I'm constantly boggled by stories about how the "economy" is doing badly. Of course it is. As part of a reasonable response to a pandemic people have decided (a

I'm constantly boggled by stories about how the "economy" is doing badly. Of course it is. As part of a reasonable response to a pandemic people have decided (at least until recently) that venturing out and exposing themselves and their loved ones to a deadly virus is a bad idea and have stayed inside rather than spending. Further, many governments have (until recently) instated reasonable restrictions on businesses to curb the spread of the disease. Complaining that the economy is doing badly is like a family in WWII complaining that it's dark because they've shut off all the lights due to an air raid. All the hand wringing about the economy indicates a great failing of our society, that we are incapable of viewing world events through a lens other than that of the artificial and arbitrary statistics that have come to define "the economy". What's important is not whether "the economy" is doing well but whether people are able to feed themselves, whether they have shelter, and whether they are able to protect themselves from the virus, things that the numbers that define "the economy" are unrelated to for the most part. Governments should focus on those things rather than propping up some "economy" by forcing people to decide between being exposed to the virus and being able to provide food and shelter for their families. We certainly don't lack food or shelter, at least in the US, so we should make sure people have those, at a minimum. Certainly there's no collapse of demand for those and I have no doubt that they can be provided to people in need without endangering either the producers or the consumers until the virus subsides.