# ...from the President of the United States: WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 23, 2020, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078 "2020-03-23T05:48:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/181 "2020-03-25T00:34:51Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > … > TLDR: America is fucked. New Zealand goes into full lockdown today. The borders are closed. We’ve currently had zero deaths from Covid-19. (Although we have no illusions that it will stay that way.) If you need to get tested you get tested. If you get it: then you don’t have to pay to get treated. Comprehensive tracing. I’m self employed and I’ve lost all of my bookings for the next couple of months. I’ve lost thousands of dollars of work. Two invoices from last month didn’t pay their bill. And I’m good with that. Because the lives of my friends and my family and the people of the land is more important than money. Almost everybody is on board down here. The message from our Prime Minister is one that is resonating throughout the country: “Be Kind.” It will be a very stressful 3-6 months ahead, maybe even longer. But we will get through this together. > > I don’t know how America will get through this. I really don’t. You are taking none of the steps to get this under control. A large proportion of the population appear to be part of a “death cult.” The Federal government don’t give a fuck. And people like you are entertaining the most ridiculous of ideas. Millions of Americans are about to die. And you appear to be okay with that. I just don’t get it. Leadership. We don’t got it. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/182 "2020-03-25T01:16:49Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > I don’t know how America will get through this. I really don’t. You are taking none of the steps to get this under control. This is clearly just misinformed posting; are you not aware of the large amounts of toilet paper that people have been purchasing? 😕 America is prepared (for poop)! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/183 "2020-03-25T01:49:52Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Yeah well wait until March 31 when every news outlet is flooded with images of corpses, coffins and coughing and everyone will agree it is insane. Trumpists have been ignoring the plain facts for over three years and I cannot imagine why they’d stop now. In fact, they have all the more reason to. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/184 "2020-03-25T02:39:22Z")
I think Trump’s proposal is going to age like a glass of warm milk in the Sahara sun. I am willing to wait and see, but I seriously doubt things will have improved enough by April 1 for there to be a consensus for “going back to normal.” It is just Trump bullshit IMHO, not to be taken seriously. Kind of like his statements on every other issue. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/185 "2020-03-25T02:50:05Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Yeah well wait until March 31 when every news outlet is flooded with images of corpses, coffins and coughing and everyone will agree it is insane. Every outlet except Fox News, of course. All those other outlets will just be fake news out to take down the president. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/186 "2020-03-25T02:53:11Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Yeah well wait until March 31 when every news outlet is flooded with images of corpses, coffins and coughing and everyone will agree it is insane. Just saw footage in Italy of a hockey rink being used as a morgue. If President Piltdown sees this and handwaves it away in whatever delusional, pig-ignorant manner that suits him at that moment, there is no way in fucking hell that shithead is prepared for the economic pain that’s in store for him. The pandemic is becoming an incremental, daily shit-kicking on that asshole, and that shit-kicking will be fascinating (oh and scary as shit) to see how it manifests itself on the increasingly rally-less, golf-less scum-fuck. I can’t even start to imagine how unglued he’d get under Day One of a national Shelter in Place enactment. Can’t see him going one more week from now without tweeting that Mara-lago just _has_ to re-open. _[COLOR=“Silver”]Eeeeeew - Renegade Rallies?[/COLOR]_ > [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I think Trump’s proposal is going to age like a glass of warm milk in the Sahara sun. Indeed. I’d even remove the apostrophe, ‘s’ and ‘proposal’. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/187 "2020-03-25T03:01:44Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Just saw footage in Italy of a hockey rink being used as a morgue. {…} I have it on good authority, posters on this board, that all of them were just old people that were going to die in a year or two anyway. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/188 "2020-03-25T03:11:35Z")
And also probably all useless Internazionale fans. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/189 "2020-03-25T03:41:28Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > I have it on good authority, posters on this board, that all of them were just old people that were going to die in a year or two anyway. > > CMC fnord! > [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > And also probably all useless Internazionale fans. They sacrificed themselves. