Saturday, May 30, 2020

Two Analogies for the Economy That the Media Keeps Getting Wrong

In an attempt to maintain the lockdown and their authority over our lives, politicians, health experts, and the mainstream media have been misusing some unusual analogies to describe the current economy.

The results have been disastrous for an already badly weakened economy.

One analogy that media analysts keep getting wrong is one in which pundits insist that the economy is nothing like a light switch and that it could be disastrous if we turn on the economy too quickly.

It is true that our economy is much more complicated than a lighting system, but actually a free market economy can be turned on and rapidly recover from a shutdown or crisis.

The light switch analogy is a favorite of journalists, such as Chuck Todd, as an attack on President Trump's eagerness to open up the economy.

This analogy of the economy is generally flawed, because putting the economy back together again all depends on how the government responds to an economic crisis.

If we continue down the government solution path, the American economy will look like Humpty-Dumpty after his fall, but if we go the free market economy route, the lights will turn on quicker than you think.

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