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COVID-19: Are government resources better spent on public health or stimulating the economy?
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The strength of the economy depends on an able workforce

If additional funding is not put into protecting citizens from the coronavirus, the economy is doomed.
Coronavirus Economy Healthcare
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Context

It is reductive to look at the overall value of the economy, without considering how that value is created. Prioritising economic growth over public health will make short term gains for a wealthy minority. However, the subsequent Covid spread will decimate the workforce, and ultimately reverse any earlier economic progress.

The Argument

The economy is built on the strength of its workforce. As Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor, writes in response to Trump's comments: 'An “economy” is nothing but human beings. So it matters whose losses we’re talking about – whose losses of life, and whose losses of dollars' [1]. This distinction is key to understanding the central question in this debate. Namely, the mainstay of the economy is the ability of the population to work. Not the stock market. Those that would benefit if the workforce returned during the crisis belong to a tiny, wealthy elite . As Reich says, 'The bankers and billionaires now urging Americans get back to work possess a huge share of that stock market. The richest 1% of the population owns roughly half of the value of all shares of stock. (The richest 10% own more than 80%)' [1]. In this case, encouraging people to return to work would mean sacrificing countless lives to maintain the vast wealth of the 1%.

Counter arguments

Brokers and bankers may profit the most from the stock market, but they are hardly the only people to benefit from a strong economy. Its trickle down effect means that all citizens ultimately suffer when it is weak; to avoid this, it must be protected at any cost.

Premises

[P1] The economy depends on a functional workforce [P2] A workforce requires good health to be functional [P3] Prioritising the economy will necessarily damage the health of the workforce [P4] Damaging the health of the workforce is avoidable

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The economy is complex and does not rely on any single factor

References

  1. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/29/bankers-trump-economy-coronavirus-deaths
This page was last edited on Monday, 26 Oct 2020 at 13:45 UTC

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