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/190 "2020-03-25T04:07:05Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > I don’t know how America will get through this. I really don’t. You are taking none of the steps to get this under control. A large proportion of the population appear to be part of a “death cult.” [Check this shit out](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/republicans-think-they-can-decide-who-dies.html): > [@](#): > > The poster boy of such stupidity is currently Dan Patrick, Texas’ Republican lieutenant governor, who told Tucker Carlson on Monday night that he and America’s other grandparents would be willing to risk their own lives if it meant America getting “back to work” before the pandemic was contained adequately. “Those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves. But don’t sacrifice the country,” Patrick intoned, heroically. Balking at “stay-at-home” and shelter-in-place directives, Patrick insisted that he was willing to personally die so the U.S. economy could thrive for his grandchildren: “No one reached out to me and said, ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that America loves for its children and grandchildren?’ And if that is the exchange, I’m all in.” He concluded with possibly the stupidest line of the evening: “As the president said, the mortality rate is so low. Do we have to shut down the country?” The god is free-market capitalism, and Trump merely its latest avatar. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/191 "2020-03-25T04:31:15Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > [Check this shit out](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/republicans-think-they-can-decide-who-dies.html): > > The god is free-market capitalism, and Trump merely its latest avatar. A really mischievous and well thought out plan: let all of us idiots and most of our voters keel over, so that the apparent idiocy will soon be outvoted! Genius! ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/192 "2020-03-25T06:18:37Z")
Just heard today that my hometown in southwest Virginia has it’s first case. A university student who went to spring break in Florida. Obviously there will be more cases. Until now, there has been no shutdowns, just the mayor asking people to have groups no larger than 10. When there are more people infected, which is bound to happen, I am sure this will change. I sure as hell hope so because my parents, in their 70s, live there. More people will get infected than otherwise would have if they had shutdown earlier, and some may die, but if they do shut down hopefully it can be contained. But that won’t happen by time Easter, it will not be under control. I just can’t imagine they are going to suddenly end the shut down I hope is coming becase Trump says it is OK. This is one example of one small town but it will happen all over the country. I hope. This is what gives me hope when I read posts such as Banquet Bears’ and many others. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/193 "2020-03-25T07:01:28Z")
Apparently CFSG thinks that if the economy doesn’t “open up” soon, the number of people who kill themselves (presumably because they’re losing money) will be greater than the number who will die from covid if it **is** opened up and the CDC social isolation guidelines rescinded. I hope I didn’t hear that correctly, but I have a sinking feeling that I did. The only rationale I can think of is his gut feeling that life without a pile of money isn’t worth living. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/194 "2020-03-25T10:26:02Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > The god is free-market capitalism, and Trump merely its latest avatar. …so, check this shit out. NZ goes into lockdown in a few hours. Earlier today I ventured out to pick up my medicine from the pharmacy. Medicine isn’t free, its $5 per item (to a maximum, then its free) and I had to pick up 8 items to see me through the next few months. It was a bit chaotic when I got to the pharmacy: but that’s to be expected considering that they only had a couple of days to completely invent a new way of doing things. We weren’t allowed in the pharmacy, but instead the owner of the pharmacy, in gloves, facemasks and clipboard was at the head of the queue while the rest of us arranged ourselves in a not-very-straight-line and self-managed our social distancing. I had called ahead so they had my medicine ready for me. I asked “how do I pay?” And the person who had just handed me the medicine said “Do it online. **But only if you can**.” I have to admit that I went back to my car and had a little cry. The government response here, the way the people of Aotearoa have responded, has been overwhelming. Its been professional, well organised, and **kind**. [This is Dr Siouxsie Wiles](https://twitter.com/SiouxsieW/status/1242672488170967041), who has been one of the scientists at the forefront of the communicating the realities of Covid-19 to many of us here, offering to “call your parents” to tell them to stay home. This is our [Prime Minister, doing a Facebook Live, from her home](https://www.facebook.com/jacindaardern/videos/147109069954329), for no other reason than to answer a few questions and to make us all _feel a bit better_. If you have a moment take the chance to have a listen. The openness and clarity of the information. Listening to questions and knowing the answers, no waffle, just clear, open, friendly messaging from the person who has spent the last three weeks getting the New Zealand ready for what will be the most challenging few months in our nations short history. If you ever do get rid of Trump, and when you get beyond the absurdity of the current election cycle, this is the sort of leadership you need to be looking for. With the rest of the world turning into a dystopian nightmare I can’t tell you how relieved I am to be living where I am right now. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/195 "2020-03-25T11:07:29Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > You’re thinking long term, like you actually care about the country. These are Republicans; they want the Dow to go up so they can cash out and then they’re fine in walled communities or fleeing the country. I get that, but… don’t they understand that wage slavery and debt peonage only work as long as the peons are alive? Eh, may as well forget it. Our leaders are D-students who bought their way into elite universities, bluffed their way through by copying other people’s term papers, and expect to keep failing up in that same manner. