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Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(107,111 posts)
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 08:02 PM Mar 2020

Trump is begging for an Election Day recession

Reopen the economy, virus be damned. This is President Trump’s latest pivot as he tries to figure out what it means to be a “wartime president.”

Like everybody, Trump is growing impatient as nearly half the country stays home and thousands of businesses shut down. He keeps saying he wants to “reopen” the economy by Easter, which is April 12. But the coronavirus spread hasn’t been contained anywhere in the country, and we could have quadruple as many cases by then. Or more. Yet a chorus of conservatives is now saying, so what, open things up anyway.

The idea is to ease up on areas that have low infection rates, as if low infection rates are locked in place and can’t go up. Texas’s Republican Lt. Gov., Dan Patrick, suggested recently that some coronavirus deaths among seniors might be a tolerable price to pay to restart the economy and spare others the despair of economic hardship. Trump himself has argued that the recession we’re plunging into will lead to “massive depression, where people commit suicide, where tremendous death happens.” There are deaths with coronavirus, and deaths without coronavirus, see? Wouldn’t you rather have deaths with a functioning economy than with a moribund one?

There’s a crucial fallacy in this argument, which assumes that a president “reopening” the economy would put everything back to normal, even if the virus is rampant. Nothing of the sort would happen. Mayors and governors wouldn’t go along with the president if it meant letting the virus metastasize on their turf. Businesses wouldn’t reopen with the potential liability of knowingly infecting customers and employees. Ordinary people wouldn’t go out, either. Many (though not all) are smart enough to tell when their elected officials are lying to them and putting them at higher risk than necessary.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-is-begging-for-an-election-day-recession-140914328.html

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Trump is begging for an Election Day recession (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Mar 2020 OP
Deaths of the elderly and those vulnerable wouldn't upset Trump too much... Frustratedlady Mar 2020 #1
Pay attention to Trump when he says the economy is going down the drain if he is not reelected. He keithbvadu2 Mar 2020 #2
Agreed Victor_c3 Mar 2020 #4
Quadruple the cases by 12 April is very optimistic Victor_c3 Mar 2020 #3
"Anybody that wants a test [for the coronavirus] can get a test." keithbvadu2 Mar 2020 #5

Frustratedlady

(16,254 posts)
1. Deaths of the elderly and those vulnerable wouldn't upset Trump too much...
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 09:19 PM
Mar 2020

He would have less Social Security and SSI payments going out, let alone saved Medicare dollar$. If you believe he cares about the lives lost, hang that hope up. It$ the dollar$ and never forget that.

keithbvadu2

(36,369 posts)
2. Pay attention to Trump when he says the economy is going down the drain if he is not reelected. He
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 09:29 PM
Mar 2020

Pay attention to Trump when he says the economy is going down the drain if he is not reelected.

He is telling us what shape he will leave the country in.

Despite his excuses, Trump gets full credit for any bad in the economy just as he takes full credit for any good in the economy.

Victor_c3

(3,557 posts)
4. Agreed
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 09:45 PM
Mar 2020

He had three years to fix all of the supposed wrongs perpetrated by the Obama administration. If he is so smart and hired only the best people, why didn’t he identify these issues and address them years ago?

The “job creators” even got a huge tax cut. Isn’t it crazy that a bunch of low-wage workers not working or spending money in the economy can grind the economy to a halt despite the “job creators” having plenty of wealth? It’s almost like trickle-down economics is a bunch of shit.

Victor_c3

(3,557 posts)
3. Quadruple the cases by 12 April is very optimistic
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 09:39 PM
Mar 2020
He keeps saying he wants to “reopen” the economy by Easter, which is April 12. But the coronavirus spread hasn’t been contained anywhere in the country, and we could have quadruple as many cases by then. Or more. Yet a chorus of conservatives is now saying, so what, open things up anyway


I hate to say it, but “only” quadruple the number of cases by 12 April is hugely optimistic. Quickly glancing at the spread in the US over the last month or two, the number of cases consistently increased by ten-fold every 7 days. At this rate, we’ll have close to 1,000,000 infected by next Saturday and 10,000,000 infected by the following Saturday (11 April). The only reason I believe we might not have that many cases reported in two weeks time is because the capacity to test that many individuals simply doesn’t exist.

keithbvadu2

(36,369 posts)
5. "Anybody that wants a test [for the coronavirus] can get a test."
Sat Mar 28, 2020, 09:51 PM
Mar 2020

“Anybody that wants a test [for the coronavirus] can get a test.”

Ask your local republican org where anyone can get a test.

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