NPR: “Mounting Evidence” Suggests COVID Not As Deadly as Thought. Did the Experts Fail Again? | Jon Miltimore

NPR: “Mounting Evidence” Suggests COVID Not As Deadly as Thought. Did the Experts Fail Again? | Jon Miltimore: Prof. Neil Ferguson, who in 2005 said up to 200 million might die from bird flu (about 100 did), told the New York Times in March that the “best-case scenario” was 1.1 million Americans dead from COVID-19. 
By listening to modelers such as Ferguson, did the experts subject the world to the greatest blunder in a generation?

Socialism Is Doomed to Fail, Because It Lacks Market Prices | Alex Houtz

Socialism Is Doomed to Fail, Because It Lacks Market Prices | Alex Houtz: Even if the government is otherwise efficient, benevolent, and free of corruption, that government-mandated prices will always fail.

Government Report: Democrats’ COVID-19 Welfare Plan Would Sabotage Economic Recovery | Brad Polumbo

Government Report: Democrats’ COVID-19 Welfare Plan Would Sabotage Economic Recovery | Brad Polumbo: Under the Democrats’ proposal, 4 in 5 unemployment insurance beneficiaries would earn more staying on benefits than they would by working. That means tens of millions of Americans would face every financial incentive not to go back to work.

Here Are Just 10 of the Many Minority-Owned Businesses Destroyed in the Riots | Brad Polumbo

Here Are Just 10 of the Many Minority-Owned Businesses Destroyed in the Riots | Brad Polumbo: Not only has rioting, looting, and arson destroyed the livelihoods of many individual black and minority business owners, it also undercuts the economic foundation of urban and minority communities.

Harvard Study: "Gender Wage Gap" Explained Entirely by Work Choices of Men and Women | John Phelan

Harvard Study: "Gender Wage Gap" Explained Entirely by Work Choices of Men and Women | John Phelan: “The gap of $0.89 in our setting,” the authors concluded, “can be explained entirely by the fact that, while having the same choice sets in the workplace, women and men make different choices.”

Contact Tracing: Laying the Foundation for Real-Time Social Tracking | Sia Mohajer

Contact Tracing: Laying the Foundation for Real-Time Social Tracking | Sia Mohajer: What the pandemic has done is provide an excuse for governments to justify the mass collection of geo-location data. As we’ve pointed out, there is currently no way in which these data can be collected whilst respecting users’ fundamental right to privacy. There is no legal process for mandating the use of contact tracing apps; even if there were, the poor security implemented on the average smartphone makes these data highly vulnerable to theft or legal extraction.

19 Nuggets of Wisdom from the Best Economics Writer You've Never Heard Of | Gary M. Galles

19 Nuggets of Wisdom from the Best Economics Writer You've Never Heard Of | Gary M. Galles: 'The inducements of capitalism compel the money-makers to do good; the inducements of socialism enable the power-holders to do harm.'

Nursing Homes and COVID-19: Michigan Governor Extends Controversial Order as Lawmaker Calls for Probe | Jon Miltimore

Nursing Homes and COVID-19: Michigan Governor Extends Controversial Order as Lawmaker Calls for Probe | Jon Miltimore: Whitmer this week was taken to task by local media for extending her nursing home order.
“Elderly people have needlessly been exposed to the virus and died as a result of this order,” read an editorial in The Detroit News. 
The editorial reported that one local lawmaker, who could not get answers as to how many COVID-19 deaths had occurred in nursing homes, sent a letter on Monday to the district's US Attorney and Michigan Attorney General requesting separate probes of Whitmer’s order.

Left-Leaning Magazine: Rand Paul Appears to Be Right about School Closures | Jon Miltimore

Left-Leaning Magazine: Rand Paul Appears to Be Right about School Closures | Jon Miltimore: Writing at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum says an abundance of research supports Rand Paul’s assertion that school closures are an ineffective way to contain the spread of COVID-19, and may actually increase deaths.
Drum points to five academic studies that suggest Paul is onto something.

