By Ryan McMaken As of April 6, forty-one states have statewide "stay-at-home" decrees in place. These orders vary widely from place to place. In some states, there are long lists of exempted industries including marijuana dispensaries, liquor stores, hardware stores, and of course, grocery stores. In some states with these edicts, public lands, state parks, … [Read more...] about The COVID-19 “Lockdowns” Are What Twenty-First-Century Mob Rule Looks Like
Counter Markets – Trends & Strategies for Maximum Freedom
Unwealthy is Unhealthy, So Why Mandate It?
By Richard M. Salsman Abundant historical evidence informs us that poverty both sickens and kills over the long term, that it brings higher rates of morbidity and mortality, not only in less-wealthy, “less-developed” nations but also among poorer folks in wealthier nations. Put positively, wealth promotes health; it thereby increases lifespans and happiness; and it does so … [Read more...] about Unwealthy is Unhealthy, So Why Mandate It?
Controls Breeding More Controls
By Raymond C. Niles We are experiencing an extraordinary example of the political-economic principle that “controls breed controls.” For example, whenever a government imposes large-scale price controls that results in widespread shortages across an economy, it faces an inevitable subsequent choice: repeal the controls, or impose comprehensive rationing across the economy. … [Read more...] about Controls Breeding More Controls
What Comes After the Coronavirus, Freedom or Despotism?
By Richard M. Ebeling The coronavirus crisis that has enveloped the world has brought about calls for society and economy-wide action on the part of governments that has been matched by the imposing of radical shutdowns and compulsory mass quarantining as tens of millions of people are told to not to go to work and to stay at home instead. Governments have also been … [Read more...] about What Comes After the Coronavirus, Freedom or Despotism?
This Is Not a Recession — This Is a Government-Imposed Shutdown of the Private Sector
By Hunter Hastings Economists and Wall Street analysts are using the word recession to describe the looming plunge in output in the US economy. We’ll just make the point early that economists, exhibiting the typical emptiness of their failed science, can’t even agree on the definition of recession. Undeterred by lacking a definition, the geniuses at Goldman Sachs and … [Read more...] about This Is Not a Recession — This Is a Government-Imposed Shutdown of the Private Sector