Category Archives: Technology and Society

Free-Market Health Care

How would it respond to the virus?

It’s been many decades since there’s been anything resembling a free market in this country’s health care, other than things like Lasik.

[Update a few minutes later]

Speaking of (lack of) free markets, restaurants in Los Angeles are being shut down for selling groceries without a license.

Government seems determined to put business out of business.

The California Herd

Virus thoughts from VDH. I don’t buy the 1-2% number. I think it will ultimately be shown to be much lower than that.

[Update a few minutes later]

More from VDH: Viral Prerequisites and Nationalist Lessons in Time of Plague.

[Update late morning]

Why herd immunity is not a solution, at least not without a vaccine.

I agree on principle, but I continue to believe that the ratio of infections to deaths is much less than one percent.

[Update a few minutes later]

Time for a second opinion.

Regulatory Relief

…can save lives.

A lot of regulations are merely special-interest rent seeking.

[Late-morning update]

Trump is rolling back fuel-efficiency standards.

He should eliminate them, if possible, but that would probably require legislation. They are an idiotic relic of the energy crisis, almost half a century ago. In my opinion, they’re unconstitutional, or should be. Same with toilet specifications.

Space-Age Gas Stations

Isolation thoughts from Lileks.

[Update a while later]

We went for a drive on Saturday into Manhattan Beach, where the beach (like all LA County beaches) was closed. It was a ghost town, with just a few people walking around, and we could have parked almost anywhere. The most surreal thing was to see The Kettle closed. That restaurant has been 24/7 for decades. They’re not even doing takeout, just shuttered.