The New Deal Made the Great Depression Worse. Let's Not Repeat It | Oliver Dunford

The New Deal Made the Great Depression Worse. Let's Not Repeat It | Oliver Dunford: During the Great Recession, President Obama’s chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel infamously advised, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” And, sure enough, the COVID-19 threat has given politicians another crisis to promote long-sought policy goals. Some are calling for a modern version of the New Deal, but is this a good idea?

Why Chinese Communism Could Be the Final Casualty of the Coronavirus | Doug Bandow

Why Chinese Communism Could Be the Final Casualty of the Coronavirus | Doug Bandow: The regime’s mistakes appear to have damaged its reputation for competence. Observers are comparing the fallout to the impact of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union, when Moscow lied to its own citizens and foreign nations with equal enthusiasm.

America Outperforms Canada in Surgery Wait Times—And It's Not Even Close | Kevin Pham

America Outperforms Canada in Surgery Wait Times—And It's Not Even Close | Kevin Pham: America’s health system is certainly flawed and in need of reform, but there is clearly something working well enough that our system, despite already treating ten times more cases of appendicitis, can absorb the dissatisfied Canadians.

I, Pencil by Leonard E. Read | Leonard E. Read

I, Pencil by Leonard E. Read | Leonard E. Read: I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.

Writing is both my vocation and my avocation; that’s all I do.

You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with, my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery —more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious attitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, the wise G. K. Chesterton observed, “We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.”

Margaret Thatcher on Socialism: 20 of Her Best Quotes | Lawrence W. Reed

Margaret Thatcher on Socialism: 20 of Her Best Quotes | Lawrence W. Reed: This autumn will mark 30 years since Margaret Thatcher departed 10 Downing Street as the first woman and longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th Century.

7 Quotes That Reveal the Racist Origins of Minimum Wage Laws | Jon Miltimore

7 Quotes That Reveal the Racist Origins of Minimum Wage Laws | Jon Miltimore: Early progressives understood quite well that minimum wage laws cause job losses. They simply saw it as a social benefit, not a social ill. Those denied work by minimum wage laws could more easily be segregated, sterilized, and put in asylums, many reasoned.

Jon Miltimore

Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. His writing/reporting has appeared in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, and Fox News. 

"Disabled" Cop Fleeces Taxpayers While Working Full-Time for FBI | Robert Fellner

"Disabled" Cop Fleeces Taxpayers While Working Full-Time for FBI | Robert Fellner: Soaring public pension costs are driving a wave of tax hikes across California, but many officials

Why Talking to Yourself Is so Important | Gary M. Galles

Why Talking to Yourself Is so Important | Gary M. Galles: Leonard Read's great work Talking to Myself turns 50 this year. It is worth considering why he would give such a title to a book he wanted others to read.

Why Cuba's Infant Mortality Rate Is so Low | Luis Pablo de la Horra

Why Cuba's Infant Mortality Rate Is so Low | Luis Pablo de la Horra: Dictatorships have always resorted to data manipulation for political purposes. This isn’t new. What is really disturbing is that Western intellectuals continue to buy the propaganda of the oldest tyranny in the Americas.

8 Venezuelan Industries Hugo Chavez Nationalized (Besides Oil) | Jon Miltimore

8 Venezuelan Industries Hugo Chavez Nationalized (Besides Oil) | Jon Miltimore: While it’s well known Chávez expanded state control over Venezuela’s oil operations and seized the assets of foreign producers, this is hardly the only industry he nationalized.

How This Teen Entrepreneur Created a Million-Dollar Candy Empire | Jon Miltimore

How This Teen Entrepreneur Created a Million-Dollar Candy Empire | Jon Miltimore: When Alina Morse was seven years old, she was denied a lollipop because it was bad for her teeth. Instead of throwing a fit, she decided to create a naturally sweetened lollipop that would be better for her. She then turned this idea into a $6 million dollar business, making her a millionaire before the age of 14.