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.
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.
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.
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.
The costs of this government-forced economic collapse—in terms of lost lives and ruined health—are likely to be devastating.
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.
The latest health crisis has made it clear that governments put their own interests before those of the public while hiding crucial information and imposing counterproductive regulations.
What needs to be done in such a crisis is not to attempt to steer the market to ensure it provides what is needed, but to let it free to do what it always does: match the goals of entrepreneurial producers with the needs of the populace.
Philipp Bagus reports from Spain: when people are frightened enough, they'll let the state do pretty much anything.
Between 1909 and 1913, Keynes was the most important defender of British monetary imperialism in India. His faithful defense of the British Empire in those early years allowed him to become the century’s most influential economist after the war.
