thenation--2020-04-09--The Deficit Is Exploding! And That’s a Good Thing.

One huge question about the stimulus package that nobody seems to be asking is : Where does the money come from to pay for it ?
The bill is the largest fiscal stimulus program in US history , with a budget totaling roughly $ 2 trillion , equal to about 10 percent of the gross domestic product—the market value of all goods and services the country produces .
The reason nobody seems to be asking where the money will come from is that the correct answer is evident : The federal government will borrow it by issuing US Treasury bonds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entity in the world , the US government has the capacity to borrow at will over the course of the recession .
The government will also be able to manage the enormous increase in its debt load that will result from this borrowing without serious difficulties .
This is , first , because US Treasury bonds are recognized as the safest assets available on the global financial market .
Financial market players , therefore , clamor to own US Treasury bonds exactly in situations such as now , with the world economy rapidly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ global trade is also still conducted in US dollars , which creates a built-in demand for dollars that no other currency can match .
Even with the gigantic financial commitments that the government has made with the stimulus bill , congressional Democrats and the White House have already begun discussions on passing a follow-up measure , probably with an additional $ 2 trillion price tag .
This follow-up bill would address the evident major gaps in the current bill , particularly in its support for hospitals , health care workers , and Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broader range of stimulus support , through investments focused on public infrastructure , to boost the economy out of the recession and onto a long-term recovery path .
Total federal government borrowing could reach 20 percent of GDP or more .
The total figure gets elevated because , before the pandemic hit , the deficit was already at a record high for an economic expansion period , at 4.6 percent of GDP , due to Trump ’ s 2017 tax cuts for corporations and the rich .
Adding everything up , the only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when the US deficit averaged 23 percent of GDP from 1943–45 .
The absence of alarm bells ringing over these colossal deficit figures stands in dramatic contrast with the experience of only 11 years ago , during the Great Recession .
At that time , a loud chorus of “ deficit hawks , ” including many of the leading mainstream macroeconomists in the country , insisted that the 2009 stimulus program that passed under President Obama—the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ( ARRA ) —would be ruinous .
Implementation of the ARRA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ averaged 9 percent of GDP , which at the time were the largest peacetime deficits in US history .
The response of John Taylor , a senior macroeconomist at Stanford and a top economist in the George W. Bush administration , was representative of the deficit-hawk position among leading academics .
Taylor offered that the upward trend for US government debt “ portends America ’ s ending.
” What has changed over the past 11 years ?
Certainly crass self-interest is playing some role .
The benefits from the deficits that resulted from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to big business and the rich .
Such deficits are somehow far less worrisome to Republican politicians and their academic supporters than those that would support egalitarian social programs like Social Security , Medicaid , or low-income housing .
In that spirit , the current stimulus program funnels its biggest rewards by far to big corporations that are in line for at least $ 500 billion worth of credit with virtually no strings attached .
Still more , these funds from the Treasury will be matched by trillions more in bailout lending support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the deficit hawks advanced a series of claims as to why the Obama deficits would be disastrous .
These claims were then tested against reality as the recession and recovery unfolded .
They all proved to be wrong .
Understanding how they were wrong enables us to understand why the forthcoming huge increases in government deficits and debt will be manageable .
First , the deficit hawks maintained that the big deficits during the Great Recession would set off an intense inflationary spiral .
Prices would rise rapidly , as the saying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be chasing too few goods.
’ ” However , during a deep recession such as occurred over 2007–09 , the dominant pressures push prices downward , not upward .
To begin with , people have less money to spend during a recession , so market demand goes soft relative to businesses ’ supplies of goods and services .
Businesses lay off workers as their markets weaken , which in turn mean that workers ’ bargaining power declines , and wages thereby fall .
Business costs also fall as a result , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The deficit hawks also claimed during the Great Recession that government borrowing on this scale would cause interest rates to spike , because the government would be competing for funds against the demands of private-sector borrowers .
The resulting high interest rates would discourage private businesses from undertaking new investments or expanding their existing operations .
In fact , during the Great Recession , because US government bonds were recognized as the safest assets available on the global financial market , demand for these bonds surged .
This will also be true @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rates on US government bonds will , therefore , fall relative to every other credit instrument on the global market .
The interest rate on US Treasury Bonds with a five-year maturity this past March 31 was 0.4 percent , with no hint of any upward movement forthcoming .
When the US government can borrow at 0.4 percent , the burden of paying interest on the debt will also be modest , even if the amounts being borrowed are gigantic .
For example , at a 0.4 percent interest rate , the government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2 trillion in debt will be $ 8 billion ( 0.04 percent of GDP ) .
This is hardly a ruinous debt-servicing burden .
However , if the interest rate were , instead , at the 10 percent average level that prevailed in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan ’ s presidency , the annual interest payments would be 25 times higher , at $ 200 billion .
Even if the government debt-servicing burden became a drag on the economy , the Federal Reserve has the capacity , as needed , to buy up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outstanding debt .
The technical term for this policy measure is “ debt monetization.
” Through practicing debt monetization , the US government can effectively create money as needed in order to counteract the economic crisis ( without having to literally run a printing press ) .
The Fed can also buy up corporate bonds that are now held by private banks and other finance companies , just as it did during the Great Recession .
This will provide Wall Street firms with piles of cash to get through the crisis .
Over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the total Fed bailout of Wall Street amounted to $ 12 trillion , dwarfing the $ 800 billion Obama stimulus program conducted through the US Treasury .
As the current recession unfolds , we should expect Fed operations in support of Wall Street to exceed even those Great Recession figures .
While the deficit hawks were badly wrong , no other country could have claimed anything like the privileged financial status enjoyed by the US government during the Great Recession .
The same is true now .
The United States needs to accept @ @ @ @ @ @ @ status to spend what is necessary to control the pandemic and fight the recession , both at home and throughout the world .
The United States should therefore be willing to support emergency public health initiatives on a global scale , especially in low-income countries in Africa , Asia , Latin America , and the Caribbean .
So far , the spread of the pandemic appears to be modest in these regions , but that is likely to change .
When it does , the strain on public health budgets is likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United States is the least generous high-income country , spending only about 0.2 percent of GDP overall on development assistance programs .
During this crisis period , the United States could easily raise its support to the levels that , say , Sweden or Norway already spend , at around 1 percent of their GDP .
That would release roughly $ 200 billion in support for low-income countries to fight the pandemic and recession .
Within the United States itself , while the current stimulus program does help pay for free testing as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ funds have yet been provided for treating people who are infected .
Until we have an equitable Medicare for All health care system in place , we need to at least establish free coverage for all Covid-19 patients on public health grounds .
Giving potentially infectious people a financial motive to avoid seeking medical care endangers us all .
The additional funding for this will need to come from the government ’ s borrowing in the next round of stimulus spending , as is being advocated now by congressional Democrats .
Discussions around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on infrastructure investments as an economic recovery driver .
Specific spending targets being discussed include expanding rural broadband capacity , rebuilding aging hospitals and community health centers , and upgrading water infrastructure .
All of these are worthy projects .
They also have the benefit of being the types of initiatives that Republicans could realistically support .
