Topic: Crisis

COVID-19 Prompts the Question: Why Value Human Life?

– March 7, 2020

Have you noticed how philosophical COVID-19 is making us? The possible presence of imminent death of so many – true or not – is causing a reassessment of fundamental issues.

Crisis, Monetary Policy

The Fed Cannot Combat Coronavirus

– March 5, 2020

At a campaign speech on February 29, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced her economic plan for combating COVID-19, more commonly known as the coronavirus. The Warren plan has two elements. First, it calls for “a major targeted fiscal st …

Crisis, Free Markets

Should Government Go Medieval During Pandemic Disease?

– March 4, 2020

It is high time that Americans stop pretending government can protect everyone, in every possible way, all the time and tell Washington to stop overstepping.

Crisis, Regulation

Anti-Gouging Laws Can Kill

– March 3, 2020

Much has been made in the media about the Surgeon General’s recent Twitter exhortation, “Seriously people – STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general [sic] public from catching Coronavirus.” But what is usually left out is the res …

Crisis, Monetary Policy

The Coronavirus Reveals the Limits of Monetary Policy

– March 2, 2020

There is a growing buzz in the media that the Federal Reserve and other central banks should provide support due to any slowdown that accompanies the coronavirus.

Crisis, Economic Trends

Economic Policy Must Prepare for Pandemic Disease

– February 27, 2020

The best approach to a shocking event like a global pandemic disease with a high death rate is to free the markets and eliminate barriers to trade as soon as possible. This would at least minimize the damage, get goods and services to those who need them, calm the panic, and reward traders and investors for maintaining normalcy and growth insofar as it is possible.

Crisis, Economic Trends

Sanders, Stocks, the Threat of Pandemic Disease

– February 27, 2020

If headline writers possessed a clue about what moves stocks, or even if they possessed a clue about whom to ask about what moves stocks, they wouldn’t be headline writers.

Crisis, Economic Trends

The Effect of the Coronavirus on Financial Markets

– February 25, 2020

We should take a sober, dispassionate look at forces acting upon the U.S. financial markets. Headlines indicating a “panic” are vastly overwrought.

Crisis

The Economics of Pandemics and Quarantines

– January 28, 2020

Soft-handed measures are cheaper and more effective in diminishing contagion than heavy-handed measures.

Crisis

Must Government Save Us from the Coronavirus?

– January 27, 2020

The US government already has the power to create sick camps, kidnap and intern people upon suspicion that they are diseased, and keep people in camps for an undetermined amount of time.

Crisis, Economic Education, Free Markets, Property Rights

Three Undeniable Problems with Anti-Gouging Laws

– September 15, 2018

Anti-Price Gouging Laws are either useless or harmful.