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Cynical Me and My Thoughts on COVID-19

March 12, 2020 By johntmay

Between 1990 and 2015, the global rate of death related to obesity increased by 28.3%, from 41.9 to 53.7 deaths per 100,000 people.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading global cause of death, accounting for more than 17.6 million deaths per year in 2016, a number that is expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030.

Cancer Kills Over 20 Thousand People A Day Says Global Report. A new global cancer report by a leading US health organization estimates that cancer will kill 7.6 million people worldwide this year (about 20,000 cancer deaths a day), and more than 12 million people will find out they have the disease.

HOWEVER, the NBA has never cancelled the season because of any of the aforementioned, no company has ever told its workers to for from home on account of this.  Cruse ships still serve all you can eat buffets.

Capitalism in my humble opinion, is at the root of obesity, cancer, heart disease….it thrives in spite of them.  It cashes in on both ends, selling us potato chips on one end, diet Coke in the middle, and a casket at the end.

So it dawned on me today.  COVID-19 is hitting the stock markets, the corporate bottom lines; it’s bad for Capitalism….and so, the hysteria.

 

 

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Comments

  1. Christopher says

    March 12, 2020 at 8:02 pm

    I’m skeptical of the hysteria for other reasons, but the difference between coronavirus and the things you mention is that those other things are not contagious.

  2. SomervilleTom says

    March 13, 2020 at 12:03 am

    My cynicism takes me in a different, though not conflicting, direction from you.

    I see once again the same pervasive theme running through each and every one of Mr. Trump’s statements and actions — creating as much chaos and causing as much harm to America, our people, and our relationships as possible.

    Case in point — last night’s bizarre televised announcement of the completely ineffective travel ban with absolutely ZERO advance warning to our allies. This is an act of economic betrayal. If it was done to us, we would be describing it as economic act of war. European leaders are described as “seething”. This creates chaos, hurts everybody involved, and accomplishes absolutely nothing.

    Last night’s ten minute address, all by itself, destroyed retirement porfolios across the US today. The futures market was tanking as Mr. Trump spoke. The market had its fourth worst day in history and its worst day since 1987.

    Meanwhile, day-to-day life remains in chaos as the government’s ability to perform even rudimentary management and recovery actions continues to melt down. We STILL cannot test even those who are symptomatic, never mind begin surveillance testing.

    Yes, this is bad for capitalism. Like it or not, that means it is also VERY BAD for America. The brunt of all this is already falling on service workers, the poor, minority communities — the vast number of households who have been one paycheck away from poverty for years.

    A great many of those households just lost that paycheck. This is an unmitigated DISASTER for working-class men and women — far more than the ultra-wealthy, for whom it’s a temporary blip.

  3. petr says

    March 13, 2020 at 1:23 pm

    Capitalism in my humble opinion, is at the root of obesity, cancer, heart disease….it thrives in spite of them. It cashes in on both ends, selling us potato chips on one end, diet Coke in the middle, and a casket at the end.

    While I draw the line short of calling them the direct and/or intended result of ‘capitalism’–whatever is meant by that word–I take your point.

    • SomervilleTom says

      March 13, 2020 at 1:48 pm

      When the USSR was part of the world, it was beset by various diseases and challenges. Those were, at the time, all attributed — incorrectly — to “Communism”.

      The argument being made in this thread is a classic example of statistics and analysis done incorrectly. Such mistakes are classic examples of why understanding Bayesian analysis is so important.

      Capitalism, for better or worse, is the fundamental paradigm of our economy. ALL successes and failures of our economy can therefore be attributed capitalism — such attribution is both incorrect and meaningless.

      We often see a related mistake in political discussions. When a particular party populates some political body in overwhelming numbers, then — not surprisingly — nearly every member of that body with a personal failing will be a member of that party. Nevertheless, we see statements like “You see? Democrats are philanderers”, or “See? Republicans are tax cheats”.

      The fact that an illegal immigrant commits some heinous crime does not mean that illegal immigrants are heinous criminals.

      All of the issues cited in the thread-starter are also challenges in non-capitalist societies. This is not to say that capitalism doesn’t contribute to them. It is instead to say that it is incorrect to cite their occurrence in a capitalist economy as evidence that that economy causes them.

      Milk is NOT a gateway drug, in spite of the fact that 99% of today’s heroin addicts drank milk as children. Alcoholism is a major problem in some Asian and Native American cultures. That does not mean that those cultures cause alcoholism.

      • jconway says

        March 15, 2020 at 10:36 pm

        Interesting side note-we were learning about capitalism, communism, and socialism last week and this week we cover collectivization in Soviet Russia and Maoist China and then the Deng reforms. I’m embracing the challenge of remote learning by assigning a project comparing how different countries have responded to this crisis and whether or not it reflects on its political and economic system. We haven’t hit my Iran unit yet, but I will upload it early so the students can compare a capitalist democracy (US) a theocracy (Iran) an authoritarian capitalist/communist hybrid (China) and maybe Italy (a failed social democracy) and South Korea (democratic capitalist with a history of authoritarian rule and a more collectivist identity than the US). That might be more engaging than just uploading my lectures and following the curriculum.

        • SomervilleTom says

          March 16, 2020 at 12:21 am

          Heh … you better be careful, you’re gonna get yourself in trouble. Don’t you know we’re supposed to teach our kids that America is the best?

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