Topic: Crisis

Central Planners Send Vaccines to Places Seniors Don’t Live

– March 3, 2021

“Federal officials monopolized the purchase and distribution of vaccines which were sent to state governments, which micromanaged distribution of vaccines to their counties. Vaccines were then rationed by political preferences (such as defining some jobs as more essential than others) and by random luck after spending hours searching for an appointment.” ~ Alan Reynolds

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

16 States Are Now Following The Science

– March 3, 2021

“Governors who continue to impose lockdowns and mask mandates are fast becoming as popular as Red Sox fans in the Yankee Stadium bleachers, at least in half of the country. The internal polling is out, and the draconian restrictions are being abandoned in droves. History will not be kind to the remaining high-handed holdouts.” ~ Jordan Schachtel

Authoritarianism, Crisis

Lockdowns Could Reshape American Politics for a Generation, or Several

– March 2, 2021

“Anti-lockdownism need not be partisan. The victims of these policies are all over the political map. They are united only in their general belief in human rights, constitutional restraints on government, and the need to keep society functioning in the midst of a health crisis. This opinion is not and should not be controversial. There is never a good excuse to turn on basic Enlightenment values in favor of feudal forms of political organization and coerced social management. Never.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

The Wreckers of New York and their Bitter Rivalry

– March 2, 2021

“Unfortunately, New Yorkers apparently retain faith in central planning of their lives despite the dismal failures at both the mayoral and gubernatorial level. The political profits of demagoguery will perennially trump the calculus of benevolence. The only ‘savior’ worth trusting is the revival of individual freedom and a vast decrease in regulatory restrictions and tax exactions.” ~ James Bovard

Crisis, Economic Education, Healthcare

There Are Libertarians In A Pandemic, And For Good Reason

– March 1, 2021

“If nothing else, the Covid pandemic will create dissertation topics for generations of Ph.D. students across the humanities and social sciences. Someone looking to write the definitive history of the pandemic could get a head start by considering some of Cochrane’s commentary.” ~ Art Carden

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

The Story of Vicky

– March 1, 2021

“Although self-imprisoned, alone and forever, in her apartment with literally not a friend left in the world, Vicky never wavered in knowing that she had her priorities ordered correctly, sensibly, and scientifically.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

Crisis, Government, Healthcare, Public Choice and Public Policy

Vaccine Central Planning Fails Too

– March 1, 2021

“In both the supply of vaccine doses and the ability to secure an appointment, the primary obstacle facing most Americans is not a lack of interest in vaccination or the fringe anti-vaxx groups that the media dwells upon. It’s the classic obstacles of central planning in allocating a scarce and widely desired good.” ~ Phillip W. Magness

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Is the U.S. Going the Way of Afghanistan?

– February 27, 2021

“When the Supreme Court voted last week not to hear cases challenging arbitrary changes in state election procedures, Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, ‘The decision to leave election law hidden beneath a shroud of doubt is baffling. By doing nothing, we invite further confusion and erosion of voter confidence.’ Unfortunately, almost no one is talking of the peril of the ‘Afghanization’ of American democracy.” ~ James Bovard

Crisis, Government

The Danger of the Administrative State

– February 27, 2021

“What was a handful of executive agencies at the beginning of the republic has now become an expansive list of alphabet soup abbreviations, some with their own SWAT teams and court systems. The administrative state not only saps our treasure and stifles our creativity but it drains our spirit. If left unchecked it will surely turn this country of ambitious innovators and entrepreneurs into one of paper pushers and clerks.” ~ Ethan Yang

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

How to Beat the Permanent Covidocracy

– February 25, 2021

“Despite the declines in alleged infections and deaths, vaccine rollouts, and continued progress in finding possible treatments for Covid-19, the pandemic panic remains at high pitch. Until there’s some restoration of reason, we’re shooting BBs at a bull elephant. As Charles MacKay observed in his 1852 classic Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, people ‘go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.'” ~ Michael Fumento

Books, Crisis, Economic Education

Unfreezing the Economy After Lockdowns

– February 25, 2021

“In order to emerge with an economy that can produce prosperity for all and not just those who benefited from lockdowns, we need to embrace the ideas of sound economics, innovation-friendly rules, and individual agency. It was the principles of a free society that brought the wonders of modernity into existence, and it’s the same principles that will lead us back.” ~ Ethan Yang

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Cuomo and the Failure of Covid Absolutism

– February 24, 2021

“In a tour of television talk shows shortly after President Biden was inaugurated, Cuomo recited his latest catchphrase: ‘Incompetent government kills people.’ This intended slapdown of Trump is recoiling badly on the New York governor. If Cuomo is impeached or forced to resign for his Covid fiascos, maybe he could score plenty of media appearances with a new slogan: ‘Absolute power with impunity kills.'” ~ James Bovard