Question:
Who loses more in an economic crisis like this one? The working class or the elite?
Because it seems to be different this time. It's not a single country that has stopped, it's not local. Food chain/supply is still there, the working class will still be able to work, the need for work is still there...
The ones I see hurting the most from this are investors and big companies, not the usual Joe. So tell me, why is it that the common folk should sacrifice their lives so that the elite keeps on profiting?
I have my savings and food. Why should I risk myself like this? Do we need new cars right now? No. Do we need new phones? No. Do we need new entertainment right now? No. Do we need new material stuff? No. And these are the fuckers bitching about the lockdown, are they not?
So please correct me if I'm wrong, but why should people desperately get back to work?
Sure, I can take a swing at that.
Let's take something medium sized and non-essential. Let's say, a small company that makes widgets. Widgets are fun, widgets are cool, but you certainly don't need widgets to live.
There are 3 widget factories across the nation, each employing about 100 people. That's putting food on the table for 300 families. That's also 300 families paying rent, buying food from supermarkets, going to movies, going on vacation once every other year.
Company A wants to save lives. They shut down immediately, last month, the company is still paying full salary, but their coffers are low and soon they won't be able to pay a dime because they aren't producing widgets. No widgets, no sales, no money means laying off everyone, not making rent, shutting down. Maybe, if they are lucky, they will survive X months and everything goes back to working order when this passes, but in the meantime you have people burning through their cash reserves with no income and no hope.
Company B would get called 'greedy' by some posters here, but remains open. Maybe offers a slight salary bump. They can afford that, because sales are up due to the closure of Company A and people want their widgets to get through hard times. This 'greedy' business owner is able to push through, keeping the gears running. Employees can buy food, supporting the supply chain. Maybe some get sick, maybe some don't, but all involved choose to keep it going. And once this passes, their little part of the economy is still chugging along.
Company C is an interesting case. Near a high risk zone like NYC, they fully understand the risk of going to work. But they also recognize with only a weeks worth of retooling, the widget factory can start producing ventilators, because it turns out widgets and ventilators use some of the same components. This puts lots of workers at risk, but they understand said risk and want to contribute. Many do end up getting sick, and some die. But they made thousands of ventilators in the process.
You can make up your own mind as to what path forward you want. That's part of the beauty of liberty. Want to stay safe? Stay home.
And if it becomes apparent we need even more masks, Trump first asks company B to produce them, then, if necessary uses his war powers to force them. Notice the only two companies that are doing a damn thing at this point are B and C, both contributing ventilators that save lives. Company A? The one that closed down first? Out of business. Ex-employees can't afford food. And zero ventilators produced to show for it. But hey, they didn't get sick... until they got in the bread line and caught it from the guy behind them.
But this idea shutting down only screws the elites is absurd. It screws everyone. It screws the workers most of all.
You ask 'do we need new material stuff'? Well, let me ask you... if everyone stops buying stuff, how do businesses pay employees? And then all those employees get laid off, and now they can't afford food let alone widgets. And so dominos fall.
This idea only the elites are profiting is wrong. Yes, some elites make fortunes. But they are able to make fortunes because hundreds if not thousands of people in their slice of empire are producing goods people want and need, and all those people put food on the table, and live under a roof, and play Horizon Zero Dawn because those company owners did such a good job creating a functioning company. [This is not to say companies are perfect, of course they aren't].
But if we do not get back to work, production ends. Goods stop being produced. Factories close. People go hungry. Saving run out. The government starts printing money. Inflation runs rampant. Your savings first go down, then get destroyed by runaway inflation, and then run out. People start getting antsy, because it turns out we do like new things. Food runs dry. Riots start.
Or... we get back to work as soon as we think humanly possible, based on the recommendations of the experts, and practice social distancing and other safety measures voluntarily. We let those willing to risk sickness to keep this machine going do so.
We need to come together. We need to be safe. We should shame and possibly even charge those acting so irresponsibly they risk others [like coughers aiming at people, etc]. But shutting down entirely will cause far more harm than good.
