Topic: Crisis

The Uyghurs as Victims of Chinese National Socialism

– February 8, 2021

“The Uyghurs and Tibetans are alien and subversive bodies in the Chinese nation that must be absorbed or eliminated. Beginning with Mao and now with terrifying single-mindedness by Xi Jinping, the irradiation of these foreign elements are to be ‘neutralized.’ This truly makes the Chinese political system an ideology of national socialism in the footsteps of others that have preceded it.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

How a Virus Was Used To Transform a Free Country

– February 8, 2021

“It’s undeniably evident that the CARES Act was focused on the progressive tenet of redistribution of wealth and growing the numbers of Americans dependent upon the government. Money is taken from working taxpayers, given to those who aren’t, expanding social programs and the size and power of government entities, while lining the pockets of special interests.” ~ Sandy Szwarc

Crisis, Economic Education, Economic Growth

Lockdowns Have Depleted Capital in All Forms

– February 6, 2021

“Outside of a major war, it is hard to recall a time when government policies have so seriously roiled business practices, economic structures, and personal lives as much as lockdowns have, not only in the US but all over the world. The consequences will be felt for many years in the future.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Regulation

Masking America’s Greatest Natural Monuments

– February 6, 2021

“There are unseen perils when federal policy seeks to placate mass fears rather than protect public safety. Plenty of Americans need to heed the warning a British publication gave to its readers: ‘Is constantly monitoring COVID rulebreakers wrecking your mental health?'” ~ James Bovard

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Healthcare

Imagine If the Virus Had Never Been Detected

– February 4, 2021

“The virus didn’t suddenly start spreading in March of 2020 just because politicians decided it had. 2019 is the likelier beginning. Early 2020 too. Life was pretty normal as a virus made its way around the world then. Politicians made it abnormal. Let’s never forget the sickening carnage they can create when they find reasons to ‘do something.'” ~ John Tamny

Crisis, Economic Education, Government

There Are No Experts On That for Which We Really Need Experts

– February 4, 2021

“The pandemic has revealed a shortcoming in our ever more technocratic approach to addressing social problems: there are more and different kinds of problems than there are kinds of experts. The division of scientific expertise according to discipline, field, and sub-field does not encompass, much less map onto, all of the problems for which we might want experts.” ~ Scott Scheall & Parker Crutchfield

Crisis, Economic Education, Science

How Much Does Cleaning Everything Really Help?

– February 3, 2021

“These issues all boil down to opportunity cost. The time and resources directed towards extra cleaning could be used for an alternative activity that would reap higher benefits for the business, especially in the midst of economic turmoil.” ~ Amelia Janaskie

Crisis, Media, Science

Seven Times “Superspreader” Events Were Overblown

– February 3, 2021

“In an international comparison between countries that implemented lockdown policies and those that did not, Stanford University researchers found ‘no evidence of large anti-contagion effects from mandatory stay-at-home and business closure policies.’ Perhaps if the media reported on these findings, there wouldn’t be a superspreader LAPD task force forcibly dispersing ‘nonessential’ gatherings.” ~ Micha Gartz & Jack Nicastro

Authoritarianism, Crisis, History

We Should Worry about a Permanent Covidocracy

– February 3, 2021

“We either set firm goalposts now – when do the masks come off; when does the distancing end; when do kids return to school and restaurants operate at enough capacity to stay in business – or we risk many years of control.” ~ Michael Fumento

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

The Flight of the Covid Quacks

– February 2, 2021

“Even the most statist public health official completely oblivious to Hayekian critiques of central planning must know, deep down, that issuing general medical orders from on high is quackery. They now flee in great flocks but what will it matter if other quacks replace them? We don’t need new public health officials. We need a reformed healthcare model with incentives more carefully aligned to individual needs.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Crisis, Economic Education

The Political Economy of Mass Panic

– February 2, 2021

“The demand for action creates the pressure to avoid being perceived as weak and indecisive on the part of politicians, while the information asymmetry between the visible, concentrated and identifiable benefits of “action” and delayed, speculative and more distributed costs of action, makes irrational and ineffective but ritualistic policies much more likely. Policies adopted to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic illustrate very painfully these truths.” ~ Ivan Jankovic

Crisis, Economic Education, History

Business Should Fight Back Against Controls

– February 1, 2021

“The full spirit and many of the practical steps that Manne recommended to business people nearly 50 years ago as rational responses to the unwarranted hysteria over fuel shortages apply today to the unwarranted hysteria over Covid-19. Today, I recommend such resistance, and not only by business people, but by all individuals.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux