Episode #285: Free-Rider Friday, March 2019

Live from Lockdown! This felt like the fastest Free-Rider Friday we’ve ever done. The topics just cruised by. Enjoy!

• “House passes $2.2 Trillion ‘Stimulus Package,’’ National Review, March 27, 2020.

  • Jonah Goldberg of The Dispatch points out it should not be called a “stimulus package” but rather a life-support package, like the difference between oxygen and cocaine.

• JP Morgan on the history and economic impact of COVID-19, and similar economic impacts from natural disasters and war. It projects a 14% decline in GDP in the second quarter of 2020, the largest decline since 1947. Next largest was a 10% decline in the first quarter of 1958. Goldman Sachs is forecasting a 24% drop, and Morgan Stanley sees a 30% decline.

• “How Do We Flatten the Curve on Panic?, Ann Coulter, Townhall, March 26, 2020.

• “Oxford-Based Group Stops Using WHO Data for Coronavirus Reporting, Citing Errors,” FEE, March 25, 2020, John Miltimore.

• From Ed to Baseball fans: How many games constitute a season for Major League Baseball? There is no right answer. 114 games per team in 1994 was the lowest. Ed thinks 81 is right. It's half a full season (162), and it’s a good baseball number 3 (outs to an inning)^2 is 9 and 9 (innings in a game)^2 is 81.

• “James Dyson designed a new ventilator in 10 days. He's making 15,000 for the pandemic fight,” CNN Business, Nada Bashir, March 27, 2020.

• Ford, GM, Tesla start to produce ventilators. And entrepreneurs in Ireland have made an open-source ventilator prototype using 3-D printed parts.

• “A Government Monopoly Led to Botched COVID-19 Test Kits, but Private Labs Are Now Saving the Day,” FEE, March 16, 2020, Ben Johnson.

• Ron’s mea culpa: The REAL lagging indicator in times of crisis is not the barbershops, it’s the FEMA Waffle House Indicator. They are the termites and twinkies of nuclear Armageddon. They never shut down. Until they do.

• Excellent reporting from Jim Geraghty’s “Morning Jolt,” National Review, March 23, 2020: “The Comprehensive Timeline of China’s COVID-19 Lies.”

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Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Here are some of the topics and links Ron and Ed discussed during the bonus episode this past week:

• Banter on why the COVID-19 crisis will spur even more folks to move to subscription and doubling down on relationships

• Unbeknownst to us, Tien Tzou published a Subscribed newsletter on why you should…wait for it…double down on relationships

Episode #282: The Placebo and Nocebo Effects

Placebo (“I shall please”)

In the 14th century sham mourners were hired to wail and sob for the deceased at funerals. In 1785 the term appeared in New Medical Dictionary, and it first appears in English in 1832. One of the earliest placebo effects was discovered in 1794 by the Italian physician Gerbi, who rubbed worm secretions on an aching tooth, relieving pain for one year. The first clinical trials were done in 1832, in Russia.

The placebo effect has been documented to have 15% - 72% efficacy effect, documenting the power of suggestion.

David Wooten, author of Bad Medicine, estimates that one-third of the good done by modern medicine is the placebo effect. He adds, too bad bloodletting, purging, and emetics weren’t tested against the placebo effect, would have resulted in less harm.See Episode #178 for our show on Bad Medicine.

Nocebo (“I will harm”)

The Nocebo effect are the unpleasant symptoms patients may suffer as a result of being made aware of potential side effects of a treatment they are to receive or a procedure they are to undergo. Doctors hide their ignorance with impressive-sounding Latin terminology, such as idiopathic—the cause of the disease is unknown. We discussed this article from Cosmic Core, Article 241: Human Life—Health & Illness—Part 3—Placebo Effect & Health Studies, which discusses Dr. Lewis Thomas, among others. Dr. Lewis Thomas (1913-1993) was an American physician, poet, etymologist, essayist and researcher who became Dean of Yale Medical School and New York University School of Medicine and President at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Thomas tells of one physician who regularly rid his patients of warts simply by painting a harmless purple dye on them. He feels that explaining this small miracle by saying it’s just the unconscious mind at work doesn’t begin to do the placebo effect justice.

