You are absolutely right... We're not the ones paying the costs of this lockdown, such as it is.

But you bring up, say, contractors not being able to claim unemployment. There's no real, physical reason, for this. This is a choice our government and society made.

Our unemployment system has outdated software and a clunky beaurocracy. This, too, was a choice.

Meanwhile, other nations with even more strict lockdowns have used their stronger government systems to ensure that the people who can least afford a lockdown aren't the ones paying the heaviest price.

You bring up the protestors who want states to open. If your post were the only thing I read, I'd assume these were mass protests by the working class, yet nothing could be further from the truth.

And the reason for that is simple. The restaurant workers, the hair stylists, the hospital and retail workers aren't out there protesting, because they get that their jobs can bring them in contact with the virus. They get why it's risky. They don't get why that means their government, which they elect and pay taxes to, has chosen to do so little for them.

Our choice is not, open the economy and suffer deaths, or keep it closed and let the people who cannot work remotely suffer. That's a false choice, and the vast majority of this country gets that, which is why those protests in Michigan and elsewhere are laughable.

You want something to blame? Blame the persistent strain of suspicion of government "handouts" in this country that has resulted in weakened, outdated beaurocracies that are unable to cope with the reality that the human-to-human contact required in a regular economy is now a potential death sentence. That is the result of a half century of choices that devalued investment in good governance.

If you think opening the economy will solve everything, ask yourself this: let's say the economy opens tomorrow. Will you visit restaurants, shop at malls and get your hair cut in a salon as per usual? Even if you will, do you think the rest of the country will, ignoring what they know can and will happen?

Those businesses that rely on human contact will suffer massively anyway. The basic human regulation of avoiding activity that can cause death will take care of that. The lockdown lets their employees claim unemployment, their owners to claim loans to keep their businesses afloat.

Both these things can be done better, don't get me wrong, but their imperfect implementation won't be solved by just throwing up our hands in frustration and just opening the economy.

Because by doing that, you're just replacing one injustice with another. The Silicon Valley types, you, me, and most others in the board who can work remotely will continue to do so. We'll get paid, and reduce our risk of contracting this virus.

But the workers who you talk about will be asked to go out and do their jobs, and thus increase their risk of getting the virus. Many of their jobs will be unable to pay anyway, since they won't get their regular clients to show up in usual numbers anyway. Even if they get paid in full, they're being forced now to either work while risking their lives, or not go to work, and get no support at all.

There's nothing fair about this virus, but what it has exposed is the fundamental unfairness of American society and the American economy. Neither a complete lockdown, nor an open economy is going to be fair to these workers. What will be fair is giving them a government that works for them.