That said , progressive activists have been fighting to also include Green New Deal investments in the next round of stimulus spending .
It is critical to keep pushing these initiatives forward until they succeed .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ can not forget that we have a severely limited amount of time to take decisive action around climate change .
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in October 2018 that the world must reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 percent as of 2030—just 10 years from now—and reach net zero emissions by 2050 , in order to retain a reasonable chance of moving onto a viable climate stabilization path .
This means that , within the next 30 years , we must totally supplant our current fossil-fuel dominant energy system with one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and clean renewable energy sources , especially solar and wind power .
Investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy will also provide a strong foundation for long-term economic recovery .
Such investments would generate roughly 3 times the number of jobs per million dollars of spending relative to maintaining our existing fossil-fuel-dominant energy infrastructure .
Jobs will then open up throughout the US labor market , including for , among others , carpenters , machinists , environmental scientists , secretaries , accountants , truck drivers , roofers , and agricultural laborers .
Investment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would generate about 6 million jobs in the first year of full activity alone .
Such a program would also deliver lower energy costs for consumers .
This is because energy-efficiency investments enable consumers to spend less for a given amount of energy services , and the costs of renewable energy are already competitive with those for fossil fuels and nuclear power , even with the recent plunge in global oil prices .
In short , the US government today possesses the unique financial capacity to mount an effective fight at the historically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the economic collapse .
It also has the wherewithal to move the economy onto an ecologically sustainable recovery path , with Green New Deal investments generating jobs and new opportunities throughout the country .
Whether the government embraces these challenges , or , instead , continues to squander its resources on giveaways to giant corporations and Wall Street , will depend on the balance of political forces in the months ahead .
Effective political mobilization will therefore be imperative for pushing this balance in the direction that it so badly needs to @ @

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One huge question about the stimulus package that nobody seems to be asking is: Where does the money come from to pay for it?
The bill is the largest fiscal stimulus program in US history, with a budget totaling roughly $2 trillion, equal to about 10 percent of the gross domestic product—the market value of all goods and services the country produces. The reason nobody seems to be asking where the money will come from is that the correct answer is evident: The federal government will borrow it by issuing US Treasury bonds.
Unlike any other government or private entity in the world, the US government has the capacity to borrow at will over the course of the recession. The government will also be able to manage the enormous increase in its debt load that will result from this borrowing without serious difficulties. This is, first, because US Treasury bonds are recognized as the safest assets available on the global financial market. Financial market players, therefore, clamor to own US Treasury bonds exactly in situations such as now, with the world economy rapidly becoming very uncertain and dangerous. Most global trade is also still conducted in US dollars, which creates a built-in demand for dollars that no other currency can match.
Even with the gigantic financial commitments that the government has made with the stimulus bill, congressional Democrats and the White House have already begun discussions on passing a follow-up measure, probably with an additional $2 trillion price tag. This follow-up bill would address the evident major gaps in the current bill, particularly in its support for hospitals, health care workers, and Covid-19 patients. It would also provide a broader range of stimulus support, through investments focused on public infrastructure, to boost the economy out of the recession and onto a long-term recovery path. Sidebar Wanted: Shovel-Ready Projects for a Green New Deal Robert Pollin
Total federal government borrowing could reach 20 percent of GDP or more. The total figure gets elevated because, before the pandemic hit, the deficit was already at a record high for an economic expansion period, at 4.6 percent of GDP, due to Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for corporations and the rich. Adding everything up, the only comparable figures come from World War II, when the US deficit averaged 23 percent of GDP from 1943–45.
The absence of alarm bells ringing over these colossal deficit figures stands in dramatic contrast with the experience of only 11 years ago, during the Great Recession. At that time, a loud chorus of “deficit hawks,” including many of the leading mainstream macroeconomists in the country, insisted that the 2009 stimulus program that passed under President Obama—the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)—would be ruinous. Implementation of the ARRA led to government deficits over 2009–11 that averaged 9 percent of GDP, which at the time were the largest peacetime deficits in US history. The response of John Taylor, a senior macroeconomist at Stanford and a top economist in the George W. Bush administration, was representative of the deficit-hawk position among leading academics. Taylor offered that the upward trend for US government debt “portends America’s ending.” What has changed over the past 11 years? Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
Certainly crass self-interest is playing some role. The benefits from the deficits that resulted from the 2017 Trump tax cuts skewed heavily to big business and the rich. Such deficits are somehow far less worrisome to Republican politicians and their academic supporters than those that would support egalitarian social programs like Social Security, Medicaid, or low-income housing. In that spirit, the current stimulus program funnels its biggest rewards by far to big corporations that are in line for at least $500 billion worth of credit with virtually no strings attached. Still more, these funds from the Treasury will be matched by trillions more in bailout lending support from the Federal Reserve. Current Issue View our current issue
Beyond this, the deficit hawks advanced a series of claims as to why the Obama deficits would be disastrous. These claims were then tested against reality as the recession and recovery unfolded. They all proved to be wrong. Understanding how they were wrong enables us to understand why the forthcoming huge increases in government deficits and debt will be manageable.
First, the deficit hawks maintained that the big deficits during the Great Recession would set off an intense inflationary spiral. Prices would rise rapidly, as the saying goes, because “too much money would be chasing too few goods.’” However, during a deep recession such as occurred over 2007–09, the dominant pressures push prices downward, not upward. To begin with, people have less money to spend during a recession, so market demand goes soft relative to businesses’ supplies of goods and services. Businesses lay off workers as their markets weaken, which in turn mean that workers’ bargaining power declines, and wages thereby fall. Business costs also fall as a result, with falling costs leading to lower consumer prices.
The deficit hawks also claimed during the Great Recession that government borrowing on this scale would cause interest rates to spike, because the government would be competing for funds against the demands of private-sector borrowers. The resulting high interest rates would discourage private businesses from undertaking new investments or expanding their existing operations. In fact, during the Great Recession, because US government bonds were recognized as the safest assets available on the global financial market, demand for these bonds surged. This will also be true again in the current crisis. Interest rates on US government bonds will, therefore, fall relative to every other credit instrument on the global market.
The interest rate on US Treasury Bonds with a five-year maturity this past March 31 was 0.4 percent, with no hint of any upward movement forthcoming. When the US government can borrow at 0.4 percent, the burden of paying interest on the debt will also be modest, even if the amounts being borrowed are gigantic. For example, at a 0.4 percent interest rate, the government’s annual interest payments on $2 trillion in debt will be $8 billion (0.04 percent of GDP). This is hardly a ruinous debt-servicing burden. However, if the interest rate were, instead, at the 10 percent average level that prevailed in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the annual interest payments would be 25 times higher, at $200 billion.
Even if the government debt-servicing burden became a drag on the economy, the Federal Reserve has the capacity, as needed, to buy up and effectively retire a share of the outstanding debt. The technical term for this policy measure is “debt monetization.” Through practicing debt monetization, the US government can effectively create money as needed in order to counteract the economic crisis (without having to literally run a printing press). The Fed can also buy up corporate bonds that are now held by private banks and other finance companies, just as it did during the Great Recession. This will provide Wall Street firms with piles of cash to get through the crisis. Over the course of the Great Recession, the total Fed bailout of Wall Street amounted to $12 trillion, dwarfing the $800 billion Obama stimulus program conducted through the US Treasury. As the current recession unfolds, we should expect Fed operations in support of Wall Street to exceed even those Great Recession figures.
