They've solved all of economics! Just suppress growth intentionally for a while so then when you stop suppressing you'll get a couple great quarters!
Its the economics equivalent of a perpetual motion machine
If there was no growth and bleak predictions of future growth, it would have been just as easy to rationalize.
> This sounds pretty technical but I think I can follow. If you put people out of jobs and out of their homes for 1+ year, they ain't going to come back to an utopian pre-pandemic world. What did you think, that all the lost human capital & institutional knowledge lost in destroyed jobs and bankrupt companies was going to be rebuild in a day?
If there was no growth and positive predictions of future growth, it would have been just as easy to rationalize.
> This sounds pretty technical but I think I can follow. It takes a little while for people and companies to adjust to the post-pandemic world - takes a while to ramp up production, takes a while to stop saving just in case and start spending again. If you let people out of their houses to buy stuff, might take a couple months to transition back to normal but it will happen eventually.
If there was high growth in the short and bleak predictions of future growth, it would have been just as easy to rationalize.
> This sounds pretty technical but I think I can follow. If you let people out of their houses to buy stuff, after they couldn't for a year, then the economy is going to show growth in the quarter you let them out. But after that quarter, not much will happen. Long term growth depends on HN engineers developing revolutionary new software and the pandemic hasn't changed that. Opening up will allow us to catch up but won't have sustained effect.
And so forth.
Not clear how you are connecting this to the broken window theory, which as a side note, while often used fallaciously is not a fallacy in itself.
I suspect the types of businesses opening will be ones that are inherently better adapted to lockdowns and lack of indoor dining in case things surge again.
Also if the economy can grow by providing more and better games, bread, and Netflix, why didn't it happen during the various lockdowns in various countries?