Under ‘price gouging’ bans, after the lucky first few, ‘everyone else gets nothing’
"An economist at a national economic think tank is using an actual 'price gouging' complaint filed with the Michigan Attorney General to illustrate why government-imposed price controls cause store shelves to empty more quickly than they would otherwise during an emergency. The alleged price-gouging incident occurred on March 8 at noon in Dearborn, according to the Michigan Department of Attorney General.
The complaint read: “Everyone is afraid of the covid 19 coronavirus. There are no more hand sanitizer in large retailers and small stores. All stores were out of stock. However, the Dearborn fresh supermarket was selling an 8 oz hand sanitizer for a price of 10 dollars. This is clear price gouging during this panic. $1 hand sanitizer is now $10. They are causing consumers to panic. This is illegal and against the law. Please look into this matter as soon as possible. Truly inhumane and no regard for the people.”
But Antony Davies, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education, said the complaint makes a bad argument for government-imposed price controls. “A price is not a lever that one throws so as to alter reality,” Davies said in an email. “A price is a metric that responds to a reality that already exists. The store does not cause people to panic by raising the price of hand sanitizer. The store raises the price of hand sanitizer in response to the fact that people are panicking.”... Read all!
Panic Peddlers: Media Blames Drug Trump Discussed for Death of Man Who Ate Aquarium Cleaner | News and Politics "In their constant effort to take down Trump and debunk everything he says, the media has been on a mission to prove that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which some doctors and patients are reporting can effectively fight off the Chinese virus ravaging the world, is dangerous. It started with MSN reporting that two grams of the drug President Trump wants to fast-track can kill you.
Donald Trump Jr. had the best response to that claim, since two grams of the drug would be a massive overdose.
You can overdose on anything.
But the worst fear-mongering happened on Monday when Dena Grayson, a television doctor, tweeted out the worst fake news I've ever seen. She claimed that "a man DIED & his wife is in ICU after they ingested #chloroquine, one of the anti-malarials that @realDonaldTrump touted."
Except that's not what happened. The husband and wife, both in their 60s, ingested a chloroquine phosphate formulation that is used to clean fish tanks,Banner Health hospital said in a press release.
They were not prescribed medicine safe for human consumption, they ate a substance approved for aquarium maintenance...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, American ingenuity has stepped up to alleviate shortages and desperate needs, particularly in the medical field. Over at Ford, F-150 truck parts are being used to create much-needed respirators to help hospital workers combat the virus.
FEMA says Michigan has not asked for a disaster declaration
LANSING — Michigan has not yet requested a major disaster declaration for the coronavirus, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday.
The administration of President Donald Trump has already declared major disasters for Iowa, Lousiana, New York, California and Washington, officials confirmed.
But for Michigan, where the number of confirmed cases topped 2,200 Wednesday, with at least 43 deaths, "FEMA has not yet received a request for a major disaster declaration," spokesman Michael Hart said.
Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, said Wednesday morning that state officials were "reviewing and looking into" a request to FEMA.
...Michigan ranks fifth in the nation for total number of coronavirus cases, behind New York, New Jersey, Washington and California..." Read all.
US was more prepared for pandemic than any other country, Johns Hopkins study found | Fox News
"The United States was ranked the best-prepared country in the world to handle a pandemic in late 2019 by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (JHCHS) -- an assessment seemingly at odds with claims by Democrats that the Trump administration left the country vulnerable to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Read all!
Christine Pelosi, the political activist daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), mocked Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) over his coronavirus diagnosis by endorsing his neighbor's violent attack on the congressman.
How a handful of Democratic activists created alarming, but bogus data sets to scare local and state officials into making rash, economy-killing mandates.
"As U.S. state and local officials halt the economy and quarantine their communities over the Wuhan virus crisis, one would hope our leaders were making such major decisions based on well-sourced data and statistical analysis. That is not the case. A scan of statements made by media, state governors, local leaders, county judges, and more show many relying on the same source, an online mapping tool called COVID Act Now. The website says it is “built to enable political leaders to quickly make decisions in their Coronavirus response informed by best available data and modeling.”... But a closer look at how many of COVID Act Now’s predictions have already fallen short, and how they became a ubiquitous resource across the country overnight, suggests something more sinister...
Moreover, Japan was one of the first countries outside of China to document a case of the disease, officially termed COVID-19, as early as January 16.
...A "Second Wuhan" was feared.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's popularity rating plummeted and critics called on him to resign.
But the wild contagion calamity and the inundation of medical facilities seemingly hasn't happened. Why?
"Japan relied on a strategy of quickly identifying clusters of new cases and then imposing containment measures to prevent a larger outbreak,"...
Read all.
A man holds a shop advertisement saying "We have masks" in Ginza shopping district Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, in Tokyo. At a government task force meeting Wednesday on the virus outbreak, Japan's Prime Minister Abe said he was asking organizers to cancel or postpone major sports or cultural events over the next two weeks. (AP)
Adding fuel to the fire, news began circulating last week that House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) had reportedly told colleagues that the bill provided "a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision."
Clyburn's comments came during a conference call last Thursday featuring more than 200 Democrats, in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) allegedly pushed for environmental measures and increased collective bargaining powers to be included in the stimulus package.
Germany: Borders are closed due to the coronavirus epidemic - except for migrants - Voice of Europe
"If you’re an American, British, French, or Swiss tourist who wants to take in some of the sights in Germany, you’ll have to wait a while before you can go because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic.
...Last week, Germany closed its land borders to all foreign citizens except for those providing essential services coming from France, Luxembourg, and Switzerland in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
However, the German Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that “asylum-seekers” are still welcome in Germany in spite of the ban, according to a report by Junge Freiheit..." Read all.
History for March 26 - On-This-Day.com Strother Martin 1919 - Actor, Leonard Nimoy 1931 - Actor ("Star Trek"), James Caan 1939 - Actor, Nancy Pelosi 1940 - U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Diana Ross 1944 - Singer, Martin Short 1950 - Actor, comedian 1910 - The U.S. Congress passed an amendment to the 1907 Immigration Act that barred criminals, paupers, anarchists and carriers of disease from settling in the U.S. 1953 - Dr. Jonas Salk announced a new vaccine that would prevent poliomyelitis.
Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday held a press conference with a group of Republican Senators to call for an immediate fix to a “life-threatening drafting error” in the coronavirus package.
Graham was joined by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, and Florida Sen. Rick Scott at the press conference to discuss the coronavirus emergency legislation. The presser was first announced in a tweet by Graham, saying they “will discuss a massive drafting error in the current version of the coronavirus relief legislation that could have devastating consequences.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) excoriated Democrats from the Senate floor Monday for using the coronavirus relief bill to push their far-left agenda.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) introduced House Democrats' coronavirus relief bill on Monday after she torpedoed the bipartisan agreement reached by the Senate. Pelosi's bill includes billions of dollars for items completely unrelated to COVID-19 relief, including:
But there have been a number of companies taking on new workers.
Retail and delivery giants like Amazon.com and Walmart are both hiring, but another famous business is also looking for new employees -- one you'd think would be hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to CNBC, Domino's Pizza is looking to take on 10,000 new workers, even as the stock market is tumbling.
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The alleged price-gouging incident occurred on March 8 at noon in Dearborn, according to the Michigan Department of Attorney General.
But the worst fear-mongering happened on Monday when Dena Grayson, a television doctor, tweeted out the worst fake news I've ever seen. 
American Ingenuity: Ford Uses F-150 Parts To Design Respirators As Private Sector Combats COVID-19 | The Daily Wire:
Germany: Borders are closed due to the coronavirus epidemic - except for migrants - Voice of Europe
