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Comment by majc2 | Hacker News Reader

> This seems... completely unjustified.

Um, no. Firstly, not everything is about rational economics. No sane and functioning democracy is going to allow 500k people to die if it can stop it.

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500,000 people with an average age of 79, the vast majority of whom are in poor health with existing conditions. This is what the data from Italy shows.

Coronavirus is just the last nail in the coffin - it brings forward the deaths that would have occurred over the next 1-2 years into the present. The panic is irrational.

Humans are irrational creatures. They're not robots. This is a feature not a bug.

What's the cut-off where it's okay? Like, you can stop all road traffic deaths, just stop driving. Sure, it might cost you a lot etc, but no sane and functioning democracy is going to allow x people to die if it can stop it, right?

Some of the tens of millions of people under 40 who will have to cover all that debt over the next decades might beg to differ.

You are already covering debt for a lot stupider reasons at least you can console yourself that the money was worth spending.

The point is precisely that views differ on whether the money is worth spending ;)

I think a half a million people are worth saving even if some of them get decades more of life and some only get A single decade more of life.

Damn right and no people who watch 500k people die for nothing is going to tolerate the continued rule of such a government.

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