Reflections in the Shadow of Covid-19
By Albert B. Kelly
Almost 60 years ago, Rachel Carson wrote the book “Silent
Spring” about the destruction of nature from the widespread use of
insecticides. Right now, as we go from winter to spring against the backdrop of
the Covid-19 pandemic with its stay-at-home orders, the shutting-down of just
about everything, and social distancing, I can’t help but see this as our own
“silent spring”. Somehow the greening of the trees and the budding of flowers
and the warmth of the sun is at odds with how I feel inside.
At my age, I do a lot of looking back. If this pandemic had
happened at the height of the Cold War, we might well have had enough masks and
other basic supplies to go around since we lived under the constant threat of a
Soviet first strike and supplies of all kinds were stockpiled strategically
around the country for the unimaginable. Once the Cold War ended, we lost the vigilance
that comes with an existential threat and our strategic stockpile is now full
of dry-rot.
Some claim that no one could have seen this pandemic coming.
Maybe so, but we’ve had enough close calls over past few decades to know that
it was only a matter of time. We shouldn’t expect the people we elect at the
national level to have all of the answers, but they should have enough
imagination to picture the worst when the moment demands it and act
accordingly. That’s why running government as if it were a businesses is not
all it’s cracked up to be. Businesses are all about their bottom line- the
federal government is about dealing with the unimaginable.
It may be well worth it for us to reexamine what it means to
live in a “just-in-time” economy with our supply chain spread over a dozen
countries on three continents; an economy where we keep virtually no inventory
of critical supplies on our shelves or in our warehouses. It may be time to
take a page out of the cold war handbook and plan as if the next pandemic is
inevitable requiring us to have everything from portable generators, masks and
PPE, to ventilators, antibiotics, multiple IV solutions, and toilet paper.
Speaking of toilet paper, it’s been fashionable in some
quarters over the past few years to demonize the undocumented. The Covid-19
virus won’t change that any time soon but if we want our farmers to be alright
and if we want fresh vegetables and fruits in the grocery stores when we march
our masked selves up and down the produce isle, we might do well to consider that
many undocumented people have now joined the ranks of “the essential” and we
should treat them accordingly. Scoff if you must, but if they’re not out in the
fields doing what they do, we’ll soon be subsisting on Cheetos, beef jerky, and
canned tuna.
The federal government is in the process of pushing $2
trillion dollars out the door in one form or another. Many households will be
receiving checks- $1,200 for an individual or more depending on how many
children are in the household. The people who study these things should watch
closely because this is as close to a Universal Basic Income or UBI as we’re
likely to get for now. It matters because we’re already losing jobs to
technology- this pandemic just sped that process up. Some type of UBI seems
inevitable, but we’re going to see a lot of hardship between now and then.
The tip of the hardship spear will be debt: credit card
debt, mortgage debt, and student loan debt. What people and the economy needs
is a reset, what scripture calls “a year of Jubilee”. In those biblical times, the Year of Jubilee
was a year of liberty and a time when everyone would receive back their
familial property, slaves returned to their families, and all debts were forgiven.
It was a true reset. Wall Street and the banks would oppose this much the same
way doctors fight single-payer healthcare. But you can’t get blood from a
stone.
What we can do is thank people like Ed Rivera, who donated
no small amount to us for the purchase PPE supplies and Dan Cheeseman from DMC Textiles
who has gone above and beyond in helping out our first responders locally to
get what they need during this crisis. They’re generosity reminds me that we’re
going to be alright.