The placebo effect is one of the most striking examples of idealism – that is, mind or consciousness creates reality; or physical reality is created by consciousness. We also discussed the article “The weird power of the placebo effect, explained,” from Vox, by Brian Resnick (July 7, 2017), documenting six placebo effects. In Dan Ariely’s book, Predictability Irrational, chapter 10 is: “The Power of Price: Why a 50-cent aspirin can do what a penny aspirin can’t.” See Episode #43 for our interview with Dan Ariely. Another book that contains information on the placebo and nocebo effects is A Pinch of Salt, by Theodore Dalrymple (real name: Anthony Malcolm Daniels). He has written many books on medical issues, and his time as a doctor working in a UK prison. The ethical dilemma for doctors of the nocebo effect: should the need for honesty trump the ethical injunction to do no harm? Rabbi Lapin points out that the 4-minute mile run by Roger Bannister in 1954, and the successful climb to the top of Mt. Everest in 1953 were both an example of how a lot of barriers are mental, not physical. He says: “We are predominantly spiritual creatures with a physical outfit—souls with a body.” Leading us to ask…

Are expensive consultants just a placebo?

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Here are some of the topics and links Ron and Ed discussed during the bonus episode this past week:

• Robert Cross (Episode #35 guest), pricing expert, Chairman at Revenue Analytics, Inc., great article on LinkedIn: “Don’t Panic—The Coronavirus Will Peak mid-April: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dont-panicthe-coronavirus-peak-mid-april-robert-cross/

• Ron’s dad debunks the NYT article, Will the Coronavirus Cause a Recession? Keep Your Eye on the Barbershops: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/business/economy/coronavirus-recession.html

Episode #281: Free-Rider Friday, February 2019

What happens when there is just TOO MUCH news to talk about. We free-ride off of the best, most timely topics.

Let’s start off with Ed’s topics:

• Don Boudreaux’s Bonus Quotation of the Day from February 25, 2020. It’s from Thomas Sowell’s 1980 book, Knowledge and Decisions: “Ideas are everywhere, but knowledge is rare.”

  • Listen to our episode with Don Boudreaux (#187) and Thomas Sowell (#25).

• From Reason, “Michigan Lawmakers Overturn a Bad Regulation Restricting Access to Cancer Treatments,” November 18, 2019. “Certificate of Need” are con laws and should be scrapped.

• From the Los Angeles Times, “The new burger chef makes $3 an hour and never goes home (it’s a robot),” February 27, 2020.

• And relatedly, from Willamette Week, “Oregon Labor Union Wants Voters to Limit Grocers to Two Sell Checkout Stations Per Store,” September 4, 2019. The Neo-Luddites are at it again!

• Tom Peters tweeted: “Every team in the world is very diverse. Think of symphonies or sports teams or classrooms. The good conductors/coaches/teachers treat every member differently every day.”

 Here are Ron’s topics:

• Hat tip to Paul Dunn, our VeraSage colleague, for sending me these two new subscription offerings.

  • First up, “Panera debuts $9/month unlimited coffee and tea subscription,” from Fast Company, February 27, 2020.

  • And this: “Compost your baby’s diapers through this subscription service,” Fast Company, February 27, 2020.

• From The Economist, February 15, 2020, “The real-estate racket.”

• Hat tip to Robert Wood, “Bob Iger steps down as Disney CEO. Bob Chapek replaces him,” CNN, February 26, 2020.

• Deirdre McCloskey (Episode #6) in Reason, “Steal This Intellectual Property,” from the March 2020 issue.

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Here are some of the topics and links Ron and Ed discussed during the bonus episode this past week:

• Lego my Leadership

• California’s Crusade Against CEOs

• Why Bernie Sanders’s Praise of Fidel Castro Matters