Posted on 04/03/2020 8:54:15 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
OVID-19 has taken the world by storm. Hundreds of thousands are infected (possibly many times more than the confirmed cases), the list of dead is growing exponentially longer, and capitalist economies have come to a standstill, with a global recession now virtually inevitable.
The pandemic had been predicted long before its appearance, but actions to prepare for such a crisis were barred by the cruel imperatives of an economic order in which “there’s no profit in preventing a future catastrophe,” Noam Chomsky points out in this exclusive interview for Truthout. Chomsky is emeritus professor of linguistics at MIT and laureate professor at the University of Arizona, author of more than 120 books and thousands of articles and essays. In the interview that follows, he discusses how neoliberal capitalism itself is behind the U.S.’s failed response to the pandemic
Chomsky was an apologist for the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge, now he’s an apologist for the crematoriums of the CCP, and their welding the doors shut on apartment blocks, leaving the residents to starve to death.
He says that he sees much wrong here though.
“Chomsky: Ventilator Shortage Exposes the Cruelty of Neoliberal Capitalism”
Noam Chomsky really hit the nail on the head with that one... because as we all know, socialized medicine countries like UK and Italy have all the ventilators they need because their stockpiles were so huge, while socialist paradises like Venezuela have so many ventilators that they’re supplying the rest of the world with as many as they need for free, plus communist paradises like North Korea and Cuba have so many that they’re selling their surplus to capitalist countries who have none, and finally, 3rd world shithole countries in Africa and South America stockpiled thousands of ventilators over the last few years and will therefore be in good shape ...
Exactly. I found his work on psycholinguistics to be intriguing, and was frankly surprised he would abuse language in the interest of leftist ideologies.
That said, there may be some inroads with my neighbor if we can articulate honestly any weaknesses that attend to raw capitalism. G.K. Chesterton had some words. I will try to look those up, but after I sneeze into my neighbor’s elbow.
The statement is correct, but he may be way off the mark insofar as his conclusions.
The supply of PPEs was depleted after the 2009 H1N1 crisis, and never replenished. Why? Because the bureaucrats had other priorities. Like studying gender dysphoria, or shrimp running on treadmills. And hiring more people who do little work because they just have to spend every penny so they can ask for more money next year and make themselves look important.
There is a mentality across the country that is just wrong-headed. If a hospital executive purchased a bunch of PPEs and they sat in storage for years, he would be perceived as wasteful rather than proactive. He might be denied a promotion or a pay raise, or even fired. They would rather spend it on "woke" things like solar panels or new glass windows or a nice water feature in the lobby or a PR campaign targeting 'awareness' of the latest and most oppressed self-identified group of the year.
And look, an epidemic or pandemic is totally predictable. I guarantee with 100% certainty a black swan event will occur. You just can't predict when, or what type. And it is the responsibility of the alphabet swamp to be prepared for it. And I guarantee you as well that there are scores of contingency plans written by mid level earnest people who get ignored because they are not telling their supervisors what the supervisors want to hear. All this "blame Trump" is totally, completely misplaced. It is misdirection across the board from the governors to the Congress and the media. The only blame he gets from me is for taking it on faith that the alphabet swamp actually works for the interests of the country. They don't. They work for themselves, and protect themselves.
Maybe, perhaps, if the Congress and the alphabet swamp wasn't so busy burying him with treachery and hearings and subpoenas he'd have had a chance to do a deep dive into their dereliction of duty, and maybe he could have seen the depth of their depravity and wanton wastefulness. But that is the point of their constant attacks. They went after General Flynn because they didn't want him to streamline their operations. They pulled the whole Ukraine impeachment hoax because it would have revealed incredible levels of corruption at the highest of levels of government. They don't want anyone to pull the curtains back for it will reveal the waste, the corruption, the sedition and treachery that is the swamp.
I pray Trump wins another term and lets loose the dogs on the lot of them.
