Coronavirus and Big Government, Part III

I wrote about “Coronavirus and Big Government” on March 22 and then followed up on March 27 with “Coronavirus and Big Government, Part II.”

Now it’s time for the third installment, and we’ll start with this hard-hitting video from Reason, which shows how red tape has hindered the development and deployment of testing in the United States.

Next, here are a bunch of stories and tweets about the deadly impact of bureaucracy and regulation.

As with the Part I and Part II, feel free to click on any of the stories for the details.

The FDA just waived their usual demanding face-mask regulatory standards!

Awesome, let's get making masks:https://t.co/TaBXdNyUK5

— Robert Wiblin (@robertwiblin) March 27, 2020

FDA greenlights COVID-19 point-of-care test that can return results in as little as 5 minutes https://t.co/8ZYWdbr0Oz by @AnjKhem pic.twitter.com/QPBOUgtFDb

— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) March 29, 2020

By the way, the problem of excessive government exists in other nations.

Here are two tweets about the situation in the United Kingdom.

The first one deals with having to get government approval for medical devices.

To everyone making 3D printed ventilator parts in the UK – there is good news from the regulators!

You can apply for approval to supply a non-compliant medical device on humanitarian grounds during the #COVID19 pandemic. Decision made in 48 hours.https://t.co/vjlYtVYRGe

— Hugh Harvey (@DrHughHarvey) March 25, 2020

The second one deals with how politicians and bureaucrats have misallocated public health resources – similarly to some of the foolish misadventures of the FDA and CDC (and let’s not forget the World Health Organization).

"Only a tiny fraction of the £4 billion spent on public health in England goes towards the prevention of infectious disease. Far more is spent hassling people about their lifestyles." https://t.co/smMMnAjJOU

— Matt Ridley (@mattwridley) March 29, 2020

I’ll close with another story from the United States.

This report from Reason is especially useful because it contains a 30-minute interview with Professor Alex Tabarrok of George Mason University. So if you liked the short video at the start of this column, you’ll definitely want to click through and watch this video.

The message here isn’t that government shouldn’t exist. As I wrote earlier this month, collective action is appropriate to protect life, liberty, and property. Needless to say, that libertarian principle applies during a pandemic.

But that doesn’t mean government should be micro-managing everything.

In normal times, excessive regulation is a costly nuisance because things cost more and take longer.

In a crisis, however, that means needless death and suffering. Which is exactly what’s happening today.

Let’s hope the folks in Washington learn from this awful experience.

P.S. Another lesson to be learned is the Seventh Theorem of Government.