“Do whatever is necessary. Do as much as you can.”
Dr. Daniel Horn’s opinion piece, ‘How America Can Avoid Italy’s Ventilator Crisis,” [1] contains important suggestions for how to tackle the ventilator shortage during the respiratory treatment crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, but one paragraph in Dr. Horn’s article is essential reading for all of us.
“The first step is a shift in mind-set — one we doctors have already accepted. Several weeks ago our hospital’s physician-in-chief called the first meeting of our emergency command structure and told us that we should assume that our job descriptions no longer applied. We would be asked to do whatever we were best suited to do and would achieve whatever was necessary. This is essential framing for how all of us need to approach this disaster: Do whatever is necessary. Do as much as you can.”
“Do whatever is necessary. Do as much as you can.” In another The New York Times opinion piece, José Andrés writes, “Our fate as a nation depends on how we feed our most vulnerable citizens through this crisis. If our leaders step up now with federal aid, food can be the solution.” [2] The response has been less than merely anemic: the Trump administration is pressing ahead with plans to disqualify up to 700,000 people from SNAP benefits. [3] A federal judge has temporarily halted the effort, but the attempt to create malnourishment among the poorest of us is by no means over. [4]
“Do whatever is necessary. Do as much as you can.” There are many layers to this command. Shelter in place; don’t hoard; look after your neighbors as best you can; keep pressure on Congress and state/local governments to act for the benefit of all (write emails and make phone calls daily; numbers count); donate to food pantries; think about/participate in alternative cooperative “institutions” that make it easier to provide goods and services locally (organize buying clubs to help out those who are struggling financially, but others, for example, that provide services to the elderly or other people at highest risk); and many others. Plan to maintain and grow these new “institutions” after the crisis has passed. Internalize the knowledge that “we’re in this together” and make it part of your everyday attitude from now on.
“Do whatever is necessary. Do as much as you can.” Most important, now is the time to recognize and finally reject destructive individualism, capitalism, and the corporate capture of government. Jamie Dimon, chairman of JP Morgan, considers the economic crash resulting from the virus a great opportunity to make a lot of money, and he’s getting cheap money from the government — your tax dollars — to do it.
“I don’t look at recessions as a bad thing. I mean, it’s bad for America. It’s bad for the people that are unemployed. It’s usually an opportunity for JPMorgan.” Jamie Dimon, chairman of JP Morgan [5]
This is capitalism. It’s not a glitch, it’s how capitalists operate. Crocodile tears for those suffering and dying, but strenuous efforts to take advantage of the suffering and disarray caused in no small part by the capitalists themselves. Corporate capture of government, combined with rabid individualism, starved the public sector of the resources needed to respond to a disaster on the scale of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Capitalists are not pillars of the community, they are evil — the enemies of the people. They will try to take advantage of the disaster (see Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, 2007), so we must move first: Eliminating capitalist power and corporate control of government are the most beneficial actions we can take to improve the world.
1. Daniel Horn. 2020. ‘How America Can Avoid Italy’s Ventilator Crisis.’ The New York Times, March 22. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/opinion/health/ventilator-shortage-coronavirus-solution.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-nytimes
2. José Andrés. 2020. ‘We have a Food Crisis Unfolding Out of Sight.’ The New York Times, March 22. https://www.nytimes.com/…/restaurants-coronavirus-food-aid.…
3. Lola Fadulu and Abbie Goodnought. 2020. ‘Amid a Pandemic, Trump Moves Ahead with Safety Net Cuts.’ The New York Times, March 13. https://www.nytimes.com/…/coronavirus-food-stamps-medicaid.…
4. Brooke Seiple. 2020. ‘Federal Judge Cites Coronavirus in decision blocking trump admin cut to food stamps.’ The Hill, March 13. https://thehill.com/…/487551-federal-judge-cites-coronaviru…
5. Jamie Redman. 2020. ‘U.S. Real Estate in Jeopardy — Analysts Predict Housing Market Crash to 29-Year Lows.’ Bitcoin.Com, March 21. https://news.bitcoin.com/us-real-estate-jeopardy-housing-m…/
