The French president Macron recently fired a warning shot across the bow of the European ship of state. He said that without making all EU countries mutually responsible for the debts of individual countries the EU could collapse.
It seems that modern monetary theory (MMT) doesn’t make a real distinction between monetary policy and fiscal policy. If that’s the case, then a system based on MMT has no need of a central bank.
So-called price gouging is a gimmick used by politicians and the media to rally supporters and viewers. It’s almost never about predatory business practices, and it’s always the people who end up paying the cost of price control laws.
Governments can’t alter the laws of economics any more easily than it can the laws of physics. Yet they seemingly never cease trying, whether under some private or public pressure to skew economic outcomes.
Many entrepreneurs and policymakers have embraced the expansion of capacity at hospitals and medical facilities as an answer to the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This effort has been characterized by an overwhelming shift in commercial productivity towards medical equipment (ventilators) and personal protective equipment (PPE). Along the way, however, businesses and medical professionals have endured significant regulatory hurdles.
