Thread by @torstenkathke

The *one* time no one asked Wall Street about their opinion, and you had to go and do it.

"Since no one seems to be consulting Wall Street bankers and traders […] I convened an impromptu circle of Wall Streeters I know well to get their views."

https://twitter.com/vanityfair/status/1261725309507907585

Let's play WW II bingo:

'He makes the analogy, too, to fighting World War II. “When Eisenhower and Churchill sat and talked about D-Day they said, You know, how many people did we lose? 150,000? 200,000? What? 50,000? 100,000?“'

Also the absolutely-new-haven't-heard-that-before false equivalency to road deaths:

'They note that roughly 37,000 Americans die every year in car accidents. But we haven’t outlawed cars; we have learned to live with the deaths.'

'He worries, too, that “people with no stake in the economy” are talking about keeping it closed, to prevent deaths from the virus […]'

Can someone introduce me to a person with 'no stake in the economy'?

How does Wall Street think the economy wor… nevermind I see it now.

'“The politicians have no stake in the economy because they’re going to get paid,” he says. “The journalists on TV, their jobs aren’t at risk. [Anthony] Fauci’s job, not at risk.”'

Uhm…

Politicians are thrown out of office over 'the economy' all the time, journalism outlets are folding left and right because ad revenue is down, and Fauci is working in an administration where people regularly get fired for disagreeing with the president.

edition.cnn.com/2020/03/27/med…

'He says he would tell the American people that Trump’s decision to shut down the entire economy was a “disproportionate reaction”[…].'

I'm not known to defend Donald Trump, but: he did not do that.

And finally a call for personal responsibilty from the place where personal responsibility goes to die.

'He would then share a message of hope: “You have to control your behavior. You have to control your behavior, and we can get out of this thing now.”

Overall this sounds like any conversation with people who read the news these days would sound like:

Some good though possibly impractical ideas, some decontextualized facts, some wild hopes about people being responsible without any clue of how to achieve that.

Add a concept of 'the economy' that doesn't seem to include most of the economy, and there you have it: Wall Street saves the day.