In these last few weeks, we have started seeing an interesting struggle for how to deal with Coronavirus. Do we continue to trust our leaders and self-quarantine? Or, do we do this another way and get back to real life again?
Peggy Noonan has been one of my favorite columnists for a long time. I don’t agree with everything she writes, but she always makes me think. Noonan has a fascinating piece in the Wall Street Journal. “Scenes From The Class Struggle in Lockdown.”
She writes that we have to find a way to live “with this thing.” She says we need to find a way to ease up and manage by using masks, social distancing and hand washing. “We have to enter each day armored up,” she says.
Noonan also writes how Coronavirus has created a class divide between the “overclass” and the regular people—or the educated who have influence and those that live everyday trying to make a living.
The overclass, she writes, will not lose their jobs because of the pandemic. These are people like the scientists, the politicians, the doctors… the mid-day TV anchors.
The mid-day TV anchors? Ouch, Peggy!
Well, this morning anchor—I’m not a midday one—has been thinking a lot over the last few days. Yes, I was one of those that believed shutting down everything was the answer. Now, I’m starting to question it.
During a conversation with a Republican friend, I was asked my thoughts on a guaranteed income for every American? It’s an idea being floated in some circles. I told him I liked the idea. Not permanently, but for a time. We both agreed this shutdown has been handled horribly. No one had an option. Now, the economy is suffering. Badly. Historic unemployment. Bankruptcies looming.
Americans need relief, and they need it NOW. During the pandemic, I’ve learned the U.S. government has a really big printing press. It can print a lot of money when it needs to. So, print it. Fix this.
Yes, there will be consequences like deficits and inflation. We will deal with these things later on. Right now though, printing some money and giving it away to folks who are scared and in need sounds smart. Just do it.
Noonan continues that the difference between “the overclass” and the regular folk us that the working class know hardship and adversity that “the overclass” does not.
So maybe, just maybe, we let them have a go at this. The “overclass” has sure made a mess of this. From this midday—uh, morning anchor—I say let’s see a new approach. “The overclass” seems to have overreached. The regular folks might just fix it. They fix things everyday.