The Angry Bear

Coronavirus dashboard for April 5: mandatory lockdowns start to work by New Deal democrat Here is the update through yesterday (April 4) I’ve changed the format, moving the “just the facts, ma’am” data to the top, and comments to the end. The four most important metrics are starred (***) below. Number and rate of increase of Reported Infections (from Johns Hopkins via arcgis.com) Number: up +33,787 to 312,245 (vs. +32,857 on April 3) ***Rate of...

I told you so on March 2 2020 The first Covid 19 case diagnosed in New Jersey Around 3 a.m. on March 10, Balani arrived at the hospital. The medicine had come in, and she did not want to wait until the morning to administer it. With Balani in the room, a nurse woke Cai up so that he could sign the legal papers. Soon after, he was hooked up, intravenously, to the drug. The next day Cai’s fever, which he’d had for at least nine days, finally broke. Even...

One of the serious issues with healthcare today is the lack of universal availability of it across the nation. In citified areas, the availability of it mostly meets the demand of the people requiring it and is in close proximity. If you travel one to two hours outside of the city, the availability of it begins to drop off until a person in need must travel hours to get to help. The resource in more rural areas begins to drop off in a precipitous manner....

by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for March 30 – April 3 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. This was the week when the bottom finally fell out of almost all the remaining data. Clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual moment on the economy, and reward me a little bit for the effort I put into this endeavor, especially now that I am devoting most of my time to the likely impacts of the coronavirus....

Coronavirus dashboard for April 4: with lockdowns in place, testing still far behind, no action on necessary “test, track, quarantine” plan  – by New Deal democrat Here is the update through yesterday (April 3) I’ve changed the format, moving the “just the facts, ma’am” data to the top, and comments at the end. The four most important metrics are starred (***) below. Number and rate of increase of Reported Infections (from Johns Hopkins...

The Climate Crisis and the Green New Deal The Covid-19 pandemic won’t last forever, and at some point we will have to return to figuring out how to respond to the climate crisis.  (What a depressing opening line.  No, I have no desire to live in a world of permanent crisis.)  Is the answer a Green New Deal?  Challenge has just published my analysis of this; you can find the link here. Abstract: The Green New Deal, an attractive agenda of increased...

Remdesivir and Transfer Pricing Part II Now that I sketched out the transfer pricing for Gilead Sciences with respect to their successful HIV and Hep C products (as much as I can say based on publicly available information), it is time to speculate a bit on how Remdesivir may play out. There is a lot we do not know including whether this treatment receives regulatory approval and how it will be priced if it does. Note for example this story: More than...

Credit Spreads: Comparing COVID-19 to the Collapse of Lehman Brothers On March 18, Reuters noted something I have been following of late: Concerns about the impact of the coronavirus on corporate America’s balance sheets has tripled the premium investors are demanding to hold even the highest-rated corporate bonds. The difference between the average yield of investment-grade U.S. bonds over virtually risk-free Treasuries widened to 303 basis points (bps)...

This is the complete letter Trump sent to Senator Schumer on April 2nd.   It is beyond embarrassing. Senator Charles E. Schumer United States Senator Washington, D.C.  20515 Dear Senator Schumer: Thank you for your Democrat public relations letter and incorrect sound bites, which are wrong in every way. As you are aware, Vice President Pence is in charge of the Task Force. By almost all accounts, he has done a spectacular job. The Defense Production Act...

Coronovirus politics from the Boston Globe: There are indeed two ways in which Trump’s handling of this crisis are being viewed. Where most Democrats see lying and stupidity, most Republicans see optimism and hope. As the virus races around the world, mainstream Democrats see proof that we live in a global connected world — while Trump Republicans see proof that we need tighter borders. Where Democrats see presidential messages shifting daily as unclear...