Coronavirus is revealing how broken America's economy really is

[Midnightwalk]

From the guardian
[link:https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2020/apr/06/coronavirus-american-reaction-economy-covid-19|]

When Susan Finley developed flu-like symptoms, she didn’t go to the doctor because she was frightened about the cost. Finley’s grandparents later found her dead in her apartment. She was 53.

Finley did not die as a result of Covid-19. She died in 2016 as a result of America’s healthcare system – a system that led her to avoid treatment for the common flu in order to avoid debt. It is that same system that is currently creaking under the pressure of a pandemic that experts warned was coming but governments failed to prepare for. It is a system that does not qualify for the term “developed”.

......

There are 2.9 hospital beds for every 1,000 people in the United States. That’s fewer than Turkmenistan (7.4 beds per 1,000), Mongolia (7.0), Argentina (5.0) and Libya (3.7). In fact, the US ranks 69th out of 182 countries analyzed by the World Health Organization. This lack of hospital beds is forcing doctors across the country to ration care under Covid-19, pushing up the number of preventable deaths.

America’s numbers are similarly unimpressive when it comes to medical doctors. The United States has 2.6 doctors per 1,000 people, placing it behind Trinidad & Tobago (2.7), and Russia (4.0 doctors per 1,000, for a country that is described as being “in transition”). Life expectancies at birth are lower in the US than they are in Chile or China. The US has a higher maternal mortality rate than Iran or Saudi Arabia.

I think I’ve read much of this before but the article is from today and I found it interesting.

[mr_lebowski]

1. USA #1!!! FAKE NEWS!!! nt

[Newest Reality]

2. There is just one simple rule..

There is just one simple rule in our system that is based on Neo-liberal capitalism, primarily:

If there is no profit to be had from preparation for a catastrophe, no money will be spent on it and it will not be planned for regardless of the implications in the long-run. Period.

Planning is based mostly on the reports about and results of quarters in a fiscal year and anything long term would be growth oriented, (expansion, building, etc.).

The bottom-line is about trimming fat off as close to the bone as possible, not storing it up for lean times as the natural metaphor would indicate, which is even how our bodies function.

As long as that kind of unreasonable, (even insane) kind of policy dominates our politics and economy, we really are pretty much doomed as far as the odds go. Keep in mind that there is nothing stopping nature from churning out one pandemic after the other in succession in a short time frame, either. There is more to this than COVID-19 and climate change may even contribute to more of it.

[Midnightwalk]

4. Yes it is about squeezing the last cent of profit from everything

It goes to why we can’t afford to pay living wages.

I just read an article (but I cannot find it now) about a company that could be making more respirators but won’t be ramping up as much as they could because they can’t get a long term commitment to but them at the higher cost that would pay for the retooling needed.

You can’t have a resilient system without being able to absorb failures. You need excess capacity, inventory, factories, infrastructure to handle catastrophes

As you say, climate change is coming at us fast. This should be a wake up call but I fear we’ll all be so happy to get back to normal that we’ll forget about climate change again.

[Wounded Bear]

5. It is actually MORE profitable to NOT prepare for a catastrophe...

Disaster Capitalism 101. Don't get ready for the disaster. Stay prepared to take advantage of the aftermath.

If a bunch of proles have to suffer and die, well, they're willing to take that chance.

[Newest Reality]

7. Oh, thank you.

That too. I am also aware of that and also the vulture capitalism that goes with it.

Glad you brought it up. I don't want to write entire articles as comments, but that certainly applies to my point.

[Midnightwalk]

10. Agree

It’s easy to forget that some people have a completely different and sick world view. Everything is an opportunity to make money and disasters always are a way to profit

Btw this is what people don’t get about trump’s bankruptcies. He made money off every single one so they weren’t failures. To him or his admirers.

[crickets]

3. Coronavirus may finally force the US to deal with our inadequate health care system. nt

[Wounded Bear]

6. We don't have a healthcare "system"...we have a for-profit health care industry...nt

[crickets]

11. Agreed, and that is the problem. nt

[Midnightwalk]

9. Only if we change our view of government imo

Americans have been brainwashed since reagan that government is the problem. Shrink it until you can drown it.

We have only a few tools as citizens to get what we want. Unions have declined beyond recognition. Protests are ignored. Those are usually one day spectacles. If you keep it up people get annoyed and they are broken up.

Violence is destructive to everyone’s interests. Average people lose every time.

I think nothing will change until people start thinking the country should work for us and that government is the only tool to make sure that it does.

[Xolodno]

8. I've driven twice to the ER...

...due to a heart problem. In hind sight, that was dangerous. I could have passed out on both occasions.

Why? I didn't want to pay the deductible I would incur. Granted I would still get it due to the hospital, but I can negotiate with their collection companies more successfully and the amount is always less than what the hospital billed (hospital gets a sizable chunk anyway....my wife had a 200k charge to the insurance company....even though there was a deductible, they didn't even bother to send us the bill, much less send it to collections).

The one time I did ride in ambulance, it was $1200 and they went at me with a vengeance.