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Year Zero 115: George Floyd and the Blowback Riots
Just as the boom bust cycle of the economy becomes inevitable through state intervention, so does the boom bust cycle of culture. Whether it be the death of Rodney King, Eric Garner, or George Floyd we’re never far away from minority cultures reminding the dominant forces that they are tired of their streets being occupied and militarized by outaide forces.
16 Simple Steps to Deal with Future Respiratory Virus Pandemics
Without a need for massive government intervention in the form of lockdowns, vaccines, immigration controls, or contact tracing. In fact, there is no particular reason why people and institutions in a libertarian society would not be able to implement the common sense measures below in a bottom-up way.
- Cancel events with large crowds, especially indoor events (but keep beaches, parks, cities, playgrounds etc open).
- Avoid closed or poorly ventilated spaces where multiple people spend a prolonged period of time, especially when they are laughing, singing, shouting or talking.
- When it’s not possible to do #2 and #3, wear masks in those situations.
- Everybody should wear face masks in public transport & crowds. Everywhere else is up to people’s own discretion.
- Isolate infected patients from others: Create special, isolated facilities either within or outside of hospitals and nursing homes.
- Don’t send infected patients (back) to nursing homes.
- Quarantine carers with (non-infected) nursing home residents & pay >500% overtime.
- Quarantine & protect the vulnerable (the elderly, people with serious other illnesses), and provide them with all the services they need.
- Keep everything else open: Let the young and healthy live their lives.
- Promote spending time outdoors.
- When possible, move activities outdoors.
- Open windows.
- Install or fix ventilation systems.
- Create virus clinics and telemedicine so that suspected virus patients don’t have to go to doctors where they may infect others.
- Everybody who tests positive or is a suspected patient receives a pulse oximeter and a thermometer to continually monitor their oxygen levels and temperature.
- Order ample PPE supplies before the pandemic starts.
That’s it.
For many more suggestions (as well as references to academic research) for reopening the economy while limiting the damage Covid-19 is doing, see here. But if we implement the 16 measures mentioned above, most of these 58 measures are probably unnecessary.
Cop Kills Man
“Don’t kill me!” the man cried, as the cop killed him.
Minneapolis Police kill a black man on 38th and Chicago.
He is screaming, “I can’t breathe” as police drive their knee on his throat for over three minutes. pic.twitter.com/1hhBLAqy8K
— Keaon Dousti کیان (@KeaonDousti) May 26, 2020
About Those Shutdowns
When the only tool in your toolkit is a blunt instrument, every problem looks like one that can be addressed only with a blunt instrument.
Mike Rowe: An Unsolicited Commencement Speech Delivered at the Height of the Plague
H/T to Tom Luongo
New York Tax Revenue Plummeted 68% In April
From Bloomberg
This is just April and just in New York. This will happen all over the country. My guess is that these lockdowns will end when state and local governments have to start letting people go and renegotiating pension contracts.
“The Empire State collected $3.7 billion, or $7.9 billion less than the previous April. Personal income-tax revenue fell more than $7 billion from last April, a drop that was primarily due to the delayed tax filing deadline. “New York is facing economic devastation not seen since the Great Depression,” New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a news release.”
The evaporation of revenue, combined with increased spending for health care and unemployment benefits, is upending state budgets. California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday proposed slashing spending about 9%, cutting state workers’ pay by 10% and tapping reserves to balance a budget in the fiscal year beginning July 1.
H/T To Sovereign Man