It Didn’t Have to Be Like This

https://portside.org/2020-03-28/it-didnt-have-be
Portside Date:
Author: Stephanie Luce
Date of source:
Labor Notes

We have been forced to choose between two terrible options:

It didn’t have to be like this.

We could not have prevented the virus itself, nor the resulting loss of life altogether. But imagine if:

Any society is vulnerable to a host of threats, from disease to climate change and natural disasters. The challenge is how to build the foundation and infrastructure that can prevent the worst outcomes and better withstand the catastrophes when they come.

SO NOW WHAT?

It is too late to go back and make different choices, but we still have a choice in how to move forward.

We can continue on the same path: privatize more of the health care system; bail out the rich, the banks, and the corporations; make drugs and vaccines available only to the highest bidder. We can blame China and escalate our trade war. We can continue sanctions on Iran and contribute to high rates of illness and death there. We can act as if diseases and treatment follow borders.

Or we can move quickly to ease the burden and rebuild, and be prepared for the next pandemic and the climate crisis which is sure to come:

HOW WILL WE PAY FOR THIS?

Some will argue that we cannot afford these programs. A simple answer is that we can’t afford not to.

But getting into specifics: Countries have often been forced to implement bold policies during a crisis, whether the Great Depression of the 1930s, wartime, or coming out of war. It was after World War II that many other countries established their national health care systems and their generous safety net programs, on the understanding that any society is only as strong as its weakest member and that collective programs are good for the economy.

The federal government has the ability to take on public debt to pay for big programs. This happened in 2008 when the government came up with $891 billion to bail out the financial system, with almost no strings attached. This is basically an investment in the future: borrowing money from the future to pay for necessary steps now. The economist JW Mason makes a strong case for funding the Green New Deal this way.

There are also lots of taxes we could pass:

ANOTHER PATH IS POSSIBLE

Other countries are showing that there are better ways to address this health and economic crisis. We do not have to choose between saving people and saving jobs. We can pay people to stay home and we can protect people who are working on the front lines. If we demand it, we can build an economy centered on human need rather than corporate profit.

Stephanie Luce is a professor at the School for Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York, and a member of the Professional Staff Congress-CUNY/AFT.

Since 1979, Labor Notes has been the voice of union activists who want to put the movement back in the labor movement.


Source URL: https://portside.org/2020-03-28/it-didnt-have-be