Topic: Crisis

Crisis, Economic Education, Healthcare, Public Choice and Public Policy

Unemployment Far Worse in Lockdown States, Data Show

– June 4, 2020

“In general, states that were still closed on May 9 had the highest average insured unemployment rates relative to the average for that same group on March 1. The unemployment rate of fully locked down states was at least double than states that had no formal lockdown.” ~ Abigail Devereaux

Crisis, Education, History

A Nation of True Believers

– June 4, 2020

“Lots of Americans are also frustrated. Their putative leaders have infantilized them through decades of paternalistic laws that try to micromanage their lives. It is beginning to dawn on them that election results are unlikely to change anything under our duopolistic, or revolving monopolistic, political system.” ~ Robert Wright

Capitalism, Crisis, Economic Education

How LockDowns Shattered the Structure of Production

– June 3, 2020

“Fully lifting government restrictions and restraints will see people, once again, willingly demanding all the goods they want when they are at liberty to freely work and earn, to supply and demand, once more.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

Crisis, Economic Trends

Looters, Lockdowners, and the Law

– June 3, 2020

“Based on the speed and duplicity of the news cycle, we can predict with confidence that within six months, you won’t find a single person in public life willing to defend the lockdown. And yet it was this event that laid the foundation for the rest of the tragic unfolding of events that is wrecking this country.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Crisis, Education, Healthcare, Public Choice and Public Policy

Question the Mask Mandates, for Reasons of Science

– June 3, 2020

“CDC guidelines regarding the use of cloth masks have seen a complete 180-degree inversion over the last two months. With rapid changes like this we see the human side of science, we see the social and political aspects of the scientific process.” ~ Diana W. Thomas and Michael D. Thomas

Crisis, Economic History

Letter from a Populist

– June 3, 2020

“Populist beneficence — using funds taken from the populace via taxation and/or inflation — is a favorite tactic of authoritarian and “banana republic” governments the world over.” ~ Raymond Niles

Crisis, Regulation

To End an Era of Brutality, End Qualified Immunity

– June 2, 2020

“If qualified immunity has been acting as insurance for police officers, to retire the legal doctrine would lead officers to bear greater legal risk. The theory goes that in bearing this risk, officers will be incentivized to engage in their service more carefully. But this does not change the fact that the officers will be bearing greater cost than they would otherwise.” James Caton

Capitalism, Central Banking, Crisis

What We Can Learn from Other Bear Markets Since the Late Sixties

– June 2, 2020

“The fiscal spigot of government largesse is more arbitrary; it will require a deeper understanding of corporate value to separate the wheat from the chaff. Sadly, markets will be no freer but they may, at least, be untethered from the coattails of the Fed.” ~ Colin Lloyd

Crisis, Fiscal Policy

How We Got Into this Mess

– June 2, 2020

“What we do know is that many states, especially highly populated ones like California and New York, put heavy constraints on individual freedom, destroying productive activities and causing havoc. By one estimate, lockdowns are costing the nation some $80 billion a week in lost production.” ~ George Melloan

Crisis

The Real Looters are the Politicians

– June 1, 2020

“It remains to be seen whether mayors will have the gumption to throw the book at the thieves. But it is even less likely that the politicians and other government officials who inflicted far greater damage on the economy will ever be held liable.” ~ James Bovard

Crisis

That’s One Way to End a Lockdown

– June 1, 2020

“The best laid plans: inspired by myopic modelers, eschewing of expert opinions of dissident scientists, disregarding of essential rights, fueled by media fabrications and irresponsibility, imposed by governments at all levels. It’s a new chapter of The Road to Serfdom.” ~ AIER

Crisis

SimCity-style Modeling Flunks the Real-World Test

– June 1, 2020

“When it comes to predicting the actual mechanisms of the pandemic, including the danger it posed to nursing homes, the modeling approach appears to be functionally useless and catastrophically off the mark.” ~ Phil Magness