Obama’s Lame Response to Ebola; No Protocols but Lots of Fearmongering; Where’s the Common Sense?

Courtesy of Mish.

Ebola Fearmongering

I seldom watch TV. But today I am on the road and watched CNN from a restaurant. I did not have sound, but I did see captions.

CNN's headline story was ridiculous. CNN placed the blame for the intraday DOW plunge of 460 point on ebola.

There was no mention of the 21-Point Plunge in Empire State manufacturing Index. Nor was there any mention of weak consumer spending.

What about PEs in the stratosphere? No mention of course. (For discussion, please see Stock Buybacks Peaked With Stock Market in 2007: History About to Repeat?)

Instead, CNN assumed the DOW plunge was based on ebola.

Obama's Lame Response

Fear is in the air, and it's easy to assign blame. A few simple questions will help explain.

1. Is there a chance of spreading the disease by coughing or sneezing? Yes.
2. Would I want to sit on a plane next to someone who was in contact with an ebola patient? No, and neither would anyone else.
3. Would I want to sit on a plane next to someone from a country where ebola is viral? No, and neither would anyone else.

To stop the spread of the disease and the accompanying panic, I have a fourth question:

Why isn't there a flight ban on those from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone (and every other country where there is a major outbreak)?

Instead, we take temperatures even though the incubation period is as long as three weeks. …