Topic: Crisis

Municipality Second Waves: Zero and Counting

– July 3, 2020

“As the media continues to talk of a “second wave,” keep asking the important question: Have we yet seen a municipality second wave based on deaths? If the answer is no, then figure that what is happening is the first wave still washing through the larger landscape.” ~ Daniel B. Klein

Crisis, Healthcare, Regulation

The Slow, Strange, and Wonderful Unmasking of America

– July 2, 2020

“The overturning of laws and mass displays of civil disobedience will play only supporting roles to knowledge gained and exchanged painfully slowly between people. The theoreticians and philosophers are asking important questions, but I urge them not to miss this deeply libertarian phenomenon analogous to so many market processes and free exchanges of ideas that slowly right society’s ship without a captain.” ~ Max Gulker

Crisis, History, Regulation

Opposing Subsidies Isn’t Opposing What’s Subsidized: Bastiat’s Lesson

– July 2, 2020

“Among the dead and largely forgotten, Bastiat is worth reading for the depth of his insight and the clarity of his exposition. His articles and essays expose the hidden absurdity of a lot of proposals to “encourage the national labour” by subsidizing the arts, by blocking out the sun to benefit the candlemakers, or by building a negative railroad consisting of nothing but stops.” ~ Art Carden

Crisis, Healthcare, Policy

Why We Should Not Be Concerned About Increasing Covid-19 Cases in Texas

– July 2, 2020

“That increased testing means we are discovering more young and healthy people with COVID-19 should not be surprising or alarming in the slightest. The hospitals are under financial pressure from having to mostly stop doing business for months, so they are classifying as many people as possible as a COVID case in order to gain the subsidy offered by the federal government.” Edward Peter Stringham

Authoritarianism, Classical Liberalism, Crisis, Policy

Independence Day in the Midst of Dictatorship

– July 2, 2020

“The Great Pandemic Follies of 2020 have been based on the illusion that government could make life risk-free. But the advocates of shutdowns, lockdowns, and endless prohibitions ignore the risk of dictatorship. That was what our forefathers fought against.” ~ James Bovard

Crisis, Free Markets, History, Socialism

Ad Hominems Against Freedom

– July 1, 2020

“The avenue to a peaceful, prosperous and truly color-blind free society will not come about through a victory by the identity politics warriors and the ideological high priests of political correctness. It requires an appreciation and defense of the liberal principles of individual liberty, equality of rights before the law, and a vibrant, open, and competitive free market.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Policy

Why Election Markets are Betting Against Trump

– July 1, 2020

“Trump’s persona – and even his own base’s perception of him – has changed in this pandemic. He was once the man who would liberate the country from the establishment. He then became the chief executive ruling mostly through executive edict, and hence participated in and now celebrates the lockdowns that shattered people’s lives.” ~ Jeffrey A. Tucker

Crisis, Healthcare, Policy, Regulation

The Real Pandemic Was a Nursing Home Problem

– June 30, 2020

“It is increasingly clear that despite driving the U.S. economy into an artificial depression, destroying tens of thousands of businesses and the lives of millions of citizens, and elevating rates of domestic violence, divorce, substance abuse, and suicide, US government policies failed to protect the most vulnerable segment of the population: individuals in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.” ~ Peter C. Earle

Porcupine Festival 2020 - Presidential Mountain Range, NH

Classical Liberalism, Crisis, Free Markets

Broadway Closed but Porcfest Stayed Open

– June 29, 2020

“These are people for whom freedom is not just a theoretical parlor game played by intellectuals. Freedom for the people at this event is something that is embraced as a life principle, something to be applied with bravery, determination, and joy. By holding the event this year, Porcfest kept its great tradition.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Crisis, Economic Education, Free Markets

The Office Will Come Back

– June 29, 2020

“It’s so easy amid political panic for the all-knowing to contend that “this time is different.” Not really. Some things never change. One thing that won’t is the value gained by people working alongside one another.” ~ John Tamny

Crisis, Economic Education, Free Markets

Surrounded by Government Failure, Why Do People Still Believe?

– June 27, 2020

“We should continue fighting the battle of ideas because when we are deep into the mess that both parties, and their underlying ideologies, are creating, some people will look for answers and for solutions outside the state.” ~ Veronique de Rugy

Central Banking, Crisis, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy

The Reluctant Fed

– June 26, 2020

“Fed officials should follow the example set by Ben Bernanke. They should be ‘extremely reluctant’ to engage in facilities like the MSLP, SMCCF, and PMCCF. Such programs are ‘outside the range of [the Fed’s] responsibilities.’ They are fiscal policies that ‘are best resolved by Congress’ since they require ‘balancing political and social priorities.'” ~ Thomas L. Hogan