Why should we think that government officials are better at acting “rationally” than those they regulate? Even if we were to concede that smoking deserves to be restricted, why should we think the government can do it in a reasonable way?
The mainstream National Bureau of Economic Research definition of recessions is of little value. Real saving, not consumer demand, is the real driver behind economic growth.
Politicians are very proud when they can say a proposed program is "paid for." But this only means they've identified their intended victims ahead of time. Naming who will be plundered does not justify plunder.
Loose monetary policy can get people to use idle resources. But this new economic activity will likely be in the service of bubble industries that don't create real wealth. Moreover, these bubbles create many idle resources of their own when the bust comes.
When governments devalue the currency to push more exports, the country is getting rich in terms of foreign currency, but it is getting poor in terms of real wealth.
The ECB, always happy to repeat the mistakes of Japan, is likely to start new programs of debt monetization for green projects and claim it is a different, radical and new measure.
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