4 ms·

Why the extreme response? Thousands and thousands of folks here in the UK are losing their jobs and therefore their homes. I assume the same thing is happening

Why the extreme response? Thousands and thousands of folks here in the UK are losing their jobs and therefore their homes. I assume the same thing is happening elsewhere. We have safety nets, but payouts are often nowhere near enough to match income that’s been lost. It’s a real disappointment to me that HN has decided there’s only one right way to talk about the Covid response, and every other point of view is idiotic or evil. Whatever happened to nuance?

thesizeofa 6y ago
Nuance is welcome - I for one am proud of paying the HMRC to help people pay for electricity, food and shelter. The situation is not great in the UK either, thanks to a government that ignored science, but its far better than in the US.
- i_am_proteus 6y ago
  While there are many metrics of the pandemic's, including health, GDP, and unemployment, it's interesting to note, in light of this comment, that the UK per-capita death rate is currently about 20% higher than the US per-capita death rate from COVID-19.[0] [0]https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deat...
  - sh461 6y ago
    Also good to point out that the UK is about 8 times more densely populated than the US.
  - Pyramus 6y ago
    While your link compares confirmed deaths due to Covid-19, it seems that this effect remains even when you look at excess deaths [1]. However, the US is still in the midst of the pandemic, and I expect the US to catch up on this lamentable metric. [1] https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/15/tracking-covid-19-excess-deaths-across-countries https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/15/tracking...
kungato 6y ago
Maybe the uk is not socialist enough
- joshuahughes 6y ago
  The measures that the UK government put in place are impressive, but they’ve pushed the nation’s debt to more than £2trillion. There’s no escaping the fact that we’ll be paying for these measures for generations. This is the problem with a socialist solution. We can make things ‘fair’ now, but SOMEONE, at some point in the future, has to pay. Is it really fair that the bill for this falls on future generations? They‘re likely to still be paying off OUR debt in 50 years time. What happens if they have their own ‘Covid‘ before the bill is paid? They’ll already be on the back foot financially. I don’t resent us helping folks now. But I do resent what it means for my kids, and their kids, and so on.

thesizeofa 6y ago

Nuance is welcome - I for one am proud of paying the HMRC to help people pay for electricity, food and shelter. The situation is not great in the UK either, thanks to a government that ignored science, but its far better than in the US.

i_am_proteus 6y ago
While there are many metrics of the pandemic's, including health, GDP, and unemployment, it's interesting to note, in light of this comment, that the UK per-capita death rate is currently about 20% higher than the US per-capita death rate from COVID-19.[0] [0]https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deat...
- sh461 6y ago
  Also good to point out that the UK is about 8 times more densely populated than the US.
- Pyramus 6y ago
  While your link compares confirmed deaths due to Covid-19, it seems that this effect remains even when you look at excess deaths [1]. However, the US is still in the midst of the pandemic, and I expect the US to catch up on this lamentable metric. [1] https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/15/tracking-covid-19-excess-deaths-across-countries https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/07/15/tracking...

kungato 6y ago

Maybe the uk is not socialist enough

joshuahughes 6y ago
The measures that the UK government put in place are impressive, but they’ve pushed the nation’s debt to more than £2trillion. There’s no escaping the fact that we’ll be paying for these measures for generations. This is the problem with a socialist solution. We can make things ‘fair’ now, but SOMEONE, at some point in the future, has to pay. Is it really fair that the bill for this falls on future generations? They‘re likely to still be paying off OUR debt in 50 years time. What happens if they have their own ‘Covid‘ before the bill is paid? They’ll already be on the back foot financially. I don’t resent us helping folks now. But I do resent what it means for my kids, and their kids, and so on.