We will be fine.Quote:
The world survived the 1918-19 epidemic, yes. Whether it was worse than this is unknown at this time. It is not over by any many yet. The 1918 epidemic delayed recovery from WW1, and I suppose you could argue it was one of the factors leading to the rise of Nazism, but its economic impact was very much blurred by the fact that it just slowed the recovery of the world from what was the first World War in history - the major economies were already on a war footing, and it just slowed the economic recovery from the war.
This time the economic impact is going to be far greater, because the world economies are far more interconnected than they were in 1918, and because a far greater part of the developed economies is consumption of discretionary purchases, meaning that this consumption can be turned off pretty much overnight. And it will be a lot slower turning on again.
In my view, the economic impact will be much more like 1929 than 1919, but things won't get as bad, nor will they last as long - at least I hope governments have learned! But because it is basically a health crisis not one with its roots in the financial system like 1929 or the GFC, I don't think we really know how to deal with it. And it will probably reveal a lot of hidden (or not so hidden) flaws in our economy, most notably the ridiculous levels of household debt.
China will come to rescue just like the GFC

