The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Observations: “Before this health crisis hit, our economy was strong. Our country is fundamentally strong. But we’ve taken an unusual and hard physical blow. This is not like other economic crises, where the collapse was the result of some major flaw in our existing institutions or the way we are managing our affairs. This crisis is the result of shutting down our economy because of an immediate health threat.” —Star Parker

For the record: “The economy cannot remain shuttered indefinitely; the federal government cannot engage in endless cash expenditures on the basis of treasuries nobody is buying. Nor is the economy merely Wall Street. The vast majority of those who will lose their jobs are not day traders but workers. Small companies are more likely to go under than large ones. The economy isn’t an abstraction. It’s the real lives of hundreds of millions of American citizens, and costs to those Americans must be weighed in the balance. That’s not controversial. That’s a simple fact.” —Ben Shapiro

Perspective: “About 35,000 people die in car accidents every year in this country. Many more are maimed and crippled. That works out to about 100 dead per day, half of them under the age of 50. … Why? Well, though nobody would ever put it like this, it’s because we’ve decided that 35,000 dead people is a cost worth paying in order to keep our cars.” —Matt Walsh

Belly laugh of the week: “Ukraine legislature to impeach Pelosi for withholding aid to America.” —Twitter satirist hale_razor

Be judicious: “If you don’t have symptoms, you don’t need a coronavirus test.” —Vice President Mike Pence

What could possible go wrong? “If it comes to it, and we still have the virus … and best practices is being away from one another, disaggregated, then I think we ought to go to an election by mail.” —House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer

The BIG Lie: “Everything we’re suggesting just relates to COVID-19. It’s not about making law for the future. … It’s not changing policy except as it applies here.” —Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the now-scrapped 1,400-page House CV19 emergency funding bill — loaded with unrelated special-interest pork

And last… “We’re going to see what capitalism is really all about. When we have these big conversations about the direction the country is headed and what direction the country ought to be headed — this is a chance, unlike anything I’ve ever seen, for corporate America to step up and do what the government simply can’t do.” —Mike Rowe