Common Sense Soapbox

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About this show

Short videos with a punchy, comedic tone and entertaining Socratic characters taking on trending issues and important concepts from a classical liberal perspective, written & animated by Seamus Coughlin.

If Lockdown Saves Just ONE Life...

October 28, 2020

How can anybody value the economy above human life? Should we be willing to halt economic progress if it saves just one life? Well, as Ron finds out, the "economy" is just the name we used to describe the actions of millions of human beings, producing and trading goods & services with each other.

All of our lives DEPEND upon the economy.

When people aren’t allowed to work and produce, they’re made poorer, unhealthier, and unhappier. Also, slowing down production has major consequences, like rising rates of global and domestic food insecurity. In this sense, lockdowns may be causing more deaths than they’re preventing. If that’s the case, we should end them to save lives.

CREDITS:
Written by Seamus Coughlin, Tyler Brandt, and Sean W. Malone
Animated by Seamus Coughlin
Produced & Edited by Sean W. Malone

LINKS:

https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/documents/reports/ipr-rapid-research-reports-pulse-hh-data-10-june-2020.pdf

https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2020/04/09/Coronavirus-hit-food-industry-faced-with-packaging-shortages

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/16/yelp-data-shows-60percent-of-business-closures-due-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-are-now-permanent.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/13/cdc-mental-health-pandemic-394832

https://www.bu.edu/sph/2020/09/02/covid-has-likely-tripled-depression-rates-in-the-us/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-has-thrown-around-100-million-people-into-extreme-poverty-world-bank-estimates-11602086400

https://fee.org/articles/economic-lockdowns-kill-people-yes-literally/

https://fee.org/articles/a-years-worth-of-suicide-attempts-in-four-weeks-the-unintended-consequences-of-covid-19-lockdowns/

https://fee.org/articles/4-life-threatening-unintended-consequences-of-the-lockdowns/

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