“The great myth of central planning is that capital can be rationally allocated through the elimination of profit and incentive. And that will just magically produce the right outcomes for society.” – Tom Luongo
The Chicom Coronovirus lockdown is a great illustration of this quote. The government is deciding what businesses are “essential” and “nonessential.” The reality is under normal circumstances (under circumstances when the government is not picking winners and losers that is) no private-sector job is nonessential. A profit-making company cannot afford nonessential employees. Too many of them and the business goes broke.
The government (and I include education), on the other hand, is loaded with non-essential employees. In the public sector, there are several hundreds of thousands of employees (probably more) whose absence society would not miss. They produce nothing and often spend their energies stopping the makers from doing their job. Yet few, if any, of these people – who had the power to shut down the economy – are at risk of unemployment or the work consequences of the shutdown order.
Most of the “benefits” of the shutdown really fall into the category of magic – that if you believe something hard enough it becomes true. Take Harris County’s mask order. A bandana is an acceptable mask. Does anyone seriously believe wearing a bandana will protect one from a virus? Sillier still, the order bans people from wearing N95 masks (which may be marginally effective) in order to keep them available for health professionals. It is all magical thinking.
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