Victor Davis Hanson Perspective

I have always admired Victor Davis Hanson's skill as a writer and find that I agree most of the time with his opinions. I especially think he is correct in his most recent article about the the current state of affairs here in the USA. Here are some excerpts -
"When the virus peters out and the panic fades, China may be permanently rebranded and recalibrated by the world at large. Its trading partners will trust it far less...
In sum, China’s mercantile system will take a hit. The only country that can match and surpass its economic output, the United States, will be the long-term beneficiary as investors and businesses look away from Beijing to a more transparent partner....

So the public could look forward to a rebounding late summer economy to come fueled by cheap gas, low interest, relief that COVID-19 is manageable, key preparations of pharmaceutical industries to return to the United States and realize that an already robust America can recover quickly from the virus and its associated panic.

Again, the key is not to damn the panic over the virus, but to understand and accept it—while reassuring Americans that all that can be done is being done, and what downturns they now experience will soon be overshadowed by even more jobs and greater economic expansion and wealth creation to come.

We sometimes forget, in legitimate fears of the coronavirus, that every action prompts a reaction and the massive curtailments of the U.S. economy can have as many health consequences as the virus itself—if millions lose income and jobs, become depressed in self-isolation, increase smoking, and drug and alcohol use, and postpone out of fear necessary buying and visits to doctors and hospitals for chronic and serious medical conditions unrelated to the virus.

In addition, it is not wrong to remind the public that current but once caricatured policies of secure borders, targeted travel bans, demands for transparency and symmetry from major U.S. trading partners, recalibration with China, and a return of manufacturing and assembly of key U.S. industries, from high-technology to pharmaceuticals, was long overdue—and must continue to ensure U.S. security and the long-term health of its people.

Let us relearn that at times of crisis our country is singularly resilient and self-sufficient, and we have only ourselves to save ourselves, or as FDR said in 1932 at the height of the Great Depression, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”