While the deficit hawks were badly wrong, no other country could have claimed anything like the privileged financial status enjoyed by the US government during the Great Recession. The same is true now. The United States needs to accept the responsibilities that come with this privileged status to spend what is necessary to control the pandemic and fight the recession, both at home and throughout the world.
The United States should therefore be willing to support emergency public health initiatives on a global scale, especially in low-income countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. So far, the spread of the pandemic appears to be modest in these regions, but that is likely to change. When it does, the strain on public health budgets is likely to be catastrophic. Right now, the United States is the least generous high-income country, spending only about 0.2 percent of GDP overall on development assistance programs. During this crisis period, the United States could easily raise its support to the levels that, say, Sweden or Norway already spend, at around 1 percent of their GDP. That would release roughly $200 billion in support for low-income countries to fight the pandemic and recession.
Within the United States itself, while the current stimulus program does help pay for free testing as well as vaccine development, no additional funds have yet been provided for treating people who are infected. Until we have an equitable Medicare for All health care system in place, we need to at least establish free coverage for all Covid-19 patients on public health grounds. Giving potentially infectious people a financial motive to avoid seeking medical care endangers us all. The additional funding for this will need to come from the government’s borrowing in the next round of stimulus spending, as is being advocated now by congressional Democrats.
Discussions around the next stimulus bill are also focusing on infrastructure investments as an economic recovery driver. Specific spending targets being discussed include expanding rural broadband capacity, rebuilding aging hospitals and community health centers, and upgrading water infrastructure. All of these are worthy projects. They also have the benefit of being the types of initiatives that Republicans could realistically support.
That said, progressive activists have been fighting to also include Green New Deal investments in the next round of stimulus spending. It is critical to keep pushing these initiatives forward until they succeed. Even under current pandemic conditions, we cannot forget that we have a severely limited amount of time to take decisive action around climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in October 2018 that the world must reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 percent as of 2030—just 10 years from now—and reach net zero emissions by 2050, in order to retain a reasonable chance of moving onto a viable climate stabilization path. This means that, within the next 30 years, we must totally supplant our current fossil-fuel dominant energy system with one based on the combination of high efficiency and clean renewable energy sources, especially solar and wind power.
Investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy will also provide a strong foundation for long-term economic recovery. Such investments would generate roughly 3 times the number of jobs per million dollars of spending relative to maintaining our existing fossil-fuel-dominant energy infrastructure. Jobs will then open up throughout the US labor market, including for, among others, carpenters, machinists, environmental scientists, secretaries, accountants, truck drivers, roofers, and agricultural laborers. Investment spending at about 2 percent of GDP would generate about 6 million jobs in the first year of full activity alone. Such a program would also deliver lower energy costs for consumers. This is because energy-efficiency investments enable consumers to spend less for a given amount of energy services, and the costs of renewable energy are already competitive with those for fossil fuels and nuclear power, even with the recent plunge in global oil prices.
In short, the US government today possesses the unique financial capacity to mount an effective fight at the historically unprecedented scale required against both the pandemic and the economic collapse. It also has the wherewithal to move the economy onto an ecologically sustainable recovery path, with Green New Deal investments generating jobs and new opportunities throughout the country. Whether the government embraces these challenges, or, instead, continues to squander its resources on giveaways to giant corporations and Wall Street, will depend on the balance of political forces in the months ahead. Effective political mobilization will therefore be imperative for pushing this balance in the direction that it so badly needs to go.


thenation--2020-04-09--Wanted: Shovel-Ready Projects for a Green New Deal

In advancing a Green New Deal for the United States under current conditions , it is important to take seriously issues around how best to time the launch various components of the overall project .
The point is to ensure that we maximize both their short-term stimulus benefits in addition to their longer-term impacts .
I know how important such matters are from personal experience working on the green investment components of the 2009 ARRA stimulus program , in which $ 90 billion of the $ 800 billion total had been allocated to clean energy investments .
The Deficit Is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Good Thing .
The principles underlying the green investment components of the ARRA stimulus were sound .
But the people who worked on the program in its various stages , including myself , did not adequately calculate the time that realistically would be required to get many of the projects up and running .
We knew then that it was critical to identify “ shovel-ready ” projects—i.e.
, ones that could be implemented on a large scale quickly so that they could provide an immediate economic boost .
But relatively few green investment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
One important reason for this was that the green energy industry was then a newly emerging enterprise .
The backlog of significant new projects was therefore thin .
It is only moderately less thin today .
This means that we need to identify the subgroup of green investment projects that can realistically roll into action at scale within a matter of months .
One good example would be to undertake energy-efficient retrofits of all public and commercial buildings .
This would entail improving insulation , sealing window frames and doors , switching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and replacing aging heating and air conditioning systems with efficient ones—preferably , where possible , with heat pumps .
The administrative issues around mounting such projects could begin today .
The on-site work could then begin on the first day that it is safe to do so .
A program of this sort budgeted at , say , $ 20 billion nationwide , could generate about 300,000 jobs , for secretaries , truck drivers , and accountants as well as for construction workers .
It will also deliver immediate energy savings of about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emissions .
Building off this initial set of truly shovel-ready projects , the full Green New Deal can then be phased in as quickly as possible .
The ramping up of the rest of the clean energy investment program will then provide a strong overall boost to the economy as it moves out of recession into recovery .

In advancing a Green New Deal for the United States under current conditions, it is important to take seriously issues around how best to time the launch various components of the overall project. The point is to ensure that we maximize both their short-term stimulus benefits in addition to their longer-term impacts. I know how important such matters are from personal experience working on the green investment components of the 2009 ARRA stimulus program, in which $90 billion of the $800 billion total had been allocated to clean energy investments. Corona Crisis The Deficit Is Exploding! And That’s a Good Thing. Robert Pollin
The principles underlying the green investment components of the ARRA stimulus were sound. But the people who worked on the program in its various stages, including myself, did not adequately calculate the time that realistically would be required to get many of the projects up and running. We knew then that it was critical to identify “shovel-ready” projects—i.e., ones that could be implemented on a large scale quickly so that they could provide an immediate economic boost. But relatively few green investment projects were truly shovel-ready at that time. One important reason for this was that the green energy industry was then a newly emerging enterprise. The backlog of significant new projects was therefore thin. It is only moderately less thin today.
This means that we need to identify the subgroup of green investment projects that can realistically roll into action at scale within a matter of months. One good example would be to undertake energy-efficient retrofits of all public and commercial buildings. This would entail improving insulation, sealing window frames and doors, switching over all light bulbs to LEDs, and replacing aging heating and air conditioning systems with efficient ones—preferably, where possible, with heat pumps. The administrative issues around mounting such projects could begin today. The on-site work could then begin on the first day that it is safe to do so. A program of this sort budgeted at, say, $20 billion nationwide, could generate about 300,000 jobs, for secretaries, truck drivers, and accountants as well as for construction workers. It will also deliver immediate energy savings of about 30 percent and comparable levels of reduced emissions.
