In theory, it is possible to adjust inflation measures to account for the many constant changes in prices resulting from changing demand, quality, and innovations. But it's essentially impossible to execute these adjustments accurately.
The Fed and other central banks are entering into a huge money-printing experiment in hopes of keeping the government-spending machine going at full speed forever. The unintended consequences will be highly destructive.
Lord Kelvin once said, “If you cannot measure it, then it is not science” and “your theory is apt to be based more upon imagination than upon knowledge.” This would certainly seem to apply to the many COVID-19 models now used to destroy human rights across the globe.
Can indifference be demonstrated in action?
Although national tragedies tend to bring a country together, it seems clear that the coronavirus will leave America as divided as it has been in modern history.
Prices determined in the marketplace are absolutely essential to a functioning economic system. This is no less true if today's property was redistributed unjustly in the past. Market prices today are the path to recovery.
Now, more than ever, we're in uncharted waters when it comes to central banks and monetary policy. Economist Brendan Brown takes a look at where we are and what the future might hold for central banks' race to the bottom.
The 1958 pandemic killed twice as many people as COVID-19 has so far. Yet, the economy in 2020 has collapsed far worse than either in 1958 or the far worse pandemic of 1918.
Thanks to past interventions, the economy is now rife with malinvestments and prices that don't reflect real demand. The solution is to allow deflation and other types of painful readjustment. Otherwise true growth will elude us.
Some claim "the rich" will be fine—or even better off—after the COVID panic destroys the economy for most of us. But there's a problem: the wealthy depend heavily on an economy fueled by the production and consumption of all workers and entrepreneurs.
