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How Many Dead for the Dow?
Acceptable death continuum
For Trump to say the public health cure is worse than the COVID-19 pandemic, he presents a calculus of acceptable dead versus economic damage. This is opposed to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “If it saves one life, I’m happy.” Here is the acceptable death continuum.
So how many people dying is worth a faster economic recovery ?
Trump horrified progressives weighing the economy against people. But Cuomo’s statement of solidarity, while poetic and caring, is an absurd hypothetical. Considering public health intervention’s social cost is not, in itself, irrational. Progressives must walk through the impulse and implication of Trump’s “cure” to persuade an American majority to support difficult public heath measures.
Trump uses imagery of letting grandma pass without suffering to sell a different policy.”
Our economy does not face death
When is a cure thought worse than a disease? A difficult chemotherapy with little hope to prolong life. An end-of-life resuscitation with vents and feeding tubes with no chance to recover. Trump supporters likely carry these experiences in mind while listening to him, hence the power of his statement. He uses imagery of letting grandma pass without suffering to sell a different policy.
