Why Trump's plan is more than just sacrificing old people, it's guaranteed to destroy the nation

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Donald Trump is suggesting that we should rescind efforts at coronavirus suppression in order to “save” the economy, while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas calls on patriotic grandparents to sacrifice themselves to drive up the Dow. Across the pond, the U.K. government already mulled over the idea of allowing that nation to become a viral incubator until it reached the level required for “herd immunity”—though at least their plan called for sequestering the vulnerable while the nation sweated things out, rather than tossing them all into the Save the Stock Market National Patriotism Volcano.

There’s another name for the daring plan now being promoted by the right: It’s called “doing nothing.” It’s called letting the disaster play out, or allowing the disease run to its course, or simply permitting the wildfire to burn unchecked. But the problem is that when it’s done, what they get would not be a nation going “back to normal.” It would be ashes.

Any call for allowing the nation to move forward without every possible effort to restrict the spread of COVID-19 is profoundly foolish. For those who value their stock portfolio over their friends and relatives, it may seem like an obvious solution: Just pretend the disease isn’t there, send everyone back to work, and let God (and Adam Smith) work it out. But it won’t work. Because it can’t.

There are a plethora of reasons why this is both cruel and unforgivable, but there’s something that all the Money Men should notice—the numbers. The numbers show that this is simply an unworkable plan, one that would be far, far worse for the economy than the most locked-down lock-down. And, if anyone cares, it would also irrevocably destroy the nation’s soul. To understand the issue, let’s walk all the way back to the basics of an epidemic disease: rate of transmission, susceptibility, and outcome.

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/25/1931085/-Why-Trump-s-plan-is-more-than-just-sacrificing-old-people-it-s-guaranteed-to-destroy-the-nation?detail=emailmarkos#comment_76814847

[struggle4progress]

1. "The economy was made for man, not man for the economy" -- Mark 2:27 (my translation)

[Firestorm49]

2. Putin's probably licking his chops after these asinine GOP comments.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

7. Putin is winning.

He bet good money that Trump could fuck up the country, and he was right. I doubt, however, that in his wildest dreams Vlad ever imagined that Fat Donnie would do such a thorough job. "Never let a good crisis go to waste" is the GOP mantra, and we can expect to see the country be remade in Trump's image, just like the Republican Party was.

The Republicans have always wanted to roll back the calendar to September 16, 1787, the day before the Constitution was ratified. They want to throw out the entire document and rewrite it. Get rid of those pesky Amendments (except the Second, of course, which be included in Article I, Section I); eliminate the legislative and judicial branches, and make Christianity the official religion of the nation, as God intended.

We're never going to rebuild our country the way it was, I'm afraid. I'm 70 years old, so I probably won't live to see the total destruction of our society, but I grieve for the future of the Millennials, their children and grandchildren to be born.

I look forward to the day in the not-so-distant future when Trump returns to his packed-house rallies. #CullTheHerd

[Doreen]

3. My opinion is

that he is trying to show us that he has complete control with whether we die or live. Dictator.

[Demonaut]

4. This

No outcome is guaranteed but this one

[JHB]

5. To quote a fictional royal advisor...

"It always seems a bit abstract, doesn't it? Other people dying."

[Aquaria]

6. Adam Smith would have never tolerated something like this

Anyone who's actually read Wealth of Nations or--especially--Moral Sentiments, would have known he never would have advocated for dog-eat-dog destruction of all for the almighty dollar (or pound, in his case).

[gulliver]

8. I like the "this means your ass too" message of this article

That's an attention grabber for a lot of people.