4 ms·

If we could have a hard lockdown for 4-8 weeks and still come out the other end in good financial shape, that would be amazing, and really get the virus under c

• glial 6y ago
  Agree, at this point it seems like that’s the only thing that’s going to save us from a long drawn-out clusterfuck.
• sokoloff 6y ago
  That reads like “If a small number of families could forfeit several lifetimes’ of fortunes accumulated via serving the needs/wants of vast swaths of population, let’s take their money and do it!” This seems like something that is much more properly paid via broad-based taxation, not by seizing wealth from a small number of families.
  • _qulr 6y ago
    > That reads like “If a small number of families could forfeit several lifetimes’ of fortunes accumulated via serving the needs/wants of vast swaths of population, let’s take their money and do it!” "via serving the needs/wants of vast swaths of population" is completely false. The article was about inherited wealth. When you inherit wealth, you didn't serve the needs of vast swaths of the population. You were simply born to the right parents.
• rayiner 6y ago
  We have already spent 15 times that much money on the lockdowns we did have, and didn’t get the virus under control. And it’s not a “small number of families.” The top 10 richest American families could only cover about 3-4 weeks of lockdowns. The first four months of lockdowns cost as much as the total wealth of the entire Forbes 400, and we’re not even done yet. And of course, you’re comparing wealth accumulated over 50-60 years to a one time bailout. This likely won’t be the last pandemic of our lifetime. What’ll we do next time?
  • _qulr 6y ago
    The United States hasn't had a lockdown. Small sections of the US did, but mostly people didn't take it as seriously here as they did in a number of other countries. We basically wasted the money because we only took half-hearted measures. This is a hundred year pandemic. The worst pandemic since the 1918 flu. We save up during the good times just in case we need it during the bad times. So yes, spending wealth accumulated over the past decades is necessary now.
    • xyzzyz 6y ago
      The worst pandemic since the 1918 flu. It’s not even as bad as previous Asian flu of 1957, so far.
      • _qulr 6y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957%E2%80%931958_influenza_pandemic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957%E2%80%931958_influenza_pa... "About 70,000 to 116,000 people died in the United States" "The second wave, in January and February 1958, was more pronounced among elderly people and so was more fatal." There have been over 150,000 deaths in the US in the first 7 months of the current pandemic. So no, you're incorrect.
        • _qulr 6y ago
          Heh, someone downvoted me for posting facts in response to a false assertion. Gotta love HN.
          • edanm 6y ago
            I upvoted your previous comment, and it shouldn't have been downvoted. But please refrain from writing comments complaining about voting behavior - it's against the rules.
            • deleted 6y ago
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