Eh, it's a downward revision in baseline projections. Can income never earned really be "lost"?
The CBO estimates are also overly reliant on the idea that social distancing and business closures can be sustained (to some degree) until something like a vaccine is developed. I think it's become quite obvious (just over the past week) that the concern motivating these restrictions is incredibly fickle. People are moving on.
This post really aged like milk in 2 months.
I mean, kind of ... the point is that people HAVE moved on, and the appetite for a collective sacrifice via lockdown has dissipated for many people whose livelihoods are being destroyed. We can sit and judge those people all we want, but the fact remains that a restriction or law is only as good as the number of people who will follow it, and people only follow laws that they deem as reasonable and fair. We can't change what large numbers of people think.
That is why I think there needs to be less emphasis on vaccines by the experts and more on treatment. We should be working around the clock to enhance COVID treatment and inching back toward normal economic activity. That view is not informed by what is best from an epidemiological perspective; it's informed by what I think is realistic. People who are in their 20s and 30s SHOULD be going out to eat (especially outside ... there is literally almost no risk when outdoors and six feet away from someone) and stimulating our economy, provided they follow guidelines. However, you have to give a little (freedom) to take a little (restrictions).
