The Pandemic Caused by Privilege and Capitalism. (PT. 1)

By Joesph Feuerstein

Mar 12 · 9 min read

*Opinion/Op-Ed*

As of now, there are a total of 154,617 “confirmed” cases. Covid-19 has killed 5,794 with 48 dead in the United States as of today.

Consider this. Its the rich, the privileged, the entitled, those that dress nice, who can afford to travel, that spread/created the pandemic. Right now viruses tentacles has wrapped the world and It has nothing to do with race, religion, or creed, but income. It’s not the American or other countries’ middle class or working poor who’s debt slavery, and the cost of expenses to travel would exceed their monthly to yearly expenses for most incomes. It’s those who can afford to be sick. Exotic and distant faraway places, afforded by wealthy Traveller’s be it business or leisure these people exasperated the problem. That being said it is my opinion Corporations and capitalistic interests drove the pandemic to spread. We should judge people based on wealth and privilege to travel to afford such luxuries to far off destination for a stay at how much plus food drink etc. That’s not your average person, who does it regularly unless it is education-related for families who can afford to send their child to study abroad or part of a student exchange program business, then those same kids go on spring break or travel home furthering the spread. Or traveling for business purposes, and how much does the average corporation/business spend on travel expenses to euro Asia. It has nothing to do race religion or creed I would never say such ignorant things we are far beyond that point, it is worldwide now. Now It has to do with more with have and have nots. Do you have enough money to travel, do you have a good enough job that you can afford to take time off when your sick, are you traveling for business or pleasure.. capitalism or capitalistic / privilege cause this to spread People didn’t heed health warnings or warnings weren’t properly given out possibly for capitalistic/national security reasons, one out of many because it would cause a panic on the market. Globalization (so-called free trade) caused this. Hopefully, we’ll realize the value of producing things ourselves. Profits over people sadly, but at the end of the day, some Governments are short-sighted enough care more about short term profits they do about the long term gains of its health of their citizens and the workforce they provide.

We are on the edge of having one of the greatest workforce restructuring thanks to AI and Robotic Automation according to leaders in the technology field saying with 10 years 25% — 40% of the workforce being replaced by technology. Now with working/receive an education remotely becoming a standard thanks to the pandemic will the likelihood of an automated workplace/workforce also increase? What I’m trying to say is, will the pandemic increase the chances of that? Could warehouse Automation that could load content without the threat/help stem the disease, paired with Self-driving Transportation self-driving vehicles home delivering meds, foods, etc help the current and future situations?

Now eve of a pandemic It will also be one of the greatest workers schedule restructurings will occur of the next few months to account for those affected by the virus. If the virus is going to directly affect your life, it is most likely to be through stopping you from going to work putting more of a burden on the rest of the workforce, either because there is no school or they are sick and in turn Shifts will change, nonessential functions will be put off, and the department will have less flexibility to respond to problems affecting your workers wallet and inturn yours, cause quotas to not be met and supply chains to struggle, and at worst bankrupting your business that you are employed at causing you to be unemployed.

I live in American, which means I am privileged with rights and freedoms and education and healthcare; to an extent, sadly depending where you on income class, religion, and color to different degrees. World wide though 80% don’t have internet, according to Gallup the Average income worldwide is 10k and really There are 2 classes and honestly, two political parties; “Have” and “Have nots”. The “working” rich and working poor. Ignorant, entitled behavior that ignores the risk, therefore risking the lives of others could cause this to spread further. People with weak or compromised immune systems also face heightened risks aka Adults aged 60 and older, small children, and those facing Immunity issues This includes people who just recently had an organ or bone marrow transplants. Those who are undergoing chemotherapy. Who have HIV, Diabetes and who have rarer immune system deficiencies. people who have underlying health problems, people who have compromised immune systems have higher chances of getting sick and dying and should take extra precautions, but how can you do that when healthcare workers can not in some cases even test themselves let alone the proper equipment/space? The majority that “have”, the well off, also have the privilege of apathy and ignorance, and paired with an epidemic it can cause possibly deadly results.

