Elon Musk dropped an economic truth bomb on Joe Rogan’s podcast a couple of months ago. “If you don’t make stuff, there’s no stuff.” Obvious? You’d think so. But, as Musk pointed out, our economic policies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have ignored that simple truth. The prevailing assumption is that the government can press “pause”…
The book Stone Soup is a Newberry Award winning book, and what many consider to be a story of virtue beyond reproach. I remember reading this story as part of a unit in Public School in the 3rd Grade. In fact, there was an in-class potluck based on the theme of this book to celebrate…
Better Dead Than Red is a line I’ve found myself using on a number of occasions. Perhaps to be edgy, but also perhaps because I believe it. Absolutely, I would fight a war against an American version of The Great Leap Forward. That may be an extreme case, but don’t slippery slopes tend to slide…
On a Wednesday press conference, Michael Ryan at the WHO’s Health Emergency Program caused indignant headlines to ripple across the globe faster than the corona virus can infect your respiratory tract cells. Sweden’s somewhat diverging corona fighting strategy has been treated with outrage, anger, and disbelief in global news coverages – plus a handful of libertarians celebrating its newly-acquired laissez-faire status. “If we are…
COVID-19 is likely to change forever how we manage our everyday activities. It should also change how we value the work of first responders and the many low-wage workers who deliver our goods, stock grocery shelves, greet us at the cash register, and assist in hospitals and nursing homes. In a pandemic, the corporate CEO…
Two months ago, it had been mandatory in my local grocery to use only shopping bags brought from home. Plastic bags were illegal by local ordinance. Then the virus hit. Suddenly the opposite was true. It was illegal to bring bags from home because they could spread disease. Plastic bags were mandatory. As a huge…
By Emma Meshell As the COVID-19 death toll eclipses 34,000 in the U.S., it’s fair to say that the American people have a right to be worried about the public health crisis posed by the novel coronavirus. It’s also fair to say that, as terrible as this outbreak is, this is not the greatest threat…
As we approach the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the White House is advising Americans to go into full lockdown mode, even avoiding grocery stores and pharmacies. “The next two weeks are extraordinarily important,” said Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, in a press conference held Saturday. “This is the moment to not…
During a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, certain things suddenly come into sharp focus. In this case, we are overwhelmed with examples of how regulatory barriers, restrictions, and blockages have hindered the ability of society to adapt to rapidly changing conditions. In his preface to the 1982 edition of his classic Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman…
Initial claims for unemployment insurance soared to 6.65 million for the week ending March 28, exceeding last week’s shocking 3.3 million, and dwarfing the previous high of 695,000 in October 1982. During the Great Recession in 2008-09, total job losses were 8.8 million over 25 months versus a total of 9.96 million initial claims…