Re:IMF Says Great Lockdown Recession Likely Worst Since Depr...
by mcv on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @11:25AM
(#22867120)
Sure, but that's why we need to take care of each other. Poor countries may not be able to, but wealthy countries absolutely are. Of course choices need to be made, but the choice not to help out those who are hit hardest by this, is a political choice. It's not an inability to help.
Of course there are countries, like the US, that seem eager to fuck this up, but again, that's a political choice. There's no doubt that the US has the economic capacity to get through this if it wants to. The problem is that its political class has other priorities.
In Netherland, people who lose their job still get paid. Restaurants survive by switching to delivery. Some companies may go bankrupt, many people will have to take a step back in their lifestyle, but overall, life here has been pretty good, and we have that leeway to make that step back.
That doesn't mean nothing will change once this is over; I think and hope a lot of people will reassess what's important. I hope we'll pay the people in these "essential jobs" better than we've done so far. And I hope people will learn to appreciate the essentials of life more and be less eager to get back into the rat race of status and useless crap. But we do have a lot of useless crap in our society that we can easily cut back on without letting anyone fall through the cracks.
In western Europe at least. I'm well aware that some other countries love rugged individualism for the poor and care more about bailing out the rich. But again, that's a political choice.
Of course there are countries, like the US, that seem eager to fuck this up, but again, that's a political choice. There's no doubt that the US has the economic capacity to get through this if it wants to. The problem is that its political class has other priorities.
In Netherland, people who lose their job still get paid. Restaurants survive by switching to delivery. Some companies may go bankrupt, many people will have to take a step back in their lifestyle, but overall, life here has been pretty good, and we have that leeway to make that step back.
That doesn't mean nothing will change once this is over; I think and hope a lot of people will reassess what's important. I hope we'll pay the people in these "essential jobs" better than we've done so far. And I hope people will learn to appreciate the essentials of life more and be less eager to get back into the rat race of status and useless crap. But we do have a lot of useless crap in our society that we can easily cut back on without letting anyone fall through the cracks.
In western Europe at least. I'm well aware that some other countries love rugged individualism for the poor and care more about bailing out the rich. But again, that's a political choice.