Brownstone Institute Articles ⋆ Page 77 of 213 ⋆ Brownstone Institute

Why Economic Cost Was So Seriously Neglected

Per Bylund / May 24, 2023 / Economics / 5 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Economic illiteracy is an important part of the explanation of why there was such broad acceptance of the pandemic policies. And also why there was very limited skepticism among common people. Had they understood economic reasoning, they would have been inoculated (if you excuse the pun) against being deceived by experts. They would have been able to see through the promises and would have asked the necessary questions.

Why Economic Cost Was So Seriously Neglected Read More »

Fall of the Experts

Steve Templeton / May 23, 2023 / Public Health, Society / 11 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

The pandemic opened the curtain to expose the folly of expert worship. Experts are just as fallible and prone to biases, toxic groupthink and political influence as anyone else. This recognition might make people uneasy. However, it should also force a sense of responsibility to search for the truth despite what the experts might say, and that’s a good thing.

Fall of the Experts Read More »

The Triumph of the Ulterior Motive

Thomas Buckley / May 23, 2023 / Media / 7 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

No longer would it speak truth to power, but it would speak lies on behalf of the powerful and psychologically justify that shift by trying to convince themselves they were doing so for the right and proper good of the nation and the world when in fact they were doing so for base and selfish reasons.

The Triumph of the Ulterior Motive Read More »

Focused Protection: Jay Bhattacharya, Sunetra Gupta, and Martin Kulldorff

It’s Not Really About the Data

Gabrielle Bauer / May 22, 2023 / Philosophy, Society / 6 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

To prevent a repeat of the Covid debacle, we need to draw on principles that transcend the contours of a particular virus, like the above-mentioned freedom of assembly, bodily autonomy, and the right to provide for one’s family. As an online acquaintance—a man of the cloth—recently put it, “Would you want to live with the knowledge that you are alive today because thousands of families have lost their means of survival?” Well, no, I would not.

It’s Not Really About the Data Read More »

The Illusion of Republicanism

Michael Esfeld / May 22, 2023 / History, Philosophy, Policy / 17 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

The open society is also dependent on a positive narrative of freedom and self-determination. As an open society, however, it must be open in terms of how – and thus by which values – this narrative is justified. That is to say, it has to accommodate a pluralism of narratives which agree in the conclusion of implementing in society the moral obligation for every person to respect the right to self-determination of every other person.

The Illusion of Republicanism Read More »

A Warning to Those Who Seek Power

Alan Lash / May 22, 2023 / Philosophy, Society / 7 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Over the past three years, Power has hurt or ruined the lives of millions. It seems to have taken over many of our institutions: government, health, education, banking, and the media, all to negative effect. And the whole time all the people with authority in those institutions thought they were the ones in charge.

A Warning to Those Who Seek Power Read More »

WHO to Govern the Health of the World?

Ramesh Thakur / May 21, 2023 / Government, Public Health / 12 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

This is the stuff of bureaucrats’ dreams: the legal authority to declare an emergency and the power thereafter to commandeer resources for oneself from sovereign states and to redirect resources funded by the taxpayers of one country to other states. The Covid years saw a successful bureaucratic coup that displaced elected governments with cabals of unelected experts and technocrats who lorded it over citizens and intruded into the most intimate personal behaviour and business decisions.

WHO to Govern the Health of the World? Read More »

Sorry, This Is Not Going Away

Jeffrey A. Tucker / May 21, 2023 / History, Policy / 6 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Maybe this book by the Covid Crisis Group hopes to be the last word. This will never happen. We are only at the beginning of this. As the economic, social, cultural, and political problems mount, it will become impossible to ignore the incredibly obvious. The masters of lockdowns are influential and well-connected but not even they can invent their own reality.

Sorry, This Is Not Going Away Read More »

What Would We Do Without the FDA and EPA?

Joel Salatin / May 20, 2023 / Government / 4 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

What’s the first thing corporate executives say when their bad behavior and actions are discovered? “We complied with all government licenses.” What if they had to face their deeds by themselves? And what if they knew thousands of eyeballs were watching them, from people who couldn’t be wined and dined, bought off and cajoled? Bad corporate executives never get punished. But let some poor farmer put a backhoe in a mud puddle, and he loses his farm. Or some vitamin therapy genius find an answer to a disease and the system beats him into oblivion.

What Would We Do Without the FDA and EPA? Read More »

College Administrators Need to Admit Wrongdoing and Beg Forgiveness

Mark Oshinskie / May 20, 2023 / Education / 5 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Traditionally, college commencement addresses are corny or grandiose exhortations for grads to devote their lives to serving others. But this year, commencement speakers should show self-awareness and focus on how badly they and their peers have failed their students and an entire generation of young people during the past 38 months. They need to apologize profusely, specifically and at length.

College Administrators Need to Admit Wrongdoing and Beg Forgiveness Read More »

The Truth about Randi Weingarten and the School Closures

Jennifer Sey / May 19, 2023 / Education / 6 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

In reality, Weingarten did everything in her power to keep schools shuttered; she just pretended that she wanted them open. She had a direct line to Rochelle Walensky, the Director of the CDC, and interjected impossible-to-meet guidelines about what was necessary to re-open schools “safely.” Emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act in May 2021 revealed that the AFT lobbied the CDC and suggested language for the agency’s federal reopening guidance.

The Truth about Randi Weingarten and the School Closures Read More »

The Battle Against Inflation Is Nowhere Near Won

David Stockman / May 19, 2023 / Economics / 8 minute read

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

In a word, American fiscal governance is broken and broken badly. Owing to the Fed’s massive monetization of the public debt over last several years Washington has lost all sense of the economic costs and consequences of massive borrowing. And that’s because there has been no “crowding out” and no spiraling interest rate signals from the bond pits of the type which historically kept Washington pols close to the fiscal straight and narrow.

The Battle Against Inflation Is Nowhere Near Won Read More »