[ExI] Trump's Coronavirus Response

Sat May 9 23:41:55 UTC 2020

> On Behalf Of William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
Subject: Re: [ExI] Trump's Coronavirus Response

Spike, I am surprised.  Yes, we need to placate the Chinese, but not at the time of a coming pandemic, which clearly could be anticipated while we were selling those supplies to China.  I truly hope that you are not supporting Trump on any of his handling of this mess.  If any other president committed and omitted crucial elements I would be just as critical.  Party is irrelevant.bill w

BillW, as I understand it, the supplies were donated as foreign aid, on 20 Feb 2020.

This Mother Jones article from 29 March criticizes Trump with this headline:

The US Sent Tons of Medical Supplies to China Even as Senators Warned of Virus Threat Here

https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/03/the-us-sent-tons-of-medical-supplies-to-china-even-as-senators-warned-of-virus-threat-here/

Five days later, Mother Jones followed up with this headline:

APRIL 3, 2020

Trump Wants to Cut Off Masks to Everyone But Us

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/04/trump-wants-to-cut-off-masks-to-everyone-but-us/

I am seeing a pattern.  There is disagreement among those struggling to leverage a political advantage out of a tragedy.  BillW, this really isn’t about parties, with that I fully agree.  You are right on: party is irrelevant.  What is clear is that anyone in the office of POTUS, anyone, will be criticized for whatever they do.  It doesn’t even matter who is there or what they do.

I would think Mother Jones (no relation) would pick one side or the other, rather than take both sides, which are contradictory.

Another example: there is a split between those who clamor for POTUS to keep everything locked down (which he does not have the authority to do) and those who clamor for him to open everything back up (which he does not have the authority to do.)  POTUS has the authority to close borders and restrict international travel, which is still highly advisable in my view because aircraft and ocean liners are inherently dangerous for spreading viruses.  Governors make the call on what stays closed, and even then, the governor is dependent on counties and cities to enforce the orders.

The entire question sets up inherent tension between those who are still getting their paychecks and those who are not.  Both are criticizing the guy who does not have the authority to either open the economy or keep it closed.

Regarding defending Trump: that isn’t what I am doing.  In the exactly one area I consider the very most important thing, the one area critical as all hell, I cannot tell a trace of difference between the two guys we will be voting for in November, nor can I tell any difference between the two mainstream parties.  All the usual clamor over all the usual stuff, the guns, abortion, all of it is sound and fury, signifying nothing.  We already know none of that stuff is going to change.  It hasn’t changed in decades.

To me, what really really matters is what the hell we are going to do if the lenders suddenly stop lending.  We hear people say the lenders will never stop lending, well I don’t believe that.  Or that we can just print more money, I don’t believe that either.  Or we can just default on all government debts, I don’t believe that either.  Or don’t worry about it, we can run deficits as high as we want because it will never be a crisis, since it has never been before since 1835, weeellll, I don’t believe that.  If any of these simplistic solutions are viable, then we should be doing them now, rather than extracting taxes from the citizens or waiting for a still bigger crisis.  I don’t think any of these ideas are viable.  At some point we must face up to the bills we have run up. 

Omar commented that deficit spending should only be used in times of crisis, I do believe that with all my heart.  Our collective and persistent failure on budgets will have consequences, severe ones.  The current Covid crisis may bring that day of reckoning right to us, and it doesn’t matter which politician or party is in charge then.

To me, the runaway debt is the only thing that really matters.  I don’t hear Trump, or Biden or any one of those seeking that office talking about it at all.  So to me, who wins in November is nearly irrelevant: neither candidate has any idea what to do about that debt, and it is unclear to me which one will be worse.  I can’t even tell them apart on that.  Can you?

spike

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