The truth is that fiscal irresponsibility and excessive debt accumulation are to blame for the debt distress many countries are already facing and will continue to face. The whole point of being prudent and fiscally responsible during good times is precisely to be better able to face crises.
Also from Vero is this EconLog post on the folly of industrial policy.
Juliette Sellgren talks with Matthew Continetti about the American right.
David Henderson is a fan of Mercatus Center scholar Nolan Gray’s book, Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It. Here’s the final paragraph of David’s review:
In the last five years, I’ve reviewed two other books for Regulation that make the case for easing up on zoning restrictions. Richard Rothstein’s 2017 masterpiece, The Color of Law, argues that exclusionary zoning laws, along with other government interventions, make it difficult for black people to find affordable housing. (See “How Government Enforced Segregation,” Fall 2017.) Conor Dougherty’s Golden Gates documents attempts in the San Francisco Bay area to loosen restrictions on housing. (See “The Solution to Expensive Housing Is More Housing,” Spring 2021.) We are seeing some attempts at the state level to relax or end California cities’ requirements for single‐family housing. If we see more of that and in more parts of the country, as I think we will, some of the credit will belong to Gray’s Arbitrary Lines.
Julie Ponesse identifies a core reason why vaccine mandates are immoral.
Ramesh Thakur is right: “The scandalous silencing of dissenting doctors imperils us all.”
Jay Bhattacharya: ““The idea that there’s a central authority that can distinguish true from false, that can ex cathedra on high.. And if you disagree, then you’re a heretic.. That’s a dangerous, dangerous idea.. It’s the return to a dark age.”