Maybe the point isn't to generate a financial return or increase the efficiency of the "engine." Maybe the point is simply to prevent hypothetical deaths resulting from "economic devastation." Maybe the car engine just needs enough gas to make it to the next gas station, not extensive re-engineering.
> Just needs enough gas for the next station
You don't prevent economic devastation by feeding a broken system all the resources, you prevent it by fixing the broken system.
Edit: here's an example. I joined new work and their documentation was a complete mess. I could have saved time immediately and stuck to their busted structure, just shoving documents wherever similar documents existed, but instead I overhauled the entire structure and content, saving everyone time in the long run.
Guess which option works better.
My point was simply that we have more than enough resources, even at our worst, to keep people's basic needs met. I'm not saying that keeping people alive will prevent economic devastation, just that preventing economic devastation is not a necessary precondition for keeping people alive.
Are the hospitals not treating people in immediate threat of dying? Is California not housing the homeless in hotels? Is there not an extensive support network?
I don't think this virus and "short term" work together.
> My point was simply that we have more than enough resources
Who is "we" in this case? Because the State of California is in massive debt as far as I can tell, and they're still drowning in problems.