Building off this initial set of truly shovel-ready projects, the full Green New Deal can then be phased in as quickly as possible. The ramping up of the rest of the clean energy investment program will then provide a strong overall boost to the economy as it moves out of recession into recovery.


thenation--2020-04-16--Testing. Testing. 1-2-3 Testing.

Testing. Testing. 1-2-3 Testing.

The path out of the pandemic for the United States—indeed , everywhere—centers around a massive scaling up of testing for SARS-CoV-2 ( the virus that causes the disease Covid-19 ) and antibodies to the virus .
Once we see a steep and sustained decline in cases in our hospitals , gradual withdrawal of social distancing measures will have to go hand in hand with identifying all lingering cases of the infection in our communities , isolating those individuals and quarantining their contacts , all in the context of protecting people ’ s human rights .
Opening up the economy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homes , is also dependent on having sufficient antibody tests to know who might have already been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and has cleared the virus from their system .
But wishing doesn ’ t make it so .
The United States will need to test tens of millions of people for the presence of the virus in this next phase of the response .
Over the past week , the number of tests added has averaged 147,000 per day , when we need to be testing 2 million to 3 million a week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shortage of tests , reagents , nasal swabs , and the people necessary for such as massive testing campaign , as well as the leadership crisis I ’ ve previously discussed .
But we ’ re going to have to plow ahead at some point when it becomes clear that hospitalized cases have been consistently down and we have worn out the patience of the American public with social distancing in its strictest form .
How do we proceed when the number of tests we need greatly exceeds the number we have ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggested that we prioritize what we might think of as hot spots for undiagnosed infections ( large apartment buildings , nursing and long-term care facilities , public housing developments ) or places still open for business during the pandemic ( grocery stores , pharmacies , Amazon hubs ) while retaining some random screening among the population .
But this still leaves us with the question : Which of these places is first in line for available testing ?
My colleagues and I have thought about this in the context of HIV testing for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ find “ needles in a haystack , ” new cases scattered around a city , a state ?
Without going into technical details , we ourselves don ’ t necessarily have to make the choice of locations to test in ; there are adaptive mathematical algorithms that can assist us in homing in on the places that have the best chances of finding new cases .
No matter what we do , we ’ re going to have to be creative in thinking about how to maximize our yield of new diagnoses until @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need to do something akin to universal testing of high-risk populations in the United States .
Over the past few weeks , as people try to think about how to gradually relax social distancing , the idea of using antibody tests to “ clear ” people to go back to work has become a popular notion .
However when I talked to my colleague , Professor Akiko Iwasaki in the Department of Immunobiology at Yale , she offered some caution on this approach based on the current knowledge of the immune response to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not everyone develops an antibody response to this novel coronavirus .
In fact , about 30 percent of patients develop very low levels of antibody , while some have no detectable levels at all .
The Science Is Clear on How to Beat This Pandemic We ’ ve Got to ACT UP to Stop Trumpcare Martin Shkreli Is Just a Tiny Part of a Huge Problem We also don ’ t know where on the spectrum of immune protection exposure to SARS-CoV-2 lies .
Is the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 more like those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ common cold , and to which we have transient protection lasting only a few weeks ?
Or is it more like the response triggered by the cousin of our current coronavirus , SARS-CoV , which may last two to three years ?
These are open questions that have not yet been resolved .
Until they are resolved using antibody tests as a guide , policy decisions , let alone a decision as to which individuals are ready to go back to work , could be premature , with potentially dire consequences .
Finally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or the antibodies to it—are created equal .
Diagnostic tests can generate four kinds of results : true positive and negative results , and false positive and negative results .
The test for the virus itself , using a technology called RT-PCR , is thought to be better at offering true positive results than true negative results , but the extent of false negative results isn ’ t well-documented right now .
This means that tracking lingering infections is going to be imperfect at best and we ’ re going to need more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ multiple assays to confirm or rule out infections .
It also means that if you have symptoms of the disease and test negative , you should probably still assume you have Covid-19 and take precautions to protect others and monitor your own disease course .
The worries about the accuracy and reliability of antibody tests are even more acute .
As I mentioned earlier , we don ’ t yet know who will generate antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 , or if these are the kinds of antibodies that will neutralize the virus , or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might be able provide long-term protection against the disease .
Yet antibody tests are currently being rushed to market without proper evaluation , with the FDA willing to allow the release of these tests even before the agency can examine the product themselves .
Now add to that uncertainty questions about the extent of false positive or false negative results , and you get a situation fraught with trouble .
What does a positive antibody test mean today ?
The answer is : We don ’ t know .
However , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ getting way out ahead of the data , has recently ordered over 10,000 antibody tests from South Korea , which have yet to be vetted by the FDA .
Getting clarity on testing for SARS-CoV-2 and its antibodies and how to use this information in making public health decisions is going to take a urgent investment in additional research on the immune response to viruses—both the basic work in labs and the epidemiological kind to understand the prevalence of neutralizing antibodies in the community .
It will also take more , not less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for getting answers isn ’ t pushed aside for a need for speed to get things to market .
Manufacturers will need to refine their tests , and band together when we need confirmatory assays to know more definitively if someone is actually SARS-CoV-2 positive or not .
It will take all hands on deck .

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The path out of the pandemic for the United States—indeed, everywhere—centers around a massive scaling up of testing for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes the disease Covid-19) and antibodies to the virus. Once we see a steep and sustained decline in cases in our hospitals, gradual withdrawal of social distancing measures will have to go hand in hand with identifying all lingering cases of the infection in our communities, isolating those individuals and quarantining their contacts, all in the context of protecting people’s human rights. Opening up the economy, returning to some normal activities outside our homes, is also dependent on having sufficient antibody tests to know who might have already been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and has cleared the virus from their system.
But wishing doesn’t make it so. The United States will need to test tens of millions of people for the presence of the virus in this next phase of the response. Over the past week, the number of tests added has averaged 147,000 per day, when we need to be testing 2 million to 3 million a week. Some of this is due to shortage of tests, reagents, nasal swabs, and the people necessary for such as massive testing campaign, as well as the leadership crisis I’ve previously discussed. But we’re going to have to plow ahead at some point when it becomes clear that hospitalized cases have been consistently down and we have worn out the patience of the American public with social distancing in its strictest form.
