I will credit the quote a bit later, because if I say who wrote this, it might be prejudicing the point.
“I don’t think any other advanced country…has a comparable number of people who respond with rage when asked to wear a mask in a supermarket. There definitely isn’t any other advanced country where demonstrators against public health measures would wave guns around and invade state capitols. And the Republican Party is more or less unique among major Western political parties in its hostility to science in general.
But what strikes me, when looking at America’s extraordinary pandemic failure, is how top-down it all was.
Those anti-lockdown demonstrations weren’t spontaneous, grass-roots affairs. Many were organized and coordinated by conservative political activists… financed in part by right-wing billionaires.
And the rush to reopen in Sunbelt states was less a response to popular demand than a case of Republican governors following [the administration’s] lead.”
If there are any statements in that quote that are not true, please point that out.
I’m not so sure that the push to reopen originated with President Trump or if he saw a parade forming and rushed out in front with a baton, but either way he handled it badly.
It should always have been presented as conditional as in ‘If we act responsibly and do everything we can to do so safely, we can reopen much of the economy.’
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Uh yep. I await with worm on tongue for the author!
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Krugman. Mention his name among some of the cognoscenti on this site and minds slam shut.
I even took out Trump’s name (“administration” instead) so as not to upset their sensibilities.
But the statements were true.
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Well, that’s a relief. Krugman can always be counted on to jump on the losing side.
But as far as the statements being true, not really.
We do not have a pandemic failure unless you measure the response against hindsight.
I am still alive, and if I do get infected when schools reopen, my chances of survival are an order of magnitude higher than had I been infected in May. Precious time has been bought for doctors to figure out how to get us through this.
But every week, we learn new things that make the experts of a week ago fools.
In March the WHO was still denying human to human transmission. We have learned a lot in just a few short months, but policy had to be made on imperfect information as we went along.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but it is never honest.
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“Krugman. Mention his name among some of the cognoscenti on this site and minds slam shut.”
As predicted.
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…”with worm on tongue”…
MMMMMM, tequila. To paraphrase the great philosopher of Springfield, Homer Simpson.
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What statements were not true. There is nothing about WHO, or Trump’s denial in the early stages.
He mentions the anti-mask movement and its funding by the right wing, science denial, and the rush to open states.
I know you don’t like Krugman, but at least address what he wrote, not what you wish he wrote.
And it was all true.
Treatment is better now. But infections and hospitalizations are way up. And you don’t get in a hospital unless you are really sick. Also younger people are getting admitted.
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