Topic: Crisis

Covid Collectivism

– November 2, 2020

“This deeply illiberal collectivist ideology thrives on irrational fear brought on by unusually poor information. And it refuses to acknowledge that Covid-19’s dangers, while indeed real, are not as great as suggested by daily screaming headlines, and are heavily confined to infirm groups on whom preventive attention should be, but isn’t, focused. It’s time for a revolt against Covid collectivism.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Policy, Public Choice and Public Policy

So Much for the “Strawman” of Lockdowns

– November 2, 2020

“Similar returns to lockdown are being actively discussed at the national level across Europe, and on a regional basis in the United States. The much-derided ‘straw man’ of renewed lockdowns, it would appear, has already sprung to life.” ~ Phillip W. Magness

Crisis, Media, Science

A Contagion of Hatred and Hysteria

– November 1, 2020

“The simple truth is that Covid-19 will not just go away if we continue to impose enough meaningless restrictions on ourselves. And the longer we fail to recognise this, the worse will be the permanent economic damage — the brunt of which, again, will be borne by the disadvantaged and the young.” ~ Dr. Sunetra Gupta

Crisis, History

Lockdowns Recreated a Pre-Modern Caste System

– October 31, 2020

“The poor and the working class are the new unclean, while the professional class enjoys the luxury of waiting the pandemic out, interacting only with disease-free laptops. The Zoom call is the 21st century equivalent of the manor estate on the hill, a way to interact with others while avoiding the virus to which the people who keep the goods and services flowing must necessarily be exposed. These attitudes and behaviors are elitist and ultimately selfish, even vicious.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Crisis, History, Media

Covid As a Source of Election Interference

– October 31, 2020

“There are so many other ways to interfere in an election than to tamper with voting machines – manipulating perceptions of Covid is just one of them.” ~ Micha Gartz

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

How Spreading Covid-19 Hysteria Will Backfire for the Covid-19 Vaccine

– October 30, 2020

“Risk can be mitigated and it can be proportional to the threat. We cannot let panic or the terrible damage inflicted on numerous populations by unwise lockdown efforts change this strategy.” ~ Michael Fumento

Crisis, Economic Education, Policy

Open Letter to Matt Yglesias

– October 29, 2020

“The economy is people – people producing, trading, cooperating, and consuming. Reasonable people disagree over what are the best policies to deal with Covid-19. But contrary to the impression conveyed by your tweet, no serious person argues for sacrificing lives to ‘the economy’ as a lifeless abstraction.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

Classical Liberalism, Crisis, Government

No One Is Required to Join the ‘Herd’ In Search of Immunity

– October 28, 2020

“Freedom is always the answer, including freedom to not join the herd. Unknown is why this bothers so many on the left, not to mention why what’s timeless bothers them. It seems they enjoy forcing their values on others, and more than that, they positively revel in being told what to do.” ~ John Tamny

Authoritarianism, Crisis

Influential Mask Study Under Retraction Watch

– October 28, 2020

“Here is one case in hundreds over this year, when hastily reviewed papers with simple errors drive media frenzies that feed directly into political outcomes, paradigmatic cases in which the appearance of science overrides the real thing in ways that injure the rights and liberties of people.” ~ AIER Staff

Books, Crisis, Economic Education

A Pandemic Reading List

– October 27, 2020

“‘May you live in interesting times’ is an apocryphal ancient curse. These times are certainly interesting, to say the least, and the best way to deal with them is to follow the Biblical exhortation in Proverbs chapter 4 to get wisdom, understanding, and insight. You’re not likely to find them on cable news and Twitter, unfortunately, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.” ~ Art Carden

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Defining Despotism Down

– October 27, 2020

“The failure of iron fist policies should be the storyline of the 2020 election but instead Biden and much of the media want to double down on repression. Can the votes that are cast in the coming week close the authoritarian Pandora’s Boxes that have opened across the nation? Or will conniving invocations of ‘data and science’ suffice to blight Americans’ rights and liberties in perpetuity?” ~ James Bovard

Crisis, Government, Science

Why So Gullible About Government in the Face of Covid-19?

– October 27, 2020

“Tamping down the Covid hysteria by making available accurate information about this disease is what well-informed and public-spirited governments would do. Yet such governments are largely mythical. Real-world governments behave quite differently.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux