Lockdown’s burden of proof extremely high – PANDA’s Russell Lamberti

Russell Lamberti, founder of investment advisory firm ETM Macro Advisors and part of a concerned group of economists, actuaries and data specialists operating under the PANDA (Pandemic ~ Data and Analytics) banner, is very skeptical about the effects of an extended lockdown and questions whether the decision was based on sound reasoning and proof. In this tell tale discussion with Alec Hogg, the co-author of When Money Destroys Nations, a book about Zimbabwe's hyperinflation crisis, says the burden of proof to shut down life as we know it completely, weighs extremely high on government. – Vanessa Marks

Russell Lamberti joins us now. Russell thanks for coming onto the show this week. Last week we had a couple of your colleagues from PANDA who were giving us some really good insights into why they believe that the lockdown has been a disaster for South Africa and terribly exaggerated. Nick Hudson and Peter Castledon said that there was merit in the first three weeks to get the health care system ready. But the subsequent five weeks, your numbers at PANDA show, that perhaps this has not been that smart a view. I'm now reading what RW Johnson has been saying, this is an unmitigated disaster and it's something that generations of South Africans are going to pay for. [Market analyst] David Shapiro, a participant on Biznews Rational Radio show] says we mustn't argue with you because you are far too clever. So we are listening very carefully if you can unpack the way you see things and the way the economy is going to be impacted.

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