The Employment Situation Is Still a Disaster
It's possible that there may yet be a V-shaped recovery as employment really takes off in the next few months. But, so far, there's little reason to assume this will be the case.
It's possible that there may yet be a V-shaped recovery as employment really takes off in the next few months. But, so far, there's little reason to assume this will be the case.
Murray Rothbard’s number one rule in an economic crisis is for the government not to interfere with the market’s adjustment process. Doing so will only perpetuate the crisis.
Economists have long tried to use the idea of "public goods" as justification for a wide variety of government interventions. But there is no objective measure for what's a public good and what's not.
Thanks to the COVID-19 panic this year, graduates at America's institutions of higher education missed the "opportunity" to be lectured by some celebrity or politician about the importance of "giving back" to the community, or being yourself, or following your dreams.
The medical profession has long employed the state to pad doctor salaries and influence. Before the Flexner Report, mechanics made more than doctors and the brightest students avoided the profession to enter the clergy.
The political machines that run America's cities are likely to keep running them when these protests and riots end. Taxpayers will be worse off, but politicians will be even more powerful.
We already employ a wide variety of nonpolice crime deterrent strategies, from private gun ownership to security cameras to private security. Meanwhile, in spite of the proliferation of police and police departments, crime, rioting, and looting endure.
In the 1960s, politicians and bureaucrats had nearly unbounded faith in the ability to plan a nearly perfect society. Things didn't turn out as they had planned.
Ironically, the economic collapse in Europe has united both the poor and rich members of the EU in agreement that the EU has none of their best interests at heart. The political winds have shifted and are blowing against the EU.
It's a mistake to think freedom is protected by having the Supreme Court declare what is "constitutional," thus imposing centralized federal law on all the states.