Dimming Prospects of Avoiding a Second Wave: Saturday Political Soap Box 243

Greatly discouraged today. I spent a good deal of time carefully selecting pictures to go with this post, photos of the stay-at-home protest in Michigan, and of the beaches opening of the Jacksonville Beaches.  I've learned the hard way that posts without pictures are viewed much less than those with pictures.

But that's only a tiny reason I am discouraged.  I am discouraged because the evidence is mounting that we will not be able to sustain social distancing and that the second wave in this country is going to be horrendous.

It's not just the lunatics in Michigan, protesting at the capital and temporarily blocking the entrance to Sparrow hospital, one of Michigan's largest and most important medical facilities.  It's not just the lemmings that insist on going back to the beach.

And it's not just the Trumpeteers.  Yes, Trump is responsible for the depth and severity of our crisis.  He has done all the wrong things and shown himself to be soulless while doing it.

No, I see reactions from more than just Trumpeteers.  Non-political people and even some left-leaning people seem to be itching for this to be over with.

Why?

Reasons vary.

Some people's personalities are such that social isolation is more than they can take.  They're extroverts whose lives are built on constant social contact.  It's not a big problem for me, BUT, in all fairness, Alison and I have had a continuing work schedule, and we have each other and Benjamin.  So we really haven't experienced total house confinement.

Some have had their work effected to such a degree where the economic stresses, potential and actual, are beginning to accumulate.

Some feel like the economy is more important than human lives.  This is a group that upsets me greatly, and no, I do not have sympathy for or any understanding of their position.  It infuriates me so much that I don't want to say any more about it in this post.  Maybe later, when I'm in a calmer frame of mind.

It's not helpful that the President keeps talking like we do this soon, backed up by FOX News, OAN, and fake reality-TV show doctors.


Do I want social distancing to last the 12 to 24 months until a vaccine is in place?

It's not a matter of what I want, but it is a matter of what has to be done.

If we are to leave or reduce social distancing, we have to do the right way.

We have to have massive testing.  We have to have contact tracing.  We have to be prepared, in some cases, to shut back down as quickly as we opened.

Rural counties think they should be given a pass?  Sorry.  Where I live and work, Ware and Pierce Counties, the current numbers show us in a statistical hotspot.  It's here, folks.  It's not academic.

So, the federal government needs to facilitate massive testing, contract tracing, PPE, ventilators, other medical equipment, and increase hospital bed capacity, both regular and ICU.

That does not help with financial concerns.  The COVID bill should have been flipped, with virtually no money going to large corporations, and tons more going to individuals and small business.  We are only stressed about keeping the economy going because so many of us live from paycheck to paycheck.  Many other countries have giving individuals thousands per month, or guaranteeing up to 80% of an individual's regular salary.

I can't go into a long economic dissertation here (I've already probably lost over three-quarters of my readership - that would just about eliminate everybody else).  But please try to grasp this -

THE GOVERNMENT BUDGET IS NOT LIKE A HOUSEHOLD BUDGET.

The government can print and print money.  There is no gold standard anymore.  They can do it, and right now, they should do it.  The national debt seems scary, but it is a false issue.  That is not a problem.  The problem with printing money is potential inflation.  That problem exists when the economy is already revved up, and you just flood it with more money.  That is not the case here.  You can't put enough money in the system right now to create inflation.

I know this isn't easy.  Whether psychological, economic, or god help us, ideological, it's tough to do this.

So, I'm just asking one thing.

Don't squaller at the Governors for trying to do the right thing, the smart thing.

Save your wrath for those who are not helping us get out of this - for those who are fighting mass testing and contacting tracing, for those who fight Medicare For All and other improvements to the social safety net, fro those who oppose help to small business, for those who insist on defying our best medical experts.

Sorry, Governor DeSantis.  Professional wrestling is not essential.

I hate to be so pessimistic.

It makes me aware of how rare the Greatest Generation was, the one that got us through the Depression and World War II.  Because we are behaving the opposite of that.

The Greediest Generation, the most self-centered generation.

And our poster child?

President Donald J Trump.

I pray that I am wrong.