Page 167 - COVID-19: The Great Reset

lie to the public for some greater good? Is it acceptable not to help
my neighbours who are infected with COVID-19? Shall I lay off a

number of employees in the hope of keeping my business afloat
for the others? Is it okay to escape to my holiday home for my
own enhanced safety and comfort or should I offer it to someone
whose need exceeds mine? Shall I ignore the confinement order

to assist a friend or family member? Every single decision, big or
small, has an ethical component, and the way in which we
respond to all these questions is what eventually enables us to
aspire to a better life.

Like all notions of moral philosophy, the idea of common good
is elusive and contestable. Since the pandemic started, it has
provoked furious debates about whether to use a utilitarian
calculus when trying to tame the pandemic or to stick to the
sacrosanct principle of sanctity of life.

Nothing crystallizes the issue of ethical choice more than the
debate that raged during the initial lockdowns about the trade-off
between public health and the hit to growth. As we said earlier,
almost all economists have debunked the myth that sacrificing a

few lives will save the economy but, irrespective of these experts’
judgement, the debate and arguments went on. In the US in
particular but not exclusively, some policy-makers took the line
that it was justifiable to value the economy over life, endorsing a

policy choice that would have been unimaginable in Asia or
Europe, where such pronouncements would have been
tantamount to committing political suicide. (This realization
probably explains UK Prime Minister Johnson’s hasty retreat from

an initial policy advocating herd immunity, often portrayed by
experts and the media as an example of social Darwinism). The
prioritization of business over life has a long tradition, running
from the merchants of Siena during the Great Plague to those of

Hamburg who tried to conceal the cholera outbreak of 1892.
However, it seems almost incongruous that it would remain alive
today, with all the medical knowledge and scientific data we have
at our disposal. The argument put forward by some groups like

“Americans for Prosperity” is that recessions kill people. This,
while undoubtedly true, is a fact that is itself rooted in policy

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