Friday, April 24, 2020

Is It Un-Christian to Call for Bringing the Economy Back?

To hear from many - particularly on social media - it is.

From them, I'm confronted by statements like: If it saves ONE life to stay under lockdown, then only the heartless would say, Open Up.


But, in fact, we are making a choice that returning to work is worth the risk - EVEN OF OUR OWN FAMILY. We take sensible precautions. We do the outside errands of our elderly family (and, often, of neighbors, as well).

But, in the end, some risks just have to be taken - for example, those who are considered essential and frontline. No one tells the nurses and truckers to stay home. We accept that they are putting their own, and their family's lives at risk - for YOU to stay home, safe.

Don't see those sanctimonious ones criticizing them. Instead, they are filled with praise for their "bravery".

In contrast to those willing to take some risks, if only they can stop the financial meltdown from destroying their own family.

THOSE people are considered "Money Grubbers".


No, not WORSHIP of money. Just a realistic assessment that - after this is all over - the same people will not tax themselves to spare others from financial destitution.

Financial problems have destroyed more than one American family. Long-term financial problems - not just "Oh, I can't buy the latest shoes!" or "Bummer, I have to drink homemade coffee, rather than my $5 Latte" - can cause the emotional, physical, and mental breakdown that leads to a lifetime of despair.

It's not selfish to prefer to keep your family intact. It's not a bad thing to think that children deserve to have their mother and father living together. It's not evil to NOT want (corrected from opposite meaning) to see the frugality of a lifetime wiped away, because NO ONE should die. Ever.

Even old people with multiple illnesses/conditions. Even if they were already hanging on by their toenails to life.

Look, I get it. No one wants their own family members to die before their time. My own mother died before her 66th birthday. My father lasted 4 years longer, till he was nearly 76. It was painful to lose them. I still cry over their early deaths.

But, I would not think destroying an entire country's economy, including the savings of a lifetime, were worth keeping them alive for a few more years.

Have a sense of proportion. This is hitting:

  • The elderly - particularly those with high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and cancers.
  • Those in nursing homes/rehab facilities
  • Immunocompromised younger people, and those with major illnesses/conditions, aside from C-19
Other than those? Very, very few.

This is not Un-Christian. This is a realistic understanding that we cannot ask the entire country to upend itself for months, solely to make you feel better about having sacrificed US. Yes, US. Because most of those who are saying these things, are still getting a paycheck. Government workers, large corporations, schools.

If this is not devastating your finances, I just don't want to hear from you. You haven't skin in the game. You have nothing to lose by Virtue Signaling your willingness to see the rest of us suffer to make you feel better.

The Christian Martyrs sacrificed themselves, not others, for their faith.

True, Man does not live by bread alone. But, without it, Man is not going to live at all - on this Earth.


4 comments:

ontoiran said...

what you said. if you're not out of work and standing in a food pantry line stfu.

Glenda T Goode said...

Where I live, you could compare this covid19 shutdown quarantine etc to a bitter cold snap.

Imagine the nation has been hit with -35 degree temperatures all over the country. Who would be at risk?

The elderly. Those who are infirm or have serious mobility or endurance issues. Small children who are sick.

Who could take the risk and go to work and do what they normally do?

People in good health who use intelligent preparations and cautions.

So, how would I compare the two situations?

Well, we endure bitter cold snaps or ghastly hot spells without government intervention. Granted, the risk may be less with a natural weather phenomena but then again, people act smarter and do more to protect themselves from a weather problem.

The moral is that the government should be making strong recommendations and reminding people of the risks of covid19 and not controlling people's lives. Only a nanny state politician would take this phenomena and use it to bolster governmental powers and abuse people's rights.

Time to start acting like adults and be responsible for our own actions.

Tom Wolff said...

Great piece, but one of your sentences puzzles me:
"It's not evil to want to see the frugality of a lifetime wiped away, because NO ONE should die." I think it's the opposite. Maybe that was your intention? Please clarify.

Best case, many will lose their savings/retirement funds. Some are certain to never retire now. Worst case is the certainty of massive homelessness and all that entails.

I've read a few financial websites that state that 40% of Americans don't have even $400 stashed away, and that 60% of us don't have $1000 put aside. It's a given that a good percentage of those are the people who truly live from paycheck to paycheck. Even if their rent and utility payments are being put on hold for now, there is NO WAY that they will be able to catch up, since they were barely getting by to begin with.

Say that if they live very frugally, they might be able to save $100-$200 per month if they get rehired at all. After this is "over", how many months (years?) will they be allowed to have to catch up with 2-4 months of payments at $700-$1500/mo? Or more? (I don't know, I haven't researched this yet.)

Nobody from the corrupt Gov't or Communist MSM is talking about this. Tens of millions of new homeless people, and once you become homeless, it is VERY difficult to get back to some semblance of normalcy. How many deaths will result from that?

I won't belabor the point. You can play with whatever numbers you like to figure out the levels of guaranteed disaster.

It's a cold calculus, but I'd rather see 10 million die (according to the vastly overinflated guesstimate of 3% we hear) than see 100 million become financially destitute or much worse.

Let's get everyone back to work RIGHT NOW, with some common sense precautions. Yes, there will be risks involved. I'm a 60 year old professional, so I MIGHT be more vulnerable. BUT, I'd rather get sick and die than watch the country go irreversibly down the toilet. I owe that to the few intelligent people of the younger generations.

Linda Fox said...

You were correct about that mis-statement - I fixed it, thank you.

You're right - we are heading to a Triage Economy - we may have to focus on those that can be saved, ignore those whose pain is not life-threatening, and merely make comfortable those that are terminal.

It's hard. I'm crossing my fingers about my children and other family members. They SHOULD be okay, but...

However, they are energetic, hardworking, flexible, work as a team to prop up temporarily spent members of the family, frugal, and willing to do what has to be done to come out on the other side. I'm cautiously hopeful for my family's future.