By James R Smith———————————————————- Art by Mark Henson
The Coronavirus has had a big impact on most people in the U.S. for only about 70 days (My self-quarantine will reach 72 days on May 21). That’s not even two and a half months. Yet, in this short period our world has been turned upside down. As one wag put it, “at long last, marijuana is legal, and haircuts are against the law.”
When the working class leaves the workplace, everything stops. Entrepreneurs, billionaires, and hedge fund con artists are helpless when it comes to keeping the machines running, the deliveries flowing and the dollars piling up. Obviously, this dependence on working people is bothersome to the 1 percenters.
What else is new? Here are a few changes, and/or revelations brought to us by this virus:
Prediction #1 – Robots are coming
There will be an increased focus on building functional robots that can run the machines/be the machines, work in nursing homes, airplanes and cruise ships, if they still exist. Part of this new focus will be on robotic cars, trucks, trains and buses that need no human intervention.
There is a basic problem for those who think America is “the greatest country in the world.” If so, why did it bungle nearly every aspect involved in protecting people from the virus, when lesser countries were doing a competent job?
The trend toward robots, algorithms and artificial intelligence didn’t begin with Coronavirus, but it did get a big boost. A lot of money will be going into replacing people with robots. There are both good and bad reasons. The bad: it can eliminate the need for millions of workers. The good: It can eliminate the drudgery that too many people encounter every day on the job. Add the continual replacement of humans by machines to the large numbers that will be laid off in the coming months and we have a crisis on our hands. How are people supposed to eat or pay rent?
Prediction #2 – There will be an increasing demand for a UBI.
This is where a universal basic income (ubi) becomes the solution. A ubi is not welfare. It is the wealth our families/ancestors created over the generations that has made the U.S. the richest country in the world. Yes, we did it. Us workers. But the robber barons, captains of industry, the oligarchs, the establishment, the 1 percent, stole it from those who created it. Your family and my family. If you’re a recent immigrant it is likely that your family created all the wealth in the country of your birth. You are entitled to a ubi, no matter where you roam on this planet.
Already, there are calls for a $2,000 per month share (ubi) of the national economy. This is enough to raise everyone in the country out of poverty. The ubi not only takes everyone out of poverty, it is also a step toward freedom. Perhaps a majority of workers never want to work another day for a corporation or a small business. Until now, that meant there would be no income. With a ubi, you could tell your boss to take his job and shove it, and still have a good income.
Nearly everyone that I’ve talked to by phone or vid has said in almost the same words: “I hope I never have to be back to work.” Yes, jobs are overrated. What they mean, in most cases, is that they’re fine with telecommuting, but not with going back to an unhealthful and stressful building to work.
Not everyone can telecommute every day. Some jobs require to have to show up to do something, or fix something. But when telecommuting is an option, it seems to be the hands-down winner. Why wouldn’t someone rather stay in their own home, which is their own creation, not the boss’ idea of beauty. Don’t confuse work with socializing. When it’s safe, go out, after hours, to socialize with friends. Don’t go into the workplace to do a pale imitation of socializing.
Just imagine how the arts and crafts would explode if everyone who was secretly an artist turned their full attention to painting, writing, sculpting, woodworking, metalworking and all the other talents that people longed for but could not create because they didn’t have the time or the money. Or consider how many millions would now have the time to work to save the environment. Collectives would flourish, as would “helping” societies, for those who for physical or mental problems needed help coping with the world.
Prediction #3 – Free health care will be recognized as a human right
Covid-19 is nobody’s fault. Everything related to its treatment should be free, as should all other health care. There is confusion today on what costs money and what is free. Many poor people do not go to a hospital because of the cost. Others get treated for free. Same with testing, which began as a commodity and turned into a free service. The trillions that this government has lavished on the billionaires proves that we can afford medicare+for-all. It’s time to kick the entrepreneurs our of the health insurance racket, and out of hospital ownership, as well. If it’s health care, it should be free.
Prediction #4 – Factories (mostly in China) will produce enough N95s
– or better – masks and PPEs, when we don’t need them. But hang onto them. I have a feeling we’re going to need them again.
Where did all the hospital beds go? Neoliberal capitalism gained ascendancy in the late 1970s. In the quest for greater profits, entire industries were gutted, including steel, auto, rubber, garment, and countless others. Most of these factories had been making a small profit, roughly five percent a year. That was not enough for finance capital (Wall Street) when it pushed industrial capital out of the way in the 1970s. It wanted profits upwards of 50 percent, and was ruthless enough to destroy the livelihood of millions to get it.
According to Statista, there were 1,465,828 hospital beds in 1975. By 2017, that number had fallen to 931,203. While hospital beds were declining during this period, the U.S. population was growing from 215 million in 1975, to 325 million in 2017. This is an example of capitalism’s greed as a threat to public health. It was only by Herculean efforts that non-hospitals were pressed into service to provide more beds, and tactics such as social distancing, quarantining, lockdowns, use of masks and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kept the need for massive numbers of beds to a minimum. There was also a critical shortage in the number of doctors, specialists and nurses, because what entrepreneur wants to pay for more than the bare minimum?
