Thread by @kurteichenwald

The GOP and @POTUS are not only incapable of understanding viral outbreaks, they are incapable of understanding business.

@mcuban made a great point the other day on @TheBeatWithAri: Businesses pay money to operate - salaries and all other variable costs. Opening a biz with.../1

...significantly limited numbers of customers (America has lots of stupid people, but not enough to bring business to where ir was) would, for many businesses, not offset the variable costs of operating. So *opening* with significantly cut number of customers will cost some.../2

...businesses more than the cost of not opening at all. Without fundamentals - testing, tracing, monitoring, health care systems support, and government support of small business variable costs (not "finance wall street!) - "opening" as panacea to economy is magical thinking.../3

...this is like the GOP idea that paying a livable wage will cost businesses money, as if people don't go out and spend their money, creating a wealth cycle. Everything in their analysis is one-dimensional: Open, business comes. Pay more, losses mount. The ONLY way..../4

...to revive this economy is by making people feel safe enough to go out. And the only way to do that is to gather data, have mass testing, get a handle on what is happening, figure out what approaches are necessary to hold down infections, and open based on that analysis.../5

..."we cant let the cure be worse than the disease" presumes shut downs are a cure. They ARENT. They're means of flattening the curve so that the government has time to adopt a disease management plan & hospital systems can ramp up without doing it as the building is burning.../6

...so these people screaming "We have to open the economy!" need to get hit back with "If you GAVE a damn and understood a damn thing about outbreaks and economics, you would act in exactly the way all the other countries that have successfully reopened have done, and not.../7

...just repeat the mistakes of all the countries whose recklessness (Sweden, Britain) has failed."

But you can't get fist pumping and USA! USA! out of plans based on reality. It doesnt fit on a bumper sticker. And no matter how many guns you tote around, or horns you.../8

...honk, or attempts you make to convince people we have to kill members of this society rather than expecting the government to *do its goddamn job correctly*, you cannot force people who feel unsafe to suddenly feel safe. You cannot convince most of this country..../9

...to care nothing about the survival of members of our communities, you cannot deceive people who aren't frigging morons into believing that the only people dying are the elderly and infirm (more than 1/3 aren't.) People will not risk their lives simply because Trump et al.../10

..are too lazy or stupid or incompetent to know that complex problems require thoughts, expertise and care. My favorite restaurant is right up the road. I love the owners. I will buy gift cards to help keep them afloat. But I'm not going to die - or kill - for them. And THAT../11

...is the choice #DimwitDon & his GOP incompetents are demanding of us - "be warriors, risk death, so we don't have to do a hard job."

We need smart people in charge of a full reopening plan, which includes disease management. We dont have that. So, stay home. Stay safe.

fin