If Covid-19 is a test of government effectiveness, then the world’s most powerful country has failed spectacularly.

180,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 — more than double the number who perished in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined https://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

America has done significantly worse than most other rich countries, with a mortality rate of 500 deaths per million people compared with:

Just over 100 in Germany
Fewer than 10 deaths per million in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China https://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

The coronavirus crisis could turn out to be a historical turning point.

Five hundred years ago, China was the greatest power on the planet, with the world’s biggest capital city and best run government. The West then rose by mastering statecraft http://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

America was aiming to put a man on the moon while millions of Chinese were dying of starvation.

Since that decade, Western governments have ossified while Asian governments have caught up and, in many cases, overtaken the West http://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

Today, the average citizen is safer from Covid-19 in Singapore, South Korea or Taiwan than in the U.S.

They also enjoy better health and send their children to better schools http://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

If Washington snoozes, it could follow the way of other empires that crumbled, notably Rome and Athens.

What would real reform look like? In their new book for @HarperViaBooks, @RJohnMickle and @adwooldridge plot out a plan http://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

Step 1. Build resilience

The obvious place to start is by dealing with the complete lack of preparedness for the virus. The U.S. could copy the Swiss system, where each employer is responsible for keeping up-to-date kits for its workers http://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

Step 2. Protect and unite

Nearly 30 years after one of us covered Rodney King’s beating in LA, Blacks are 3 times more likely than Whites to be killed by the police.

The U.S. needs to fire bad cops. Like bad teachers, they're protected by powerful unions http://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

Step 3. Lift the fog

America’s budget is incomprehensible because it is stuffed with perks and exemptions that benefit special interests. Bills don’t run to thousands of pages by accident; they conceal what is going on from the public http://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

Step 4. Simplify, cut, modernize, sell

The U.S. shouldn't have a tax code so complicated that 9 out of 10 tax-filers pay for help to complete their returns. The income tax rate could be lowered if you got rid of the $1.6T of exemptions for the well-off http://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

Step 5. Stop subsidizing the rich and the old

America looks after the old, not the poor. Nearly 90% of social insurance payments go to people who are 65+. We don’t need to be giving a state pension to Bruce Springsteen or Warren Buffett http://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

Step 6. A fairer health-care system

The U.S. should draw on systems in Germany, Canada and Singapore to guarantee every American a standard of free health care, paid for by the government but provided at both public and private hospitals http://trib.al/bYQvwpi 

America faces a choice between two endings: one in which the ship continues to rot and another in which it is repaired and rejiggered.

Other ships are beginning to go past the U.S. The rest of the world is not staying still. It is time to wake up http://trib.al/bYQvwpi