Month: October 2022

The Truss in the Coal Mine

Dave Davis Commentary, Policy, The Long Journey to "More", Uncategorized

Ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss has taken it on the chin. Mocked by the U.K. tabloid, the Daily Star newspaper, as unable to outlast lettuce, she proved to be the U.K.’s shortest-serving P.M. The scorn crossed the pond to the New York Times featured columnist Maureen Dowd. She dumped on Truss because “She didn’t understand that you couldn’t simply borrow money from the future.” This a strange observation from someone living in a nation with $31 trillion in debt. I’ve always found Dowd more snark than depth, and she continues to prove me right.

Nevertheless, Dowd is symbolic of the elite class here and abroad, claiming awareness of how debt and interest work but having no clue. I fear they’re going to find what their hubris has wrought.

While so many are having a great time over Liz’s political demise, we need to heed the message it delivers. While Truss’s fiscal plan is radical to some, it mostly follows the route taken by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Reducing stifling taxes and regulations to increase goods and services to offset too much money chasing not enough goods worked for those successful leaders. 

Truss opened the nation to fracking and new leases for offshore exploration to increase domestic oil and gas. She also reduced regulations. The most expensive part was that her proposed subsidies offset the U.K.’s sky-high energy costs. The E.U. will pay a similar fortune to subsidize energy to avoid a crisis. The plan also included some tax cuts. What government could survive its people freezing through the winter? In response, markets reacted harshly to the nation’s bonds and currency. The turmoil forced the Bank of England to intervene.

With only limited political support and an astonishing lack of grit and skill, Truss crumbled. 

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Not Enough of a Skeptic

Dave Davis Commentary, COVID-19, Policy, Uncategorized

As we now know, mRNA Cvid vaccines don’t prevent transmission. Vaccinated people can both spread and get Covid. At a recent E.U. Covid hearing, a Phizer representative admitted the company never tested their vaccine for transmission prevention. Call me naive, but I thought the vaccine, when approved, protected against both.

There was no basis for this delusion. Why was there all the talk about vaccine passports and gatherings of any size demanding proof of vaccination? Mandates became widespread. Remember Pres. Biden’s “Pandemic of the Unvaccinated?” If the vaccines fail to block transmission, How could we be so misled?

Our experience with smallpox and other vaccines is they protect us against getting and spreading disease. It’s why I went to great lengths to get poked ASAP. After all, people over 65 made up three-quarters of Covid deaths. My wife and I being in our 80s are prime targets. When it proved impossible to make an appointment online, I called our County supervisor’s office. Realizing our plight, they found us spots clear across the Valley of the Sun. We were thrilled. We would be safe, and others safe around us.

While some people noticed a lack of test results on vaccine effectiveness against transmission, the government and media establishment labeled them “vaccine skeptics.” Evens though we observed “breakthrough ” infections and spread among the vaccinated, the push to vaccinate everyone, including children, became almost universal.

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Covid’s Past May Dominate the Future

Dave Davis Commentary, COVID-19, Policy

The media theme is that mistakes made at the beginning of the Covid Pandemic resulted from poor information. The Fauci bunch and the Blue States were right about the excessive lockdowns. As we received better data, we made the proper adjustments. It’s better to be safe than sorry. A few cranks opposed these actions, but they ignored the science. Dr. Fauci even stated he represents science. Don’t hold them responsible for out-of-control inflation and a generation of schoolchildren’s lost learning. They were following the science.

Readers of my series on Covid (available here) know this is bull. There was a vast gulf in the scientific and medical communities over the proper Covid response. Just read the Great Barrington Resolution. Almost a million people signed it. These were primarily doctors and scientists. By March 2020, it was well-known that COVID-19’s mortal danger increased with age.

To many, this meant centering efforts on the most vulnerable and going on with life with reasonable precautions. For instance, there was no reason to close K-12 schools. Sweden never closed down. It kept these schools open. Others in Europe soon followed. 

Even though seven states never closed down, Florida’s opening soon after received the most negative attention. Characterizing Governor Ron DeSantis as “The Angel of Death” appeared across the media. He ignorantly ignored the science. 

At the same time, they idealized New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and California Gov. Gavin Newsom for their enlightened Covid policies. The media drew the line. Those failing to follow these two were out of step with science.

Fast forward to today. California, for the first time in history, is losing its population. Gov. Cuomo is out of a job due to his failings, but not before we discovered his reinserting covid positive patients back in nursing homes.

By any measure, Florida recorded a Covid Era performance superior to California and New York. While many attribute DeSantis’ success to luck, anyone who took the time to look, knows he studied the data and made proper decisions based on what he and his people found. He set up lifesaving infusions centers across Florida before anyone else even thought about their value. 

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Confessions Of A Semi-Fascist

Dave Davis Commentary, Policy, Uncategorized

When President Biden labeled Trump supporters Semi-Fascists, I wondered who he meant. Was it a diehard election result, deniers? I didn’t believe Trump won the election. I noted the ex-president was, in fact, the author of his defeat. Telling people to only vote on election day and a terrible debate performance were self-inflicted wounds. While Biden mostly stayed in his basement, Trump was out making multiple campaign errors.

After finding a way to lose a close election, while Republicans gained House seats, his attacks on fellow Republicans cost the Party two senate seats. This action handed all three power sources to the Democrats. We are all suffering greatly from this outcome. Trump followed this with his inexplicable lack of action on the January 6th riot at the Capitol. 

At the time, I chalked these failings to an aging narcissist losing his grip. I say this as one even older and well aware of decline. An even older Biden with no real accomplishment or executive experience, pushing a frightening agenda looked worse. I voted for Trump. It turns out both are over the hill and should never be anywhere near the Oval Office.

Regardless of your politics, seeing Florida Governor on TV and commanding the state hurricane response for days around the clock made it clear to me that governing is a younger person’s game. I felt the need for a nap just watching him. It appears it had the same effect on Biden. By the way, what has Florida resident Trump contributed to hurricane relief?

Given my positions, I initially felt Biden wasn’t referring to me when he talked about “semi-Fascists.” I was wrong. He was referring to most, if not all, Trump voters. For instance, if you approved of the Dobbs abortion decision, you’re “MAGA”; therefore, a Semi-fascist.

Dobbs doesn’t ban abortions. It only returns the Abortion decisions to lawmakers. In my mind, in wrongly deciding ROE, the court invented rights found nowhere in the Constitution and denied the people’s elected representatives the ability to make decisions. Biden’s stand lumps me in with Mussolini and Hitler.

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