“What American pundits misunderstand when they brandish “market choice” as a weapon against social welfare, then, is that the social safety net does not extinguish human freedom but instead acts as its very condition of possibility (philosophers have called this the distinction between the realm of necessity and the realm of freedom). Indeed, the best safeguard against the novel coronavirus is the ability to voluntarily withdraw oneself from capitalism. Therein lies the problem.”
Industries that employ hourly labor make up the majority of capitalism in the United States, and most of the jobs these people fill cannot be done from home. If these people don’t get paid, they don’t have the freedom to buy. One of the main reasons for the drops in the stock market is the decrease in consumption of items being sold, not because products cannot be produced.
“Chinese Virus,” World Market via Instapaper