C-19 & Beyond: USA & Global Responses

[TGHusker]

Gorbachev, says it is time for 'A New World Order' of sorts.  GHWB had the original phrase but Gorby wants something similar by stating   the UN should have an  emergency session to discuss "nothing less than revising the entire global agenda"

 

This thread is for discussing forward looking USA &  global response to not only this crisis but also the idea of having a 'global agenda'.  Currently, nations around the world are struggling to address the C-19 issues, some with greater success than others.  This crisis will eventually subside, then what?

 

What can the USA do long term to address the issues of unemployment, insurance, supply chain mgmt, prevention, etc. 

 

Should there be a revision of the global agenda?

Should it be pushed by the UN?

Do you trust the UN to protect the rights of nations?

Should the USA help lead the way and if so how?

For the conspiracy crowd: Is this the start of a 'one world govt?"

https://www.pressenza.com/2020/04/gorbachev-time-to-revise-the-entire-global-agenda/

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Q: Is it time yet for lessons learned? Do you agree that the world will never be the same?

A: That depends precisely on what lessons will be learned. I recall recent history of how we addressed the nuclear threat. We understood that it is our common enemy, a threat to all of us, and the leaders of two nations, the Soviet Union and the United States declared that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Then came Reykjavik and the first treaties eliminating nuclear weapons. By now, 85% of those arsenals have been eliminated. We must continue along this path but we now see new challenges. Together with my friends in the Forum of Nobel Peace Laureates we have for years been calling for a radical rethinking of international politics. Let me quote from out appeal adopted back in 2005:

“Focusing on meeting human needs and having a reverence for life are the foundation of human security. Excessive military expenditures actually breeds insecurity. Two areas where funds need to be channeled by the international community are education and health, particularly regarding the scourges of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis through both protection and prevention.” What could one add to this? Just the name of the new dreadful disease.

Over the past five years all we’ve been hearing is talk about weapons, missiles and airstrikes. But is it not clear by now that wars and the arms race cannot solve today’s global problems? War is a defeat, a failure of politics! This common tragedy has reminded us of the futility of trying to go into hiding and sit it out, ignoring the threats that we face. In today’s world, no one can hope to go into hiding!

And so I’ll never tire of repeating: We need to demilitarize world affairs, international politics and political thinking and reallocate funds from military purposes to the purposes serving human security. We need to rethink the very concept of security. Above all else, security should mean providing food, water, which is already in short supply, a clean environment and, as top priority, caring for people’s health.

To achieve human security we need to develop strategies, make preparations, plan and create reserves. This should be the responsibility of national leaders and leaders at all levels.

I believe that preparations should start now for an Emergency Session of the United Nations General Assembly, to be held as soon as the situation is stabilized. It should be about nothing less than revising the entire global agenda.

 

 

[DevoHusker]

some interesting info:

 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/13/the-quest-for-a-pandemic-pill?

[TGHusker]

10 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

some interesting info:

 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/13/the-quest-for-a-pandemic-pill?

good read and yes interesting.   It would be sice if they could figure out a

'one size fits all' vaccine for these kind of things.

[DevoHusker]

 in the last paragraph, this puts it in perspective: 

 

“We as a society dropped the ball after SARS,” he said. “Just because the virus went away, we naïvely thought, Well, you know, goodbye, coronaviruses.” There’s no reason, Ho said, to think that it will ever be possible to bid such a farewell: “This is the third coronavirus outbreak in two decades.” There is, undoubtedly, a fourth somewhere on the horizon, if a different RNA virus doesn’t encircle the world first. There is no way to predict what disease it will cause—it won’t be SARS, or MERS, or COVID-19—but certain things will be the same. Masks will come out, streets will empty, fear will take hold."

[TGHusker]

1 hour ago, DevoHusker said:

There is, undoubtedly, a fourth somewhere on the horizon, if a different RNA virus doesn’t encircle the world first. There is no way to predict what disease it will cause—it won’t be SARS, or MERS, or COVID-19—but certain things will be the same. Masks will come out, streets will empty, fear will take hold."

Reason why any part of vital 'infrastructure'  legislation should see this as a vital component that needs never to fall short like it has now.  No president should be allowed to cut this type of program.  It is more important than any one presidential term and any pet presidential budget. Trump is derelict in his responsibilities by allowing the pandemic response team (or whatever it was called) to be cut as it has. 

