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Sweden Has Become the World's Cautionary Tale
h/t Hot Air[NYT] Even a stopped clock shows right time twice a day. Ever since the coronavirus emerged in Europe, Sweden has captured international attention by conducting an unorthodox, open-air experiment. It has allowed the world to examine what happens in a pandemic when a government allows life to carry on largely unhindered. This is what has happened: Not only have thousands more people died than in neighboring countries that imposed lockdowns, but Sweden’s economy has fared little better. "They literally gained nothing," said Jacob F. Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. "It’s a self-inflicted wound, and they have no economic gains." The results of Sweden’s experience are relevant well beyond Scandinavian shores. In the United States, where the virus is spreading with alarming speed, many states have — at President Trump’s urging — avoided lockdowns or lifted them prematurely on the assumption that this would foster economic revival, allowing people to return to workplaces, shops and restaurants. Of course, Trump being Trump, I suspect "brier patch" type manipulation of his enemies. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson — previously hospitalized with Covid-19 — reopened pubs and restaurants last weekend in a bid to restore normal economic life. Implicit in these approaches is the assumption that governments must balance saving lives against the imperative to spare jobs, with the extra health risks of rolling back social distancing potentially justified by a resulting boost to prosperity. But Sweden’s grim result — more death, and nearly equal economic damage — suggests that the supposed choice between lives and paychecks is a false one: A failure to impose social distancing can cost lives and jobs at the same time. Lock-down experiences show that the argument was totally false from the beginning. The lock-downs didn't hurt agriculture/manufacturing/transportation/sales. The only ones hurt were tourism (which is dead) and service industries. I feel kinda bad for working girls and falafel stands (hot dog in USA?). The restauraners - who mostly employ illegal "Palestinians" in Israel and illegal "Hispanics" in USA, can die far as I'm concerned. Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-07-09 |
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