To the editor:

Wish I could share your optimism regarding the current pandemic (“America will prosper again,” March 29 Journal-World) but I suspect that this crisis will necessitate “a rewiring of the American way of life.” This pandemic casts considerable doubt on two of your “fundamentals of America,” namely “a highly educated population” and “an advanced health care system,” where our stable-genius CEO still enjoys high approval ratings and infected citizens still can’t be tested.

But the biggest obstacle for America ever “returning to normal” will likely be economic. You warn that “we must guard against [the] belief that this virus will change the fundamental fortunes of America.” I would suggest that it already has and that merely printing trillions of more dollars will not restore prosperity or address the deeper structural weaknesses of modern American society. If nothing else, this coronavirus will force Americans to critically examine their economic way of life.

Ray Finch,

Lawrence