Why are governments so enthusiastic about shutting down businesses when other less draconian measures are available and prudent? The answer lies in the fact that governments can act with near impunity and want to maximize their power.
The 2016 election was an important reminder that most experts were totally wrong in their predictions of what would happen. Now the experts are claiming that freedom and markets must be abandoned based on new guesses about the future.
Contrary to a recent headline, the US is not about to become the "epicenter" of COVID-19. In fact, the death rate of COVID-19 is lower in the US than at the same point in the timeline for many other countries we are told are comparable to the US.
Even if the COVOID-19 virus turns out to be more severe than the skeptics give us reason to think it is, we can get through it. We cannot survive the end of the division of labor. It would be the finish of civilization as we know it.
Central bankers are panicking, and their solutions range from "buy everything that moves" to pushing interest rates even further into negative territory. Yet this doesn't seem to be helping much.
The costs of this government-forced economic collapse—in terms of lost lives and ruined health—are likely to be devastating.
There is a reason to panic. But the panic should be over how governments—who know so very little about the virus that they have decided warrants destroying the global economy—will create many new threats to health and well-being through their policies.
Every crisis caused by the unbacked paper money system expands the power of the states over economic and social life, and unfortunately, once the state has expanded its power, it is unlikely the trend will be reversed.
At this point, monetary policy can't save Italy. Promises from Europe's central bank have allowed Italian policymakers to avoid coming to terms with Italy's bankrupt reality. Until now.
Philipp Bagus reports from Spain: when people are frightened enough, they'll let the state do pretty much anything.
