As congressional Democrats maneuver against the GOP to get an effective and supportive response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the current occupant of the Oval Office appears to be losing interest in the whole concept of helping ordinary citizens to survive in the greatest possible numbers. This dovetails nicely with the news that white supremacist, anti-government groups are telling their followers that any of them who get infected with COVID-19 should go cough on Jews and police officers.
The proponents of letting the thing run rampant point to the considerable economic benefits of massive casualties, provided that we waste as little as possible on trying to treat the sick. Ration care. Ration materiel. Focus on the higher economic brackets, where the real value to society lies. Sure, we depend on the lowly worker bees, but there are plenty of them. With a good dose of fear, they'll be more compliant. With a good thinning, there won't be as many of them to whine and vote Democratic. Because the supporters of the current regime tend to come from more dispersed populations in rural areas, they do stand somewhat better odds of avoiding the plague as long as they drive away refugees from the infected areas, and take a few minor precautions. Or so it may appear to them. And if it kills grandma and granddad, that's a big savings on long term care, as long as you don't get soft and blow a big wad on a fancy funeral.
Whatever happened to the real good old days, when an elder would realize that they were a burden on the tribe and wander off into the wilderness to get eaten by wild animals? Good times, man. And there was no friggin' estate tax, either. Oh wait: there were no friggin' estates.
My neighbors indulge in bursts of gunfire at irregular intervals. It provides a comforting soundscape as we shelter in place.
If the administration withdraws all support for an extended shutdown, it will mean that any business or worker who chooses individually to stay home and keep distance will have no legal backing. Lost income will simply be lost. Meanwhile, the outside world will become rapidly more dangerous as the foolhardy and the dutiful go out and mingle, giving the virus the freest possible rein. Any public spaces will become more of a Petri dish than they are already. Gas pump handles are supposedly oozing with viruses even now. When you go out for groceries you will get lots of added value to challenge your immune system. Your weekly church service to get closer to God might actually send you to meet Him. It's okay. Earthly life is just pain and suffering anyway. Death is a mercy.
If this life is such shit, and death is a mercy, why have children? Why subject anyone who does not yet exist to the misery of existence? Sharing the joy?
The best response from the working class would be a general strike. Refuse to come out and join the dance of death being advocated by the corporate tools pushing heartless policies. Hardasses will call it some kind of tough love, and our duty, like storming ashore on a beach raked by gunfire, knowing that 25 percent of you will never make it all the way across. Do it for the economy, people! Here's your chance to be a real capitalist hero, and die for the American way of life.
Hey, the fatality rate isn't that bad. Relax! You'll probably be fine. Some people have no symptoms at all! Anyone who died was already a weakling. We're better off without them.
We're seeing a new War Between the States, only this time it's states of mind. The only way voluntary efforts could prevail in the face of official indifference would be for the vast majority to go along. So many people would have to join that it became the official position simply because there were too few people left to enforce the murder-suicide of business as usual. This seems highly unlikely. Our next best hope will be that a support bill passes that actually provides support to the job-doers, without whom the "job creators" have nothing to crow about.
If investors get bailed out every time the economy crashes, what is all that bullshit about the risks they take? The people who are losing are the ones with small holdings in their little retirement accounts, that they were told would be so much more desirable than stupid old Social Security. Within my own lifetime I have seen those crash at least three times, while the mega fortunes just twitched a bit and kept lumbering forward.
It didn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to be this way. Insist that it not be this way. Rational plans are circulating, but they still need to be adopted and put into play. It will require big moves, national-size moves as detailed in a piece from Forbes contributor Laurence Kotlikoff on March 21.
There is almost no support for a human-based response from the Senate majority or the White House. Those who can are preparing to save themselves. It's entirely consistent with the philosophy of social disintegration that they call "individual responsibility and liberty." Translated, that means, "You're on your own, chum."
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