‘Reopening’ the Economy: It’s Not ‘Money vs. lives,’ or Even ‘Money or Lives’

Since President Trump began talking about “reopening the economy” as quickly as possible, the charge that Trump (and presumably other politicians like the governors of six northeastern states) is more concerned with money than saving lives has been making the rounds. But are people who charge Trump with “putting money over lives” being fair? Should our political leaders be concerned with COVID-19 to the exclusion of any concern for the damage the shutdown is inflicting on what we call “the economy?”

This charge strikes me as cold-blooded. The economy is the field of activity in which people work and trade in support of their lives and flourishing. The lifeblood of the economy is money, the means by which people trade. Just as you are dead without your blood, so the economy is dead without money. Money nourishes the economy, and is just as important in sustaining our lives as blood is in sustaining our bodies. Money is our means to physical well-being. Money represents productiveness. Money is our access to all of the myriad goods and services that we need and desire but that others produce. This includes what we need to protect our health. What is it that we’re counting on to beat the virus? The ability of researchers and companies to produce treatments, testing, vaccines, medical devices, etc., and get it to the people who need it. What makes this healthcare progress work? The lifeblood of the economy--money. 

Additionally, I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that money, like blood, plays a vital role in nourishing our souls and our individual identities. Millions of people have seen their goals and livelihoods and very lives turned upside down by the pandemic shutdown. Not all of us are affected in the same way. For some of us, the shutdown is more an inconvenience than a hardship. But for tens of millions of previously productive people, the suffering must be intense; People whose businesses represent a lifetime investment of time and money at risk of going “up in smoke”, younger people just starting out seeing their careers stalled, people with little savings who are living paycheck-to-paycheck suddenly without a paycheck, peoples' ability to take care of their families crippled. Is it so wrong to consider their plights?

I would say anyone who disparages political leaders who are keeping the economy front and center of their concerns cannot claim to be concerned with lives. Concern for money and concern for the sick are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they cannot be separated. It’s not “Money over lives,” or even “Money or Lives.” It’s money and lives, because money--or, more precisely, the root of money, productive economic activity--is life. Ultimately, as was recently pointed out by a Princeton bioethicist, The 'False Debate' About Reopening the Economy Is the One That Ignores the Enormous Human Cost of Sweeping COVID-19 Control Measures:

We are currently impoverishing the economy, which means we are reducing our capacity in the long term to provide exactly those things that people are talking about that we need—better health care services, better social-security arrangements to make sure that people aren't in poverty. There are victims in the future, after the pandemic, who will bear these costs. The economic costs we incur now will spill over, in terms of loss of lives, loss of quality of life, and loss of well-being.

Despite his crudeness, I believe Trump and other politicians who are giving serious thought to revitalizing economic activity, even as they remain concerned as COVID-19 continues to rage, are the ones who have their priorities straight. There is much more to the COVID-19 crisis than only the people that are seriously ill with coronavirus. There is the moral "commandment" First, do no harm. Only those with a balanced approach to social policy are actually putting lives first.

Related Reading:

“Francisco’s Money Speech”, from Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Healthcare and the Role of Money

Money vs. Wealth: Which is the Cart, and Which is the Horse? Ask Gilligan

Ayn Rand on a Modern Dollar Bill? Who Better Deserves the Honor?

Related Viewing:

What Is Our Covid-19 Goal? | Alex Epstein