How do we proceed when the number of tests we need greatly exceeds the number we have? Colleagues of mine at Yale have recently suggested that we prioritize what we might think of as hot spots for undiagnosed infections (large apartment buildings, nursing and long-term care facilities, public housing developments) or places still open for business during the pandemic (grocery stores, pharmacies, Amazon hubs) while retaining some random screening among the population. But this still leaves us with the question: Which of these places is first in line for available testing? My colleagues and I have thought about this in the context of HIV testing for a while now: How do you find “needles in a haystack,” new cases scattered around a city, a state? Without going into technical details, we ourselves don’t necessarily have to make the choice of locations to test in; there are adaptive mathematical algorithms that can assist us in homing in on the places that have the best chances of finding new cases. No matter what we do, we’re going to have to be creative in thinking about how to maximize our yield of new diagnoses until we have the millions of tests we need to do something akin to universal testing of high-risk populations in the United States. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
Over the past few weeks, as people try to think about how to gradually relax social distancing, the idea of using antibody tests to “clear” people to go back to work has become a popular notion. However when I talked to my colleague, Professor Akiko Iwasaki in the Department of Immunobiology at Yale, she offered some caution on this approach based on the current knowledge of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Recent studies have suggested that not everyone develops an antibody response to this novel coronavirus. In fact, about 30 percent of patients develop very low levels of antibody, while some have no detectable levels at all. More From Gregg Gonsalves These New Alzheimer’s Drugs Are a Travesty July 27, 2023 It's Not “Unreasonable” to Want to Change Our Rotten Health Care System June 1, 2023 Now More Than Ever, We Need to Fight, Not Despair May 11, 2023
We also don’t know where on the spectrum of immune protection exposure to SARS-CoV-2 lies. Is the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 more like those directed towards the coronaviruses that cause the common cold, and to which we have transient protection lasting only a few weeks? Or is it more like the response triggered by the cousin of our current coronavirus, SARS-CoV, which may last two to three years? These are open questions that have not yet been resolved. Until they are resolved using antibody tests as a guide, policy decisions, let alone a decision as to which individuals are ready to go back to work, could be premature, with potentially dire consequences.
Finally, not all tests—either for the virus or the antibodies to it—are created equal. Diagnostic tests can generate four kinds of results: true positive and negative results, and false positive and negative results. The test for the virus itself, using a technology called RT-PCR, is thought to be better at offering true positive results than true negative results, but the extent of false negative results isn’t well-documented right now. This means that tracking lingering infections is going to be imperfect at best and we’re going to need more sensitive assays to be developed or use multiple assays to confirm or rule out infections. It also means that if you have symptoms of the disease and test negative, you should probably still assume you have Covid-19 and take precautions to protect others and monitor your own disease course.
The worries about the accuracy and reliability of antibody tests are even more acute. As I mentioned earlier, we don’t yet know who will generate antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, or if these are the kinds of antibodies that will neutralize the virus, or what magnitude of a neutralizing antibody response might be able provide long-term protection against the disease. Yet antibody tests are currently being rushed to market without proper evaluation, with the FDA willing to allow the release of these tests even before the agency can examine the product themselves. Now add to that uncertainty questions about the extent of false positive or false negative results, and you get a situation fraught with trouble. What does a positive antibody test mean today? The answer is: We don’t know. However, according to ProPublica, the City of Chicago, getting way out ahead of the data, has recently ordered over 10,000 antibody tests from South Korea, which have yet to be vetted by the FDA.
Getting clarity on testing for SARS-CoV-2 and its antibodies and how to use this information in making public health decisions is going to take a urgent investment in additional research on the immune response to viruses—both the basic work in labs and the epidemiological kind to understand the prevalence of neutralizing antibodies in the community. It will also take more, not less, regulatory oversight, where the need for getting answers isn’t pushed aside for a need for speed to get things to market. Manufacturers will need to refine their tests, and band together when we need confirmatory assays to know more definitively if someone is actually SARS-CoV-2 positive or not. It will take all hands on deck.


thenation--2020-04-16--Ghost Stories From Our Coming Tech Dystopia

It ’ s strange to read a book in one world and write about it in another .
I first read Mary South ’ s prescient and unsettling debut story collection , You Will Never Be Forgotten , a few weeks ago , in a world where the streets were busy , the bars were heaving , and the skies were full of planes .
You might , in that world , catch up with a friend over dinner at a busy restaurant ; you might stand in a chaotic huddle of strangers , waiting to be seated .
You @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a whim , hugging them close when you arrived .
You ’ d spend your day hopping back and forth between the physical and the virtual , your mind a tangle of social feeds and the on-the-ground , natural chaos of the city you moved through .
Technology was a convenience enhancer at best but more often a vice , something you half-joked about being “ addicted ” to , something you were always trying to “ detox ” from , something you thought you ’ d be better off without—calmer , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Will Never Be Forgotten : Stories You Will Never Be Forgotten reads like it was written for the world we ’ ve just entered , a liminal space between the dysfunctional , false glut of the past and an unknowable , emaciated future .
Over recent weeks , we have become increasingly dependent on the same technologies so many of us have spent years criticizing for their dehumanizing effect .
Social media websites in particular have gone from a favorite punching bag to a vital lifeline for those of us in isolation .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ technology ’ s commodified and surveilled virtual landscape forms the primary site of human connection .
You Will Never Be Forgotten is set in a recognizable , barely exaggerated near-reality , blending yesterday ’ s tech-induced indignities with those yet to come .
South demonstrates , across 10 stories , how dependence—coerced or chosen—always comes with a cost .
Our current , surreal moment of virtual reliance is no exception .
South writes as though she has always been where we find ourselves now : looking back on a world where we believed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s dominion , entering one where such agency is a luxury we might never again hope to afford .
South ’ s stories are , without exception , stories of exceptional loss , spilling out at the point of conflict between the cool detachment of the technological world and the tender vulnerability of the users living within it .
In some of these tales , technology sets the tone but does not drive the action .
In “ The Age of Love , ” a young , overworked flight attendant finds emotional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impotent octogenarian , after her elder-care-worker boyfriend begins playing her recordings of his charges ’ phone-sex-hotline calls .
To one person , this illegal surveillance is an act of violation ; to another , an opportunity for fresh intimacy .
In other stories , like “ Keith Prime , ” techno-dystopian capitalism plays a more direct role in the action : A widow , impoverished by her deceased husband ’ s medical bills , works at an organ warehouse , where she develops feelings for one of the lab-grown bodies in her care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ghosts abound , Petri dishes where South examines the aftershock effects that technology has had on the ways we look after each other and ourselves .
In an era of unprecedented digital acceleration and societal fragility , speculative fiction often offers a clear-eyed assessment of the present .
You Will Never Be Forgotten joins a growing cross-medium genre that includes Catherine Lacey ’ s The Answers , Ling Ma ’ s Severance , Russell T. Davies ’ s Years and Years , and the subtler episodes of Charlie Brooker ’ s Black Mirror @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ dystopic realism , ” marked by the imaginative quality of science fiction , the pacing and recognizability of realist fiction , and the nauseating bite of satire .
Like other dystopic realist fiction , South ’ s stories find their momentum in the usual , unwieldy mainstays of human experience , caught at a glance .
Grief comes up again and again , tinged with humiliation , jealousy , and lust .
This collection ’ s power , though , comes from South ’ s dark sensibility , her comfort with brutality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while the nightmare of tech capitalism won ’ t wholly eradicate the personal and the private , it will compress beyond recognition the spaces where personal , private moments can unfold .
In a sense , we ’ re living in those compressed spaces now ; we ’ re grateful for them , even .
But how do we continue to critique the numbing force of technology when technology has become our only means of communication and connection ?
South writes with the assurance of someone who knows she has no answers to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a shrugging ambivalence , You Will Never Be Forgotten mounts an ever more effective critique of technology-amplified structural inequality .
