Overnight News: Wanna whip inflation? Double your productivity.

A recession might be awful, but it’s not all bad: The cause of the downturn will be poor investment choices, usually, and trimming those weeds makes the whole garden healthier, just by itself. But the downturn will also incentivize and spotlight better ideas, with the result that the economy emerges from the recession not just richer but wiser.

These are two of the things that happened last year. I can’t tell you which business closures were not awful – all of them were to the owners and staff – but I can tell you that many of those firms were de facto Coronavirus patients, anyway: Already dying of something else. Meanwhile, a lot of ships got tightened up and a lot of new ideas got traction.

We know we’re headed for inflation: What was one-dollar-one-donut is now a two-buck commitment – shooting for five. The thing to watch for, going forward, is better, cheaper donuts.

We screwed-up big-time last year – and yet no one in America missed a meal. “There is a lot of ruin in a nation,” said Smith, and in that we are lucky. But there are riches in recessions, too. We can but pray that the productivity gains we can so far barely glimpse will outpace the Treasury’s printing presses.

In other news:

Victoria Taft: The Number of Small Businesses Destroyed by COVID Lockdowns Will ASTOUND You.

The Daily Mail: Police retirements have soared 45 PERCENT since BLM protests erupted and Atlanta homicides have surged another 60 percent up from historic high in 2020 after 200 cops quit.

Zero Hedge: Lumber Prices Record Biggest Weekly Drop Ever As Supply Increases.