"Today millions of Americans have fallen into poverty or are on the verge of destitution. Stimulus money has largely been used as a handout to corporations, and over 160,000 small businesses have closed. In March and April 30 million Americans filed for unemployment. Now temporary job losses are becoming permanent. 12 million unemployed people may see their benefits lapse even if Congress passes a new aid deal. Homelessness is spiking, 11.4 million households owe $70 billion in back rent and fees, and 40 million people are at risk of eviction. In some states, food bank lines stretch for miles, and 1 in 4 children are expected to experience food insecurity.
Meanwhile, Walmart and Target reported record sales. Amazon tripled its profits and Jeff Bezos made $70 billion. Billionaires have collectively made over $1 trillion since March. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft now make up 20% of the stock market’s total worth. The tech industry has achieved an unparalleled level of wealth and dominance. Data, which has been more valuable than oil since 2017, is expected to expand its economic footprint.
“This is not an unforced error or a good policy idea implemented poorly. It is an economic agenda disguised as a health protocol.”
Unemployment, hunger, institutional breakdown, and the destruction of social bonds are not symptoms of a virus. They are the indirect violence of class warfare. The pandemic is a convenient scapegoat for the largest upward wealth transfer in modern human history. Under the pretext of a public health policy, elites have successfully waged a counterrevolution that will result in the erosion of working conditions and quality of life for generations to come. "
I sometimes go to read the "opposite" side of things, and was hanging around Reddit, and saw this article. I DO NOT agree with them being against Lock Downs. I think the author is ABSURD when he claims that people were being doomsday for the virus to necessitate lockdowns. My own state had the hospitals getting overwhelmed, but the governor shut down the restaurants and other places and numbers of cases were reduced. I know a nurse personally via my UU church, she disappeared once Covid broke, but I heard enough through the grapevine to know Covid is an absolute shit-show.
All I know is so many people have gotten it that I know, it's definitely real and serious. One did almost die in the ER. I have several medical appointments coming up and talked over with my friends if it is safe enough to go.
I cracked dark jokes to my husband, that Amazon was going to take over, because even someone like me who only used Amazon three times in 6 years, was now having to use it all the time to buy non-food items. I know for those who believe that the elite "plan" anything, that we may have the taint of being affected by conspiracy thinking, but I think about the class issues too and how the Covid epidemic is going to be used to make society more totalitarian. The mantras of social distancing and the rest, bothered me from the start.
And they are right, the middle and upper classes made sour dough bread at home maybe in between some homeschooling, while the lower classes were all forced out to their low paid "essential jobs" to work with the public and be at risk everyday. Someone pointed out this was one reason, some facets of the population were not taking the lockdowns seriously, because after all if they were forced to go to work why would they take them seriously? My own household was in a strange place where we could mimick the "at home" life of the upper classes due to husband's gig employment, but he lost work too. How long will unemployment last? In our case, we can keep the rent paid, due to my disability but I'm not exactly looking down a hallway either of economic security.
The destruction of small business concerns me, in my state at least a third of small businesses have closed their doors forever. We will have nothing but corporate businesses and conglomerations left. Unless Biden does a UBI, or something changes, we are looking at millions of homeless people. The working class isn't going to suddenly come up with 5-10,000 dollars to pay months of back rent. From what I can tell, the money-masters and upper classes don't care, you either pay or you are out. Some of my bills have even increased during all this.
This consolidates power in some very unseemly ways. What's scary is people like this author blame the "lockdowns" instead of looking at the fact the virus is out of the bag and doing REAL damage. I worry about alt-right garbage being promoted under the guise of caring about the working class. Something seems weird with that website.
Are we being betrayed for economic and other agendas? I don't know. Some really awful stuff is going on. I ask myself why a real short term lock-down was never done to end this fiasco once and for all, and stop the virus from spreading. The antimaskers and others have been the usual pawns to spread death and destruction. How can anyone believe it is "just a cold" anymore when I personally know so many people who have gotten sick or even of people who died--at least 7 friends have an immediate or other family member who died, and some of these people were YOUNG.
