Posted on 02/08/2021 2:05:15 PM PST by livius
When lockdowns first happened, my initial thought was geeky, and only later did I begin to realize the implications for human rights and liberties.
My thought was: this is going to be devastating for future capital investment. The basis of my fear was the knowledge that in almost all poor countries, property rights are insecure, particularly for capital goods. These are goods that are produced to make other goods (the “produced means of production,” in the classic formulation by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk). Their existence and protection is a key to prosperity. They enable more complex economic structures – the extended order, in F.A. Hayek’s phrase. It’s the basis of hiring and investment, and the foundation of wealth production...
When governments attack capital by making it less secure, denying its own volition over how it is deployed, or it comes to be depleted through some other shock like a natural disaster, capital cannot do the work of creating wealth. This is a major reason for poverty. Start a business, make some money, employ some people, and a powerful person or agency comes along and steals it all. People get demoralized and give up. Society can’t progress under such conditions. Take it far enough and people end up living hand to mouth...
The same fear is expressed by many capitalists. Why open a restaurant if it can be shut down? Why build a hotel if travel restrictions can leave it empty for months and even years? If you don’t have confidence in a stable legal regime for the future, what can one say about whether investing in anything physical or that depends on customers coming and going is really a good idea? Do we really want to open a factory that can be closed any time by decree?
(Excerpt) Read more at aier.org ...
What we need today more than anything is a guarantee, an ironclad guarantee from our leaders that nothing like this can ever happen again. To make that promise credible we also need a flurry of frank admissions that they made terrible mistakes this time, detailing what they were, and give us proof that there are legal means to stop the next guy in that office from locking people down yet again. We need the rule of law to once again protect essential rights. If we do not get that, we will continue to see people lose hope and confidence in the future, and that could have a devastating long-term effect on prosperity and social peace.
They know EXACTLY what they're doing. Before the big globalist RESET, first you must have CLOWARD & PIVEN.
this is rubbish
interest rates are zero.
there is plenty of capital
nutjob companies always complain that they
cant get money
How many will follow the Amazon model of going so far as to having more than one headquarters to minimize the risk of Blue State lockdowns?
There is no guarantee that the Uniparty will pull this stunt or worse in 2021, 2022, or every year for that matter.
What we need today more than anything is a guarantee, an ironclad guarantee from our leaders that nothing like this can ever happen again.
—
Guarantees only work with trustworthy people. The government is not trustworthy.
Absolutely. They do know what they’re doing.
interest rates are zero.
there is plenty of capital"
Lenders aren't lending. Certainly not at rates approaching what the Fed and the markets are offering. Only mortgages to well qualified borrowers with equity. I have excellent credit and equity and the rates I'm quoted are in the high teens.
This has nothing to do with getting loans. It has to do with creating capital.
In an insecure climate, where you can be shut down at any moment by the government, you’re not going to invest anything, either your time, your talent or your money.
And I think Tucker is right, we’re going to feel the impact of this for a long time and we need to do something right now to guarantee that this won’t happen again.
Capitalism is only possible with confidence in the predictability of the future.
Does anyone have a list of President Trump’s achievements in office?
We need to get those out there as much as possible.
That’s why I think he’s right in his last paragraph: we have to work to get legal guarantees that something like this can never happen again.
Theoretically, the Constitution should have protected us against us. But they’ve been ignoring the Constitution for a long time now, and the lockdown was their true coup.
We need to work to get every legal means possible into action to prevent this from happening again. Formulating laws and trying to get them through would give people a rallying point and perhaps be able to build a movement and momentum.
And if laws don’t work, well, I think they’ll regret it.
Wow. That quote is very well stated. It says what I have been thinking since day one of this mess.
This cannot happen again, and hopefully the youngsters being raised during this insanity will have a good handle on what is and what is not legitimate. As far as what is or is not a good reason to destroy the world, that is.
livius and outofsalt
I partly agree with what you wrote,
but banks need to protect themselves from
bad risks
No.
Terrible damage has been done by the virus.
Nobody locked down the airlines. No government told the public they cannot fly. The public told itself that because they have the unmitigated gall to want to see their parents alive and not kill them.
Lockdowns took 20% off the business of, say, barbers. They are at what, 50% of pre virus business? The other 30% was people cutting their own hair.
Lockdown’s cost some business. The virus cost most of it.
You are correct. The common reference on other threads is the Charlie Brown/Lucy/football. The left plays the same game on abortion, illegal immigration, education, etc.
Over and over, and they only change their tune slightly when it comes election time.
Uh ... afternoon? Try morning.
I think it’s going to be very hard personally for the kids who have had to go through this. I think they’ll have a lot of trouble relating to other people, trusting them, etc.
Morning drinking...Too true. Not the best way of coping, but understandable.
No.
there is plenty of capital
Only if your definition of capital is borrowed money.
In my case I am both a business and house landlord.
My house renters, bless their honest hearts, are paying their rent even though there is not a blooming thing I could do if they did not.
My business renters, one has gone out of business, the other two are paying just enough for me to squeak out the mortgage payment.
So tell me, how is being able to borrow money going to get me another renter?
Who is going to start a business when at the whim of some nut bag politician they can be told they must shut their business for months on end?
I eagerly await your pearls of wisdom.
Bear...
the situations you discuss are individual issues
of credit unworthiness
my point is, for many years,
in international finance
there are trillions in capital looking tor a return of
a few percent above inflation
but they wont lend money to a bad risk
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