Workers , in these stories , are stretched thin by the demands of their jobs ; the wealthy are riddled with delusions that keep them from complete self-destruction ; a culture of widespread surveillance , bogus anonymity , and optimization form the backdrop against which every action is set .
You Will Never Be Forgotten ’ s stories are united by South ’ s keen examination of the thrill and risk of human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ child , care-giver and care-receiver , and digitally connected strangers—under increasingly cruel conditions .
In the midst of it all , against the logic of an economy pressing us toward hard , numb efficiency , South ’ s stories insist on tenderness as both a liability and a key to survival , a sensitivity that feels like weakness but , like a bruise , shows what we are capable of surviving .
A Witness to the Rise of Big Data “ Keith Prime , ” the first , tone-setting story in You Will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the logical end-point of commoditized health services : a warehouse full of artificial wombs , where identical human bodies—called “ Keiths ” —are incubated , birthed , and aged in a comatose state .
The young , widowed warehouse worker and her colleagues tend to the Keiths as they grow , eventually readying them to have their organs harvested .
Keiths are selected and broken down for parts with no more fanfare than an econo-pack of toilet paper is plucked from the shelf of an Amazon warehouse .
The worker , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ security to the twin ravages of terminal disease and American health care costs , develops a soft spot for one of the Keiths , “ Keith with a mole.
” When he unexpectedly wakes up from his perpetual induced slumber , her employer asks her to act as his temporary guardian .
At home , “ Keith with a mole ” stutters nonsense words , embraces the worker with the chastity of a eunuch , and excretes in her potted plants .
Physically , he ’ s a grown man , but developmentally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Keith becomes a kind of blank , willing slate on which the worker projects her grief and her regret .
When the warehouse demands Keith-with-a-mole be returned , the worker kills him gently , using a stockpile of morphine left over from her husband ’ s illness .
The same themes—dehumanization , dependence , and loss—are repeated throughout You Will Never Be Forgotten ’ s 10 stories .
In the collection ’ s funniest and most stylistically playful story , “ Frequently Asked Questions About Your Craniotomy , ” a husband ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to write an FAQ section for her hospital ’ s website .
In “ The Promised Hostel , ” a woman who has lost her baby serves her breast milk , straight from the boob , to the love-starved and stunted man-children staying at a cheap Meditteranean hostel , making literal one of South ’ s lessons : That which relieves us can set us into unending cycles of need and relief ; the human goodness we show to others may be met with nothing but manipulation and hunger .
And in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Not Setsuko , ” a mother attempts to re-create the spirit of her dead first daughter ( Setsuko ) in her still-alive second child ( also named Setsuko ) , by painstakingly re-creating every major emotional event in the first Setsuko ’ s life , up until her rape and murder on her ninth birthday .
It ’ s a heartbreaking idea , one that is not exactly reliant on technology but inevitably shaped by technology ’ s promise : that every action and impulse could , in perfect conditions , be captured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , pitched for a world in which there is an endless scroll of losses to mourn .
By perpetually setting her characters in moments of grief and devastation , South risks exhausting her readers .
There is little possibility of catharsis—the best South ’ s characters get are moments of fleeting , fever-breaking relief .
At the same time , she balances her characters ’ grim lives with moments of sharp , absurdist humor .
In “ Realtor to the Damned , ” a real estate agent texts his deceased wife ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the beyond .
He sends a dick pic when he receives a reply , desperate enough for connection that he half-believes it might be from her ghost .
His interlocutor eventually has to spell it out for him : “ Guy , I got a new plan , and my carrier randomly assigned this number.
” Her characters fall down tantalizing rabbit holes only to hit , again and again , a brick wall .
South effectively captures the guiding principles of the Internet : instantaneousness , the illusion of infinity , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being mysteriously tracked , analyzed , and understood by forces unseen .
She illustrates , too , the way these principles have warped our brains , making us snarkier and more skeptical , while simultaneously turning us into stimulation addicts , our better judgment perpetually lagging behind our attention span .
South ’ s stories offer scant opportunities for human-to-human connection without a transactional premise .
In the collection ’ s titular story , a woman obsessively tracks the online and IRL movements of her rapist , a celebrated entrepreneur .
In her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ content moderator at a global search engine , screening the Internet for beheadings , child pornography , first-person videos of mass shootings , and other violent visuals .
It ’ s the kind of thankless , underpaid , traumatizing work upon which the digital and gig economies run .
The woman does her work quietly , quickly , all the while thinking about her next opportunity to digitally or physically follow her rapist .
Her obsession escalates into a moment of devastating humiliation , a private shaming that risks going public .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and affecting ; again , there is no true catharsis here , and no attempt at justice goes without undesired consequences .
Yet I wouldn ’ t call this collection pessimistic or even particularly sad .
Troubling , yes , but shouldn ’ t we be troubled ?
Increasingly , our humanity is required only where it can be performed or put to productive use .
The profit motive mandates that what can be automated will be done by machines ; the human touch is an artisanal flourish , a premium feature that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s stories develop like thought experiments : What happens when the next aspect of society gets commodified and stripped for parts ?
How do we build a meaningful vision of the future when the new normal just keeps getting worse ?
Still , You Will Never Be Forgotten shows us there is still tenderness to be found , and protected , in the brave new world to come .
But unlike visions of the future that show love or empathy or some other kind of schmaltzy , indelible humanity triumphing against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the chase .
If we continue on this track , if we rely on individual goodness to get us safely through , we will find ourselves pressed up against on every side by cold , market-fueled greed .
Tenderness will not be enough .

It’s strange to read a book in one world and write about it in another. I first read Mary South’s prescient and unsettling debut story collection, You Will Never Be Forgotten, a few weeks ago, in a world where the streets were busy, the bars were heaving, and the skies were full of planes. You might, in that world, catch up with a friend over dinner at a busy restaurant; you might stand in a chaotic huddle of strangers, waiting to be seated. You might visit your parents or your grandparents on a whim, hugging them close when you arrived. You’d spend your day hopping back and forth between the physical and the virtual, your mind a tangle of social feeds and the on-the-ground, natural chaos of the city you moved through. Technology was a convenience enhancer at best but more often a vice, something you half-joked about being “addicted” to, something you were always trying to “detox” from, something you thought you’d be better off without—calmer, less anxious, more present. Books in Review You Will Never Be Forgotten: Stories By Mary South Buy this book
You Will Never Be Forgotten reads like it was written for the world we’ve just entered, a liminal space between the dysfunctional, false glut of the past and an unknowable, emaciated future. Over recent weeks, we have become increasingly dependent on the same technologies so many of us have spent years criticizing for their dehumanizing effect. Social media websites in particular have gone from a favorite punching bag to a vital lifeline for those of us in isolation. Now and for the foreseeable future, technology’s commodified and surveilled virtual landscape forms the primary site of human connection.
You Will Never Be Forgotten is set in a recognizable, barely exaggerated near-reality, blending yesterday’s tech-induced indignities with those yet to come. South demonstrates, across 10 stories, how dependence—coerced or chosen—always comes with a cost. Our current, surreal moment of virtual reliance is no exception. South writes as though she has always been where we find ourselves now: looking back on a world where we believed we might gain personal agency over technology’s dominion, entering one where such agency is a luxury we might never again hope to afford.
