Topic: Crisis

We Would Not Be Better Off With Medicare for All

– April 22, 2020

Just because people would have health insurance does not mean they would receive health care when they need it most. In countries where everyone is covered by national insurance, the shortages are just as bad as in the U.S., if not worse.

Crisis

Disease and the Unconstrained State

– April 22, 2020

If we alter the constraints and powers of political actors as a result of reasoning in an institutional vacuum, we may be giving to political actors things they wanted regardless of the crisis. In the long-run, it will come at a cost.

Crisis, Fiscal Policy

Washington Motto: Spend During Good Times and Spend Even More During Bad Times

– April 21, 2020

According to the empirical evidence, there is little doubt that large government debt has a negative, and in many cases an increasingly worsening, impact on the growth potential of a debt-burdened economy.

Crisis, Economic Theory

We Don’t Need a Cure to Reopen

– April 21, 2020

I hope someday soon we will once again be having very rational yet vigorous discussions about the fundamental issues related to the liberal principles of justice and political economy, and we can point to the resiliency and ingenuity of a free people even in the face of adversity as one of the main arguments in favor of true liberal radicalism.

Crisis, Economic Theory

Innovation and the Trouble with the Precautionary Principle

– April 20, 2020

Policies that frown upon entrepreneurial risk-taking actively disincentivize the building of new and better things. We must remove political barriers to productive entrepreneurialism or else we will never get back to being the builders we once were.

Crisis, Economic Theory

Why Politicians Focus on Trivia in the Midst of Disaster

– April 20, 2020

Why would a city, short of tax money in a crisis, pay an enormous sum to disable a public space from being used by the citizens who paid for it? Because the city can do nothing about the virus.

Crisis, Policy

The Worst Public Policy in a Century

– April 20, 2020

America has implemented a lot of really bad policies since the New Deal and fought needless wars and endured long, senseless occupations of places like the Philippines and Afghanistan. But at least all those policies were vaguely constitutional. The economic lockdowns, by contrast, have turned the Constitution into a frail and worthless fabric.

Crisis, Video

Liberate America from this Draconian Lockdown (Video)

– April 19, 2020

You can’t mitigate a disease by destroying the people’s liberty and property. The costs of the shutdown have been unspeakably high and get worse by the day. Those costs must be considered alongside those of Covid-19 itself.

Crisis

Who Is John Ioannidis?

– April 19, 2020

John Ioannidis had taken a careful look at the reproducibility of findings only to discover that most fail. He wanted to know why, and delineated five factors that give rise to fake science.

Crisis, Policy

Can Medical Supply Autarky Save Us from Pandemics?

– April 19, 2020

When proposing expansions of government power we must recognize the powers in question will not be wielded by philosopher-kings. They will be wielded by actually existing politicians and bureaucrats, with all their biases and imperfections.

Crisis, History

That Time Jesus Was Quarantined

– April 19, 2020

Our times have reminded us that being called diseased is like other forms of social division that drive people apart and make them more dependent on power. It leads people to fear, hate, and separate. Jesus too not only addressed that topic; he lived it, even at the penalty of personal quarantine.

Crisis, Economic Trends

Work Is Happiness, but Politicians Destroyed It

– April 18, 2020

The problem yet again is that politicians on all levels panicked, and having panicked, they foisted cruel, one-size-fits-all solutions on their constituents that resulted in sick-inducing job loss and bankruptcy. In the process they robbed millions of what gives them daily meaning and happiness.