Debates on social media surrounding the coronavirus have gone from “everyone’s a virologist” to “everyone’s an emergency management expert.” Now, we’re entering the “everyone’s an economist” phase of the debate as Americans fight over whether or not businesses can survive with government assistance, without government assistance, and for how long.
As someone who has started, built, and sold a business over the decades, I can tell you at no point would I have been able to survive a two-month downtime. Even with government assistance, it would have been challenging as so many businesses rely on momentum and continuity of service to sustain. For some, it’s not about picking up where we left off when the whole coronavirus panic started. Many businesses simply aren’t built for this type of sustained downtime at no fault to them.
Still, we’re seeing “experts” popping up on social media saying ignorant things like, “I’m not going to die for your stock prices” or “why are we bailing out businesses instead of people.” One of my (least) favorites was “any business that can’t survive a month or two down doesn’t deserve to be in business.” Bollocks.
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh made a perfect analogy that encompasses the argument against a sustained shutdown of the economy and most businesses across the country.
People actually think the government can magically freeze the economy like a pound of beef and then thaw it again in a few months and all we’ll lose is a bit of flavor. No. That’s not how this works. The government is not magical. It can destroy the economy. It can’t resurrect it
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 30, 2020
One of the reasons we’re building the American Conservative Movement is because we need to educate as many people as possible about the inefficacy of government in times like this. They’re doing their best, but it’s not enough. We need to unite as a people to fight this disease intelligently, cautiously, and with all of the factors taken into account. This isn’t just about making sure as few people as possible get infected by the coronavirus. We have to consider the state of the country when the coronavirus passes, and that’s something that’s simply not getting nearly enough discussion. Economic collapse and rising authoritarianism will be in play long after the coronavirus is no longer a major concern.
We’re going to have to deal with freedom-shattering repercussions of the coronavirus panic when the dust settles. It will be more difficult than dealing with virus itself if we do not make smarter decisions today.
