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It is now about survival in America
The Hill ^ | 4/1/20 | Jim DeMint

Posted on 04/02/2020 6:00:55 AM PDT by spacejunkie2001

The choice we face as a nation in this crisis is not between protecting our citizens or protecting the economy. Our ability to take care of each other with food, clothing, housing, security, health care, and basic government services is dependent on the capacity of the private sector to produce the goods and services that support every aspect of our lives. If our economy collapses, our heroic health care workers and their patients will be stuck behind in the Middle Ages, without the essentials of modern medicine.

The debate about the response to the coronavirus has polarized us in an illogical and harmful way. Somehow, perhaps due to our unhealthy habit of partisan politics, we are increasingly dividing into the binary camps of "public health" versus "economic prosperity." This scathing debate does not assist anyone except those in the media peddling conflicts and more than a few political aspirants. To save the country, we have to prioritize both health and prosperity immediately. It is now a matter of survival.

We should reflect on how we came to this point. A disease originating in China started to spread to the rest of the world. China downplayed the threat and hid evidence of the growing pandemic. Once evidence of a threat to our country was clear, President Trump responded quickly and decisively with early travel bans from highly infected countries. He has surrounded himself with medical experts to help millions of Americans avoid the coronavirus and prepare for possible worst case scenarios.

President Trump, however, has not paused the economy. It has been our mayors, governors, and executives who are mandating business closures, lockdowns, and quarantines. They are all trying to one up each other in a competition to be the most careful, and want to avoid costly political and legal liability. It is hard to blame them. The media has whipped the public into a frenzy by publishing the projections of millions of deaths in coming months. It does not matter what measures our leaders take if someone in the media always declares that more could be done and politicians who do less than the most extreme measures have "blood on their hands."

We have lost sight of a hard fact that even the most extreme measures taken cannot completely eradicate the coronavirus or create a situation with zero risks. We have to balance the risks to our health with the risks of an economic meltdown. The reason for our current shutdown has been to minimize the spread of the disease while we quickly build up the medical capacity needed to better manage the disease as we get back to work and our lives. We are very close to having this expanded medical capacity, and it is time for us to have all hands on deck to get Americans back to work.

We direly need millions of tests, masks, ventilators, medical supplies, and additional treatment options, so those who get sick have a good chance of recovery. These priorities are not only essential but are very expensive. We must get our economy going again quickly so that we can pay for it all. The only way this shutdown works is if it is brief. The federal government cannot print enough money to support an idle country. Make no mistake, however, printing money is precisely what we are doing at this moment.

Congress had already planned a $1 trillion budget deficit this year before the pandemic. Now lawmakers added billions in new spending for the first stimulus package. Congress last week passed an additional $2 trillion in loans, bailouts, and family relief. These are all forms of debt. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has expanded its balance sheet to a record high of nearly $5 trillion to add financial liquidity to the sagging bond market.

Factor in a dramatic drop in tax revenues this year, and the United States could add upward of $10 trillion to our money supply, diluting the value of our dollar. This could equal half of our gross domestic product and more than twice the size of our annual federal budget. That means many more dollars will be chasing fewer goods in a slow economy, raising the specter of historic levels of inflation. If the Federal Reserve is right that as many as 47 million Americans could lose their jobs in coming weeks, then extreme policy measures are in order. We cannot solve this by borrowing if nearly one out of every three Americans is unemployed. If we do not act quickly to reopen our economy, this could be worse than the Great Depression.

Our doctors, nurses, and scientists have demonstrated great courage and strength. We must be thankful for the dedication and commitment of the workers in our health care system. We need a fully functioning economy to survive the coronavirus. We also need a fully functioning economy to ensure the future of our nation. It is time to get Americans back to work.

Jim DeMint, a former Republican representative and senator from South Carolina, is now the chairman of the Conservative Partnership Institute.

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TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: demint; goingbacktowork
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1 posted on 04/02/2020 6:00:55 AM PDT by spacejunkie2001
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To: spacejunkie2001

If our economy is allowed to artificially tank through these voluntary state shutdowns for protracted periods of time over this virus, you’ll see a death toll you can’t imagine.

At some point soon, we’re are going to have to go back to work!


2 posted on 04/02/2020 6:06:19 AM PDT by Artcore (Trump 2020!)
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To: spacejunkie2001

Well many states that waited to lock down are Just doing it now.

And some for 30 days.

This all needs to end by end of April.

Earlier would be nice.

We will look back at the numbers of sick and dead down the line and not believe we shut our economy down over such numbers.

Ghosts of the black death and even the Spanish flu will be laughing.


3 posted on 04/02/2020 6:07:39 AM PDT by dp0622 (Radicals, racists dont point fingers at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin to make ends meet)
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To: dp0622
It is now about survival in America

I vote all fearbros off the island.

#TheTribeHasSpoken


4 posted on 04/02/2020 6:10:24 AM PDT by bagster ("Even bad men love their mamas".)
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To: spacejunkie2001

What we have suspected for some time UNIVERSITY administrations dealing with and funded by CCP and other enemies of america!

