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Some Non-Covid Links

Vincent Geloso explains that bigger can be better as long as government stays out of the way.

David Henderson reminds us of an important point about welfare economics.

Matt Welch reports on the insufferable rent-seeker for many unionized “teachers,” Randi Weingarten. A slice:

“We are not convinced that the evidence supports changing physical distancing requirements at this time,” American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten declared in a letter Tuesday to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky, in response to the CDC last Friday revising its school-distancing guidelines from 6 feet to 3.

Among the institutions that do not share Weingarten’s lack of conviction: The American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Walensky herself (prior to joining the Biden administration), most of the 50 states, the vast majority of school districts in the industrialized world, plus one of the research teams whose work the CDC had erroneously sourced when formulating guidance for the agency’s controversial February 12 recommendation to keep the 6-foot rule intact. Opined those latter scientists at the time: “No science supports mandating 6 feet of distance with children wearing masks. A 6-foot distance between students creates space constraints for schools to open in entirety. There is data supporting at least 3-foot distancing.”

Phil Gramm and John Early, writing in the Wall Street Journal, report on America’s “incredible shrinking income inequality.” Here’s their conclusion:

The raging debate over income inequality in America calls to mind the old Will Rogers adage: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It is what you do know that ain’t so.” We are debating the alleged injustice of a supposedly growing social problem when—for all the reasons outlined above—that problem isn’t growing, it’s shrinking. Those who want to transform the greatest economic system in the history of the world ought to get their facts straight first.

Pierre Lemieux has written a new primer, this one on public health.

My colleague Bryan Caplan has “already seen enough stifling left-wing dogma to last a lifetime.”

Eric Boehm reports on Joe Biden’s appalling fiscal irresponsibility. (DBx: This will not end well.)

James Pethokoukis talks with my former student, the great scholar of immigration Alex Nowrasteh.

Here’s Ryan Bourne on anti-price-‘gouging’ legislation.

Mark Jamison passes along to Joe Biden some advice from Adam Smith.

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