“As
our incompetent president flounders in the face of crises – leading the worst
coronavirus response in the industrialized world, and seeking to crush
nationwide protests for black lives – the hard truth about this country comes
into focus: America is not exceptional, but it is the exception.
“No other industrialized nation was as woefully unprepared for
the pandemic as was the United States. With 4.25% of the world
population, America has the tragic distinction of accounting for about 30% of
pandemic deaths so far. Why are we so different from other nations facing the
same coronavirus threat? Why has everything gone so tragically wrong in America?
Part of it is Donald Trump.
“He and his corrupt administration repeatedly ignored warnings
from public health experts and national security officials throughout January and
February, only acting on March 16th after the stock market tanked. Researchers
estimate that nearly 36,000 deaths could have been prevented if the United
States had implemented social distancing policies just one week earlier.
“No other industrialized nation has so drastically skirted
responsibility by leaving it to subordinate units of government – states and cities – to
buy ventilators and personal protective equipment.
“In no other industrialized nation have experts in public health
and emergency preparedness been muzzled and replaced by political
cronies like Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who in turn has been advised by
campaign donors and Fox News.
“In no other industrialized nation has Covid-19 so swiftly
eviscerated the incomes of the working class. Around the world,
governments are providing generous income support to keep their unemployment
rates low. Not in the U.S. Nearly 40 million Americans have lost their jobs so
far, and more than 30% of American adults have been forced to cut back on
buying food and risk going hungry. At best, Americans have received one-time
checks for $1,200, about a week’s worth of rent, groceries and utilities. After
a massive backlog, people finally started collecting their expanded
unemployment benefits – just in time for the expansion to expire with little to
no chance of being renewed.
“In no other nation is there such chaos about reopening. While Europe is opening
slowly and carefully, the U.S. is opening chaotically, each state on its own.
Some are lifting restrictions overnight.
“And not even a global pandemic can overshadow the racism embedded in this
country’s DNA. Even as black Americans are disproportionately dying from
coronavirus, they have nonetheless been forced into the streets in an
outpouring of grief and anger over decades of harsh policing and unjust
killings. As protests erupted across the country in response to more
police killings of unarmed black Americans, the protesters have been met with
even more police violence. Firing tear gas into crowds of predominantly black
protesters, in the middle of a pandemic caused by a respiratory virus that is
already disproportionately hurting black communities, is unconscionably cruel. Indeed,
a lot of the responsibility rests with Trump and his hapless and corrupt
collection of grifters, buffoons, sycophants, lobbyists and relatives. But the
problems at the core of our broken system, laid bare by this pandemic, have
been plaguing this country long before Trump came along.
“America is the only industrialized nation without guaranteed,
universal healthcare.
“No other industrialized nation insists on tying health care to
employment, resulting in tens of millions of U.S. citizens losing their
health insurance at the very moment they need it most.
“We’re the only one out of 22 advanced nations that doesn’t give
all workers some form of paid sick leave.
“Average wage growth in the United States has long lagged behind
average wage growth in most other industrialized countries, even before the
pandemic robbed Americans of their jobs and incomes. Since 1980, American
workers’ share of total national income has dropped more than in any other rich
nation.
“And America also has the largest CEO-to-worker pay gap on the
planet. In 1965, American CEOs were paid 20 times the typical worker.
Today, American CEOs are paid 278 times the typical worker.
“Not surprisingly, American workers are far less unionized than
workers in other industrialized economies. Only 10.2 percent of all
workers in America belong to a union, compared with more than 26% in Canada,
65% in Sweden, and 23% in Britain. With less unionization, American workers are
easily overpowered by corporations, and can’t bargain for higher wages or
better benefits.
“So
who and what’s to blame for the largest preventable loss of life in American
history? It’s not just Trump’s malicious incompetence. It’s decades of
America’s failure to provide its people the basic support they need, decades of
putting corporations’ bottom lines ahead of workers’ paychecks, decades of
letting the rich and powerful pull the strings as the rest of us barely get by.
This pandemic has exposed what has long been true: On the global stage, America
is the exception, but not in the way we would like to believe” (Common Dreams).
Robert
Reich, is the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the
University of California, Berkeley, and a senior fellow at the Blum Center for
Developing Economies. He served as secretary of labor in the Clinton
administration, for which Time magazine named him one of the 10 most effective
cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. The author of many books,
including the best sellers Aftershock, The
Work of Nations, Beyond
Outrage and, Saving
Capitalism. He is also a founding editor of The American Prospect
magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality
For All." Reich's newest book is "The Common Good." He's co-creator
of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is
streaming now.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.