The medical and social implications of a long-term shutdown of our economy will far surpass the medical and social implications of this bug, had it simply been allowed to do its dirty work quickly.
It will be very interesting to see how the Netherlands fares in comparison to the other countries in the EU when it is all over. The approach in the Netherlands was to take a sharp blow, let the virus run its course through the population quickly, and thereby get their citizens immune as soon as possible:
https://www.jta.org/2020/03/24/lifestyle/the-netherlands-is-ok-with-citizens-being-exposed-to-the-coronavirus-thats-terrifying-to-me-and-nearby-jewish-communities
This seems to me to be a much more sensible approach than shutting down the economy for several months and then dealing with BOTH the virus and the ramifications of greater levels of poverty for years to come.
I am also very surprised to see so many people on this board supporting a $6 trillion bailout. This bailout isn't going to "fix" the economy any more than the bailout of 2008/2009 did. It will only prop up the establishment and prolong the private sector rebound.
While I can see flattening the curve a little, to avoid overwhelming medical facilities and to buy more time for remedies to be discerned and produced, protracted lockdown of the economy is dangerous.
I definitely do not approve of 6 trillion in debt to bail out an economy. I am sure those measures will end up laced with pork which benefits a few people greatly while the rest of America is fed the watery gruel of a check that won't rent a 2 bedroom apartment here for a month.
Avoid the "need" for that "bailout". Even if the isolation is needed for a couple weeks to slow things down.
If anything, let me take the nearly $20,000 in tax deductions for last year I could have taken three years ago in employee business expenses (mostly vehicle expenses necessary to employment and for the (expensive) flame resistant clothing the government requires me to wear, but will not let me deduct the cost of).
The 600 lb gorilla in that room is the current crash in oil prices, little mentioned in the flurry of virus stories. Cheaper gasoline, while nice, will not give the economy the boost the oil boom of 06-14 did, by any means, and current oil prices are not even enough to sustain current production, much less cause the sort of employment that pulled this economy out of impending depression then. So while people could work their way out of the economic troubles associated with the last bailout by running away from home and going to work in the oilfields, this time that isn't an option. Layoffs and CAPEX cuts in the energy sector are happening and some are fairly severe. At the same time court rulings are attacking the very pipelines, the arteries along which that economic lifeblood flows.
Another younger brother to that gorilla is that while people aren't putting in their 32 or more hours a week to maintain their Obamacare insurance, they lose eligibility for it. So, in the midst of this crisis over a disease, one which may involve significant medical costs, people are and will be losing their health insurance willy-nilly. A day in the ICU will cost about $10K for day one, so the bailout won't touch the expense involved if someone gets sick.
If the Hydroxychloroquine/Z-Pack (Azithromycin) therapy works and is cheap, maybe we can get back to work.
Coronaviruses are notoriously difficult to vaccinate against, otherwise, we'd have vaccines against the common cold and we cannot expect to have an economy left after months or a year of this current paradigm, especially under Democrat control.
Yes, the Pubbies have been painted into the usual corner of being damned if they do and damned if they don't when it comes to this relief bill. Don't let it happen again. Fast track effective medication, which the tests so far seem to indicate works, and let's get this stuff taken care of.
