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Lockdowns as a Political Tragedy of the Commons

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Several of the leading European countries are now in the process of implementing a second wave of social and economic lockdowns in the face of new and a rising number of cases of the coronavirus. After bringing their societies to near total halts in the spring of 2020 with lockdowns and shutdowns in the name of “flattening the curve” to not overwhelm medical facilities and, hopefully, stop any further spread of the virus, this new increase in cases has brought about a repeat of the same governmental response: prohibit many human contacts by closing or restricting business activities and ordering people to stay at home. Governments in Germany and France announced new commands closing a good deal of their countries on October 28th, with the German authorities ordering the closing of all restaurants, bars, and public entertainment until the end of November. Of course, not everything is to be closed. The German government announced that schools would remain open, as ...

Unmasking Paul Krugman’s Misrepresentation of Ayn Rand

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“How Many Americans Will Ayn Rand Kill?” When New York Times columnist Paul Krugman’s article for October 22, 2020 was first posted on the internet that was the title of his piece. Someone at The Times must have had second thoughts about it, because now if you download Krugman’s piece the title has been changed to, “When Libertarianism Goes Bad,” but he still takes a named swipe at Ayn Rand in the body of the article, along with libertarians in general. What are Ayn Rand and libertarians guilty of? Well, according to Paul Krugman, they are selfish, inconsiderate, freedom-obsessed individualists who will not even show the basic decency and social sense for the “common good” to wear a face mask to ward off spreading of the coronavirus. What can be wrong in mandating and insisting upon everyone wearing a mask, if it saves lives? Krugman’s Selective Call for Imposed Paternalism Now, Krugman does see limits to compelling people ...

Who Should Run the Country?

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In one line in an editorial today, the Los Angeles Times has summed up everything that is wrong with America today. The editorial is about Trump’s early return to the White House after his hospital stay for treatment for Covid-19. That’s not the issue I wish to address. I wish to focus on this line that the Times uses to criticize Trump: President Trump returned to the White House Monday …and was raring to go back to the critical work of running the country.  That’s it. Right there in one small phrase the Times sums up everything that is wrong with the country. The assumption, of course, is that the president — and to a larger extent the government — should be “running the country.” That is the assumption that has guided the United States for more than 100 years, since at least the time of the presidential regime of ...

Disaggregating Keynes Demonstrates Macro Delusions

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The economic downturn that has accompanied the coronavirus crisis has seen huge increases in government deficit spending and mounting national debt in the United States and many other countries around the world. A revived version of Keynesian Economics has emerged rationalizing and justifying massive government expenditures as cures for falling production, rising unemployment, and widening income inequality. It seems ...

Gold and Free Banking versus Central Banking

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In spite of the officially declared “independence” of the Federal Reserve from the immediate political control of either Congress or the White House, America’s central bank is, nonetheless, a branch of the U.S. government that is responsible for setting monetary policy, overseeing a variety of banking regulations, and influencing market interest rates. As a result, politics is always present ...