I recently voiced fear of coming inflation. Yet on reflection, high inflation is already here. While measured inflation remains low, I’ve been arguing for years that CPI bias heavily distorts official measures. My point has always been that official measures of inflation are too high, because official measures fail to properly account for rising quality and variety of goods. In the last month, however, all this has suddenly reversed. Due to the coronavirus, official measures of inflation are now much too low.
Category: Blogs
The official Everything-Voluntary.com blog.
Government More Deadly Virus
No one knows what the coming weeks will bring. I believe the virus itself is less dangerous than the social effects of the panic and the anti-social power-grabs by various governments.
Love the Very New and the Very Old
Futurists seem to miss the fact that old things contain worthwhile wisdom and usefulness. Traditionalism seems to miss the fact that static institutions become corrupt without change. Meanwhile, the modernists are so tied up in the recent past as to be blind to both tradition and innovation.
By The Time We Notice We’re Hungry, It May Be Too Late
There’s a non-trivial chance that Americans are rushing headlong into a horror we haven’t seen since the Civil War — mass starvation — or, at the very least, malnutrition on a scale we haven’t suffered since the Great Depression.
If It’s Wrong to Steal Your Wallet…
“Suppose I threaten to shoot you unless you do what I want. Are you free?” At least one person in the audience dodged the question, but everyone knew “No” was the correct answer. This then led straight to Leiter’s next question: “Suppose I threaten to starve you unless you do what I want. Are you free?”
Congress Declares Itself Non-Essential
Around the US, “essential” workers are going to work everyday and doing their jobs, COVID-19 pandemic or not. Factory workers are producing things. Truck and delivery drivers are transporting those things. Grocery store employees and food service workers are making sure food reaches our tables. Congress, not so much.
“Papers, Please” is Now Reality
Local employers are now giving employees “travel papers” so they can prove to cops who might stop them for being out on the road that they are traveling “legitimately”. I personally know that Walmart, Family Dollar, a cattle feed producer, and other businesses have issued such papers. Probably everyone whose business is deemed “essential” enough to be allowed to stay in business is doing the same.
How Isaac Newton Turned Isolation From the Great Plague Into a “Year of Wonders”
College students around the world left campus this month, unsure when they would return and what daily life would look like until then. Forced to leave their friends and classmates behind and return to their childhood bedrooms, young people, who on average are less impacted by COVID-19’s dire health effects, may understandably feel angry and resentful. Free and independent, with their futures full of possibility, these students are now home and isolated. It can seem wholly unfair and depressing. But the story of another college student in a similar predicament might provide some hope and inspiration.
Decarceration: COVID-19 is Opportunity Knocking
On March 23, 14 US Senators from both major political parties asked US Attorney General William Barr and Michael Carvajal, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, to “transfer non-violent offenders who are at high risk for suffering complications from COVID-19 to home confinement.” The question: If the prisoners in question pose no threat of violence, why were they sent to jail or prison in the first place?
Wisdom in Plenty vs Wisdom in Crisis
It seems when the world is humming along and freedom and prosperity are abundant, there are many experienced hands in many fields with a lot of interesting and useful advice and input. When the shit hits the fan, prosperity ceases, and freedom is strangled, nearly everyone ceases to bring wisdom or insight to the table.