illustrating what is wrong with Neo-liberal econ. It cuts for "efficiency" what must not be cut. - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15171569
Michael Lewis is not not saying he predicted things would end up this way
Katie Couric
43 min.

I said this before. The US was not ready for the pandemic that experts told us was just a matter of time. It was not ready because there is no *profit* in being ready for a pandemic. To be ready we needed => a huge stock pile of masks, massive excess coacity in healthcare facilities, separate hospitals for infectious patients, a plan, willingness to do whatever is necessary, but especilly the conviction that only the Fed. Gov. can fight and win against a pandemic, and that there is no time for certainty, you must ACT NOW.
. . . The Nei-liberal econ. mind set blocked all those things in the name of efficiency, and PROFIT at all costs.



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#15171784
America is setting itself up to fail. The unique combination of hyper-individualism, greed, and a profits-driven domestic and foreign policy mean that it is hollowing out its own middle-class, allowing its own infrastructure to crumble, and ceding world leadership to its geopolitical rivals. There seems to be no way of stopping this process.
#15172887
People,
the US spends over $800B on the military. Its says it is doing this to protect the American people.
Well, since the end of WWII less that 4000 Americans have been killed by foreign actors. This means that the military is doing a good job.

OTOH, covid has killed over 600K in the last 14 months. I would say that the US Gov. has failed dismally to protect the American people from any pandemic.
IMHO, the US could easily divert $1B/yr. from the military to pandemic readyness. This is just 0.125% of $800B.
This money could be spent on educating the American people what the plan is so they accept it, and also on a stockpile of masks and other PPE, on separate hospitals near every existing hospital just for infectus disease cases, on training more doctors and nurses, etc.

My analogy is => that a city is like an aircraft carrier. That the medical facilities on the carrier are far larger than is necessary on most days in peacetime, because in a battle there will be wounded who need treatment right now. I have learned and I hope you-all have learned that a city also needs far more medical treatment facilities than just enough for each Saturday night, because a pandemic can come at any time without much warning. If the city is not ready then, in a city like NYC, 100K can die needlessly.
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