“Those on the Right have a strong belief in markets – and yet markets seem to be failing us, just when we need them most…. Society would like to have an excess supply of masks or ventilators just in case—in case we have an emergency like the current one. A well-functioning government would have stockpiled them, recognizing the risk of not having them in just such a circumstance as the one now confronting us.”
A year ago I attended Midnight Mass at St. Michael’s Abbey of the Norbertine order in Silverado out here in Orange County. It began with a procession with candles, then continued with the beautiful liturgy going back many hundreds of years.
On the economics of the coronavirus panic, scholars and editorialists commonly have compared it to the Great Depression, World War II, the Great Recession of a decade ago or some other event, but…the best comparison is what is ironically called “The Great Depression of 1946,” because there was no Great Depression, or even a small recession.
When Prohibition was imposed in America in the 1920s, G.K. Chesterton, himself a famous bibber, quipped it was a good thing because it would bring families together to make beer and wine at home. My late father, born in 1917, remembered helping his father make wine in their basement in Detroit. I don’t want to downplay whatever is overtaking America, medically and economically, from the coronavirus. I recently got a takeout burger at a restaurant in Costa Mesa. The manager said the day before he had to personally call 60 employees to “terminate” them, an unfortunate but necessary technical term...
I generally have been supportive of President Trump’s economic policies. His tax cuts and regulation reductions have been crucial in sustaining prosperity. But he has made a couple of mistakes I have been meaning to write about. With the virus infecting the world, now is a good time.
It isn’t only Crooked Hillary, but the Crooked Democratic National Committee. Once again they cheated Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of her rightful place in the debates. Earlier, they changed the rules so Michael Bloomberg could enter the debates even though he didn’t have any donors except himself. They just changed the rules again. “Under the new requirements, candidates must have at least 20% of the total number of pledged delegates, a requirement only Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders have met,” reported CBS News. “The previous rules only required candidates to secure one delegate, which Gabbard did in American Samoa.” CNN then...
As the “Mike Will Get It Done” campaign smashes on the shoals of Super Tuesday, especially California, it’s worth looking at what blowing $500 million didn’t achieve. First, Bloomberg said, “California can serve as a great example for the rest of this country.” Maybe if you’re a billionaire who can fly above the Pyrite State in helicopters and private jets between exclusive homes, hotels and office buildings. While dining on the world’s finest cuisine – at least in restaurants that haven’t closed from the state’s insanity of adopting just the policies, such as a $15 minimum wage, Bloomie and the...
Propelled by his victory in Saturday’s Nevada Caucuses and previous combats, Bernie Sanders looks to be the Democrats’ nominee in 2020. He presents himself as a “progressive” bringing us the wave of the future, “democratic socialism.” His slogan: “Not me. Us” (emphasis in original). But when I hear him talk, I hear the Marxists I used to debate in the 1970s at the University of Michigan. Listen for when he screams against “the billionaire class,” as he did in the Eighth Debate from New Hampshire: “The way you bring people together is by presenting an agenda that works for the...
By far the most important political development of recent weeks was not the impeachment farce, but Trump headlining the annual March for Life rally in D.C. – the first sitting president to do so. It’s worth watching all 16 minutes of it, or reading the transcript at the same link. Since the unconstitutional and unconscionable Roe v. Wade edict in 1973, the March has been avoided even by Republicans Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II, all at least officially pro-life. Might Nixon have escaped Watergate and remained in office, or Ford have beaten Carter in 1976, if they...
In politics, there’s nothing more fun than seeing two of your opponents tear one another apart. So I hope you’re enjoying the war between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
