Tom Woods on the government-as-problem-solver narrative

Incidentally, even if this [Covid-19] were all to go away tomorrow, it would still be crucial to talk about these numbers.  We have to do whatever we can to make sure people don't think, "That sure was a tough year, but thanks to those of us who followed the mitigation measures, we got out of it." 

As it is, despite our best efforts -- and my 2009 book Meltdown, which spent 10 happy weeks on the New York Times bestseller list -- people still think "deregulation" caused the financial crisis of 2008, even though when you ask them which repealed regulation would have prevented the crisis, they can't name one. 

They still think laissez-faire capitalism caused the Great Depression.  Those of us who have read Murray Rothbard's America's Great Depression, or know something about Austrian business cycle theory, know the truth. But that's a tiny sliver of the public. 

You'll note what all of this has in common: 

Freedom causes crises, and the alleged experts fix them. 

You need us, citizen.  We keep you safe.  We clean up the messes caused by allowing you too much freedom.  We are smart.  You are dumb.  Trust us. 

Um, how about you go jump in a lake, and we'll live our lives?

~ Tom Woods, April 6, 2021