Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the pandemic. I get a lot of correspondence from folks and we get into these discussions. I did another video on this although it was a pretty long one and I noticed not a lot of people really watched that because it is like 40 minutes long and I just don't think people wanted to do that deep a dive. A question that I posed within that video, and I pose it again is this notion of: "Is it the Pandemic?" Let me put a fine point on the context in which I am asking that question.

A recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Harsher Virus Curbs on the Way. Quoting directly: "The pandemic was blamed for SMEs contribution toward GDP falling to 32% in the second quarter of 2020 before recovering to 34.5% in the fourth quarter last year." It is not so much the content there. Those who are watching this video a lot of information in that article: Harsher Virus Curbs on the Way. It is this framing, if you will of the whole discussion that the pandemic is causing problems with SME output and their contribution to GDP. Let's be clear. It is not the pandemic! The pandemic just is what it is. It is like saying "does air cause economic growth?" Well no, not in and of itself. People breathing air and then being productive causes economic growth I guess you could say. With respect to the pandemic, the pandemic isn't shutting anything down. It is policy that is shutting things down. It is the policy responses. I am not calling anyone out. I am not saying good, bad or indifferent but the thing that has really bugged me especially the last couple of months in seeing the way that this whole thing is covered is a real vagueness where you want precision and then precision or focusing on precise facts that in my opinion seem to raise hysteria; make things look worse than they are. For example focusing on certain numbers that freak people out. Then when you look at them in a sort of a broader context you kind of say well yeah that is a problem, that is an issue it needs to be resolved but all things considered there are other problems that are as bad if not worse and we are not freaking out and cratering our economy intentionally based upon that.

My point with this video is more just I am kind of hoping at some point people stop saying the pandemic caused this and say what is really going on. No, our response to the pandemic has caused this. I know there are those out there and some of you told me that this is kind of a semantic point. I don't think because people think in the words that they read. So people sit there and think "Oh, the pandemic caused a depression." I am not saying we are in a depression although I would be curious to know if we are or not but we are definitely in a recession for sure and when you say the pandemic caused it, the vast majority of people run with that. But that is not the case. The pandemic is what it is. It is the response to it that is having a lot of negative fallout with respect to the economy. Again, folks may find that to be a semantic point but I think it is a salient one.