With the big exception of the reduced existential risk, I’m not claiming an overall net benefit. Though even existential risk aside, perhaps there is one (would need to do the calculations). E.g. it seems to me the long-term changes in work and work-life balance could be a huge permanent benefit; such as reductions in commuting and office usage, which seem a vast waste of time & money. It’s a shame it takes a disaster like this to make it happen, but that seems to be the way the world works. The status quo has to be stretched to breaking point.
Also not all the destruction is bad in itself - ‘creative destruction’ is a real thing. Some organisations really are just a waste of time & money, and are better off closed down so people & capital can find more productive use. Many were in a ‘zombie’ state before coronavirus. The UK department store chain Debenhams for example, which went bankrupt last month only a year after the previous time it had gone bust and been rescued. An outdated retail model for which there is no longer enough demand.
I also know lots of classical musicians who barely scrape a living, and really there are too many chasing too little work. It can take decades for people to realise they’re fighting a losing battle; a crisis can accelerate that.
Those are all good points. One problem is that when the parasitic class prints itself a few trillion, it justifies it by also doing tax-supported “rescues” of obsolete companies, a terrible idea as your second paragraph implies.
With the big exception of the reduced existential risk, I’m not claiming an overall net benefit. Though even existential risk aside, perhaps there is one (would need to do the calculations). E.g. it seems to me the long-term changes in work and work-life balance could be a huge permanent benefit; such as reductions in commuting and office usage, which seem a vast waste of time & money. It’s a shame it takes a disaster like this to make it happen, but that seems to be the way the world works. The status quo has to be stretched to breaking point.
Also not all the destruction is bad in itself - ‘creative destruction’ is a real thing. Some organisations really are just a waste of time & money, and are better off closed down so people & capital can find more productive use. Many were in a ‘zombie’ state before coronavirus. The UK department store chain Debenhams for example, which went bankrupt last month only a year after the previous time it had gone bust and been rescued. An outdated retail model for which there is no longer enough demand.
I also know lots of classical musicians who barely scrape a living, and really there are too many chasing too little work. It can take decades for people to realise they’re fighting a losing battle; a crisis can accelerate that.
Those are all good points. One problem is that when the parasitic class prints itself a few trillion, it justifies it by also doing tax-supported “rescues” of obsolete companies, a terrible idea as your second paragraph implies.