‘Back to Normal’ Isn’t An Option
There’s a reason why the minions surrounding Dear Leader are pushing so hard to get the economy “back on track.”
The longer the economy stalls, the more obvious it is that it was already broken.
Whether or not you agree with his solutions, Senator Bernie Sanders has been yelling about the true state of the nation from the rooftops for years and every day that passes proves him right.
Every day that passes makes the case that the “same old, same old” won’t do.
Wall Street would like to put a band aid on our national wound, give people a small token of appreciation, and go back to how things were, pre-pandemic.
The fact is, we can’t go back. Only forward. And there are dangers, along with opportunities ahead. All the talk of “leveling the curve” only means that the rate of increase of new infections is slowing down; the numbers of sick people continue to increase.
The measures being taken offer little to no opportunity for people to do anything but fall behind a little slower.
We need to level the "curve" between the growth of wealth for a few versus the stagnation and downward path for most of us.
Take a look at these stimulus packages around the world, on top of their existing (and usually better) social safety net.:
UK: 80% of workers' salaries
Denmark: 75% of workers' salaries
S Korea: 70% of workers' salaries
Netherlands: 90% of workers' salaries
Canada: $2k per month
Australia: $1k per month
US: One time $1200 check that may take months to arrive
Here are some snippets of the world we’re living in even before getting around to coronavirus stats.
They’re paying prisoners $6 an hour to dig mass graves in New York, where authorities are interring an average of 25 people a day with no one left to bury them.
Millions are flooding a charitable system that was never intended to handle a nationwide crisis.
In San Antonio, the Hearst-owned newspaper published an in-house photograph of 10,000 (ten thousand!) people waiting in their cars for free food distribution.
In San Diego, police are being used to roust homeless people from overhangs during a record-setting rainstorm, and there is no place for them to go. A request by advocacy groups for a moratorium on all arrests, ticketing and vehicle impoundments of homeless people during the coronavirus outbreak has fallen on deaf ears thus far.
https://twitter.com/HomelessnessSD/status/1248613718402813962?s=20
At the Union-Tribune, while their editorial board is aware of the disparities in how the coronavirus is impacting people of color and those already disadvantaged, the thinking is still firmly in the “things will get back to normal” mode.
When life gets back to normal, as much as it can after the scars this pandemic will leave, there must be a renewed effort to create paths to the middle class and to healthier lives for the impoverished among us. Nationally, there should be easy online access to career training and new attempts to improve the Affordable Care Act. In California, elected officials need to take seriously the evidence that majority-minority schools have fewer of the best teachers and finally grasp the need to adopt reforms that have improved public education elsewhere.
The coronavirus crisis is bringing out the best in many Americans. When it ends, the compassion being shown to those hardest-hit should continue.
At KUSI TV, they’ve given a platform to some yoohoo who’s bitching about social distancing and other health measures taking away his “freedom” to surf.
https://twitter.com/SD_stoopcrone/status/1248422581952110593?s=20
They’re also giving airtime to former Congressman Darrel Issa’s campaign to have Gov. Newsom suspend AB5, so gig workers can be exploited without regard to their futures.
Speaking of disgusting, check out this group of patriotic Americans responding to a national crisis:
A New York investment firm pitched wealthy investors in recent days on a way to make returns of 22% to 175% using U.S. government programs designed to help Americans keep their jobs and boost the coronavirus-stricken economy, according to a marketing document seen by Reuters.
The opinion section of the New York Times was already working on a series of essays about inequality in the U.S. when the economy cratered. They’re refocused the effort on the long-term economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic, and they got this one point right:
The federal government is providing temporary aid to less fortunate Americans, and few have objected to those emergency measures. But already some politicians are asserting that the extraordinary nature of the crisis does not warrant permanent changes in the social contract.
This misapprehends both the nature of crises in general and the particulars of the present emergency. The magnitude of a crisis is determined not just by the impact of the precipitating events but also by the fragility of the system it attacks. Our society was especially vulnerable to this pandemic because so many Americans lack the essential liberty to protect their own lives and the lives of their families.
This nation was ailing long before the coronavirus reached its shores.
While I have no doubt that they’ll end up concluding that a few more tweaks to the system are what’s needed, I can’t see them actually saying, “Hey, you know what? This system really sucks.”
Responses to the economic collapse by Trump, the GOP and most Democrats carefully avoid any criticism of capitalism. They’ll debate the virus, China, foreigners, other politicians, but never the system they all serve.
The moves by Trump and others urging people to return to churches and jobs—despite risking their and others’ lives—prove they place reviving a collapsed capitalism ahead of public health.
Now is the time to stop making excuses. While it’s not possible in just one election to do a complete house cleaning of politicians of both parties who just don’t get it, you’ve gotta start somewhere, and November, 2020 is as good a place as any.
Step one is to get more youth and people of color into office. Step two is to demand they take the lead with bold proposals, knowing full well that not everything happens on the first try. And step three is to work to replace those leaders who refuse to see the handwriting on the wall in the next round of elections.
Outside of the electoral process, if we're ever allowed to protest again, the need for persistence will be paramount.
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https://twitter.com/JCTheResistance/status/1248451896030838784?s=20
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Lead Image via Pixabay