Yesterday we saw that libertarian economist Donald Boudreaux applauds Joe Rogan for uncritically “airing ideas” that undermine confidence in COVID vaccines. Why does Boudreaux approve of this?  Since he is a libertarian, you might think it is because misinformation is liberty, or something.  But no.  He claims that vaccine skepticism is actually reasonable (my bold): […]

Libertarian economist Donald Boudreaux began a recent blog post with a quote about the dangers of government censorship, and then offered up this comment:  “Rogan deserves applause for airing ideas about Covid and vaccines that challenge the official “Science.”” Government censorship is dangerous, but this doesn’t mean Rogan should be applauded for credulously (or deliberately) […]

I just finished Reaching Beyond Race by Paul Sniderman and Edward Carmines.  They argued – in 1997 –  that people concerned with racial equality should focus on enacting policies that increase opportunities for the disadvantaged generally, using arguments that, as the title suggests, reach beyond race.  This is a common enough viewpoint, but they make […]

Public opinion in many countries is shifting against COVID-19 precautions and restrictions – even against vaccine requirements.  This has some libertarians declaring victory.  Not only are they declaring victory, they are claiming that the rollback of restrictions shows that they were right all along, and that the restrictions were foisted on us by a corrupt […]

Here is Michael Bang Petersen in the New York Times: As a researcher and an adviser to the Danish government on the pandemic, I have repeatedly stressed that we need to make complex trade-offs between deaths, the economy, public well-being and constitutional rights. There is not a single right answer for how to proceed. Within […]

Tax churn.  Or so I will suggest. There are two basic ways to improve the economic position of disadvantaged Americans using the income tax system.  The first approach, targeting, uses refundable tax credits to put more money in the hands of lower-income households.  Subsidies decrease for households with higher earnings.  The second approach is to […]

Here is what Biden said about omicron in December: “We’re looking ahead to a brighter and happier December,” Mr. Biden said on Wednesday. He ticked through a list of actions by his administration that he said would help ensure fully stocked shelves in groceries and retailers through the holidays. Asked by reporters if he was […]

A few days ago, libertarian economist Donald Boudreaux published a photo of a woman sitting in an airport with some kind of bubble over her head.  He claimed that it illustrated how insanely risk averse some people are about COVID.  When some of his readers objected to this absurd propaganda, he responded as follows (my […]

This drives me crazy.  From Alice Miranda Ollstein and Megan Messerly in Politico: Republicans are accusing the Biden administration of racism — against white people. The administration’s recommendation that race and ethnicity be considered when deciding who gets the limited supply of new Covid drugs is the latest political talking points with which Republicans are […]

Predicting the future is hard, but right now things look bad for President Biden and congressional Democrats.  Their agenda is stalled in Congress, the pandemic continues to kill people and disrupt normal life, prices are rising, and perceptions of the economy are bad.  No one is surprised that the President’s approval rating keeps hitting new […]