The John Batchelor Show

Monday 16 March 2020

Air Date: 
March 16, 2020

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, American Greatness
 
Hour One
Monday 16 March 2020 /  Hour 1, Block A:  Brett Ahrends, Marketwatch; in re: The virus and the NYSE and NASDAQ markets and the financial turmoil.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  Hour 1, Block B: Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal and FDD; and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re:  Taliban and al Qaeda hand in hand.  ISIS advising on virus; on if the virus is in Afghanistan and the US troops.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  Hour 1, Block C: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast, in re:  Beijing is making irrational assertions that the virus originated in the US and that the US is distributing it around the world. The virus and China, the virus and Asian economy and the global economy; on China blaming US.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  Hour 1, Block D: Michael Yon, Far East reporter; in re: Wuhan virus in Asia; in Hong Kong and Taiwan.   I call Beijing  “the hate factory” because it’s so competent at generating hatred against other countries; in this case, the US and Japan. 
 
Hour Two
Monday 16 March 2020 /  Hour 2, Block A:  David M Drucker, Washington Examiner, & John Fund, NRO, in re:  The politics of the virus; on the Sanders-Biden debate on the virus and healthcare; on the virus and the big primaries on St Patrick's Day.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  Hour 2, Block B:  John Fund, NRO, & David M Drucker, Washington Examiner, in re:   The politics of the virus; on the Sanders-Biden debate on the virus and healthcare; on the virus and the big primaries on St Patrick's Day.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  Hour 2, Block C:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: The virus and the incomplete Israeli election; on the virus in Iran, in Lebanon, and instability in Teheran.  Death, famine, war and conquest: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Wuhan virus. The plague of locusts from the Horn of Africa. War is always with us. And conquest.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  / Hour 2, Block D: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:  The virus and the incomplete Israeli election; on the virus in Iran, in Lebanon, and instability in Tehran.  Archaeobotanists: olives were first domesticated 6,500 to 7,000 years ago. Began with kings’ being anointed with oil; then it spread to Crete. Follow it by following olive pollen.  Can trace microscopic grains; pollenology!  Neolithic, chalcolithic.
The sixteen Dead Sea Scroll fragments in the Museum of the Bible are found all to be forgeries.
 
Hour Three
Monday 16 March 2020 /  / Hour 3, Block A:   Jim McTague, Barron's, in re: The virus and the NYSE and global markets. Imagine the market as a 10-story bldg, each representing a different price level. Then the traders on floors 2 through 9 quit.   This is a liquidity crisis.  Banks are strongly capitalized because of the 2007-9 crash.  Why selling REITs?  If people work at home, no expansion of office space or retail businesses.   Energy and insurance got hammered; fear that too many life insurance policies will have to be paid. Pure pandaemonium.  The Vix.  All the traders had similar hedges; if stocks tank – bears expected a 3% diminution, but it’s 30%-- so they had to panic-sell stocks.  Trump wanted $2 bil to help, Congress passed $8 bil.  Merkel had $600 mil in loans to aid.  Remember Helicopter Ben?  It’s an election year when pols promise free money.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  / Hour 3, Block B:  Bud Weinstein, SMU, in re: The virus and the global energy markets; the oil price war and the virus.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  / Hour 3, Block C:   Andrew McCarthy, National Review Online; Thaddeus McCotter, American Greatness; in re: Unsolved anecdotes of illness since January in the USA; on John Batchelor's travels in Asia in February.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  / Hour 3, Block D:   Andrew McCarthy, National Review Online; Thaddeus McCotter, American Greatness; in re: Unsolved anecdotes of illness since January in the USA; on John Batchelor's travels in Asia in February.
 
Hour Four
Monday 16 March 2020 /  / Hour 4, Block A:  Jed Babbin, American Spectator; on the virus crisis in the midst of other pressing news.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  / Hour 4, Block B:  John Tamny, RealClearMarkets.com; on the virus and the right to go to work; on the virus and Federal and State interventions. 
Monday 16 March 2020 /  / Hour 4, Block C:  Amity Shlaes, author, The Great Society, on the virus financial shock and what's to be done: lessons learned from 2008.
Monday 16 March 2020 /  / Hour 4, Block D:  Amity Shlaes, author, The Great Society, on the virus financial shock and what's to be done: lessons learned from 2008.
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