
FET #12: The great unwinding of COVID and crypto
Lately we've seen major reversals of opinion on COVID policy and crypto. Why the change of tune? Also, Australia's seen wage growth of 3.1%, but consumer spending growth of 28%. How's that possible?
“Prediction. In ten years it will be hard to find anyone who will admit to supporting COVID lockdowns, school closures, masks, and vaccine passports.”
That was Cameron’s viral tweet this week. It gets to the heart of the great unwinding of COVID panic, an opinion shift that is becoming more evident by the day.
A similar unwinding is happening in the crypto world with the collapse of the FTX exchange. Those who bought into crypto hype for years are now changing their tune. The libertarian impulse that fed the hype turned out to just be a story, as many losers in this Ponzi scheme are now asking where the financial regulators were all along.
Lastly, in economic news, Australia has seen wage price growth of 3% in the past year, but household spending is up 28%. How can that be?
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FET #12: The great unwinding of COVID and crypto
I’ll say it: I initially supported some of these measures. I supported everyone going home from work if they could work from home. I supported closing businesses for a matter of weeks to give our health system time to get ready. I supported compulsory masking when you were out and about during this time. I was willing to support vaccine passport requirements in some situations.
But those in charge took all these measures, applied them universally rather than situationally, and made them articles of faith, rather than fact-based tactics. When that became clear, I flipped to opposing them because there was no one listened to nuance.
Finding solace and self congratulations for a popular tweet among the Twitter mob whilst ignoring all the emergent evidence is quite something. It will be interesting to see you walk back your positions over time as the facts change. Somehow I doubt you have the spine for it.
Enjoy the reading below or the conspiratorial hole you're in.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02001-z
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmv.28187
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-021-01113-x
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-022-00919-x
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.22278592v1
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/150/5/e2022058167/188743/COVID-19-and-Acute-Neurologic-Complications-in?autologincheck=redirected%3fnfToken%3d00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2794484