To a certain extent I find the parent post somewhat valid. If you think of "economy" as all the crap in my house that I want to get rid of, then sure. But ult

To a certain extent I find the parent post somewhat valid. If you think of "economy" as all the crap in my house that I want to get rid of, then sure. But ultimately we got to where we are (7B humans) by being a social species and developing the machinery to feed, clothe, shelter our population en masse. And machinery to make the machinery, and so on. And much of that machinery may be subsidized by economy of scale that's driven largely by people's fascination with buying unnecessary shiny objects, the same way ads make free search and TV possible. Without that subsidy, the machinery to support life would be more expensive. Our population may not be sustainable if there's a sudden dramatic and long-lived shutdown of this machinery. Maybe in the short term, sure. But over the long term even a minor shutdown could have big repercussions. Or maybe not. Interesting thing is, this whole covid episode, if it lasts a while, will help shed light on those questions.