Orignally posted on Thursday, May 7, 2020
REFLECTIONS ON ASPECTS OF THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE
COVID 19 PANDEMIC
Harry
Targ
There are political, economic, ideological dimensions about
how the pandemic is playing out in American life. First, the
crisis is being framed in diametrically opposed ways. One frame says the crisis
is really former President Obama’s fault and current President Trump, coming
into office in the face of errors, is now rectifying the situation. He is in
the process of saving the lives of thousands of Americans as the pandemic winds
down. The legacy of the Obama era, Trump argues, is magnified by the
incompetence or duplicity of the Chinese.
A second, and more accurate frame, is that the Trump
administration is riddled with incompetence. As a result he ignored the early
warning signs of crisis, fired experts on pandemics, and bungled efforts to
ameliorate the worst effects of it. Governors, burdened with rising numbers of
victims of the virus in their states, are desperately establishing health and
safety rules, purchasing necessary equipment for first responders and citizens,
and trying within limits of interest and ideology to provide for the
social welfare of citizens.
These state policies pit the governors against a federal
government that regards the playing out of the crisis as part of a political
drama. For the president, the crisis, his denigration of responses in the
states to the pandemic, and criticisms of those who call for more concerted
action to reverse the incidences of the disease, is all about him. Ultimately
for Trump, much more than his opponents, policy decisions are shaped by the
upcoming elections.
Second, while 2020 politics shape the
policy decisions during the crisis so do economics and ideology. With the
spread of disease and death Trump was forced to accept modest but necessary
state policies that sequestered people to slow the dramatic increases in those
affected by the virus and deaths resulting from it. However, these policies
have brought the economy to a halt. And as of May, the public debate has been
shifting from “is the crisis real” and “do we have to employ radical
measures to reduce the incidence of the virus” to “when should we reopen the
economy.”
Most of the scientific evidence points to the need to
continue the social and economic lockdown of the nation. But Trump, the
rightwing sectors of the capitalist class, and the gun-toting base of Trump’s
support are advocating an end to the policies of quarantining. Many mainstream
politicians, CEOs and administrators of public institutions (for example
university presidents) have indicated that the risk of not returning to
economic activity as usual is more important than the risk that the pandemic
might continue and grow. Concretely, among significant sectors of the ruling
class, profit takes priority over public health.
Third, the ideological justification of the
profound danger to the survival of society as we know it comes down to
arguments about the “magic of the marketplace” versus “government intervention”
and “governments’ trampling on personal freedom.” As the godfather of
this ideology, Ronald Reagan, said: “Government is not the solution. Government
is the problem.” And, to the extent that public policies have been based on
science, science as an enterprise is being subjected to scorn and disbelief.
In addition, some specific elements of this drama worth
mentioning are:
--Rightwing racists and militias are mobilizing to defend
Trump while others party in public, refuse to wear masks, and in other ways
show their defiance in the face of health risks
--These public manifestations of protest against
governmental efforts to mute the worst effects of the pandemic are being
promoted with money, propagandizing, and staffing by rightwing sectors of
the ruling class. Most prominent in these prompts to mobilization are
organizations well known by now: Charles Koch funded organizations such as
ALEC, Americans for Prosperity, the State Policy Network, and the Heritage
Foundation, and the NRA. Protests are not just spontaneous uprisings of
ill-informed workers but well-planned efforts to reverse public policies
designed to protect the health of the population. And they are targeted against
those politicians Trump himself has attacked.
But it is important to remember that vast majorities of
those polled believe that the policies of reducing public activity and business
as usual should be continued, Most Americans reject the calls for ending
“government interference.” They accept the conclusions of scientists that the
pandemic remains life-threatening.
--Public policies that have passed to mute the growing
economic pain and suffering of average citizens, workers and small business
persons, have redistributed enormous wealth to the largest corporations in the
United States. Much needed bailout packages passed by Congress have not
addressed enough the healthcare, food, housing, and other needs of the American
people.
--This critical moment of the political, economic, and
ideological struggle requires serious attention. As Naomi Klein has pointed
out, the outcome of this crisis will determine the future of the United States
and perhaps the global political economy. The forces of the libertarian right,
sectors of neoliberalism, and white nationalism are working to return the
United States to the Gilded Age, when the accumulation of wealth and the immiseration
of the masses was extreme, Jim Crow was law in the South and racist
social practices predominated throughout the United States.
Alternatively, the pandemic has made clear to all that the
capitalist economy and the US political system are broken. It is this awareness
that could trigger the mobilization of masses of people to create another
world: a world of democratic socialism. This is the project that more and
more people in the US and around the world are embracing. The time for
rebuilding our mass movements and our left political parties in unity and
expanding international solidarity is now. Another World is Still Possible.