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/harvard-university-professor-and-two-chinese-nationals-charged-three-separate-china-related?fbclid=IwAR2TGub4v5DT4PK_-QfNs1HWfssg2V9CrZtY2oq9WNjGtUe2vG9z2ATj0xQ
Harvard University Professor and Two Chinese Nationals Charged in Three Separate China Related Cases
The Department of Justice announced today that the Chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department and two Chinese nationals have been charged in connection with aiding the People’s Republic of China.

Dr. Charles Lieber, 60, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, was arrested this morning and charged by criminal complaint with one count of making a materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement. Lieber will appear this afternoon before Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts.


5 posted on 04/02/2020 6:15:07 AM PDT by ronnie raygun
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To: spacejunkie2001

Someone needs to make the case to the ignoramuses in the chattering classes that a dead economy means way more people die, from multiple causes, not just suicide.

We’re trying to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis. All people see is the simpler to visualize CV direct danger.


6 posted on 04/02/2020 6:15:44 AM PDT by Strident (< null >)
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To: bagster
Are you allowed to post on this thread?

#bagsknowsnobounds

7 posted on 04/02/2020 6:16:20 AM PDT by Typelouder
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To: spacejunkie2001

“If we do not act quickly to reopen our economy, this could be worse than the Great Depression.”

Yet there are idiots in here that proclaim that we need to remain shut down for months! I’ve been warning that the economic fallout from this will vastly exceed any threat the virus represented. The economic fallout from this is one of the greatest potential threats this country has ever faced.


8 posted on 04/02/2020 6:18:43 AM PDT by tatown
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To: Typelouder
Are you allowed to post on this thread?

I walk the earth.


9 posted on 04/02/2020 6:21:24 AM PDT by bagster ("Even bad men love their mamas".)
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To: tatown

It doesn’t matter what anyone here says, idiots or otherwise.

It’s going to stay closed as long as this is going on.

Welcome to World War III, hope enjoy your stay.


10 posted on 04/02/2020 6:23:47 AM PDT by chris37 (Coronavirus wasn't born in a bowl of bat soup.)
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To: spacejunkie2001

At least half of the people sitting home can get back to work as soon as we can provide masks and gloves for them.


11 posted on 04/02/2020 6:25:27 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: chris37

You still cheering on the shutdown? Fear has destroyed this county and people like you believe all of the bs the media and government shove down your throat.


12 posted on 04/02/2020 6:25:52 AM PDT by tatown
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To: 1Old Pro

It isn’t masks that are costing jobs, it is the lack of economic activity, and without that, a lot of people aren’t going back to work. I would be interested to see how an employer who laid off his workforce because he couldn’t support them is going to bring them back to stand around with masks and gloves.


13 posted on 04/02/2020 6:32:04 AM PDT by Yogafist
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To: tatown

Why would I cheer it?

You think I like sitting in my house all day waiting to catch Wuhan Red Death? You think this is a good time to me?

I don’t even watch the media outside of Tucker these days, but you can make some more wild generalizations about me if you want.


14 posted on 04/02/2020 6:34:39 AM PDT by chris37 (Coronavirus wasn't born in a bowl of bat soup.)
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To: chris37

You are one of the cheerleaders for this lockdown approach. Now instead of worrying about the ridiculously low odds of dying from this stupid virus you can now be terrified of the very high odds of getting eaten up by a Venezuela type economy. Congrats.


15 posted on 04/02/2020 6:37:16 AM PDT by tatown
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To: chris37

hey chris...just because YOU don’t have a job doesn’t give you the right to tout the destruction of ours. People like you ARE the problem. Weak, spineless, and completely duped by the lies of the enemy


16 posted on 04/02/2020 6:37:37 AM PDT by spacejunkie2001
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To: spacejunkie2001

I didn’t do a thing to you. Nothing. I am not your problem. You are paranoid.

You are your problem.


17 posted on 04/02/2020 6:41:24 AM PDT by chris37 (Coronavirus wasn't born in a bowl of bat soup.)
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To: Strident

“We’re trying to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis.”

Sounds like a minefield of STD’s.


18 posted on 04/02/2020 6:43:00 AM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: tatown

Maybe your odds are low, but mine ain’t.

And I don’t really recall cheering anything except good news on possible treatments.

But I will say that if we are on lockdown, and there are idiots running around making the lockdown pointless with their idiocy, then I am not going to be very happy with them at all.


19 posted on 04/02/2020 6:44:19 AM PDT by chris37 (Coronavirus wasn't born in a bowl of bat soup.)
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To: 1Old Pro
That is what Japan is doing. All workers are wearing masks and everyone is working. But our country forgot to order enough masks for an emergency. but they sure know how to spy on Americans and Presidential campaigns.

We ordered masks over 10 years ago to be prepared. The order was mismarked and we received hundreds of masks, N95's, N100's, P100's and suits. So we called our local hospital and offered to give them hundreds of masks and they refused, due to them being over 10 years old.

I have to say, they are individually packaged in their own plastic, packed 10 to a sealed box, never been opened. Refused them, there is no expiration date on the package. So we called the Salvation army, will you take outdated masks, perfectly new in the package, yep, all of them.

20 posted on 04/02/2020 6:45:12 AM PDT by thirst4truth (America, What difference does it make?)
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