See 17 above. In my thinking, it does not make sense to apply manufacturing to unforeseen circumstances. That said, if ventilators in partixular have the ability to address a major pandemic, then maybe more preparedness is in the interest of all. Last I heard, however, if it gets to ventilator point with *this* virus it’s largely, “TTFN”
See 17 above. In my thinking, it does not make sense to apply manufacturing to unforeseen circumstances. That said, if ventilators in partixular have the ability to address a major pandemic, then maybe more preparedness is in the interest of all. Last I heard, however, if it gets to ventilator point with *this* virus it’s largely, “TTFN”
Reply to my neighbor: “I heard recently that ventilators are not good for much with COVID-19 except for preserving life briefly; that if it gets to that point, there is a fairly certain prospect of dying. So...are ventilators what we should have been expending massive resources on all this time, and those bastard captalists would rather see us die?”
He hasn't produced anything since the 1960s.
And what does the ventilator shortage in Italy tell us? How about Great Britain? How many ventilators does Venezuela have?
Excellent, especially if it can be verified. Now, honestly, would you support or object to millions of dollars spent on N95 masks when there is no pandemic in sight? Maybe every citizen should obtain their own for emergencies.
Just tossing it out there. Thanks for reply.
Chomsky is a linguist. The word “profit” has many meanings, not just financial per se. There is no personal profit in being proactive. The whole point of being proactive is to spend today for an eventuality that may occur in the future. It is to defer immediate pleasure in order to be prepared for an unpredictable eventuality.
But we live in an age where there is no ‘profit’ for the person or people who take such a view. As I wrote above, if some administrator spend $1 million on PPEs that sat in storage for 7 years that person would have been derided by his or her superiors. So the person has no incentive to think long term, to plan for black swan contingencies. His “profit” is to cut costs and do what his superiors find personally pleasing regardless of the larger consequences.
The governor of New York is guilty of the same thing. He had warning by his health officials to build stockpiles but he ignored them. His personal profit is to get re-elected and gain visibility, so cutting deals for solar plants or bringing an Amazon hub is more visible and more “profitable” to him personally than to spend $20 million to stockpile PPEs and ventilators. Even though it is totally predictable that something like this will happen at some point - it did in 2009, it did with Ebola, it did with Covid-19 - it is not profitable to prepare for it.
It is even convenient (profitable) to just scapegoat it when you are wrong, or to flip flop. Like the governor of MI who last week banned the use of hydroxychloroquine, but now has reversed course and is trying to posture as if she is the drug’s greatest advocate.
We the people are so poorly represented, and the system seems almost beyond repair. But perhaps as a result of Covid-19 and the economic repercussions so severe that a reset of our American values will occur. We need a thorough re-examination of our priorities and nothing but “profit” will do it. Now all the cities and states will be totally financially broken by the consequences and they will demand more money from the taxpayers. And that will force a rethink and a re-prioritization of what is truly worthwhile to spend on, and that which needs to be cut away as waste and fat and corruption.
That would make a great tag line.
The healthcare industry in NY and NJ has been crippled by the burdens imposed by open borders; the law requires hospitals to treat anyone who walks in regardless of means to pay (a noble concept), then continuously reduces the reimbursement for those services - so hospitals close. Plenty of people were using ERs as standard doctor visits, then simply giving fake names/addresses; the bills were never paid.
When local leaders speak of re-opening closed facilities, they deftly avoid the discussion as to why there are so many around.
Chomsky is scum. X a million
No
Word He would ever utter would be truth !!!
“Chomsky is a linguist.”
he used to be ... now he nothing but a complete far left, communist loon ...
Lol. The governments he admires killed millions on purpose.
Take it.
What kind of economy does Italy have? Is Venezuela short on ventilators these days? At any rate, ventilators in this case are a ladt resort and not very effective, at least as I’ve heard in my hunkered down state. LOL
Last I heard it is 3:2 against survival if you get to the ventilator stage with this disease. But again, it is totally predictable. It would have cost the state of NY $140 million to put 40,000 ventilators into storage. It’s a lot of money, but also just a one time expense that would have paid for itself many times over by now. But the people who run New York don’t think like that. There is no ‘profit’ to put $140 million into warehouses. They profit by spending it on highly visible, and largely wasteful, feel good expenditures like free college for illegal immigrants. Then they can campaign on their wokeness.
Now, tell me, how are they going to pay for free college for anyone? They will be financially broken by this. They got to “feel good” for a moment, and they thought they had something to get votes. Instead, they may have cost themselves and the people they are supposed to serve everything they have.
There must be a reckoning.
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