“It is really tragic that the economic effects of this are very dramatic. Nothing like this has ever happened to the economy in our lifetimes,” Gates said. “But money, you know bringing the economy back and doing money, that’s more of a reversible thing than bringing people back to life. And so we’re going to take the pain in the economic dimension — huge pain — in order to minimize the pain in the disease and death dimension.”
For a surprising large number of people, "doing money" means something different than it might to the well heeled. Eating, keeping a roof over one's head, and other trivialities.
While Trump isn't right, dismissing economic impacts of this is the same foolishness with a different political point. And no, handing out cash, which is far as I can tell is the only economic plan on the table anyone is considering is simply papering over the real problems.
Gates's equation of the economy with "money" is advocating for a terribly myopic point of view. Things being made, things being transported from where they're produced to where they're needed, the infrastructure, even the health care facilities and workers, and certainly not least, everyone else are also "the economy".
Any plan that doesn't address the short term health needs without also formulating a real plan to mitigate the economic fallout isn't a plan at all... it's simply closing one's eyes to the next crisis that we ourselves create.
Thanks for the TLDR (TCBDR?) ... this message is still important given Trump's desire to restart the US economy (by having everyone return to work) and his continuous dismissal of and disagreement with the US Surgeon General. Gates for president actually seems like a pretty good idea at this point.
> Gates for president actually seems like a pretty good idea at this point.
Gates seems like a good idea now because he's knowledgeable about public health, at least more than Trump. But do you want Gates negotiating with China, Nancy Pelosi, and Mitch McConnell? Do you want him to make decisions about law enforcement?
Maybe you do, but my point is that every president has weaknesses. The solution is for them to surround themselves with subject-matter experts and let those people lead. The problem with Trump is that most people loathe working with him, or they end up contradicting him and getting pushed out (like Dr. Fauci).
You may think you want Trump to manage this crisis, but you actually just want what most presidents have offered in the past: someone with at least enough intellectual humility to listen to their own advisers.
> But do you want Gates negotiating with China, Nancy Pelosi, and Mitch McConnell? Do you want him to make decisions about law enforcement
Yes, I do. I want anyone who has such a large base of competencies, can consume and comprehend books at a rate that most people consume Doritos, has run one of the largest tech companies in the world and currently runs one of the largest philanthropic organizations, and has learned many lessons on how to communicate with individuals, organizations and government. We could do worse...
> he would prioritize keeping people across America in isolation to “flatten the curve” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is literally the content of this article