Ross: The best thing for our economy is keeping people alive

Nobody wants to talk about it because it sounds like you’re putting a price on human life, and yet here we are, trying assess the odds of surviving the reopening of the economy.

We’ve done this before, too. We’ve had ongoing debates about the risks of owning a firearm, and of surviving your next car trip in a country where about 38,000 people die in car accidents every year.

But what I notice is that the debate itself can help fix the problem, because public opinion affects how people spend their money.

That’s why responsible gun shops will teach firearm safety and safe storage, so the gun makes you more safe, not less. Car makers – who once upon a time actually opposed seat belts and air bags – now compete on how safe their cars are. Some of them show crash tests in their ads!

In our present situation – a business’s COVID-19 footprint will be as important as its carbon footprint. Restaurants will run ads showing the wait staff in their new stylish masks and sleek gloves and invite you to dine in the N95 lounge, where the air is purified to CDC standards, the maitre d’ sanitizes your hands at the door, and a digital display flashes the body temperature of everyone who enters.

The free market may seem ruthless, but it understands one thing very well: To make money, you have to keep your customers happy and alive.

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