Actions and words have weight, and what you do and what you say define a person as much as a government/ Governing body whether they be Federal, County or Commonwealth. The disease has been around since December, and how many tests have been manufactured so far? We have over a couple hundred thousand tests made.. with a million promised by the end of the week according to Vice President Mike Pence, but I’m not holding my breath, when according to the “Atlantic article stating “surveying local data from across the country, we can only verify that 4,384 people have been tested for the coronavirus nationwide, as of Monday at 4 p.m. eastern time” an article from the Independent states “ Small businesses, in particular, are struggling as supply chains dry up, leaving them without products or essential materials. Factory closures in China have led to a record low in the country’s Purchasing Manager’s Index which measures manufacturing output. China is the world’s largest exporter and is responsible for a third of global manufacturing, so China’s problem is everyone’s problem — even in the midst of a trade war between the White House and Beijing.” Last Friday the New York Times states “It is nearly impossible to know precisely how many people in the United States have been tested for the coronavirus. The C.D.C. reported Thursday that it had tested 1,583 patients since the beginning of the outbreak, but it is not making public how many tests are being done at state and local public health laboratories, despite publishing similar data on the seasonal flu. Many local labs are just beginning to receive long-delayed test kits and, even at full capacity, will be able to run only about 100 tests per day. A total of 71 public laboratories in 47 states and the District of Columbia had the capacity to test for the coronavirus as of Friday afternoon, according to the Association of Public Health Laboratories, which represents government laboratories around the country. That’s up from just eight labs able to process tests last Thursday.” One has to wonder if a Medicare for all American Healthcare Systems would insulate and be an improvement over the current affair during a Pandemic. Expansion and creation of new social programs like higher education and medicare for all will provide a safeguard for those weaker economic country’s in regards to restructuring its economy would speed up the cost and length of self-repair to its economic system. Social programs that provide food, healthcare, and education to allow it to rebuild the workforce. This is not counting for possible climate change effects creating massive migration(lack of habitable environments and the coastline pushing further because of the poles melting causing a lot of coastal species to die) human climate refugees and diseases(melting permafrost now 28 new viruses https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a30643717/viruses-found-melting-glacier/ along with diseases ticks, parasites, and mosquitoes breeding https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/pubs/vector-borne-disease-final_508.pdf). Furthermore, who will profit from this tragedy other than the news outlets who get ad money per click of fear, will their profits go finding a vaccine? Who is going to be able to afford/receive those tests/vaccines first other than federal workers and government officials along with their friends? There are questions then answers and those with the answers seem to dodge, fudge, and avoid the questions or put out incongruent paralleling data. According to the Washington Post the President has told 16,241 false or misleading claims.

Question Time. They haven’t even released accurate numbers because there isn’t enough tests to give it So nobody knows how many people are infected there’s no official count because not everybody’s been screened. if we have only 100k tests. for the United State a country with a population of 300- 400 million.. But no way to test the sick. they will never be an accurate count because we weren’t prepared, not enough tests, and not enough time to backtrace to stop the spread that’s the Bottom line correct? maybe the people in power weren’t ready or didn’t care. They had the privilege to be apathetic. Based on the current recent actions, it seems they cared more about markets than they did about lives. What if ..there is not enough tests/testing, because if the true number of infected were to be released it would cause panic if I was in a position of power to prevent widespread panic possible market issues and I was behind the eight ball I don’t think I would give the right numbers. At least that’s what I’m expecting of our president. Every Tragedy has a vulture that profits politically with snake oil and commemorative coins/plates buyer beware. Did The Privileged Politician, Business consultant Traveling, Corporate Media, who traveled to theses places, who could afford such trips and sick time, commit to self-isolation/quartine and tell those who were traveling with them that they were a possible hazard to those in flights when traveling back? Did they wear protective gear when in possible contaminated areas? Shouldn’t Indiscriminate temperature/testing be done before entering schools, medical facilities, public transportation facilities aka airports/bus stations etc, etc.

The Privileged incompetent cannot come out and say hey sorry I’m incompetent so they conspire to cover up their incompetence, with excuses, and too little to late action. SO wash your hands, social distance, don’t go to nursing homes, stay away from hospitals, stay away from people who have immune issues like cancer diabetes HIV, etc patients.. if you’re over 60 don’t fly. Try to do your shopping early morning or right before closing where there’s the least amount of people. Use the pharmacy drive-thru. Wash your hands before and after you smoke, eat, use the toilet, hell after you touch anything, etc. Picture it like a snowstorm. But it’s worldwide and we are 12- 18 months before we have a shovel aka vaccine according to a recent USA Today Article. After everything is read I pose my question again to you my reader, “Could an argument be made, that the rich, who dress nicely, who can afford to travel, entitled and privileged that spread/create it? Was the spread of this Pandemic Caused by Privilege and Capitalism?

This article and it’s contents are republished with the permission of the writer.