Mike Norman Economics

A balanced look at China and why the Chinese rejected liberalism, at least for now. It goes into all that is wrong with China, but explains why the Chinese people still prefer it to what they had before.After the British wrecked China, which left it run amok with warlords, causing great hardship and famines, the Chinese wanted law and order and a strong government. They are happy with the government because of the peace and prosperity it has brought so far.Why do so many people feel that the...

For a month I argued with the climate change deniers and I learnt an incredible amount about the subject. I lost interest in the climate change deniers when I realised they were sockpuppets who knew that climate change science was right, but they just loved being contrarians.Now it seems I'm at war with the anti-vaxxers, covid-19 conspiracy theorists, who say it's nothing, and the Bill Gates conspiracy theorists. Many of these people are on the left, like Whitney Webb, who has done a couple...

I’d still go with this article by Ed Yong, which covers biology, epidemiology, medicine, and politics. Here’s one bit: Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social ScienceThe best coronavirus summary so farAndrew Gelman | Professor of Statistics and Political Science and Director of the Applied Statistics Center, Columbia University

Positive article.Financial TimesStephanie Kelton: ‘They’re going to have massive deficits. And it’s fine’ Brendan Greeley

Interview with CRISPR co-inventor... I've watched some interviews with Dr. Doudna   ... what I noticed is that she doesnt use the word "find" at all... as in she is not trying to "find" something... she seems to be instead proceeding with purpose... non-Darwinian... [embedded content]

Whoa.... W....T....F....O....[embedded content]

Here we go again... A prominent Israeli mathematician, analyst and former general claims simple statistical analysis demonstrates that the spread of COVID-19 peaks after about 40 days and declines to almost zero after 70 days — no matter where it strikes, and no matter what measures governments impose to try to thwart it. Yeah but apex at what absolute number of acute?  and can you then accommodate that?This is like the debt doomsday morons always bitching about "debt as a % of GDP!".......

A study finds 50 to 85 times as many infections as known cases—meaning a faA study finds 50 to 85 times as many infections as known cases—meaning a far lower fatality rate lower fatality rate. Trish Keenan, the singer/ song writer in the British avant-garde band, Broadcast, was touring Australia 9 years ago when caught the flu and died of pneumonia. She was only 42. Covid-19 may be very contagious but could possibly less lethal than the flu, according to new research. The high numbers...

WEAK.... just WEAK.... The Bank of Mexico on Thursday rejected a proposal by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who was hoping for an advance on money... Mexican President Seeks Early Money Transfer From Central Bank https://t.co/uGKvByGVtt — WSJ Central Banks (@WSJCentralBanks) April 17, 2020

Interesting article at Nature.... Companies are doing their best to accelerate experimental drugs and vaccines for #COVID19 through the pipeline. Each faces its own set of challenges, but all agree on the need for a radical rethink of the clinical development process for pandemics https://t.co/8KUnbLzf22 pic.twitter.com/mOmfttYOQf — Nature Biotechnology (@NatureBiotech) March 22, 2020 No surprise...  the "out of money!" morons at work here too: In addition, John Rex argues that, since...