… is going to collide more and more dramatically with this administration. The people who run the country are getting desperate, while their scientific advisors – like Tony Fauci – stubbornly do the only thing they can do: hang tough on behalf of empirical method. Utterly random figures like trade advisers can throw all of the enthusiastic hydroxychloroquine newspaper articles they want at Fauci; Fauci will never do anything other than point out the way science works and hope this will get through to most of the people in the room.
April 6th, 2020 at 10:16AM
Science is a process, and good science is the revision of conclusions on the basis of new evidence.
It appears that the epidemiologists are updating their projections on the basis of the information they have, subject to the caveats about selection bias in testing, margin of error, and what have you. But they’re being lumped in with the long-run climate modellers by some of the louder voices in political media, and that might not end well.
It’s not so much the political class who will come up with the exit strategy. Rather, you’ll see it happen, just like the virus itself, first a little bit, then all at once. Some kids decide to go to the playground. Late adolescents organize a beach volleyball game. The barkeeps on a popular strip decide to just open up, executive orders be d**ned.
April 6th, 2020 at 8:18PM
UD: “…while their scientific advisors – like Tony Fauci – stubbornly do the only thing they can do…”
How much more of 45/Kushner/Navarro’s BS will/can Fauci take? Being shushed and scolded by nincompoops has to take its toll.
I hope someone is checking to see who is investing in hydroxychloroquinone futures. I smell more profiteering.
Also wondering what OpEd economists, like the Nobel having ones, will have to say about today’s claims by one of the lessers of their tribe.
April 7th, 2020 at 9:47AM
Ravi: Already reports are emerging that suggest the prez has a financial interest in the malaria medication. Who knows.
As to how much Fauci can take: a lot, I think. He’s been around the block with political fools for decades and is still standing.