The opportunity cost of the government’s multi-trillion-dollar COVID response
According to the Brownstone Institute, the U.S. federal government spent $10 trillion on COVID. The government’s own spending tracker website says, however, that the expenditure was a much more modest $4.56 trillion. If you’re curious how this lower amount was distributed, the Associated Press did some research and wrote about its findings: “Fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding; another $123 billion was wasted or misspent.” Since no COVID intervention saved even one life, AP could say more accurately that the entire $5 trillion was hosed directly into the sewer.
The tragedy of the U.S. government’s COVID response was not just advocating for the closures, restrictions, and mandates that ruined millions of lives. Nor was it just madcap money printing that locked in high inflation as a permanent feature of American life. A reckoning must also include the opportunity cost of the trillions of dollars that could have been used to actually make people happier and healthier.
One obvious example is that for $5 trillion, we could have cured cancer. The National Cancer Institute, the federal government’s principal agency for cancer research, has invested over $150 billion in a search for cures since its founding in 1937. I’d like to think that a one-time grant to the NCI of 33x its aggregate lifetime expenditures would have yielded breakthrough results.
Nevertheless, a cure for cancer may already be at hand. In the late 1970s, Texas doctor Stanislaw Burzynski began targeting cancer cells with a pioneering treatment of naturally occurring peptides. Rather than join Dr. Burzynski in exploring this novel therapy, however, the FDA and the Texas Medical Board attacked the doctor’s credibility and worked (unsuccessfully) to shut down his clinic. Many observers believe that financial interests motivated these agencies’ actions. Another exciting advancement in cancer therapy involves the cost-effective and widely available anti-parasitic drug fenbendazole. Fenben combined with lifestyle interventions like fasting (which deprives cancer cells of the glucose they need to thrive) may be revolutionizing cancer treatment. Approaches related to the metabolic theory of cancer, “mitochondria enhancement therapy,” are the future of successful cancer treatment.
Consequently, I have a few other ideas for how the government could have spent $5 trillion constructively.
Male birth control: Despite the relative simplicity of the male reproductive system compared to its female counterpart, no oral or clinical contraceptive for men has ever been brought to market. Some believe that research on male contraceptives has lagged for ideological reasons. Regardless, the only way men at present can reduce their sperm count is through endocrine disrupters like beer, soy, and microplastics from water bottles and high-end tea bags. Surely for $5 trillion, a solution could be found that gives men the same tools as women to assist in family planning.
A cure for plantar fasciitis: Plantar fasciitis is a disastrous injury that affects one in 10 people during their lives and causes pain with every step. It is also agonizingly slow to heal. Statistics show that 50% of people whose plantar fasciitis fails to resolve after one year will suffer with this condition for 10 years. The ailment has a variety of triggers, from overuse to tight calf muscles, but no test exists to pinpoint the reason in individual cases. As a result, people need to rehab for every possibility. Interventions include: ToePro foot strengthening, TENS muscle stimulators, the use of toe spacers, calf strengthening exercises, rolling your calves with a muscle stick to break up adhesions, Gua Sha soft tissue therapy, calf stretching, toe stretching, STJ/talocrural joint manipulation, sleeping with a Strassburg sock, hand and machine massage, myofascial release, and foot taping. In my experience, BPC-157 and TB-500 have only mild effect on plantar fasciitis.
A cure for low back pain: As I suffered through increasing back problems over the years, I was shocked by the lack of good, actionable information, especially considering that low back pain is so common. Eight out of 10 people in the U.S. will experience low back pain in their lifetime, and low back pain accounts for more than 3% of all emergency room visits. A 2016 study found that low back and neck pain generated the highest health care expenditures out of a list of 154 conditions that included diabetes and ischemic heart disease. It’s also well known that low back diagnostic tools are generally useless. MRIs of patients in distress frequently present no remarkable features, while pain-free individuals often show significant wear and tear. The success of low back surgery is similarly random: 1/3 improve, 1/3 no change, 1/3 worse. For now, the best you can do is some physical therapy and to restructure what you do in the gym.