Topic: Crisis

Tyler Cowen Doubles Down

– October 27, 2020

“Both of Cowen’s pieces resemble the work of a mainstream journalist ignorant of market economics. The essence of economics is tradeoffs. Precious little in his two pieces talks seriously about tradeoffs.” ~ David R. Henderson

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Who Deserves Your Trust in the COVID Debate?

– October 26, 2020

“Ask yourself, who deserves your trust? I would argue that anti-lockdowners are today’s abolitionists — people willing to take up an unpopular cause at incredible risk. Lockdowners may currently be ‘popular,’ but they are on the wrong side of history.” ~ Stacey Rudin

Crisis, History

The New Feudalism

– October 25, 2020

“It’s not surprising at all that a “medieval approach” to disease would also result in the deletion of so many modern advances in social/political understanding and consensus. It was reckless to the point of being evil. It has created a new feudalism of haves and have nots, essentials and unessentials, us and them, the served and the servers, the rulers and the ruled – all defined in the edicts passed by panicked dictators at all levels acting on the advice of bloodless intellectuals who couldn’t resist a chance to rule the world by force.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Crisis, Media, Policy, Science

The Inconsistent Messaging Behind Lockdowns

– October 22, 2020

“We would all be better off if an honest and principled conversation can take place. If lockdowns are found to be undesirable based on all the various considerations from the science to the economics, then we can move on to more productive conversations. There is no need to flip flop, censor, misconstrue, confuse, or otherwise argue as if this were some political debate where winning is more important than the truth.” ~ Ethan Yang

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

“Choose Your Liar” Democracy

– October 22, 2020

“In the short run, the political game is rigged so that winners capture far more power than many, if not most, Americans would willingly cede to them and vastly more than the Constitution permits. But citizens can reduce the hazards they face by remembering that winning votes never redeemed a rascal. The winner of next month’s presidential election will be a clear and present danger to Americans’ rights and liberties regardless of his margin of victory.” ~ James Bovard

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Free Markets

The Death and Life of the Great Third Place

– October 21, 2020

“We might also emerge from this bizarre Orwellian dystopia with a renewed appreciation for Main Street, community, and the third spaces. These places define normal and make us who we are. We support them because they support us in more ways than we realize. Perhaps we took these places for granted. Never again.” ~ Brad DeVos

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Economic Education, Government

Mindlessness Fuels Tyranny

– October 21, 2020

“The Great Barrington Declaration demonstrates a willingness to consider new information and broaden the context for setting policy. Those who want to sell us centralized ‘hatchet’ solutions prefer a public lulled to mindlessness by one narrative. The mindless will follow instructions. If many people continue to look towards one perspective only, without broadening the context, the natural consequence is that experts and politicians on ‘automatic pilot’ will lead us further down the road to tyranny.” ~ Barry Brownstein

Crisis, Government, Regulation

Government Policies Have Worsened the Coronavirus Crisis

– October 21, 2020

“The great lesson that the coronavirus crisis of 2020 should teach us is that government’s intervening and controlling hand prevents the far more effective and efficient means of mitigating and solving the problems surrounding a crisis that open and competitive markets offer and make possible.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Economic Education

Thomas Friedman Remains Rather Smitten With Authoritarianism

– October 20, 2020

“Better than Friedman’s authoritarianism is choice. Really, who needs to be told to be careful if a virus is spreading that might make us sick, or if we’re very old (according to the New York Times) might in very rare circumstances kill us? If something threatens, the logical answer is yet again freedom. Sadly the U.S. failed there, but even then the failure had a local quality to it.” ~ John Tamny

The World Health Organization Was Against Quarantines Only Last Year

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Regulation

The World Health Organization in 2011 Warned Against a “Culture of Fear”

– October 20, 2020

“What we see in this remarkable memo is identical to the ethos and import of the Great Barrington Declaration, which since its release has been treated like some kind of radical and controversial statement. Actually, the World Health Organization said the same thing in 2011 with much tougher language and more biting analytics, essentially warning that the world is being trolled by interest groups with a vested stake in panic over rational public health measures.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Crisis, Government, History

Through the Pinhole, Clearly

– October 20, 2020

“The problem isn’t that healthcare professionals and sundry medical scientists see the entire world unclearly, or that they sense only part of the proverbial elephant in the room, it is that they see the world very clearly indeed, but only through their own little pinhole view of it.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Media, Public Choice and Public Policy

The Strange Advent of Lockdown Denialism

– October 20, 2020

“As the latest repackaging of this epidemiological bill of goods gains traction in our public discourse, the world has but one viable pathway out of the present social, economic, and medical hellscape. And that is to meet the lockdowners with a resounding no.” ~ Phillip W. Magness