like other countries, so what works there might not work here.   (Goldman Report)   This is just silly.  The report appears to miss the entire point of Sweden’s approach–treat the epidemic according to the real threat or risk it poses to the population, which is minimal for most people.  I think what bugs alarmists the most about Sweden is the country’s leaders’ refusal to buckle under to the “we’re all going to get sick and die” crowd.

Sweden obviously gets lots of attention from those who think lockdowns have been too extreme (I am obviously in that camp) and those who think we all need to be locked down forever, who want to portray the country’s attitude toward coronavirus as a disaster.  So far the data isn’t cooperating with the alarmist side.   (ZH Story)   That whacko Imperial College model said the country would have 40,000 deaths.  It is currently under 3000 and likely on the downslope of the epidemic.

And this column updates us on how far off-based models have been.  Bill Gates has funded two of the primary model sources, and of course this is the same Bill Gates who would like us all to be locked down forever, since we all have billions of dollars and can live comfortably like he does.   (Model Story)   One of those lead modelers you can read about in an item below.  You have to hope that never again will we ever let ourselves make such an overwhelmingly significant decision based on models which in reality, anyone using common sense should never have believed.

And another story detailing some of the non-financial harms that ensue from joblessness.  (ZH Story)  As we see unprecedented unemployment, past research indicates that we can expect a variety of non-financial consequences.  Drawing on published studies, the authors compile the list of health issues which ensue, including a heightened risk of death.  The longer people are unemployed, the worse these harms become.

And in the it must be karma department, the modeler who caused this nightmare has had to resign his position for breaking quarantine to have a tryst.  (ZH Story)  Neil Ferguson, who had previously botched two modeling attempts for other supposed epidemics, so who knows why the British government would still employ him anyway, was forced to resign after the meetings were learned of.  Mr. Ferguson’s initial model led to the destruction of the world economy.  His modeling was off by orders of magnitude.

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