You know what’s a bit of a whitepill?

It often seems like the people work for the economy and not the other way around—that liberal capitalism is just a freight train rumbling forward on its own momentum, and that none of us has any control over it...

...We might say that the efficiencies of globalism (at least as they are realized by the people who matter) are like some kind of exothermic reaction, inexorably happening as a system releases its valuable energy and descends to a more stable state...

...It often seems that way, anyway.

But the whitepill here is that, in the presence of perceived urgency, it turns out you can actually put the brakes on the freight train. Ofc the present economic shutdown can’t (and shouldn’t) last indefinitely. The economy has to restart...

...But consider that in the span of a few weeks, the world’s major economies have dramatically reordered their patterns of production & consumption in response to a need (perceived or real) to achieve a particular social goal (the physical isolation of people from each other)...

...If nothing else, this is a pretty good demonstration of the fact that the public (or at least the political & social authorities, with the cooperation & understanding of the public) can impose its will on the economy...

...For now, the economic autopilot has been turned off. We’re not thinking of how to maximize aggregate GDP or monetize all the potential efficiencies of global trade. We’re thinking of our productive capability in more immediate & human terms. Salus populi suprema lex est...

...Anyway, this crisis will recede at some point. And even if it doesn’t, the economy will have to restart somehow or other.

But regardless, in more long-run terms, just think what can be done if the public is sufficiently persuaded of the necessessity of some intervention...