One of the most important takeaways from this COVID affair is the clear evidence of how critically important free markets are. While the free market is developing workarounds for providing necessities and developing relevant new products, the government can’t get out of its own way in terms of what it is trying to do and is finding that an overabundance of regulations has hampered its responsiveness.
There have finally been some recent changes, such as allowing telemedicine across state lines, modifications of certificates of need, and loosening of licensing requirements; perhaps the CDC, FDA, and other agencies will realize they don’t need as much regulation in the first place and such barriers actually inhibit health and economic well-being. Temporary, but more importantly, permanent reductions in regulations would be a step in the right direction. Because what is missing right now is the robustness of the private sector – but we can see its potential.
We are witnessing the incredible ingenuity of the American people as they are finding new ways to respond to this crisis. People are out there trying to figure out how to meet toilet paper demands, create new testing mechanisms, make and provide medical equipment, ventilators, masks, and vaccines. Nearly all of this is being done without the government. It’s the 325 million people out there trying to figure out what they can do to make things better and providing for a new and different need. Services are being changed to provide a product without prolonged human interaction. Door-to-door deliveries are being established. Companies are learning how to find their own ways to adapt.
All of this, it must be noted, has virtually nothing to do with the government. Whether it’s Amazon, pharmacies, FedEx, or restaurants, people know their own industries. They’re changing for their customers and for their company. This is, quite simply, real people knowing best what they need to do instead of some faceless government bureaucrat or rule telling them what to do because someone thinks he knows better about industry operations than the movers and shakers do.
The COVID crisis is a great opportunity for growth and deregulation. This will be the strength of our economic recovery. This is the free market at its best.