We are in the middle of the crisis caused by the overreaction to the COVID-19 virus. We have widespread panic, run on grocery stores, shutting down of businesses and shelter in place orders. It is hard to think about the end of this disaster but it is important to point out a number of lessons that won’t be learned given the current government overreaction and that many people are towing the line spread by the media and the government.
One of the problems of studying history, is that people can easily think that the course of action taken is the only possible one. We know that the current course of action is based on government decisions that were taken based on faulty and partial data. No-one in government will every say that they overreacted and that all of the current suffering that caused was for nothing. It is our duty as liberty loving people to point out the lessons that they will try to hide so maybe more of our fellow citizens learn for the next crisis.
People can protect themselves without government mandates
Before the different levels of government in the U.S. started forcing people to stay home and shutdown businesses, people and businesses changed their behaviors to react to the known information. People started wearing masks, businesses made some of their employees stay home, high risk people avoided crowded areas and public transportation.
The idea the people are incapable of making changes in their behavior to reduce the risk of infection is ridiculous and shows the disdain the people in power have to the normal people.
Government wasted lives during this Crisis
The government restricted the availability of tests and issued misleading guidelines that masks are not needed. This slowed down the reaction to the virus and prevented the private sector from bringing solutions to make testing and treatment possible earlier. Government bidding for medical supplies prevent private health providers from stocking the necessary equipments and supplies to prepare.
Shutting down the economy has more impact than just a temporary drop in the stock market
Many talking heads insisted on closing businesses and schools and attacked anyone who suggested otherwise as someone who is interested in the stock market level. Interest in the level of the stock market is not wrong by itself but it is a faulty measure. The economy is about creating and exchanging value between the different participants. When the government forces some businesses to shutdown, it not only prevents these businesses and their employees from creating value and making a living but it also deny the customers of these businesses the value they gained from that exchange. Denying this value exchange, will impact these customers whether they are businesses or consumers. The end result will be a reduction in the overall wealth and destroying the livelihoods of many people. Many of the customers will just try to find alternatives from other sources and the shutdown businesses may have lost their market forever.
Some may suggest that giving loans and handing out cash will solve this. People who say that don’t realize that printing dollars will not create the goods and services that were not produced during the shutdown. It won’t substitute for long term contracts that were terminated or the social and health impact of staying home without work for weeks or months.
We place a value on life all the time
Some people repeat the line that saving a single life is worth all the economic and psychological damage of the shutdown. This is a very immoral argument that aims to shutdown the debate. We have people who die in car accidents, industrial accidents, construction accidents and other activities that happen during the normal life. If we just shutdown each area of our lives that may cause a few deaths, we will find ourselves living in a pre-historic age pretty quickly and will all die from exposure to the environment. In all of these areas, we chose instead to trust that the vast majority of people will do their best to keep themselves safe.