Topic: Crisis

For Better Health and a Stronger Economy, Don’t Lock Down Again

– November 9, 2020

“Instead of following Europe into a second round of lockdowns, the United States should follow the advice of the top scientists and medical experts who have signed the Great Barrington Declaration. They advise avoiding lockdowns and focusing instead on protecting the most vulnerable, letting the disease spread among the young and healthy to build population immunity.” ~ Benjamin Powell

Crisis, Healthcare, Science

Sweden’s “Dry Tinder” Accounts for Many Covid-19-deaths

– November 9, 2020

“People have been criticizing Sweden’s health and elder care, but the failures of the Covid-19 period are in large part a reflection of the successes during the runup. Swedes did a great job in the two-year runup to March 2020 and were then punished by Covid-19. The data are clear: In understanding Covid-19-death tolls, ‘dry tinder’ is a major factor.” ~ Jonas Herby

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Agreeing and Disagreeing with Tyler Cowen on Covid-19

– November 9, 2020

“By failing to take account of Covid’s differential impact on people according to their age, governments have compromised their credibility. By falsely treating everyone from kindergartners through college students and even middle-aged folks in normal health as if they all are as imperiled by Covid as are residents of nursing homes, governments signal a disregard for relevant facts. They reveal that they’ll seize upon any crisis, inflate it opportunistically, and use it as an excuse to grab more power regardless of the underlying realities.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

The Mystery of Taiwan

– November 7, 2020

“According to the lockdown narrative, Taiwan did almost everything ‘wrong’ but generated what might in fact be the best results in terms of public health of any country in the world.” ~ Amelia Janaskie

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

The Political Parties Abandon the Working Class

– November 6, 2020

“The approach to the pandemic that the Democratic Party and liberal-left has adopted represents the culmination of Frank’s concerns expressed in Listen, Liberal. The working class and poor have been utterly forsaken; the party serves primarily the interests of the ruling class. The Democratic Party cannot expect to win back the working class until it addresses this shortcoming. Because even if Joe Biden wins this election narrowly, this fundamental issue will remain.” ~ Jenin Younes

Crisis, Policy, Science

The 2013 Lockdown Experiment in Boston

– November 4, 2020

“In April 2013, a citywide lockdown was cancelled in less than one day owing to concerns about health & commercial costs.” ~ Peter C. Earle

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

Attacks on Dissenting Voices Set Back Scientific Progress

– November 4, 2020

“Learning depends on open inquiry. Thoughtful, informed people know that something is terribly wrong with the Covid-19 orthodoxy. Others have ‘nagging suspicions.’ If dissenting voices continue to be attacked by those in positions of power, there is little doubt that decades from now historians will ask, How could they have been so blind?” ~ Barry Brownstein

Crisis, Policy, Science

A Sensible and Compassionate Anti-COVID Strategy

– November 4, 2020

“We should respond to the COVID virus rationally: protect the vulnerable, treat the people who get infected compassionately, develop a vaccine. And while doing these things we should bring back the civilization that we had so that the cure does not end up being worse than the disease.” ~ Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Policy

The ’Rona Squeeze and a Swedish Hip-Hopper

– November 3, 2020

“Most everywhere else, different rules apply: no matter the facts, we must squeeze harder. The badly-behaved virus must stop progressing, must cease and desist. Anything else, apparently, ‘just doesn’t seem worth it.'” ~ Joakim Book

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Covid and Constitutional RoadKill

– November 3, 2020

“Americans need to recognize the profound weaknesses revealed this year in democratic governments at every level. A strict adherence to the Bill of Rights is the surest way to reduce post-Election Day perils. If freedom is to survive, Americans must become far better informed of the dangers from government — regardless of who wins the Presidency.”~ James Bovard

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Economic Education, Science

Lockdowns as a Political Tragedy of the Commons

– November 3, 2020

“All of this because of a political tragedy of the commons created by governments who insist on their right and duty to nationalize decision-making over all the private actions and activities of the citizenry subject to their control. Maybe we need a new slogan: Locked-down lives matter, and governments should stop doing it.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

Death by Lockdown

– November 2, 2020

“We attempted to intimidate a virus with PhDs and political power, hoping that it would shrivel and die, and in so doing dramatically disabled human freedom and social functioning. What do we have to show for it? Massive carnage, and a virus that is still with us.” ~ Jeffrey A. Tucker