@daniel_kurz What Has COVID-19 Revealed About America?
I think that our nation is being challenged in a way right now that no person in living memory can recall. The fact that our population centers are currently being over-swept by this highly contagious virus which has the potential to kill millions - and in great pain - is a previously unfathomable prospect reserved for science fiction movies. Yet, here it is.
The American economy has always been structurally deficient, resulting in significant gaps between rich and poor. But over the past two decades, these flaws have become exacerbated. The present crisis has brought it to what is very likely a breaking point.
Over the past decade, the American people have been fed a dangerous narrative started by the Reagan administration but embraced now by the entire conservative movement: that is, the best way to provide a high degree of prosperity and productivity is by embracing large corporations and employing small government. This model is like the ultimate combination of laissez-faire economics, the confident corporatism of the Baby Boomer era, and the suburban ideal. And we cannot forget white supremacy. These factors have led us into this disaster, and aiding them will only dig us deeper into the abyss.
Do You Think the Challenges Exposed by the COVID-19 Crisis will result in significant policy changes at all levels of American businesses and government?
We need government action more than ever. Market forces have more or less failed us as a nation. We are now probably beyond Great Depression-levels of unemployment and underemployment. Knowing that only the New Deal and World War II got us out of that nightmare - we must literally declare war on poverty, isolation, and misery in order to rescue ourselves.
America needs to spend trillions to recreate our nation into more or less of a gigantic version of Denmark or some other 'social democracy.' We must rebuild our entire national infrastructure, bring about affordable 5G connectivity, provide parents with pensions, establish a single-payer public health system, kick off a public transportation revolution, construct regional high-speed rail, and triple the number of classroom teachers in order to cut class sizes in half. Transfer our energy consumption efforts to Green sources. And that's just a few of the efforts. There is so much work to do.
Daniel Kurz is a Professor of Political Science and History. Rutgers graduate, B.A. (History), M.A. (Political Science) Middlesex County College
Edison, NJ
I think that our nation is being challenged in a way right now that no person in living memory can recall. The fact that our population centers are currently being over-swept by this highly contagious virus which has the potential to kill millions - and in great pain - is a previously unfathomable prospect reserved for science fiction movies. Yet, here it is.
The American economy has always been structurally deficient, resulting in significant gaps between rich and poor. But over the past two decades, these flaws have become exacerbated. The present crisis has brought it to what is very likely a breaking point.
Over the past decade, the American people have been fed a dangerous narrative started by the Reagan administration but embraced now by the entire conservative movement: that is, the best way to provide a high degree of prosperity and productivity is by embracing large corporations and employing small government. This model is like the ultimate combination of laissez-faire economics, the confident corporatism of the Baby Boomer era, and the suburban ideal. And we cannot forget white supremacy. These factors have led us into this disaster, and aiding them will only dig us deeper into the abyss.
Do You Think the Challenges Exposed by the COVID-19 Crisis will result in significant policy changes at all levels of American businesses and government?
We need government action more than ever. Market forces have more or less failed us as a nation. We are now probably beyond Great Depression-levels of unemployment and underemployment. Knowing that only the New Deal and World War II got us out of that nightmare - we must literally declare war on poverty, isolation, and misery in order to rescue ourselves.
America needs to spend trillions to recreate our nation into more or less of a gigantic version of Denmark or some other 'social democracy.' We must rebuild our entire national infrastructure, bring about affordable 5G connectivity, provide parents with pensions, establish a single-payer public health system, kick off a public transportation revolution, construct regional high-speed rail, and triple the number of classroom teachers in order to cut class sizes in half. Transfer our energy consumption efforts to Green sources. And that's just a few of the efforts. There is so much work to do.
Daniel Kurz is a Professor of Political Science and History. Rutgers graduate, B.A. (History), M.A. (Political Science) Middlesex County College
Edison, NJ