The story of the scarcity of masks and other PPEs, such as gloves. mask respirators, eye protection, face shields, gowns, aprons, boots or closed-toe work shoes, is another indictment of our current economic system. It is also a story of lies and corruption.
There were not enough masks to go around, since federal and state stockpiles had been sold off in recent years. Instead of telling this to the public, we were lied to by officials who said, with a straight face, that masks weren’t really needed by the general public, and that only front-line health care workers needed them. There weren’t even enough masks for hospital workers, so we were told to search our closets and storage facilities for masks that we could turn over to the authorities.
When enough masks were finally available, we were told that perhaps it would be a good idea to wear a mask in public. There was no apology, no mea culpa. It was just a “new fact” that had recently surfaced. Who knew that masks could be useful? Just the entire population of east Asia, but not our doctors, and so-called political leaders.
It was not surprising that our leaders did not advise us further on the wearing of masks, and in some cases, told us that scarfs and bandanas were just as good as real masks. Another sign that the scarcity problem for masks hasn’t been entirely fixed yet.
In fact, the N95 is the only mask that can stop particles no larger than two microns, which is the size of the virus. Good luck with your hand-painted, designer mask that you could drive a truck full of real masks through. See my article on this site, Are you ready to step outside? for more details about masks.
Prediction #5 – There will be a demand for good national leaders.
We will want leaders who want to strengthen ties with all the countries of the world, and who won’t cut loose the 50 states to flounder on their own. Someday this might actually happen. Let’s hope it’s before the next disaster looms.
The virus has shown that we need close world-wide cooperation. Scientists thrive on international sharing of their work and results. Most political leaders are fine with sharing the fight with medical experts who will do the research that leads to drugs or a vaccine. There’s only one that doesn’t want to share the glory. Trump is getting in the way of solving this Covid-19 threat. He is attacking China, which has already pledged to make any successful drug or vaccine free. He, and his neo-con advisors are making life miserable for Venezuela and Iran, who, just like us, are also struggling with the virus.
Prediction #6 – Traffic will cease to be a problem.
Huge unused buildings and parking lots will be even more of an eyesore than they are now. A movement will begin to either repurpose the old office buildings into people-friendly environments or to tear them and the parking lots down and use the land for urban agriculture.
Prediction #7 – Exodus from the cities.
Some people are reevaluating the benefits of living in a big city. They think that a small city, town, village or farm could bring them an even more meaningful life. Many of those cars you see leaving the big city are on scouting tours, looking for more nature and less people. Is the day of the mega-city coming to an end?
Big Prediction #8 – Saving the environment.
People, and many more governments, will finally get serious about saving humanity on this planet by saving the environment. Many millions will stop driving cars with internal combustion engines, in favor of walking, biking, skating, electric scooters, three-wheel vehicles and electric cars. We’ll also start a movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
Perhaps there is something we can do to repair all the damage we’ve done to Mother Earth. On the EPA’s “AirNow” map of the quality of the atmosphere, the entire west coast seems to be clean, except for two large orange spots. One is Vandenberg Air Force Base (which notes that it is now under the jurisdiction of the “United States Space Force.” Did we vote for that?). The other big dirty spot on the map is Edwards Air Force Base in the Antelope Valley. When will the military stop polluting everything?
According to the BBC, “…researchers from Colombia University in New York City believe that the sidelining of much of the world’s cars has already contributed to a 50 percent reduction of greenhouse gases compared to the same time last year.”
As Michael Moore noted, this is a greater reduction than has been seen in the last 50 years. Not only do we cleaner air, but waterways, including Venice, Italy’s historic canals are clear enough to see fish swimming in them.
Big Prediction #9 – Capitalism has gotta go, and it will.
The last, and biggest problem, is capitalism. There will be an increased interest in replacing capitalism with a system that places the needs of the people above those of the capitalist need for more profits. The capitalist type of economic system cannot reform itself, because like the virus, it must feed on us to survive.
If we don’t go to work, if we don’t consume on demand, if we don’t show ourselves to the virus and the vampire, capitalism, they will die. Our salvation lies in getting rid of the both of them, the virus and the vampire.
It’s drive for greater and greater profits, no matter who it hurts, is over. Hospitals have lost hundreds of beds because capitalist cut backs. Thousands of masks and other PPEs have been sold off because of capitalism, and now doctors are predicting that feeding the beast by opening up the economy early will kill people outright because the virus is still lurking, and it will kill people in the long run because of the environment. Think about it. Capitalism is failing in every field of endeavor, not just in the fight against Covid-19. It’s frequent upheavals are causing massive suffering for millions who lose their homes, income and families. A mass movement against capitalism is about to begin, and not a moment too soon.
Photo by James R Smith
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