South’s stories are, without exception, stories of exceptional loss, spilling out at the point of conflict between the cool detachment of the technological world and the tender vulnerability of the users living within it. In some of these tales, technology sets the tone but does not drive the action. In “The Age of Love,” a young, overworked flight attendant finds emotional fulfillment in graphic phone sex with an impotent octogenarian, after her elder-care-worker boyfriend begins playing her recordings of his charges’ phone-sex-hotline calls. To one person, this illegal surveillance is an act of violation; to another, an opportunity for fresh intimacy. In other stories, like “Keith Prime,” techno-dystopian capitalism plays a more direct role in the action: A widow, impoverished by her deceased husband’s medical bills, works at an organ warehouse, where she develops feelings for one of the lab-grown bodies in her care. Widows, care homes, and ghosts abound, Petri dishes where South examines the aftershock effects that technology has had on the ways we look after each other and ourselves.
In an era of unprecedented digital acceleration and societal fragility, speculative fiction often offers a clear-eyed assessment of the present. You Will Never Be Forgotten joins a growing cross-medium genre that includes Catherine Lacey’s The Answers, Ling Ma’s Severance, Russell T. Davies’s Years and Years, and the subtler episodes of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, a genre that we might call “dystopic realism,” marked by the imaginative quality of science fiction, the pacing and recognizability of realist fiction, and the nauseating bite of satire. Like other dystopic realist fiction, South’s stories find their momentum in the usual, unwieldy mainstays of human experience, caught at a glance. Grief comes up again and again, tinged with humiliation, jealousy, and lust. This collection’s power, though, comes from South’s dark sensibility, her comfort with brutality, and her narrative insistence that, while the nightmare of tech capitalism won’t wholly eradicate the personal and the private, it will compress beyond recognition the spaces where personal, private moments can unfold. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
In a sense, we’re living in those compressed spaces now; we’re grateful for them, even. But how do we continue to critique the numbing force of technology when technology has become our only means of communication and connection? South writes with the assurance of someone who knows she has no answers to give. But instead of resulting in a shrugging ambivalence, You Will Never Be Forgotten mounts an ever more effective critique of technology-amplified structural inequality. Workers, in these stories, are stretched thin by the demands of their jobs; the wealthy are riddled with delusions that keep them from complete self-destruction; a culture of widespread surveillance, bogus anonymity, and optimization form the backdrop against which every action is set.
You Will Never Be Forgotten’s stories are united by South’s keen examination of the thrill and risk of human connection—between lovers, siblings, parent and child, care-giver and care-receiver, and digitally connected strangers—under increasingly cruel conditions. In the midst of it all, against the logic of an economy pressing us toward hard, numb efficiency, South’s stories insist on tenderness as both a liability and a key to survival, a sensitivity that feels like weakness but, like a bruise, shows what we are capable of surviving. Related Article A Witness to the Rise of Big Data Kevin Lozano
“Keith Prime,” the first, tone-setting story in You Will Never Be Forgotten, drops the reader into the logical end-point of commoditized health services: a warehouse full of artificial wombs, where identical human bodies—called “Keiths”—are incubated, birthed, and aged in a comatose state. The young, widowed warehouse worker and her colleagues tend to the Keiths as they grow, eventually readying them to have their organs harvested. Keiths are selected and broken down for parts with no more fanfare than an econo-pack of toilet paper is plucked from the shelf of an Amazon warehouse. The worker, who has lost her husband and her financial security to the twin ravages of terminal disease and American health care costs, develops a soft spot for one of the Keiths, “Keith with a mole.” When he unexpectedly wakes up from his perpetual induced slumber, her employer asks her to act as his temporary guardian. At home, “Keith with a mole” stutters nonsense words, embraces the worker with the chastity of a eunuch, and excretes in her potted plants. Physically, he’s a grown man, but developmentally, he is a toddler. This Keith becomes a kind of blank, willing slate on which the worker projects her grief and her regret. When the warehouse demands Keith-with-a-mole be returned, the worker kills him gently, using a stockpile of morphine left over from her husband’s illness.
The same themes—dehumanization, dependence, and loss—are repeated throughout You Will Never Be Forgotten’s 10 stories. In the collection’s funniest and most stylistically playful story, “Frequently Asked Questions About Your Craniotomy,” a husband’s suicide warps his wife’s attempts to write an FAQ section for her hospital’s website. In “The Promised Hostel,” a woman who has lost her baby serves her breast milk, straight from the boob, to the love-starved and stunted man-children staying at a cheap Meditteranean hostel, making literal one of South’s lessons: That which relieves us can set us into unending cycles of need and relief; the human goodness we show to others may be met with nothing but manipulation and hunger. And in the collection’s closing story, “Not Setsuko,” a mother attempts to re-create the spirit of her dead first daughter (Setsuko) in her still-alive second child (also named Setsuko), by painstakingly re-creating every major emotional event in the first Setsuko’s life, up until her rape and murder on her ninth birthday. It’s a heartbreaking idea, one that is not exactly reliant on technology but inevitably shaped by technology’s promise: that every action and impulse could, in perfect conditions, be captured and replicated.
These are ghost stories, pitched for a world in which there is an endless scroll of losses to mourn. By perpetually setting her characters in moments of grief and devastation, South risks exhausting her readers. There is little possibility of catharsis—the best South’s characters get are moments of fleeting, fever-breaking relief. At the same time, she balances her characters’ grim lives with moments of sharp, absurdist humor. In “Realtor to the Damned,” a real estate agent texts his deceased wife’s phone number, hoping for a response from the beyond. He sends a dick pic when he receives a reply, desperate enough for connection that he half-believes it might be from her ghost. His interlocutor eventually has to spell it out for him: “Guy, I got a new plan, and my carrier randomly assigned this number.” Her characters fall down tantalizing rabbit holes only to hit, again and again, a brick wall. South effectively captures the guiding principles of the Internet: instantaneousness, the illusion of infinity, and the feeling that our actions are being mysteriously tracked, analyzed, and understood by forces unseen. She illustrates, too, the way these principles have warped our brains, making us snarkier and more skeptical, while simultaneously turning us into stimulation addicts, our better judgment perpetually lagging behind our attention span.
South’s stories offer scant opportunities for human-to-human connection without a transactional premise. In the collection’s titular story, a woman obsessively tracks the online and IRL movements of her rapist, a celebrated entrepreneur. In her day job, she works as a content moderator at a global search engine, screening the Internet for beheadings, child pornography, first-person videos of mass shootings, and other violent visuals. It’s the kind of thankless, underpaid, traumatizing work upon which the digital and gig economies run. The woman does her work quietly, quickly, all the while thinking about her next opportunity to digitally or physically follow her rapist. Her obsession escalates into a moment of devastating humiliation, a private shaming that risks going public. The story’s ending is both inevitable and affecting; again, there is no true catharsis here, and no attempt at justice goes without undesired consequences.
