Checks and Balance: How long?
Checks and Balance from The Economist
The Economist
4.5 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2020
⏱️ 34 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
President Trump changed tone and course this week, extending federal guidelines on social distancing to the end of April. New York is now the epicentre of the global pandemic. Yet large parts of the US remain relatively unaffected by covid-19. Public opinion supports tough measures to contain the virus for now. But how sustainable are strict curbs on personal freedom in a country founded on individual liberty?
The Economist’s healthcare correspondent Slavea Chankova explains the epidemiological models behind the lockdown, we tell the story of history’s most notorious asymptomatic carrier, and Senator Cory Booker reflects on political division in national crises.
John Prideaux, The Economist’s US editor, hosts with Charlotte Howard, New York bureau chief, and Washington correspondent Jon Fasman.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | May I have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get |
| 0:08.0 | 10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride so you don't have to walk home in the rain again. |
| 0:15.0 | Trains now on Uber. T's and C's apply. Check the Uber app. |
| 0:20.0 | The arithmetic is grim. |
| 0:24.0 | Even the most optimistic modeling now expects the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 0:29.3 | to kill twice as many Americans as the Vietnam War. But that estimate of 100 to 250,000 deaths is the same as the number of Americans |
| 0:38.8 | thought to die each year from what are called deaths of despair, suicide, drugs and alcohol. |
| 0:45.0 | And these are tolerated without massive government intervention. |
| 0:49.0 | It may seem inconceivable now, but at least while we wait for a vaccine, ending the lockdown will require Americans |
| 0:55.8 | to reach an accommodation with a grim statistic like this. |
| 1:00.0 | Could that happen? |
| 1:01.9 | With 213 days to go, this is checks and balance. |
| 1:07.8 | I'm John Prido, the Economist's US editor, and this is a podcast about the 2020 |
| 1:12.4 | elections. |
| 1:14.0 | Each week we take one big theme shaping American politics |
| 1:18.0 | and explore it in depth. |
| 1:27.0 | Today... Today, how long could the lockdown last? |
| 1:36.0 | President Trump changed tone and changed course this week as American death and infection numbers passed China's official totals he extended federal |
| 1:40.2 | guidelines on social distancing until the end of the month. |
| 1:44.4 | New York is the center of the pandemic, but large parts of the US remain unaffected for |
| 1:49.0 | now. |
| 1:50.0 | Public opinion supports strict measures to contain the virus, but for how long? |
... |
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