Can the Economy Be Saved?

            President Donald Trump is adamant that the cure for the coronavirus should not be worse than COVID-19 itself. He is anxious about getting the nation open and the economy moving forward before parts of it start to die off – such as the oil and gas industries and the farmers. However, he is strongly against Georgia opening for business. There are some states, such as Alaska, that were not hit as hard with the coronavirus as other states and can cautiously move forward. Apparently, the President does not think that Georgia is ready yet.


            Walter Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University, said that “one of the first lessons in an economics class is everything has a cost.” Trump could have kept the nation open and kept the economy booming instead of shutting everything down to fight the coronavirus. The economy might have remained robust, but the health care system might have been overwhelmed and the workforce dwindle because of sick workers. There is a cost to everything!

No one knows what might have happened, but we do know that oil futures sank below zero. Speculators were paying people to take crude oil. The oil and gas industries are struggling as shown by the low cost of gasoline. We currently have too much oil in our nation with all storage facilities full and no one traveling or heating homes. Oil wells can be capped, and oil drilling stopped. However, they cannot easily be opened again, and the nation could find itself with no oil in the middle of a war. There is a cost to everything.

We all make decisions and weigh costs against benefits. We do it in our private lives. Businessmen do it to stay in business, and politicians do it to get votes. We all take risks of one sort or another. Trump took a risk when he shut down the country. Are the lives of Americans worth a crashed economy? Trump obviously thought American lives were the most valuable, but his real goal is to save the most lives while doing the least damage to the economy. Thus, his anxiety about getting the economy open again. Williams examined the government’s response to the pandemic caused by COVID-19 and found it wanting.

The first thing to keep in mind about any crisis, be it war, natural disasters, or pandemics, is we should keep markets open and private incentives strong. Market solve problems because they provide the right incentives to use resources effectively. Federal, state, and local governments have ordered an unprecedented and disastrous shutdown of much of the U.S. economy in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

            That is the viewpoint of an economist, but other agree. Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), a medical doctor, said on the Senate floor that it is time to open the economy and stop the government handouts. He said that we cannot afford to keep borrowing money to keep the economy going even if more lives are lost. Williams quoted epidemiologist Dr. Knut Wittkowski who said that prolonging the shutdown will lengthen our time to develop “herd immunity,” which is the only way to kill the virus without a vaccine. He also quoted Dr. David L. Katz who argued that the battle we are currently fighting could be worse than COVID-19 itself.


            Williams said that the “bottom line is that costs can be concealed but not eliminated.” He said that the “absolute worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, and possibly its most unrecoverable damage” is the power given by the people to governments at all levels. Americans were willing to stay at home until the curve was flattened, but most of them are now demanding to be set free. There are many Americans who are willing to give up freedoms in exchange for government benefits, but there are also millions of patriots who want to go back to work and to keep their freedoms. They do not want politicians to have any more power over them.


            Millions of people all over the world fasted on Good Friday in response to an invitation from President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We fasted to ask God to help us bring the coronavirus under control, to protect the caregivers, to strengthen the economy, and to normalize our lives. We have been blessed in that the number of cases began to decline before our medical facilities were overwhelmed. We have been blessed by the abilities and services of numerous companies to provide protective gear for people in the medical field. Now we need a big blessing to save our economy. We must get our economy up and running as quickly as possible, or our lives will not be anywhere near normal. Please join me in praying that states will be able to open for business and that Americans can return to work. May God bless us with another roaring economy, and may God bless America and people all over the world!