Trump & Co. Look to the Cost-Benefit Analysis to Justify Leaving the Vulnerable to Battle COVID-19 on Their Own
Donald Trump, much of the right, many on Wall Street, and centrists like Thomas L. Friedman are ready for the economy to “return to normal” (whatever that means) at the cost of an untold number of lives.
The New York Times this morning wrote that this group has begun “questioning whether the government had gone too far and should instead lift restrictions that are already inflicting deep pain on workers and businesses.” This is despite a consensus among health officials and scientists that “the best way to defeat the virus is to order nonessential businesses to close and residents to confine themselves at home.”
The argument being made by these folks, bluntly, is that the costs to the economy outweigh the benefits of saving lives.
“We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,” Trump said during his briefing yesterday, and while he did not say it specifically, it is clear that he has started applying a cost-benefit analysis that privileges capital and the stock market over the lives of Americans, especially those who are most vulnerable.
Hank Kalet 