Topic: Crisis

“Superstition in the Pigeon”: Can Lockdowns Really Stop Death?

– October 19, 2020

“We are faced with a virus with a 997 out of 1000 survival rate. We have done harder things before. We can only be free of this plague by remembering something we have always known: neither we, nor our favorite politicians, have control over death.” ~ Stacey Rudin

Crisis, Economic Education, Science

The Real Pandemic: Mass Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy

– October 19, 2020

“Given the coercive powers of the most important MSbP sufferers, the said governors, mayors, bureaucrats, etc., this pandemic–the MSbP pandemic–is wreaking untold havoc. We need more people to say we aren’t going to take it. We need more people to push back. We should not be in the thrall of the mentally ill.” ~ Craig Pirrong

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

Is Cowen Right about the Great Barrington Declaration? Part 2

– October 19, 2020

“Cowen is right that governments have reacted by scaring people. That’s one reason the Great Barrington Declaration is important. It seeks to tell people not to be so afraid unless they’re particularly vulnerable.” ~ David R. Henderson

Authoritarianism, Classical Liberalism, Crisis, Government

Will Things Ever Go Back To Normal?

– October 18, 2020

“Fast forward ten or twenty years and everyone forgets that the invasive powers we transferred to the state were ever temporary in the first place. Higgs is the intellectual champion we don’t deserve, but so desperately need. Let’s just hope that I am wrong, and that progress wins out in the end.” ~ Joakim Book

Classical Liberalism, Crisis, Science

Is Cowen Right about the Great Barrington Declaration? Part 1

– October 17, 2020

“Cowen’s big-picture criticism of freedom is less like Strauss (one of his favorite words) and more like Schrodinger’s Cat. He claims, in the last few paragraphs of his article, that the declaration ‘tries to procure maximum liberty for commerce and daily life’ and that its conception of human nature ‘raises the question of whether it even qualifies as a defense of natural liberty.’ Which is it?” ~ David R. Henderson

Crisis, Healthcare, Science

John Snow vs. The John Snow Memorandum

– October 17, 2020

“No thinking person today would question John Snow’s methodology or conclusions but every day more and more thinking people are rejecting the self-serving lockdown policies espoused by the signers of the John Snow Memorandum by declaring for Great Barrington instead.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Crisis, Healthcare, Science

The Year of Disguises

– October 16, 2020

“It boggles my mind when there is some notion that by wearing a face covering you are actually doing a ‘service’ to your neighbor and therefore everyone has to protect everyone by this. Actually, the opposite is true. You are now becoming an additional potential source of environmental contamination. You are now becoming a transmission risk; not only are you increasing your own risk but you are also increasing the risk to others.” ~ Roger W. Koops

Authoritarianism, Crisis

The Absurdity of Ad Hominem

– October 14, 2020

“The fact that Nafeez Ahmed, Sam Hammond, and some others dismiss anti-lockdown arguments with ad hominem accusations is evidence as powerful as evidence gets that these people have no idea what an intellectually respectable argument is.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Science

What’s Behind The WHO’s Lockdown Mixed-Messaging

– October 14, 2020

“Tedros aligned himself not with democracies and their fundamental principles but with an autocratic dictatorship, the same dictatorship that helped him assume power within the WHO. Together, using logical fallacies and pseudo-science, they betrayed international law governing human rights, the WHO’s own stated principles, and committed crimes against humanity on a massive scale.” ~ Stacey Rudin

Crisis, Healthcare

Covid Is Not Categorically Different

– October 13, 2020

“Many people today seem almost eager to be misled about the danger posed by Covid. Much of humanity today appears to perversely enjoy being duped into the irrational fear that any one of us, regardless of age or health, is at the mercy of a brutal beast categorically more lethal than is any other danger that we’ve ever confronted.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Coronavirus Counterfactual: A True Enemy Would Have Alerted Us In 2019

– October 13, 2020

“Needless to say, the high survivability rate for the virus doesn’t square with some of the anger directed at China. The anger contradicts the survivability number, plus it excuses politicians, experts and pundits for their role in what’s easily the biggest unforced error of the 21st century; one that has hundreds of millions rushing toward starvation. All for what?” ~ John Tamny

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Economic Education

Frankenstein 2020: An Economic Horror Story

– October 13, 2020

“It is time to heed the warning of Frankenstein, time to acknowledge the Monster at our national door and the hubris that led intellectuals to create it. For make no mistake, it seeks not only ‘treats’ but the thrill of perpetuating nasty ‘tricks’—to ‘blow up’ or ‘burn down’ our country to achieve the false promise of ‘equity.’ And in that game, we are all losers.” ~ Caroline Breashears