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US is infected with ‘pandemic capitalism’ as markets incentivise suffering
- A distinct strain of pandemic capitalism is present in the United States as stock prices soar and the government and markets prioritise profits over people
- Women, the working poor and minorities have taken the brunt of the suffering while drug companies, tech firms and friends of the government lined their pockets
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
More than 250,000 Americans are dead and cases are rising uncontrollably. An effective vaccine strategy is months away. A recalcitrant president refuses to concede or lead. Even so, US markets are surging with the Dow topping 30,000 for the first time in history.
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As argued by Marxists and Naomi Klein, capitalism has long exploited crises and even encouraged them to discipline labour and advance elite interests. Indeed, Klein’s term “disaster capitalism” from her prescient book The Shock Doctrine, published just before 2008’s global financial crisis, has returned this year with a vengeance exceeded only by the virus itself. Within this disaster, a distinct “pandemic capitalism” is clear.
When the outbreak first hit the US, millions lost their jobs. Official unemployment rates peaked near 15 per cent in April, but real unemployment rates exceeded 20 per cent with the biggest contraction since the Great Depression. Along the way, 14.6 million also lost health insurance.
As containment efforts failed, the economy reopened anyway. Few were re-employed, though, and long-term unemployment figures have increased significantly. As the virus accelerates, unemployment is rising again at a time of year the opposite is usually true and when benefits are exhausted.
Women especially have been affected, working from home while also supervising children’s online schooling, dramatically increasing their domestic labour and undermining incomes. This is a US and global phenomenon. The United Nations reports that Covid-19 might reverse 25 years of progress for women.
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Demand for free food rises in US as nation’s Covid-19 pandemic crisis deepens
Demand for free food rises in US as nation’s Covid-19 pandemic crisis deepens
Working poor and minorities have likewise suffered disproportionately, facing job loss, riskier work conditions, increased hunger and higher morbidity and mortality rates amid containment failures because of poor governance and leadership. Governments at different levels concluded as early as March or April that it is better to be sick and working than sick and broke. Now, for many, it is only the latter.
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