Reflections - 2020 - Rich men, camels, needles, and the economy vs. lives

The coronavirus Covid-19 will bring out the best and the worst in each of us. I want to quoe from and add some comments to a Los Angeles Times March 26 article by Max Abelson and Donald Moore: "Some of the rich want work to resume."

"The billionaiare Tom Golisano was smoking a Padron cigar on his patio in Florida on Tuesday afternoon. He was worried. 'The damages of keeping the economy closed as it is could be worse than losing a few more people,' said Galisano, founder and chairman of the payroll processor Paychex Inc."

Like Golisano, Donald Trump, the US President, and many of his like-minded and wealthy thinkers, are speaking their minds....revealing for all to see their priorities and thoughts. For example, Abelson and Moore quote Dick Kovacevich, who at one point ran the bank Wells Fargo, as saying "We'll gradually bring those people back and see what happens. Some of them will get sick, some may even die, I don't know." ""Do you want to suffer more economically or take some risk that you'll get flu-like symptoms and a flu-like experience? Do you want to take an economic risk or a health risk? You get to choose."

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One of the most shocking to me of these concerned for the health of the economy as opposed to the health and lives of real-life humans was the Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Abelson and Moore point out that "...on Fox News he said that Americans should get back to work and let "grandparents" take care of themselves. It's as if these let's risk a few deaths folks are thinking is that the weak and old and will soon die anyway, so let's abandon them to fate.

As Abelson and Moore point out, "Billionaires and other members of the elite have the luxury of social distancing while making money. The ones who want workers back in their jobs say they're aiming to stop millions from falling further into debt." Do I believe they are concerned for the little folk? I have to say, I don't

But this is also true. The biblical warning about rich men, camels, needles and the kingdom of God doesn't say or imply that it's impossible for a rich man to entere the kingdom of God, only that it would be difficult. Very difficult. But clearly in reality not impossible for all rich men. Here is a quote from Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. "Ignore anything someone like me might say. Lives are at stake." He wants his fellow citizens to listen to the experts--the epidemiologists--instead of billionaires and executives. 

Amen.