Revisiting “deaths of despair” from Covid lockdowns, four years later

Fantastic post by Toby Rogers.

“So what can we learn from this sordid affair?

  • Lockdowns kill lots of people.
  • Many academic elites don’t care about the truth. When push comes to shove they will always act in ways consistent with their class position even if that contradicts their entire body of work.
  • Covid represented a unique form of hypnosis/psychosis whereby the bourgeoisie lost access to logic and reason as they rushed to kill as many people as possible in the name of public health (like stressed-out hamsters eating their young).
  • Being right early carries no rewards (at least in the short term) and usually results in significant personal harm.

I’m tired of making excuses for the people who got everything wrong during Covid. It wasn’t a mistake, they were willing participants in the plan. Anne Case and Angus Deaton are an embarrassment. I don’t care how much good work they did earlier in their careers, when the fate of society was on the line they became cowardly trolls. At a minimum, they owe me and all of society a massive apology. In a just world, the debt they would repay to society would be much greater.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/tobyrogers/p/revisiting-deaths-of-despair-from?r=o1vob&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Published by markskidmore

Mark Skidmore is Professor of Economics at Michigan State University where he holds the Morris Chair in State and Local Government Finance and Policy. His research focuses on topics in public finance, regional economics, and the economics of natural disasters. Mark created the Lighthouse Economics website and blog to share economic research and information relevant for navigating tumultuous times.

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