-- By Tom Phillips
Socio-economic effects of the Coronavirus in the US:
The society that had everything in the 1950s, the envy of the world, has become the society that has nothing -- at least, not what it needs.
* Tests for the virus -- the key to putting people back to work -- are available only to a lucky few, with or without symptoms. Yesterday a sick friend of ours consulted city websites that gave him contradictory guidelines, then wandered from one hospital to the next in Brooklyn, all in vain. At a leading Manhattan hospital, even sick nurses are not tested, just sent home and told to come back when their symptoms are gone.
* Medical equipment. FEMA has exhausted its emergency stockpiles of masks, gloves and gowns. And the ventilators they took out of storage can't be relied on to work.
* Toilet paper. Signs in the local hardware store tell anxious shoppers -- don't even ask. It's all been snapped up by panicky Americans raised to believe that the basic act of cleaning yourself after moving your bowels requires a consumer product. In a tactful article by a reporter of Iranian origin, The New York Times informed its readers of what most of the world knows --the best product for this is plain water -- with a bidet, or by hand. In fact, water does a much better job than toilet paper.
* Health insurance. After a hundred years of dithering, the US must come up with a trillion-dollar ad hoc system -- or ask unemployed patients to foot four-figure bills for a visit to the emergency room. President Trump has already made economic history by ordering guaranteed income checks. Now, to avoid financial collapse in the industry, he may have to guarantee universal health care. This will completely and permanently trash the economic philosophy of the Republican party.
As he likes to say, "Only I can do it."
-- Copyright 2020 by Tom Phillips
The society that had everything in the 1950s, the envy of the world, has become the society that has nothing -- at least, not what it needs.
* Tests for the virus -- the key to putting people back to work -- are available only to a lucky few, with or without symptoms. Yesterday a sick friend of ours consulted city websites that gave him contradictory guidelines, then wandered from one hospital to the next in Brooklyn, all in vain. At a leading Manhattan hospital, even sick nurses are not tested, just sent home and told to come back when their symptoms are gone.
* Medical equipment. FEMA has exhausted its emergency stockpiles of masks, gloves and gowns. And the ventilators they took out of storage can't be relied on to work.
* Toilet paper. Signs in the local hardware store tell anxious shoppers -- don't even ask. It's all been snapped up by panicky Americans raised to believe that the basic act of cleaning yourself after moving your bowels requires a consumer product. In a tactful article by a reporter of Iranian origin, The New York Times informed its readers of what most of the world knows --the best product for this is plain water -- with a bidet, or by hand. In fact, water does a much better job than toilet paper.
* Health insurance. After a hundred years of dithering, the US must come up with a trillion-dollar ad hoc system -- or ask unemployed patients to foot four-figure bills for a visit to the emergency room. President Trump has already made economic history by ordering guaranteed income checks. Now, to avoid financial collapse in the industry, he may have to guarantee universal health care. This will completely and permanently trash the economic philosophy of the Republican party.
As he likes to say, "Only I can do it."
-- Copyright 2020 by Tom Phillips
No comments:
Post a Comment