I believe that the demands this virus places on the various economies of the world will change how we think about money. Most nations simply can’t fit the cost of their response into their budgets/revenue and they will take on enormous amounts of “debt”, with very little consequence compared to not doing so.

America, even with a very conservative Senate and President, just threw $1.5 Trillion of new money creation at Wall St to stave off its collapse. The measure was taken almost flippantly in contrast to the normal attitude toward deficit spending. It is now considering how much money it should create to send to its citizens to get them through the crisis and preserve vital supply chains while so many are no longer able to work.

If one had suggested a few months ago that conservatives in Congress would be using the language and approach to spending that is more commonly associated with the Democratic Socialist, Sen. Bernie Sanders, they would have been met with laughter and suggestions concerning their mental health. As the people become acclimated to new levels of public spending without the world coming to an end they will, hopefully, realize that the narrative surrounding spending by sovereign governments has been based in gold standard myths that no longer apply.

I would hope that, once this epiphany becomes more universal, those governments would begin properly funding mitigation to the many social ills that have created a background of misery and death much greater than this virus has. Just the insurance-based healthcare system in the US kills 30,000 of its citizens yearly with the full support of both major political parties. Those deaths are needless in this rich economy and should be our greatest national embarrassment. Only propaganda about the nature of money and public debt have allowed such horrendous conditions to persist.