Originally Posted by
Drummond
Not sure I agree ... your conclusion is a harsh one. We'd be very significantly diminished, but ... non-existent ?
If Covid conditions continued for several years, and our hunkering down was still a feature of life, maybe. The longer the duration, the greater the damage, obviously. But (I'm not sure which) ours is the 5th or 6th strongest economy out there.
But try seeing this from the opposite end of the spectrum. We could emerge very quickly from lockdown, restart businesses. Hell, we could engineer our own pandemic, if we worked at it !! Businesses in full swing - but - with rapidly diminishing workforces.
A good or a bad outcome ?
It could be a survivable one, but through using a methodology no American would ever like. Simply, to maintain needed businesses, sections of the population could be retrained ... BY GOVERNMENT ORDER. Forget choosing your job, not if you were needed elsewhere. Freedom of choice becomes subservient to a State machinery needing to employ more draconan powers than we know at present, just to ensure the best survival possible.
The future of Covid-19 is not known, in any case. Will it mutate ? Will it become more deadly ? One thing is certain ... the longer it can survive, the greater its opportunity to mutate ! Prematurely emerging from lockdowns GIVES THE VIRUS A NEW LEASE OF LIFE.
So, those who do emerge early, might be helping that mutation along ... whereas, staying in lockdown and starving the virus, might just stop that from happening.
Of course, all this is conjecture. I do know just the one thing. Premature endings of lockdowns, does help the virus. Helps it to kill.
I've seen a headline from the BBC's Red Button service. It says - I quote:
The inference, to me, hints at a choice for which there is no rational explanation.
Reading the article, I note that Georgia is no longer alone. Oklahoma and Alaska are following suit.
Wonderful !! Just what we all need. Whoopee !!
Will deaths happening, happen uniformly, with uniform impact, across all industries and businesses ?
Will Covid mutate ? Will that new lease of life enable the mutation ? How can you possibly know that 'few will die' ?
Here, you're correct. Reason: the Government follows scientific advice, and closely monitors events and trends. Its scientists are some of the best around. If policy changes, it'll be fully reactive to ongoing occurrences. It'll constitute the very best advice and informed direction we can have.
Laws will be passed, as necessary, to ensure social discipline.
OR ... we can have a population of lawbreakers.
We can have people saying, 'Yes, we know you've got your experts and your highly developed strategies, BUT, we don't care. Don't listen to them, what do the best scientific minds know ?'
Laws are passed, but not obeyed. Out of what ... sheer wanton ignorance ?
The police are run ragged, trying to enforce the law. Failing, perhaps because of their own falling numbers, anarchy breaks out.
People do what the hell they choose. The Government is either powerless, or, it calls in the Army to help keep order ... IF they, themselves, can.
Meanwhile, our entire population diminishes in size, as the virus has its field day.
For the sake of showing Government authority a lack of respect and obedience .. the social order breaks down, In the name 'of freedom'.
Happy days, eh, Kathianne ?
Luckily, all this comes out of my own imagination, for now. But not respecting Governmental authority, and the wisdom underpinning it, is a recipe for disaster.
... and ... we now have three rogue States to worry about.
Will your Government permit it ? If they do, how bad will things get ?
You tell me, Kath.