Pinkerton: Medical Workers Are the ‘Thin White Line’ in the Coronavirus War

As America confronts the coronavirus (COVID-19), we might ask: Who’s more valuable: first responders or private-equity managers? Which do we need more of right now: doctors and nurses or stock traders and their algorithms? Which is more essential: hospitals or hedge funds?

Indeed, in a time of public-health crisis, we might reflect upon some of the pillars of our society and of our social order—that is, the mostly middle-class folks who hold up the health professions. They’re not rich, and they’re not getting rich—and yet they are putting their lives at risk. For us. For America.

Quite likely, we’re going to need some heroism—actually, a lot of heroism. And when all this suffering is over, we should remember with more gratitude those who have protected us.

Because by all accounts an onslaught of disease is coming, and it’s aiming to kill some of us. According to one estimate from a pandemic official in the Bush 43 White House, perhaps half of all Americans—that’s 165 million people—will be exposed to the coronavirus. Other estimates of exposure, of course, are lower, and yet others are higher; German chancellor Angela Merkel, for instance, said on March 11 that the exposure rate in her country from the virus could reach up to 70 percent.

Mr. Pinkerton, some people chose careers other than healthcare. Replace "trader" in your diatribe with "journalist" and what do you get?

Most professions, other than journalist, add value to the world. Those Wall Street guys you loathe so much make the financing of hospitals possible. But you wouldn't know anything about investment banking, would you? After all, the pinnacle of your education was learning how to write at a sixth grade level and answer the questions: who, what, when, where and sometime why. And we know few journalist have mastered that.

Indeed. The left and their obsession with virtue signalling; and the pop culture idolatry of displays of wealth and influence... nothing of any real substance, nothing of any real value, nothing of any real good for humankind.

Someone once said to me that flattery is counterproductive. It is only through criticism and critical analysis that anything of worth can be improved upon. But we live in a society that considers anything short of mindless flattery to be “mean”. Maybe I’m off the point but I’m sure you get my meaning.

Right now is a time to consider what is really important; and to put things into their proper contexts. All this media blaming Trump for his “inaction” when the real blame lies inside the federal bureaucracy which receives I don’t know how many tens of billions of dollars every year but not a single one of them has stockpiled essentially supplies we would need in case of a national pandemic. There should be warehouses filled to the rafters with latex gloves, masks, ventilators, and vital medical supplies. There should be entire libraries of contingency plan booklets outlining what steps to take in case of this or that type of emergency. This is FEMA at Katrina all over again. These agencies are supposed to be at the ready regardless of the person who resides in the White House. They are career bureaucrats. They have failed us once again.

But I will also say, this all feels quite a bit blown out of proportion. This is, to date, nothing compared to the 2009 H1N1 epidemic but we are reacting to it like it is the Spanish Flu of 1918.

Our health care workers are heros to freeloaders (since doctora have to fill their quotas of medicare/aid by law) and heroine addicts, the rest of us, not so much.

This disease can be easily fought by not smoking, proper nutrition and reducing the intake of stimulants, reducing the metabolism.

Stop telling people they need to be organized by experts. This is one sure way to disorganize society

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