I study Stoicism daily, and try hard to practice what I learn. The ancient Stoic masters ranged from one being a slave to another, an emperor. To say that Stoicism is prepared for every up and down that life has to offer would be an understatement. The current COVID-19 era is no exception to that.
Category: Blogs
The official Everything-Voluntary.com blog.
Commentary on State Capacity and State Priorities
“Caplan’s point is a good and striking one. His conclusion is fairly extraordinary, though: He is apparently claiming that all (or a plurality) of the major decision makers in the American government are power-hungry demagogues who deliberately decided to channel money into stimulus rather than research because they are bad people.”
Resilience
Economies follow natural law. Economies endure and survive whatever stresses arise. I read an excellent article at FEE recently that even asserted that an economy, without serious structural problems, adjusts rather rapidly.
On Pandemics
96% of positive coronavirus cases were asymptomatic across 4 US state prisons, according to research by Reuters. I’d heard previously that asymptomatic persons numbered 50-70% of positive coronavirus cases. If most people who get the virus never show any symptoms, and if total case mortality is well below 1%, is COVID-19 really a pandemic?
State Priorities, Not State “Capacity”
In the last few years, social scientists have started heavily appealing to “state capacity” to explain the wealth of nations. Why do some countries prosper? Because they have great state capacity. Why do others flounder? Because they have crummy state capacity. What do floundering countries need to do in order to prosper? Build state capacity, naturally.
Government Likely to Make Itself Hero
If I had any trust or faith in government, this experience would have destroyed it for good. Of course, that ship sailed decades ago, so watching the incompetence and tyranny from those who imagine they know best how to run your life hasn’t affected me much.
So Congested No One Goes There Anymore?
I was glad to see Florida beaches reopen last weekend. Agree with me or not, though, this part seems crazy: “The beaches will be open from 6 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 8 p.m local time.” When you reduce hours of operation, you obviously increase congestion, which in turn obviously impedes social distancing. Upshot: If you’re going to reopen, you should reopen completely.
Corporate Greed
There is no such thing as corporate greed, even though the politicos greedily gobbling up time, energy, and news space would have us believe that it is so. First of all, a corporation is a legal fiction.
Concern Troll is Concerned, Elbe Day Edition
What’s inherently controversial about the Trump/Putin statement that wasn’t controversial about the similar 65th anniversary message from Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev?
The New Normal
It’s time for us to accept that this pandemic, and social isolation, are here for awhile. But in addition to that, our reality has changed, possibly for good. We’re in a new normal.