Much appreciated.
I agree with you. The elderly can become dependent. Moving into an assisted living facility is the action that indicates [at least some] lack of independence.
Reasonable. 1.7% is a small percentage, but a huge absolute number of vulnerable people. If government functioned correctly, there would be a sober assessment of the data followed by disproportionate action focused on specific populations instead of the entire population. What he have instead are government bureaucracies trying to solve problems and making them worse. Here's a piece that Stef shared with me from Forbes that outlines some of these missteps. 70% of deaths in Ohio are from end of life care facilities. Nearly 1 in 10 people that live in one of these facilities in the state of NJ has died. "New York, New Jersey, Michigan forced nursing homes to accept infected patients."
We agree that advocating for a shut down of the economy is not the solution to this problem. We agree that it's impossible to eliminate the COVID risk. We agree that 1.7% is a huge absolute number of people that need to be cared for. You mention that the issue of personal responsibility becomes more complicated and I agree with you there too, since these people are incapable of being 100% responsible for themselves and have entered into a contract with a company to fulfill those needs on their behalf. This means that the facilities are liable for their health and wellness. The government is responsible for ensuring that these facilities aren't malicious and/or negligent. If the government over-steps and intervenes in the operation of these facilities, like they have, who is responsible when someone dies? If the governor of NJ kills my grandmother with a poorly thought-out policy decision, what recourse do I have? Politicians have no skin in the game. There is no downside to their actions, just potentially a limit to their upside. This is the underlying reason why they cannot be responsible for our health and safety - the incentive structure that they are beholden to does not have our individual best interests in mind. This is the same reason why they can't be responsible for my business - if it fails, I absorb the losses, while Gavin Newsom sleeps in his Governor's mansion.
More broadly, I believe the following concepts are critical for policymakers (and the people that elect/appoint them) to internalize:
- Not every problem can be solved
- Not every problem should be solved
- Sometimes when you attempt to solve a problem, you make it worse
- Sometimes when you solve a problem, the unintended consequences are worse than the problem itself
- If solving a problem involves controlling other people's behavior, re-read the above list