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/196 "2020-03-25T11:35:56Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > That said, for once there is a there there. No, there isn’t - if you believe that then you’ve missed the lesson, and you don’t see the warning. The lesson is this: pay attention to the facts, to the science, to the scientists. Don’t treat experts like they’re overpaid bureaucratic idiots who have no value. Don’t disband the team that was put into place as a response to a previous deadly outbreak for the express purpose of stopping an outbreak just like this one. That’s the lesson. But there’s also a warning: if you foolishly go on and pretend that it’s business as usual, the crisis will eventually explode into something even worse than what we’re already dealing with. And worse than that, people will lose all faith in the government’s ability to manage a crisis. People will stay home anyway. People will come to work, only to get sick and up going to the ICU by the thousands, only this time it won’t be just in New York City but also in cities and towns across the Heartland. That’s why I say, as tasteless as it sounds to say it, I think some people need a taste of their own fucking medicine. You want to deny science? You want to laugh because you think you’re somewhere in Kansas and it’s just a blue state, big city, Chinese, Asian disease…well, don’t expect any tears of sympathy from me when I see convoys of trucks carrying out coffins in their cities. And the economy will still be shit and we’ll still borrowing trillions and trillions of dollars against the social security and medicare for people who are now in their 50s and late 40s. Something else for us Gen-Xers and late Boomers to chew on, too. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/197 "2020-03-25T11:51:42Z")
Thanks for that anecdote from En-Zed, BanquetBear. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/198 "2020-03-25T12:06:25Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > [Check this shit out](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/republicans-think-they-can-decide-who-dies.html): > > The god is free-market capitalism, and Trump merely its latest avatar. Their God isn’t even “free market” capitalism; it’s free market slavery and peonage for the labor class, but for them it’s gangster capitalism. Republicans don’t really value capitalism in the Adam Smith “Wealth of Nations” sense. It’s snake oil capitalism. It’s Texas Hold 'em capitalism. Their attitude is simple: life is a game. You play to win. And to win, somebody else probably has to lose. So be it. Think about how Donald Trump got rich. He got rich in part by abusing the tax code. But mostly he got rich by lying and scamming others: banks, contractors, or investors who got attracted to his name on a hotel or casino. Think about Martin Shkreli of “Pharma Bro” fame. How did he get rich? By cornering the market on drugs that people desperately need in order to live. How did Republican (and apparently a few no less traitorous scum “democrats”) apparently get a little richer? By dumping stock while lying to the public about the growing dangers of a deadly outbreak. Republicans have an entirely different definition of “capitalism.” Most of us believe that water and breathable air are vital resources that we all need to survive, and you know, help markets function. The republican view is that these are products to be capitalized, and that God absolves them of whatever evil they decide to engage in to maximize their profit. If you were in the desert and they were the only vendor of water for the next 100 miles, they’d jack up the price and take everything in your wallet. And if the guy standing next to you offered more, you’d be left to drop to the ground and bake your brain in the desert sun. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/199 "2020-03-25T12:43:46Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > I have to admit that I went back to my car and had a little cry. The government response here, the way the people of Aotearoa have responded, has been overwhelming. Its been professional, well organised, and **kind**. [This is Dr Siouxsie Wiles](https://twitter.com/SiouxsieW/status/1242672488170967041), who has been one of the scientists at the forefront of the communicating the realities of Covid-19 to many of us here, offering to “call your parents” to tell them to stay home. This is our [Prime Minister, doing a Facebook Live, from her home](https://www.facebook.com/jacindaardern/videos/147109069954329), for no other reason than to answer a few questions and to make us all _feel a bit better_. If you have a moment take the chance to have a listen. The openness and clarity of the information. Listening to questions and knowing the answers, no waffle, just clear, open, friendly messaging from the person who has spent the last three weeks getting the New Zealand ready for what will be the most challenging few months in our nations short history. It’s cool that one of your nation’s best science communicators is a pink-haired Lego-lover who’s renamed herself after a Goth icon 🙂 And yeah, leadership matters so much. I was so impressed by [Angela Merkel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLxrxyk_wYo)’s address to Germany. And locally, I’m so glad we have Cyril Ramaphosa as President now, and not the corrupt buffoon who preceded him. Shit might actually end up getting done - we go on 21-day nationwide lockdown tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078/200 "2020-03-25T13:54:58Z")
Any economy that requires millions of people to die or live shorter, more miserable lives is an economy that doesn’t deserve saving. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-president-of-the-united-states-we-cannot-let-the-cure-be-worse-than-the-problem-itself/850078.md?page=11)