The False Choice of Lives Before Money, by Shoshanna Silcove

Firstly, I am not afraid of either an economic crash or of death, as I am only afraid of G-d. Secondly, any discussion of a solution to the Corona crisis that minimizes or ignores the enormous impact of an economic halt on human life, is short sighted, unserious, foolish, and shallow. We live in an extremely complicated and interdependent socio-economic structure. Any artificial interference or halt to our socio-economic activity has a huge domino effect and directly impacts human lives. It is interesting to note that the vast majority of people who are calling for economic cessation are not at risk of losing their livelihoods, businesses, homes, or of starving to death. In such circumstances it is very easy to be flippant about closing down the economy because such people believe they are not affected by it (although they very well might be down the line but are in denial of that fact presently ). The meme of “lives before money” is media driven virtue signaling that makes one sound so noble but, is in reality foolish and selfish because it neglects to take into account the many millions of lives that will be ruined or destroyed by economic devastation. There are myriad of examples of this devastation to human life that are occurring with increased frequency daily, so much so that it is quite apparent to all except those in denial that the Corona virus is far less a threat to human life than the economic devastation that is being forced upon us as its cure.