to know which way the wind blows.”
Yes, another snippet from Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues where Dylan, as only a few great lyricists can do, lays it all out so succinctly. As usual, Dylan’s assessment is right on! I don’t need to be an expert, or sometimes not even relying on experts, to know it when the **** stinks. Boy, it does now and will really amp up the levels if this pandemic is continually mishandled. Now, anyone who is not still totally mesmerized by Donald Trump and his rhetoric must begin to realize how wrong he has been to even his Base. The slew of ‘ Holy Rollers’ who ‘ turned the other cheek’ and supported a man who had a history of sexual misconduct issues ( to say the least) for their anti abortion goals must soon face an economic disaster… caused by you know who. When many of them or their family members get terribly ill or start running out of money to live comfortably, and this pandemic roars like some runaway train…
It was in February, when the first whistles of this virus reached our shores, the President and his minions in the White House and Congress were calling it a ‘ Hoax’. Remember? They all guaranteed that this was the same as a seasonal flu and dismissed what the Chinese were doing by way of quarantines and mask wearing. First they blamed it on the Chinese as a biological attack. Then they said the warm weather would dispel it. Trump and his lackey governors did nothing to contain the slow spread ( at that time) and insisted that our economy needed to stay open and vibrant. So, my genius Florida governor allowed Spring Break to continue full throttle, and did nothing to mandate mask wearing and social distancing. No, business as usual… Damn the torpedoes… full speed ahead! We won’t go into the juvenile rhetoric about disinfectants digested internally as a cure. The Trumpeters ( and many on the Left) then tried to sell us on the old ‘ Herd Immunity’ approach… until Sweden did that and the cases of the virus and the deaths that followed soared much higher, per capita, over their Scandinavian neighbors who refused to be herded. This should have been the impetus for a true and just impeachable offense against Trump… not the hokey pokey garbage about ‘ Russians did it’ in 2016 ( No folks, it was Hillary that gave the election to this carnival barker).
Now it is late July and our nation is #1 or #2 in the whole world for virus cases and deaths. Because they opened up the economy way too early in May, with no mask mandates and other ways to flatten the curve… we all suffer! The working stiffs who need to work regularly are up the creek. The unemployment stimulus of $600 extra per week was only good for less than 10% of our population. The $1200 one time check for all of us should have been the precursor for a true and effective Universal Basic Income Stipend of at least that amount every month… for as long as possible. Ellen Brown , public banking and UBI advocate says categorically that a UBI is both a great economic stimulus AND is NOT inflationary! Why don’t we see the majority of Congress and our mainstream ( even alternative ) media jumping onto this bandwagon? Folks, with another shutdown due to the incompetence of the Republicans ( and many Democrats) there is NO way that we won’t have chaos on our hands. Imagine if Trump and his crew would have done what China did, beginning in February? By now, with all those factors instituted nationwide, we most likely could have reopened our economy in a much safer environment.
What can ( and will?) happen if the proper maneuvers are not conducted ASAP: UBI, mandates on masks, more funding for caregivers, more financial aid to small businesses to name but a few ? What we will see is a rise in Neo Fascism or even a Neo Nazi thrust that will suck in so many working stiffs for want of better solutions. It happened in Weimar Germany during the 1920s, and this was a nation that many felt would be the last, at that time, to ever fall into that ravine of hopelessness. When people cannot feed themselves or their families properly, or have the shelter they require, along with comprehensive health care and a decent paying job ( if any job at all), the Kool Aid starts to taste pretty pleasing.
Philip A. Farruggio
July 2020