Let's not go back to "normal"

After a few weeks of self-isolation, everyone I know is getting nostalgic for what used to be. We all want things to go back to normal.

That's understandable, but let's think that through. Was normal all that great?

Not for the homeless, it wasn't. Not for the working poor. Not for the unemployed. Not for recent graduates driving Uber to pay off their student loans. Not for those with inadequate or no health care. Not for those facing retirement without pensions...

That adds up to quite a lot of people for whom going back to normal doesn't have a whole lot of appeal.

If we were to return to our normal way of running the economy, the recent explosion of stimulus and bailouts will require austerity for decades. "Normal" will be worse than ever for the disadvantaged.

Surely we can do better than that.