I want these people who are calling for renewed economic shutdowns to get serious about
- the target they're setting for re-opening,
- how long they think it will take to reach that, and
- how long they think we can have strict shutdowns without a collapse in supply chains that leads to severe shortages, food riots, lack of medical supplies, and the like.
(And don't spin pap about "necessary" businesses; just as nobody knows how to make a pencil, no politico or group of them knows all of the elements necessary to keep production and distribution of medical supplies humming along.)
These people are charging around on their moral high horses pretending they care more, and pretending they understand public policy and the economy well enough to say that this grand experiment is a no-brainer. You know who's not saying that? Any of my educated friends who've studied public policy or economics.
As Darwin said, "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge." This perfectly describes all of you who've made no study of the relevant fields, but pretend to have knowledge.
I'm angry at your thoughtlessness. I'm angry at your pretense of moral superiority. I'm angry at your commitment to count only one type of harm in your single-entry book keeping. You're not more clever or caring. You're the same type of dangerous fool who refuses to take any action, every bit as blind and stupidly certain as them.
Hi, I'm interested in knowing what solution you propose. Obviously opening back up but to what extent? We see places like Florida that opened and Covid cases and deaths went way up.
I would love to see things back to normal but my feeling is that until covid goes away or a vaccine is made, there needs to be a balance that is good for the economy as well as good for people.
We had a two-month lockdown, it tanked the economy, and as soon as it ended, the number of cases started to go up again. Why should we think another lockdown would produce different results?
Most of us began this journey with no real knowledge of the virus, and how damaging (or not) it would turn out to be. Today, we still don't know that much more.
For full disclosure, I am absolutely not qualified to make assertions as what would be the best solution at this point, but I do recognise the need for people to make some tough decisions, most importantly, the decisions need to be rational and not influenced by purveyors of limiting the freedom to live. People think the economy is about the financial system, the stocks etc, but it is anything but. The economy is quite literally the people and how they go about their daily lives.
My fear is that we soon won't really have much of a life worth returning to if we continue this mass fear mongering and forcing people on both sides of the equation to prohibit spending deploying their resources - whether you're a business / service provider etc, or a consumer.
The happy medium is of self responsibility. Assess the situation, and allot the permissible amount of risk in engaging the activities you deem necessary. Yes, we need a vaccine to really feel safe, and no, I don't believe we'll have a reliable one any time soon.
Places like Florida are a prime example of the mis-reporting and skewed narrative that is being spewed by our KOLs. The pandemic isn't and shouldn't be viewed as a whole because it is really a lot of localised peaks and troughs. States are experiencing their outbreaks and settling periods at different times, and different rates. Some are well past the peak, some are only beginning to get there.
Thanks for such a well worded explanation.
I agree with you, especially when you say..
..." most importantly, the decisions need to be rational and not influenced by purveyors of limiting the freedom to live."
Of course it doesn't help that all media is spinning any information to fit their agenda. The amount of misinformation in this day and age is tremendously astounding. I can't believe anything anymore. :)
Hopefully we can get back to some sort of normalcy soon.
Cheers!