Thursday, March 26, 2020

President Trump is Right Even If Richard Epstein is Wrong

The Hover Institution Senior Fellow Richard Epstein has made a mess of things with his essay on COVID-19.

His essay which suggests he doesn't know how to do math problems and that he doesn't understand compounding is being used by mainstream media as a weapon against President Trump's desire to open up the country.


But because Epstein made an error in his paper, it doesn't mean Trump is wrong.

Epstein's error was easy to spot and I explained such in a post, A Serious Problem With Richard Epstein's Optimistic Case On the Spread of COVID-19, within a couple of days of when it was published:
Ok, I am getting inundated with emails about the essay from the Hoover Institution's Richard Epstein about COVID-19.
Although I am generally sympathetic with his view that the current mainstream perspective concerning the spread and death rate of COVID-19 is extremely pessimistic, there is a problem with Epstein's presentation which prevents me from featuring it.
But here is the thing, mainstream media in their anti-Trump rage is making an even more basic logical error than Epstein. Just because Epstein's argument is wrong, it doesn't mean Trump's desire to open up the country is wrong. These are two separate issues to analyze.

And Trump's desire to open up the country stands on very firm footing when one looks at the data about COVID-19 and its fatality rates. In addition, with warm weather ahead, which even the fearmonger Fauci admits will likely tamp down the virus, there is even more reason to be optimistic.

-RW







2 comments:

  1. In regard to viruses one of the benefits of warmer weather is getting outside more. Will medical marshal law diminish the time we spend outside or increase it?

    Assuming that most employed in the US work indoors amongst other workers, the closing of businesses allows more people to spend more time outside and enjoy its benefits. But will most people do so? We have become more and more inside creatures. If medical marshal law restrictions don’t go too far, how much we benefit from the warmer weather (and azimuth of the sun for vitamin D production) will be up to our habits. In this case, government force could be beneficial (in its perverse way).

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    Replies
    1. Government force is never beneficial, it always harms someone and usually more than it helps. Voluntary non-coercive interactions among all participants never harms anyone.

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