1. Trump is flirting with the idea of scaling back the emergency response (including social distancing protocol) so the economy can get back to normal. But this goes beyond Trump: many on right, wall street & even centrists (Tom Friedman, Blankfein) want this. It's dangerous.
2. Yglesias gets at the problem here. The strategy (if you want to call it that) of letting the pandemic run wild so we can get back to normal quickly ignores the fact the pandemic running wild will destroy the normal (overwhelm medical system):
3. The current discussion shows how views on medicine & economics align. There's a history to this. The 19th centuryAustrian medical school of therapeutic nihilism (which felt diseases should go untreated) was an influence on laissez-faire Austrian economics.
4. There's a fundamental divide with therapeutic nihilism and Austrian economics on one side (arguing against heroic interventions in medicine & economics) as against epidemiology and Keynesian economics on other side (arguing for action to ameliorate health & economic problems)
5. I think Trump, his Wall Street whisperers, Fox News and dingbat centrists (Friedman, Blankfein) are engaged in self-interested reasoning: they don't want massive state intervention in economy, so they are trying to wish away the pandemic, thinking it can disappear soon.
6. Some thoughts on the current surge of Let-Them-Die arguments in the pandemic, and the choices we face: thenation.com/article/politi…
