Diseases like COVID Reveal the Weaknesses & Strengths of an Economy

Inspired by an article by John Rapley, Prof Wolff compares our current pandemic to previous ones and the economic changes those have inspired. Will this moment also be more inspiration to change our ways?

"COVID has taught the Chinese that the way they set up their economy has benefits beyond the economic growth they've achieved. That's what the disease showed them. It made them stronger. Here in the United States, as the struggle over vaccines continues, the disease has driven us further apart, deepened our divisions, deepened our political conflicts and disagreements." - Prof Wolff

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Stuck Nation: Can the United States Change Course on Our History of Choosing Profits Over People?

“Hennelly brilliantly analyzes our capitalist crises and how individuals cope with them, tragically but often heroically. He helps us draw inspiration and realistic hope from how courageous Americans are facing and fixing a stuck nation.”
- Richard D. Wolff

Check out Prof. Wolff's other books: "The Sickness is the System," "Understanding Socialism," and "Understanding Marxism"
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[sekogasiskren]

If Covid 19 put an end to Capitalism, at least something good will come out of it

[leolvosMaguirre]

Beautiful Explained. well done Richard

[cheongwenpa]

I cannot imagine how it is to live in America as an intellect. Must be very painful intellectually.

[alloomis]

public health is a notable weak spot in usa society, so covid might make a perceptible step in the decline and fall of the evil empire. but the grossly cancerous transfer of public income to military and investor class is the fatal flaw which makes decline inevitable.

[redguitar]

Albert Camus wrote in The Plague "The pestilence is at once blight and revelation, it brings the hidden truth of a corrupt world to the surface.”

[sui-yu-er-an]

the key reason is the us government doesn't represent the public benefit, it represents the capitalist's benefit, because you need money for the election, more money means more ads more chances; but money is not free, it needs return.

[monadi]

excellent explanation.. thank you professor

[JoseLopez-ysoz]

The coronavirus pandemic has been an important experiment that has forced us to realize the weakness of United Sates’ (US) capitalism, where 20% of the world’s coronavirus deaths occurred while having less than 5% of the world’s population.
The US government (USG) blames China for its weakness, because, whatever the cost to the 99% of us, it wants to continue with neoliberalism now, neoliberalism tomorrow, and neoliberalism forever. US capitalism scientifically doesn’t work for the masses! It is, therefore, incumbent on us to engage in permanent resistance to replace the US’ economy with one that benefits the masses. Isn’t that what democracy means? This is our wake-up call!

[aetnatky]

I think that Covid pandemic brought out the workplace and general environmental microbial transmission to the forefront, and, for the first time, the employers had to deal with it. Unfortunately, the actions to mitigate the disease transmission took time to bring into fruition and only after government (with input by public health agencies) had to deal with this matter.

[oldsalt]

nothing is better than positive reinforcement. Being lazy is not an option. Laziness is a cancer.

[buttercuptaylor]

What happens to your Bitcoin when the grid goes down? And it will.
What happens when your account gets hacked? And it will.
Why won't anyone answer these basic questions?

[mksensej]

China has a leverage, the human resources available. Also we can not debate how well the Covid-19 was manged in China as we don't know the real numbers, although you assume the official ones. The thriving of humans do not depend of political ideology of how the distribution of wealth is made . The capital surplus has to be used in creating resources for the future and that will require huge cost in research and it won't improve the working class status .

[dcmurray]

What did you think of Dr Rapleys's idea of economics as a religion?

[oldsalt]

the death rate of COVID was only 2 percent and mostly with the elderly.

[sayaandyangsaya]

Bloomberg: The US is the most powerful country dealing with COVID.

[shainowen]

I'm tired of all of it. Its all bullshit

[TheGodFrmTheMachine]

What is up with all these crypto bots in the comments

[reserva]

If there was Only a Place people could go to re learn about the real value of Marxism.. making it fun, sort of a camp like environment.. A reeducation Camp for every Man woman an Child, a place where 24 hours a day seven days a week to feed an have the ideas of Marxism beaten into their minds an achieve the one Party One state we all desire..

[marklampo]

"Moderate-certainty evidence finds that large reductions in COVID-19 deaths are possible using ivermectin. Using ivermectin early in the clinical course may reduce numbers progressing to severe disease. The apparent safety and low cost suggest that ivermectin is likely to have a significant impact on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic globally." -American Journal of Therapeutics

[norbertschwartzman]

Because of the economic crisis and the rate of unemployment now is the best time to invest and make money 💯.