As a long-time reader of Andy Kessler’s this is on the money. He writes in a piece titled “‘Get Smart’ About Biden’s Chaos,” for The Wall Street Journal:
No one actually likes chaos. Well, I do, having spent most of my life in the mosh pits of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, where stasis is death. For some purposes chaos should be embraced. Free markets function best when they are chaotic, not controlled. Why? Because control via regulation often leads to later disaster. Regulations for affordable housing and financing—remember Rep. Barney Frank’s desire in 2003 to “roll the dice” on subsidized housing?—led to the 2008 financial crisis. On the other hand, currencies should be relatively stable, a measuring stick of value, which is why real-world uses of chaotic cryptocurrencies are still a fantasy.
I’m increasingly fascinated by the left-right divide on chaos and control. The left tends to push control by central authority and big government. Meanwhile the right pushes control through law and order while the left keeps electing chaos-happy, weak-kneed “let ’em go” big-city district attorneys, recently adding Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg, who decline to prosecute low-level offenses. Blue states exerted control through pandemic lockdowns and school closings, while red states generally allowed more chaotic liberty, with somewhat similar Covid results.
Action Line: Stick with me. S&T goes live today. Sign up here.
