https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/23/politics/what-matters-march-23/index.html
How many lives is the world economy worth? That's not a trite oversimplification. It is an open question being raised by President Donald Trump.
He is itching to scale back on social distancing as soon as possible
and openly wondering if this is all worth it. The all-caps was his in a
tweet Sunday: "WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.
AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH
WAY WE WANT TO GO!"
And yet in there is a valid point, once again being de-legitimized because Trump brought it up.
ReplyDeleteLet's say we do everything we can to stop this plague, as we should. In the next several months the curve is flattened, herd immunity is established, there's a vaccine and so on. Then we look around - countless businesses have gone bankrupt. Unemployment is 20%. Inflation is rising and wiping out people's remaining savings. Now you have economic chaos, social unrest, the possibility of starvation and deaths on the street. And all this with the potential to go on for years. Remember - the Depression was only ended by World War 2. Who says this might not happen again?
Meanwhile you have China retooling and rebuilding first because they can use harsh methods to accomplish this and suddenly a large, fascist nation is the world's most stable economy and dictating terms to those who want its help and those terms won't be pretty.
So why wouldn't Trump worry about that? America must deal with this crisis but it must think beyond it to the recovery and what it can do now to help that recovery happen quickly.
The system can absorb a few months, especially with help from Congress and fed reserve. A depression would require a shutdown to go on for much longer than is necessary.
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