Sweden is right to be concerned about their economy. Its not just about skipping a few haircuts -- a shattered economy kills people as sure as coronavirus does

Sweden is right to be concerned about their economy. Its not just about skipping a few haircuts -- a shattered economy kills people as sure as coronavirus does. Every shuttered manufacturing plant has a body count associated with it and its own case mortality rate. I don't know how many people died as a direct result of the Great Depression but based on what I've been told by relatives the suffering was considerable with deaths due to lack of food, homelessness and despair. I do know that the Nazi party would never have come to power in Germany without the world economic collapse. They were a minor party on the wane in the late 20s only to get their second wind in the elections following the crash. It's also possible the Japanese militarist would never have come to power without the Great Depression for more complex reasons. WWII was the result at the cost of 45-70 million lives. Economic catastrophes are not just about money -- they have life and death consequences. I wish more people would have taken this into consideration before they carpet bombed the US economy to combat the pandemic. I guess they figured that no matter what, the US was safe from the kind of civil unrest that gripped the Weimar republic. A strong man taking control of the US? Fascist and antifascist battling in the street? That could never happen here.