This post is also excerpted from our Footprint to Wings Newsletter of April 20, 2020
Social Isolation v. Reopening the Economy
Week ___ of the lockdown (I lost track of time). What have we learned?
Most of us are not going to die from the coronavirus. Yet we have decided as a society to shut down and socially isolate in order to protect those who are vulnerable.
This decision has major lifestyle impacts which are pretty depressing. The sooner we can get mass testing underway to allow more movement and human interaction, the better.
The decision also has major, possibly irreversible, economic implications.
In the absence of a clear economic "shut down and re-open plan," this is causing serious anxiety.
Out of this anxiety, reckless behavior emerges. Like: demonstrators across the country are violating social-distancing orders to call for the "reopening of states and the American economy."
The case being made is that, "sure, we'll save some lives with the social distancing, but we'll lose much more life - and quality of life - with a destroyed economy." Here's Mr. Phil making that case.
To counter this case, some people argue the numbers. Other people point out the Prevention Paradox: social isolation keeps the death toll down.This success makes people think it was unnecessary.
In any case, when you find yourself focused on the tradeoff of deaths from disease to deaths from economic shutdown - calculating death rates, assigning values to different lives, and having heated hypothetical arguments about it - you're in a Trolley Problem.
What's a Trolley Problem? Here's an graphic (Seriously graphic! But humorous. But graphic!) demonstration from the folks at the Good Place.
But guess what?
We aren't in a trolley problem.
We're in an economic negotiation.
This makes it a very different conversation.
Trolley Problem v. Economic Negotiation
Repeat after me: This is NOT a Trolley Problem. This is an ECONOMIC NEGOTIATION.
What's the difference?
In a trolley problem, you're supposed to decide who lives or dies, then justify your answer. Afterwards you get to live with the PTSD, guilt and/or righteousness.
In an economic negotiation - you get to say - what kind of a crappy economy is this anyway? I'm sure we can do better. Let's use this down time to reconfigure it! Let's explore the options! Let's problem solve! Make some deals! Afterwards, you might actually get a cool economy.
What situation would you rather be in?
I'm Team #Renegotiate The Economy, of course!
Because the previous economy sucked.
And if we're going to have to go through all this social isolation suffering ANYWAY, we better make dang sure it's worth it when we come out the other side.
Yes!
The economy sucked!!!
You know it did.
That's not just me, whining. Experts have pointed out how much of our economy is PHONY. How useless the GDP is as a measurement of economic quality. As Kate Raworth says:
Today we have economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive: what we need are economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow.
There's a lot to be fixed.
Of course, you can't just wave your hand and fix it. That economy thing is built on all these deals and norms and whatnots. That's where the negotiation comes in.
So, are you ready to #RenegotiateAmerica?
Great! Because I'm no expert, and we need to all start exploring together. Bonus upside, it will get our minds off this blasted isolation.
Not sure where to start? Here are some actions you can take TODAY to #RenegotiateAmerica (working on getting much more going here):
If you or someone you know is struggling with crushing debt, check out Upsolve.org - "an organization helping low-income Americans file bankruptcy for free and navigate an increasingly complex and expensive legal system.”
Tell your Representative you want Basic Income for all! Text UBI to 50409 and follow the prompts. #TextUBIto50409 I did, and here's the copy of the one I signed. I'm signer #7161.
And to renegotiate the world - here's a petition to sign for global debt cancellation via JubileeUSA.
And stay tuned for more resources on this subject. Oh! Here’s a key one. How we got here, by DESIGN, and thus, how we need to design our way out of it: “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.” That link takes you to a pdf summary. Get the book.