This moment has revealed economic uncertainty and lack of healthcare for the vulnerable and revealed that many of us are more vulnerable than thought.

The virus doesn’t have a political agenda. The virus is just being a virus, not evil not good, rather it is a living organism looking to propagate and survive. Yet, its very presence has brought out our vulnerability biologically and has revealed our vulnerability at the whims of greed and excess.

Just yesterday an advisor to the President stated, “Our human capital stock is ready to go back to work.” Human capital stock? COVID-19 isn’t over. It is still considered uncontained in many states where businesses are reopening, including states like Florida who have numbers on the rise and where very large businesses with high visitor volume plan to reopen within the week. What are we thinking?

Yes, people need help, small businesses need help, and perhaps some large businesses need help. We should be pressuring the Federal Government to fulfill that role in conjunction with States while people stay home, rather than rushing businesses open and pushing a vulnerable population to make the hard choice to risk theirs and others’ health or to put food on the table, or pay rent and mortgages. Other countries with smaller economies have done far more for their citizens and businesses. Health and safety should be the priority in reopening, not financial hardship. People and businesses shouldn’t have to make that choice during a pandemic.

This moment has brought more to us than fear and an opportunity to capitalize on it and our greed, however. It has also brought an opportunity to see our economy differently, to prioritize our economy differently.

Money can be/should be used as a beneficial tool in preserving, healing, and benefitting life. This is what a healthy, moral, and ethical economy should reflect. Money should not be prioritized over life for profit. That’s an economy of death.

~j

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