Disasters, such as the horrific earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in February 2023, bring up a recurring myth — one that demands the wisdom of Frederic Bastiat.
Just as COVID has changed our lives in many ways since 2020, Chernobyl changed the world in 1986. These were two great disasters emanating from two major communist nations. The results and consequences of both will affect us for a very long time, maybe even forever.
As many will know, Chernobyl was instrumental in accelerating the end of the Soviet Union and is critical to our understanding of this period. However, could COVID be the key to understanding, in the future, perhaps, the end of Communist China?
The wary cat has a theory of the world: “Stove burns you. Stay away from stove.”
When we experience a large decrease in supply, or an increase in scarcity, the price mechanism helps us know what to do next.
Prices are the moral rationing agents of market exchange.
The media rarely celebrate ordinary people doing jobs for which they get paid. But the man selling several generators can be more impactful than the man giving one away.
It is a bedrock American principle that governments cannot discriminate against religious citizens and institutions.
Many of the most expensive flood and storm disasters in US history have occurred in recent decades. The glib response is to blame the severity of these catastrophes on climate change, but are we looking in the wrong direction?
In times of disaster it’s natural to try to find a silver lining — but don’t go looking for it in broken windows. Not only is this line of thinking flawed, but it’s also patronizing to those whose lives have been affected by this tragedy.
The invisible hand of the market reaches out to help people in a disaster, but anti-gouging laws cut it off at the wrist.
Keynesian prognostication aside, natural disasters are always bad for economic growth.