Topic: Crisis

About the Coronavirus, the New York Times Argues With the New York Times

– January 25, 2021

“Readers can decide on their own why the sidelining of ‘science’ in states like Georgia and Florida resulted in much better virus outcomes than for the science-reverent states. But even then they’d probably be wasting their time. A more useful approach would be for people to read the Times in full. Deep inside the newspaper, they’ll continue to find what’s obscured by alarmism on the front page.” ~ John Tamny

Crisis, Regulation

All Hail the Reopening!

– January 25, 2021

“Will they admit error and apologize? That will take longer if it happens at all. At this point, right now, other things matter more. The priority must be to emancipate us from bad science and destructive policy so we can put our lives back together again. ” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Crisis, Science

Invidious Comparisons

– January 25, 2021

“Let’s stop comparing Covid deaths to 9/11 deaths, to death tolls from hypothetical jetliner crashes, to Vietnam or World War I casualties, or to other non-pathogen-related calamities. Keeping clear the facts about Covid is difficult enough amidst the ongoing hysteria and willful misinterpretation of life’s realities. We don’t need to further thicken the fog with invidious comparisons.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

Authoritarianism, Classical Liberalism, Crisis

Carlsbad, CA Says No More to Lockdowns. May It Be a National Model!

– January 22, 2021

“Those who are sickeningly intoxicated with power can’t incarcerate us all. As for the businesses terrorized by the political class in Carlsbad, they decided they no longer have any choice. Given the choice between going out of business and defying politicians, they chose the latter. Good for them.” ~ John Tamny

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Zoom Privilege: How Lockdowns Made the Rich Richer

– January 22, 2021

“While the Zoom and Netflix ‘work-from-home until the scary virus disappears’ crowd continues to demand further restrictions in the name of ‘stopping the spread,’ over 9 in 10 Americans continue to suffer under the weight of a destructive COVID-19 safety regime.” ~ Jordan Schachtel

Books, Crisis, Public Choice and Public Policy, Science

Don’t Fear the Reaper: A Review of The Plague Cycle by Charles Kenny

– January 21, 2021

“The Plague Cycle is an excellent treatment on the history of infectious diseases and the complex relationship with human societies, and it offers new ways to think about disease prevention going forward. Do pick it up with those reasons in mind, not just because of the implications for Covid-19.” ~ Byron B. Carson III

Crisis, Government, Public Choice and Public Policy, Science

The Empirical Case for a Mask Mandate Lacks Scientific Grounding

– January 19, 2021

“Americans rapidly adopted masks last summer and have continued to use them at consistently high rates ever since. Adding a new national mask mandate on top of this practice will bring little if any additional benefit to what voluntary adoption already achieved, though it may foster a false hope in the exaggerated claims of an obsolete and erroneous model.” ~ Phillip W. Magness

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

New Study Indicates Lockdowns Didn’t Slow the Spread of Covid-19

– January 19, 2021

“Perhaps there is a sort of heroic romanticism about flexing the muscles of the state to stop a fearsome enemy that makes lockdowns so attractive. The only problem with this is that we are dealing with reality, and society is not a playset.” ~ Ethan Yang

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Pandemic Security Theater

– January 15, 2021

“After ten months of lockdowns and shocking degrees of economic and social carnage, millions of Americans have decided that there surely must be some rationale for all the insanity and have signed on to become enforcers themselves, even and perhaps especially when the rules make no sense at all.” ~ James Bovard

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

First Goes Law, Then Goes Democracy

– January 15, 2021

“If this agenda is indeed to be forced on us by ruse, via the exploitation of a pandemic, one must wonder if its masterminds are remotely trustworthy. Why can’t they openly explain their intentions, if they are so wonderful? Today, they implement a covert replacement for the rule of law, one that subverts our will to theirs with no right of appeal. Tomorrow, they replace democracy.” ~ Stacey Rudin

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Free Markets

Enterprise Perseveres Through the Crisis

– January 14, 2021

“Though many of them are doing so in the shadows, there are entrepreneurs everywhere who are setting to work to solve the most pressing problems of our present and our future. The businesses those innovators introduce to the world will be all the more significant for the hurdles they surpassed.” ~ Peter C. Earle & Fiona Harrigan

Books, Crisis, Science

A Pandemic Reading List for Left, Right, and Libertarians

– January 14, 2021

“Pandemic responses will continue to serve as a convenient rationale for government interventions in the future. Anyone who has a concern for human liberty and prosperity should armed with intellectual ammunition to combat this huge increase in government power. We need more than ideological instincts here; to fully understand, we need to be aware of the sciences of infectious disease and the discipline of public health.” ~ Jeffrey A. Tucker