International Man: Panicked people are emptying supermarket shelves and stockpiling toilet paper. Hand sanitizer is impossible to find anywhere.

Is the impact of the fear and hysteria greater than the risk of the virus itself?

Doug Casey: Yes, very much so. The virus itself is what we can call a first-order effect. I don't want to spend much time talking about the flu itself because, even though worst-case numbers like a million deaths in the US are tossed around, it's not the biggest problem.

The second-order effects—like the economy shutting down from hysteria—are actually much more serious.

The third-order effects—new laws and state action—will have the longest-lasting consequences. We can talk about them in a minute.

As far as the virus itself is concerned, I'm sure everybody has read lots of articles and listened to podcasts from experts. So knowledge—such as it is—about the virus is fairly widespread. Except very little is certain, even now. FWIW, I say that as a lifetime science aficionado, reading in many areas of science for years.