Bailouts in this time of coronavirus with Dr Dan Mitchell

<p>Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks with Dr Dan Mitchell about government bailouts of companies such as airlines which we are seeing in this time of coronavirus. Dr Mitchell is the Founder of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity and a former Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. He runs the highly informative and thought-provoking blog <a href="https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">International Liberty</a>.</p><p><i>Timestamps</i></p><p>Use these (approximate) timestamps to jump right to the highlights:</p><ul><li>1:05 – discussion of venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya’s view that companies should go bankrupt rather than being bailed out (check out <a href="https://youtu.be/9W_hAXQCd4Y" target="_blank">Government should let airlines fail</a>)</li><li>5:15 – an ostensible libertarian justification for bailouts, the concept of regulatory taking (check out Dan’s post <a href="https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2020/04/02/protecting-airlines-and-other-companies-from-government-control/" target="_blank">Protecting Airlines and Other Companies from Government Control</a>)</li><li>7:40 – we need to ensure there isn’t a permanent expansion of government when it’s all over</li><li>10:00 – discussion of merits of different ways of bailing out companies, after Gene quotes from a Guardian article <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/14/us-government-coronavirus-bailout-airlines-industry" target="_blank">US government agrees on $25bn bailout for airlines as pandemic halts travel</a></li><li>11:50 – “There are no good options” according to Dan</li><li>17:00 – is the coronavirus crisis an indictment of capitalism? No, says Dan. Check out Dan’s post <a href="https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2020/04/11/coronavirus-and-the-tradeoff-between-big-government-and-competent-government/" target="_blank">Coronavirus and the Tradeoff Between Big Government and Competent Government</a></li><li>19:10 – to what extent is US situation a failure of the federal government versus state g