Topic: Economic Trends

Don’t Mention the Virus

– June 23, 2020

“If we avoided the hysteria that eagerly thought this pandemic was either the end of globalization or the end of the human race, we all thought this would be a temporary nuisance in our lives. Instead, the virus is deceptively permanent and I don’t mean biologically. We haven’t really moved on from corona – it just lingers in our minds, sowing fear and discomfort all around us.” Joakim Book

Economic Trends, Public Choice and Public Policy

Unemployment Drop Due to Fewer States with Lockdowns

– June 5, 2020

“The drop in unemployment is almost entirely due to drops in states with lockdowns that have indefinite end dates and states that were partially or fully open as of May 16, 2020, with a bit of the drop coming from states that never had formal lockdown orders.” ~ Abigail Devereaux

Capitalism, Crisis, Economic Trends

The Recovery Has Begun, Ahead of Schedule

– June 5, 2020

“Taken together, the most recent jobs report suggests we could see output recover to 90% or more by the end of August. That’s great news. But a complete recovery might take much longer than that.” ~ William J. Luther

Crisis, Economic Trends

Looters, Lockdowners, and the Law

– June 3, 2020

“Based on the speed and duplicity of the news cycle, we can predict with confidence that within six months, you won’t find a single person in public life willing to defend the lockdown. And yet it was this event that laid the foundation for the rest of the tragic unfolding of events that is wrecking this country.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Economic Trends

Doux Commerce Amidst the Stars

– June 2, 2020

“States will be the primary actors in space for the foreseeable future, if for no other reason than the existing legal framework requires it. But commerce will be the driving force behind the new space age. Production and trade will enable human flourishing in orbit and beyond, just as they have on earth.” ~ Alexander Salter

Crisis, Economic Trends

Delayed Medical Procedures: Stories from the Front Lines

– May 30, 2020

“The issue of delayed medical care, like countless others, was never mentioned in the glorified plans that public health professionals cobbled together over the last 14 years. They also failed to account for other major consequences, such as the psychological toll of being treated like animals, or riots in the streets.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Economic Trends

Freedom Requires Resisting Coronavirus Pessimism

– May 27, 2020

“If there is a chance to not only pull society away from the social and economic abyss towards which it is moving, but return it to a path more in the direction of personal liberty, economic freedom, and equal individual rights under partial rule of law and constitutionally limited government, it requires resisting the pessimism that all is lost and irreversible, and having the courage and willingness to try to restore the free society.” ~ Richard Ebeling

Art and Culture, Crisis, Economic Trends

Lockdown Suicide Data Reveal Predictable Tragedy

– May 22, 2020

Data will be pouring in for many months and years: suicides, overdoses, domestic abuse, and every manner of social pathology. For years we will be left with the question of why. It’s too early for final answers, but the question will haunt us for the rest of our lives.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Crisis, Economic Trends

Will the Political Class Be Held Liable For What They’ve Done?

– May 21, 2020

“There is no way that politicians can compensate American citizens for all the damage they have inflicted in this pandemic. This COVID shutdown catastrophe should be a permanent black mark against the political class and the experts who sanctified each and every sacrifice.” ~ James Bovard

Central Banking, Economic Trends

The Fed is Failing, Again

– May 20, 2020

The Fed has refused to do the sensible thing. Rather than focusing on monetary stability, it has embarked on a host of misguided experiments that threaten the long-run integrity of markets.

Crisis, Economic Trends

Did the Lockdown Save Lives?

– May 19, 2020

No matter how much we try to spin this in our heads, no matter how much we want to believe that something good has come out of this catastrophe, we are all going to have someday to deal with the terrible but likely reality that it was all for naught.

Economic Trends

Negative Interest Rates: A Free Market Phenomenon

– May 19, 2020

Negative interest rates are not unnatural. They are a regular phenomenon in unregulated free markets.