Someone posted this on reddit, and I found myself wondering about this too....
"I will go to my grave believing that the US "COVID response" was at least partially an intentional project of the ruling class to liquidate less productive/vulnerable people. Spending on Social Security and Medicare has long been a target for the oligarchy, but has always been somewhat untouchable.
In the short term, doing a proper lockdown with significant aid to keep people home probably would have been better for "the economy" (corporations and billionaires) by averting the present catastrophe.
How can we explain the seemingly irrational decisions of our very self-interested, calculating oligarchs? Either they are simply incompetent and cruel (certainly true, to an extent), or there's another economic rationale at play.
The 1 in 1,000 Americans who have died so far were, in general, older, more likely to be working class/poor, more likely to be from marginalized racial/ethnic groups, and many had other medical conditions. Their needs were deliberately ignored during a global pandemic, and they died. Never forget."
I've heard it proposed that instead of shutting everyone down, we simply isolate the more vulnerable. Old, immunocompromized etc. But who are we fooling? We're a society that doesn't give a shit about our old people or those who aren't 100% physically.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky in that I have work still, and not much interpersonal contact. I go to the post office and FedEx just about daily, but those are quick drop-offs. I bought some junk off of a food truck today but that was quick and simple (and outdoors). It's not like being a cashier where I'm in an enclosed space all day with tons of people going by.
Well, tonight the Georgia results start coming in and we get to find out if we still have a recognizable country any more.
Hell who isn't immunocompromized anymore, people are far sicker now a days at younger ages. Almost everyone I know even people who are 20 years younger have some kind of serious medical problem. The stress of this society isn't bringing good health out. The boomers most of them seem far more vigorous then the generations after them. I know young people who got it and almost died, 40s and 50s. Someone I am friends with lost a 30 something year old cousin, so it's doing serious crap now to more then just the disabled and old. You are right this country only cares about money. I had to pay car registration today. I had the weird thought how much of a percentage is going to pay it this year? We paid because husband did not want cops pulling him over, but I had the thought that the state probably is only going to get their money from 40-50 percent of the populace.
DeleteI am glad you have work still. My husbands work has been cut in general--but he had very little work over the holidays, it DROPPED, but hopefully it will come back. Glad you only have quick drop offs and are not surrounded. I have a bunch of med appointments in next two weeks but think I can keep contact down to 1-2 people and in one "waiting room" its big enough to avoid people. I don't usually do these in winter, they got shifted from Covid, the winter is more mild so hopefully I will make it in. Food truck sounds great hope it was tasty.
I hope Georgia doesn't fail us. We are screwed if we are still stuck with a Republican senate. I now despise Republicans the party of no empathy.
In the UK the government has the phrase "underlying health conditions" tacked on when mentioning Covid deaths , in fact they use it every sentence to emphasise thats its your own fault for dying . The level of resentment simmering here gets ever worse , sick remarks from neighbours about getting rid of all the fat scroungers etc etc . Meanwhile all the beautiful people are shown on their Caribbean xmas trips because theres no famous people dying on the front pages is there. The media have decided that this is just an illness for the plebs and its your own fault if you die of it
ReplyDeleteYeah, here too, the hatred for fat people, those with other health conditions, disabled and old got really bad. They openly talked about triaging us. A lady on my Facebook told me they didn't like to ventilate anyone over 170lbs, so that was astonishing. I get the feeling some of the Covidiots think it's real but can't to spread it so some of the people they see as "useless eaters" die off. Yeah we see the beautiful people in their lavish mansions, baking the sour dough bread and crap like that. I have noticed richer people are taking vacations, maybe to more remote areas but many are still seeing relatives and other stuff you aren't supposed to do. It is seen as an illness for plebes too here. Yeah with health in general, they adapted the attitudes that if you get sick or anything is wrong with you, that it is your fault. It's so wrong. It's crazy here. Oh I read half of the Chicago teachers didn't show up when they reopened schools, who can blame them?
Deletecorrection above...'can't wait to spread"
ReplyDelete