A high German court recently ruled that the European Central Bank has overstepped the bounds of its power. The angry response from high-ranking European bureaucrats tells us a lot about what they want for the EU.
The massive bailout of indebted sectors that already had overcapacity and were in process of obsolescence may also drive the largest wave of malinvestment in decades. If the previous recoveries came with poor wage and capital expenditure growth and high debt, the next one will likely be even worse.
One clue as to why the stock market has rebounded while daily economic news grows worse could be the flood of new punters betting on stocks, from high-flying tech shares to dead-in-the-water leisure stocks.
Of course, anyone who deals in interacting with the real world (i.e., not lifelong bureaucrats like Fauci, who needs not exhibit any actual competence to collect his $400,000 paycheck) understands that preserving and augmenting wealth is key in enhancing health and life.
Some county governments in Colorado have made it clear that they don't intend to adhere to the governor's ongoing edicts requiring business closures and mandating social distancing. And it's unclear that the governor is willing to burn the political capital to force county governments to do so.
Propaganda kills, but it also works. Many of the same tactics employed to destroy opposition to the Iraq War are being used today against opponents of lockdowns.
In a free country, doctors would be free to prescribe whatever drugs they wish to anyone for any reason. In fact, individuals should be free to buy drugs without a special government-required doctor's note.
Neither voters nor politicians watch the bureaucracy very carefully, so they respond as one might expect—advancing their own and their favorites' interests, at the expense of the public they are supposedly working for.
Americans were once harangued by government "experts" about the need to slow down on highways in order to save lives. Few listened. Today, laws demanding everyone "stay at home" may suffer a similar fate.
James Bovard reports form Maryland, where the COVID-19 lockdowns have decimated employment and the rules only apply to powerless ordinary people. Cops and politicians can do as they like.
