Topic: Government

A Republic if You Can Keep It

– December 25, 2020

“Justice Gorsuch’s book reminds us that our government exists primarily to protect our freedom and that this framework is something we ought to work to preserve. Preserve not just for ourselves but for future generations of Americans so that they too may experience what it is like to live free.” ~ Ethan Yang

Economic Education, Government, Public Choice and Public Policy, Science

Drink Your Coffee, Be Considerate, and Fight Covid-19

– December 25, 2020

“Lockdowns are a blunt policy instrument typical of government officials who can only pretend to know how individuals make choices and the tradeoffs they face. However, we can still be considerate of the choices people make and fight Covid-19.” ~ Byron Carson

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Covid’s Lesson: Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others

– December 24, 2020

“Do the aristocrats want the hoi polloi to heed their dire warnings? They should lead by example. Politicians, rule thyselves. If you can’t or won’t, at least acknowledge your guiding principle, which seems to be that some animals are more equal than others.” ~ Art Carden

Crisis, Fiscal Policy, Government

An Incomprehensive List of Spending Bill Nonsense

– December 23, 2020

“While congressional interests guide the spending agenda, Americans will continue to suffer at the hands of the government they fund. The swamp, as we are learning, is far from drained.” ~ Peter C. Earle & Fiona Harrigan

Free Markets, Government, Regulation

Private Charity versus the Political Grinches

– December 23, 2020

“We should not forget the power of the private sector not only in the marketplace of profit-making supply and demand, but in the charitable good works and efforts of voluntary giving in the other institutions of a free civil society. Let us not forget that benevolent caring, sharing and gift-giving is what the spirit of Christmas is really all about, and most especially in a society of liberty.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

Crisis, Government, Science

Singapore’s Accidental Covid Experiment: Reaching Herd Immunity Safely

– December 23, 2020

“Although it was unfortunate that the migrant workers of Singapore had to endure such appalling conditions amid a global pandemic, the data from the incident is as precise as it gets and shouldn’t be ignored. Close to half of the over 320,000 workers locked away in crowded and unsanitary facilities were exposed to Covid-19 but endured only 2 fatalities. With an infection fatality rate near zero, perhaps the greatest danger wasn’t Covid-19 but the lockdown they had to endure.” ~ Ethan Yang

Crisis, Economic Education, Government

The Year Populism Was Right and the Experts Weren’t

– December 22, 2020

“Deep down 2020 has taught us that officials don’t have a clue, that they don’t control what they pretend to control, and that their measures aren’t targeted to or calibrated for stopping the spread of a virus.” ~ Joakim Book

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Personal Liberty Sacrificed at the Altar of Covid Public Safety

– December 21, 2020

“This is a debate about the rights of the individual in relation to the state. It’s a debate about whether the ends always justify the means, and whether the risk of a tiny increase in mortality among the over-80s justifies interventions unseen in modern history.” ~ Adam Creighton

Authoritarianism, Government, Policy

FBI’s Newest Prerogative: Shooting Subway Passengers

– December 21, 2020

“The prerogatives of FBI agents epitomize how America is becoming a two-tiered society: those above the law and those below it; those whom the law fails to bind and those whom the law fails to protect. Sovereign immunity provides federal agents with the equivalent of legal bulletproof vests. As long as agents enjoy sweeping prerogatives for the use of deadly force, life will continue to be perilous for subway riders and damn near everybody else.” ~ James Bovard

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

2020 Was Not The Worst Year Ever. Not Even Close.

– December 18, 2020

“Two thousand and twenty has…underperformed, to say the least. We were promised flying cars, and all we got were mask mandates. Has 2020 been the worst year ever, though? Not even close.” ~ Art Carden

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government

Will 21 Club’s Demise Finally Awaken People To New York City’s Slow Suffocation?

– December 17, 2020

“The problem was that New York’s governor and the mayor of the world’s greatest city decided they would do the thinking of the world’s most talented people, and also the protecting. Their arrogance was and is astonishing.” ~ John Tamny

Crisis, Government, Science

The FDA’s Deadly Caution

– December 16, 2020

“Any discussion of the lives saved by the FDA must include estimates of the lives lost due to that very same agency. Two thousand Americans are dying each and every day while there’s a savior in a syringe sitting in a warehouse ready to protect us.” ~ David R. Henderson & Charles L. Hooper