Daily economy news from the American Institute for Economic Research: data, stories, research, and articles touching on economics, politics, culture, education, policy, opinion, technology, markets, healthcare, regulation, trends, and much more.
Abuse Escalation
“Balance is needed so that all who may legally vote can do so at the lowest possible cost consistent with a rapid and accurate tally. Most Americans are probably smart enough to realize that, but they may be too cowed by their abuser and its numerous and powerful minions to resist.” ~ Robert E. Wright
Housing Starts and Permits Rise in March as Headwinds Grow
“Home construction activity rebounded in March after severe weather depressed activity in February. While fundamentals remain strong for the housing market, headwinds are growing.” – Robert Hughes
Woke Capital Is Destined to Become a Relic
“Companies feel obligated to offer value statements to their customers, despite often having records of conduct contrary to the socially acceptable view; consumers sense the game being played and accordingly, chafe. Rather than a sign of the times, the embracing of woke capital may simply come to be a relic of the times.” ~ Peter C. Earle
The Buffett Indicator: Reasons for Doubt
“There are other reasons for the Buffett Indicator ratio to be trending higher. Corporate earnings are growing nearly twice as rapidly as the growth in nominal GDP. The Buffett indicator, though at high historical levels, is not per se signaling that the market is overvalued.” ~ Gregory van Kipnis
Where’s Dr. Fauci As Another Corona-Myth Dies?
“In this case, the deniers who lived their lives were correct. Avoiding all contact proved idiotic. The ‘doubters’ had science on their side. It’s all yet again a reminder that hysterical certitude isn’t the same as knowledge. Emotion is its own form of denial.” ~ John Tamny
Three Books on the Covid/Lockdown Catastrophe
“These are three of what will be thousands of books that will be appearing in the coming years on these tragic times. I’m willing to wager that most of these books will severely condemn the policy decisions of the last year, just as these have done. There will be a reckoning. These books are an excellent start.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker
Industrial Output Rebounds in March
“Industrial output rebounded in March though the sector has a way to go for complete recovery. Other recent data suggest the economic outlook is improving significantly.” – Robert Hughes
Retail Sales Surged to a Record High in March
“Retail sales surged to a record high in March. The last three months combined indicate a strong first quarter and along with other recent data suggest a sharply improved outlook.” – Robert Hughes
Questioning Baseball’s Antitrust Curveball
“Americans would be far better off if, instead of further eroding Justice Holmes’ ruling, we upheld his ‘originalist’ Commerce Clause logic, and the limit it imposed on federal power to do what it wants, whether it advances our joint interests or not. After all, as recent events have made blindingly obvious, it is not hard to see that much of what is emanating from the beltway fits in the ‘or not’ category.” ~ Gary M. Galles
Is Opposing Lockdowns Seditious?
“Instead of having the red-shirters and the blue-shirters (or climate activists and deniers, nationalists or open border-types, lockdowners and covidiots) having it out in every aspect of integrated life – in the office, at the supermarket, on the town square, in the football stadium, even over what they voluntarily read on the Internet, and what the woke employees of the tech firms allow others to see – perhaps we can just, you know, leave each other alone…?” ~ Joakim Book
Sharp Drop in Initial Claims Boosts Economic Outlook
“Initial claims fell sharply last week, suggesting a strengthening economy as government restrictions on consumers and businesses are eased.” – Robert Hughes
Medical Journal Warns About Masks’ Potentially Devastating Consequences
“No matter how many times these people repeat the word ‘science,’ they are promoting precisely the opposite of science: dogma. By contrast, Dr. Baruch Vainshelboim is pushing us to think more broadly and fundamentally, in a way that connects with pre-2020 intuition, and for this he deserves immense credit, as does Medical Hypothesis for having published this paper. Both make a courageous attempt to analyze the costs of adopting universal masking, which is to say advancing real science.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker & Jenin Younes
No, Economists Do Not Assume Perfect Knowledge
“The perfect knowledge assumption humbles economists. Gone is the notion that we economists are the enlightened philosopher kings of the social sciences and that the rest of the naves need only listen to our sagely wisdom. Instead, we are, as Boettke, Coyne, and Leeson argue, students of society, not saviors of society. Our job is not to critique nor justify, but to understand and explain.” ~ David Hebert
200th Anniversary of a Great American Demolition of Tyranny
“John Taylor saw the fate of Americans as answering once and for all ‘whether human nature is able to maintain a fair, free, mild, and cheap government.’ But his countrymen were ‘surrendering their [liberty] to political frauds.’ In the 200 years since the publication of Tyranny Unmasked, the names of some of the political frauds have changed but the surrendering continues.” ~ James Bovard
Gov. DeSantis Holds Second Roundtable with Public Health Experts
“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday April 12, 2021, hosted a second roundtable discussion with public health experts. The first one was taken down by YouTube. In a rebuke to the censors and in the interest of public knowledge of science, the governor held another with most of the same experts. AIER hosted the last one, and it still survives on our platform, so we are trying again, with full video and transcript.” ~ AIER
Vaccine Passports vs. Freedom Itself
“The devastating pandemic response by governments and their often illogical, unscientific, unsound, and often absurd expert medical advisors (Task Forces) and television medical experts have left lives and societies in ruin. Vaccine passports promise to dwarf what we have witnessed across the last year due to the unintended consequences and collateral damage related to our ill-informed responses to SARS-CoV-2!” ~ AIER Contributing Authors
Ludwig von Mises on Intellectual Obligation in Times of Crisis
“Are we willing to throw ourselves into the intellectual battle to make things right, to restore and secure essential liberties and rights, to erect barriers that make it impossible for the ruling class ever to attempt such an experiment again? Or will we be grateful that we can at least exercise some limited freedoms, however temporarily, and acquiesce to the idea that there is nothing wrong with a medical/industrial regime that acts arbitrarily and at its own discretion?” ~ Jeffrey Tucker
Energy Price Surge Continues to Drive Everyday Prices Higher
“AIER’s Everyday Price Index jumped 1.2 percent in March as energy prices surged for a third consecutive month.” – Robert Hughes
