[Mick]

The economic consequences should not be taken lightly, for sure. But as burger points out, the hit is coming no matter what. It will either come electively when people voluntarily stay home in order to slow the spread, or it will happen when large swaths of the public are infected and can’t work, or decide to stay home because the pandemic hits home when a friend or relative is stricken, and the night,y news shows scenes of mass chaos in hospitals that are literally having to make decisions about who to attempt to keep alive and who has to be allowed to die.

I think there are two attitudes that we need to protect ourselves against.  The first is that this is no big deal and we are all overreacting.  

51% of working Americans have less than one paycheck in the bank.  That's more than half of all working Americans, about 79,436,700 people.  Four in ten Americans can't afford an unexpected $400 expense.  And we're telling folks to stay home from jobs.  Those that can work from home, great.  Lots cannot.  And I'll tell you what I've been hearing.  Large American companies are hoarding cash.  That means a lot of their vendors will close down or fire people.

American finances on Main Street are precarious.  I don't think people on this board quite understand how precarious.  $55 billion is a fart in a windstorm compared to the level of need.  If they're going to spend $1.5 trillion they'd better spend it RFN.  I'd rather not wake up to a ruined country a year from now.  Or a month from now.

[Mick]

The economic consequences should not be taken lightly, for sure. But as burger points out, the hit is coming no matter what. It will either come electively when people voluntarily stay home in order to slow the spread, or it will happen when large swaths of the public are infected and can’t work, or decide to stay home because the pandemic hits home when a friend or relative is stricken, and the night,y news shows scenes of mass chaos in hospitals that are literally having to make decisions about who to attempt to keep alive and who has to be allowed to die.

I think there are two attitudes that we need to protect ourselves against.  The first is that this is no big deal and we are all overreacting.  

51% of working Americans have less than one paycheck in the bank.  That's more than half of all working Americans, about 79,436,700 people.  Four in ten Americans can't afford an unexpected $400 expense.  And we're telling folks to stay home from jobs.  Those that can work from home, great.  Lots cannot.  And I'll tell you what I've been hearing.  Large American companies are hoarding cash.  That means a lot of their vendors will close down or fire people.

American finances on Main Street are precarious.  I don't think people on this board quite understand how precarious.  $55 billion is a fart in a windstorm compared to the level of need.  If they're going to spend $1.5 trillion they'd better spend it RFN.  I'd rather not wake up to a ruined country a year from now.  Or a month from now.