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Covid19, and the response to it, will force national economies down one of two paths.
The “back to work” protest organizers know this, and that’s why their followers are in the streets.
THREAD
The “back to work” protest organizers know this, and that’s why their followers are in the streets.
THREAD
Our choices to recover are
1: greater social democracy
or
2: a deeper class divide enforced by law
An economic recovery depends on how the poor and middle class recover. This crisis has the potential to shift world power and total wealth, based on how that happens.
1: greater social democracy
or
2: a deeper class divide enforced by law
An economic recovery depends on how the poor and middle class recover. This crisis has the potential to shift world power and total wealth, based on how that happens.
Nations that planned ahead & support their citizens through this will economically come out ahead of those relying on an exploited underclass, unless those workers are forced back to their jobs very soon. If they can’t work, they’ll demand payments and access to healthcare.
We can call workers heroes all we want, but eventually that won’t be enough. We must either take steps to support them, or force them to work unsafely.
Our country’s prosperity has long been based in large part on forcing people to work, since before its founding. We aren’t the world’s richest nation, we only have the most billionaires. That doesn’t happen without systematic exploitation.
Our healthcare system revolves around forcing the middle class to stay in their jobs, and provides nothing for the lower classes. In America, you work or you die, unless a charity group steps in to help you.
That’s by design. It keeps the privileged in place.
That’s by design. It keeps the privileged in place.
This lockdown—right before an election no less—may force that to change.
Massive job losses laid bare the deliberately bad design of state unemployment systems & meanness of the amount. Even the one-time stimulus check was seen as paltry, especially compared to other nations.
Massive job losses laid bare the deliberately bad design of state unemployment systems & meanness of the amount. Even the one-time stimulus check was seen as paltry, especially compared to other nations.
So what’s a threatened billionaire to do? Well, you arrange top-down “protests” and get your favorite propaganda channel to promote them. Pretend they’re about “liberty” and not about the massive fork in the road we’re facing.
These virus-spreading protests aren’t simply about getting back to work, they’re about avoiding government support for those who can’t work right now. If we shift away from health being dependent on our employers or charity, as both the ACA & M4A do, that shifts power.
That will lead to greater equality and less reliance on the benevolence of wealth. And as any oligarch will eagerly tell you, that’s no less terrifying than a communist threat.
PS- Testing:
Addressing the economic problem will either require more social democracy or more power to oligarchs. The nation will push for the former, and Trump’s voting base & financial base the latter.
Adequate testing will make the former practically inevitable.
Addressing the economic problem will either require more social democracy or more power to oligarchs. The nation will push for the former, and Trump’s voting base & financial base the latter.
Adequate testing will make the former practically inevitable.