[Landlord]

I'm very, very out of my depths on this topic, but if this virus could somehow be a catalyst towards a future completely disarmed of nuclear weapons entirely, a global agreement not to ever make any more, and a general descaling of military spending, that would be an unquantifiable good for our planet.

[TGHusker]

20 hours ago, Landlord said:

I'm very, very out of my depths on this topic, but if this virus could somehow be a catalyst towards a future completely disarmed of nuclear weapons entirely, a global agreement not to ever make any more, and a general descaling of military spending, that would be an unquantifiable good for our planet.

Yes if mankind can get its collective head put on right- then yes, cut down the spending on military collectively and spend money on promote the general welfare of all

[TGHusker]

This article, quoted in part, discusses how we need to make long term, forward looking  changes to the way we handle unemployment in this country.  It also address the unlinking of heath care insurance from our jobs, the failures of 'just in time' supply chain mgmt, and universal basic income. 

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-second-phase-of-unemployment-will-be-harsher/ar-BB12RY6g?li=BBnb7Kz
 

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Today, Americans across party lines recognize the need to act quickly to minimize this harm, but that bipartisan support will soon fade, as it has in past recessions. If Congress and state governments are going to pass forward-thinking legislation to help unemployed and precariously employed workers, now is the time.

Having researched the experiences of unemployed workers over the past 20 years, we expect that the coming unemployment crisis will have two distinct phases. In the first phase, the country will largely respond with a sense of solidarity and compassion for the millions who have lost their jobs. Americans will recognize that external forces—the coronavirus and government policies to create social distance—have triggered these mass layoffs, and they will see the plight of unemployed workers in that light.

Those who lose their jobs will struggle to make ends meet in a stand-still economy, but they will at least be spared some of the blame leveled against the jobless in other economic downturns. When more than 20 million people file for unemployment in a month, even the hard-hearted will have trouble casting them as idlers or parasites. As a result, there should be sufficient political will to continue generous government support—perhaps even expanding upon the $2 trillion stimulus package that Congress recently passed, which dramatically boosts unemployment benefits and extends them to gig workers and other people who normally don’t qualify.

Eventually, the outbreak will subside and economic conditions will improve. Yet for workers who remain unemployed, the situation will worsen. We are likely to see a repeat of the unemployment crisis of the Great Recession—but the underlying dynamics will be amplified.

 

 

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During this second phase, companies will begin to rehire workers. If the past is any guide, many employers will use this opportunity to replace some of their former workers with cheaper and more contingent labor. During normal economic times, slashing wages or stripping away job security prompts a backlash of protest and bad publicity. But lowering such labor costs is easy when the economy is stalled and workers are grateful for any opportunity.

 

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During the second phase of the coronavirus recession, America’s temporarily strengthened social safety net will revert to its usual bare-bones form. Somehow, no money will be available to help the long-term unemployed—even though, just three years ago, Congress found more than enough to pay for tax cuts that disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans. As their unemployment benefits expire, the jobless and their families will face financial collapse. Public outpourings of compassion and grace will be steadily replaced, as they were in past downturns, with moralizing anger pumped up by partisan media.

Swift action from Congress could prevent the coming disaster. First, lawmakers would need to make permanent the temporary upgrades that Congress made to our antiquated unemployment-insurance system, which raised benefits so that families don’t sink rapidly into poverty and extended those benefits to gig workers. But beyond helping the unemployed, Congress must also revamp our regulatory system and safety net to better shield our growing workforce of underemployed workers—not just low-wage workers, but also the broader group of freelancers, temps, and subcontractors who have few legal protections and tend to be the first to go when the economy sputters. Severe income inequality means that even employed Americans often live paycheck to paycheck, with no savings to get them through the next emergency. A just-in-time economy, it turns out, has no real margin for error. Tying health insurance to employment is unusually harmful to workers amid a health crisis that provokes mass joblessness while requiring widespread virus testing and intensive care. If the threats posed by longer-term trends like automation were not reason enough, the present unemployment shock has enhanced the appeal of benefits not linked to work—including a universal basic income.  

Policies that provide only temporary relief are insufficient to protect American workers from all the forces arrayed against them. The structural barriers to securing a decent livelihood in this economy will not suddenly disappear when a vaccine is found. The coronavirus has highlighted vulnerabilities in our current system that will far outlast the pain it has unleashed—and the solidarity it has instilled, at least for now.