Yet I wouldn’t call this collection pessimistic or even particularly sad. Troubling, yes, but shouldn’t we be troubled? Increasingly, our humanity is required only where it can be performed or put to productive use. The profit motive mandates that what can be automated will be done by machines; the human touch is an artisanal flourish, a premium feature that must be worth its price. South’s stories develop like thought experiments: What happens when the next aspect of society gets commodified and stripped for parts? How do we build a meaningful vision of the future when the new normal just keeps getting worse?
Still, You Will Never Be Forgotten shows us there is still tenderness to be found, and protected, in the brave new world to come. But unlike visions of the future that show love or empathy or some other kind of schmaltzy, indelible humanity triumphing against the monstrous powers that be, South cuts to the chase. If we continue on this track, if we rely on individual goodness to get us safely through, we will find ourselves pressed up against on every side by cold, market-fueled greed. Tenderness will not be enough.


thenation--2020-04-16--What Does a Humane Response to Covid-19 Look Like?

The cheers in Buenos Aires began at 9 pm toward the middle of March , around the time the novel coronavirus brought much of the world to an abrupt and unsettling halt .
Like the residents of New York , Madrid , and countless other cities sheltering in place , quarantined “ porteños ” have appeared at their windows and balconies nightly to applaud those on the front lines of the pandemic .
By month ’ s end , however , a separate sound had begun echoing half an hour later across the wealthier Buenos Aires neighborhoods of Recoleta and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ predecessor , the tone was far more caustic , with participants whistling , blowing plastic horns , and banging pots and pans .
Its ostensible aim was to pressure state functionaries to accept a pay cut , but as is so often the case with Argentina ’ s “ cacerolazos , ” this protest was distinctly anti-political in nature .
In December of 2019 , the Peronist-progressive coalition party Frente de Todos ( Everyone ’ s Front ) swept into power after four years of neoliberal mismanagement .
Now that it had begun @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the backdrop of an unprecedented public health crisis , the forces of reaction were making their voices heard .
Indeed , their demonstration began shortly after Minister of Labor Claudio Moroni ordered the country ’ s largest steel manufacturer , Techint , to pause the firing of 1,450 temporary workers .
( President Alberto Fernández has since issued an emergency decree banning layoffs for a period of two months . )
“ Muchachos , les tocó la hora de ganar menos , ” Fernández told the country ’ s business leaders at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s time for you to earn less.
” Herein lies the challenge not just for Argentina but also for countless other liberal democracies across the West .
While the outlines of our global crisis are only beginning to emerge , it is clear that Covid-19 demands that these nations reimagine the role of the state after decades of free-market hegemony .
New possibilities have presented themselves that seemed unimaginable as recently as February .
Even the editorial board of the Financial Times recently conceded that more radical reforms like a wealth tax and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be put on the table .
Fernández , whose conservative predecessor , Mauricio Macri , reduced the Minister of Health to a non-cabinet position , understands this intuitively , implementing a pandemic response that , if not offering an exemplar for the Americas , stands in stark contrast to the region ’ s more overtly authoritarian regimes .
“ I was concerned that the Argentine state apparatus wouldn ’ t be up to the task , but the response [ has been ] good , ” says Marcelo Leiras , a political scientist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the interior , Eduardo “ Wado ” de Pedro .
“ The Minister of Health [ Ginés González García ] , at the beginning , thought that this epidemic would not strongly effect Argentina .
For good reasons , I think .
We didn ’ t know how contagious this thing was .
The president was wise enough to widen his circle of advisers and heed the most prudent , conservative advice .
He was [ also ] bold in choosing a strong quarantine policy , which in economic terms was incredibly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in mind how inarticulate the international response has been to the [ coronavirus ] , ” he adds .
“ It ’ s reflective of the political disarray of the West in domestic and international terms .
I think the president sensed that and reacted very quickly and consistently.
” Whereas US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have abdicated responsibility for their nations ’ pandemic responses , with each openly flouting epidemiologists and sniping at the governors of their respective states and provinces , Fernández issued a nationwide shelter-in-place order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Argentina had only 128 official cases nationwide , according to data from Johns Hopkins University .
As with the Argentinian president ’ s prior decisions to close the country ’ s borders and place visitors from global hot spots in a two-week quarantine , the aim was simple : to flatten the curve before a swell in cases could overwhelm the country ’ s latticework of trade union clinics , public hospitals , and private health care providers .
It is far too early to call the measures a success , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Infections have come in well below initial projections , and as of April 12 , Argentina ’ s death rate stood at two per 1 million habitants .
Chile ’ s , by contrast , was four , and Brazil ’ s was five .
The United States ’ was 62 .
“ Argentina has acted very quickly in comparison with other countries , ” says Rodrigo Quiroga , a bioinformatician at Argentina ’ s National Scientific and Technical Research Council .
“ [ That includes ] the rapid closure of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who came from countries with high rates of infections and the closing of schools .
These measures , along with the quarantine , have reduced the number of cases in this first stage of the pandemic.
” Fernández ’ s economic actions have been no less audacious , especially when considering that his administration inherited a $ 311 billion debt that includes a record $ 57 billion loan in 2018 from the International Monetary Fund—the institution that imposed punishing austerity measures after the country ’ s crash in 2002 .
Argentina has invested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gross domestic product in an economic and social relief package—among the highest within the G20—while an executive order issued last month has ensured that no essential services be cut for retirees , social welfare recipients and households earning less than a combined 33,750 pesos ( about $ 520 ) due to a lack of payment .
These services include electricity , gas , water , mobile , and fixed landlines , as well as Internet and cable television .
The Fernández administration has also suspended evictions and frozen all rent hikes through September @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” the country ’ s bottom tax bracket , of penalties for failing to make their March tax payments .
More significantly , the president has created via executive order a 10,000-peso ( about $ 150 ) Ingreso Familiar de Emergencia ( Emergency Family Income ) for domestic workers and other low-income earners , giving first priority to those who qualify for Asignación Universal por Hijo ( Universal Child Allowance ) and Asignación para Embarazadas ( Allowance for Pregnant Women ) .
Nearly 8 million Argentines will receive subsidies beginning April 21 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employer , regardless of trade and size , eligible for a Programa de Asistencia de Emergencia al Trabajao y la Producción ( Emergency Assistance Program for Work and Production ) , postponing or reducing the tax commitments of small businesses by up to 95 percent and paying out between 50 and 100 percent of a monthly minimum wage salary for each of their employees .
Meanwhile , the federal government has compelled banks to extend hundreds of millions of dollars in loans at a reduced interest rate in an effort to keep the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to nationalize its private hospitals as Spain has done , it has secured their cooperation during the crisis so that its health care system doesn ’ t face a shortage of hospital beds .
Fernández has likewise activated the armed services to build a number of triage centers in the event of a surge in cases .
Taken together , these actions amount to a mass mobilization of the Argentinian state .
This is not to suggest that the country ’ s pandemic response has been entirely free of setbacks .
Earlier this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thousands of retirees were forced to wait in lines for as long as 12 hours—and in some cases overnight—to collect their payments .
The president moved immediately to coordinate the opening of bank branches on weekends , blaming the secretary general of the Asociación Bancaria ( Banking Association ) , Sergio Palazzo , and the executive director of the Administración Nacional de la Seguridad Social ( National Social Security Administration ) , Alejandro Vanoli , for placing the country ’ s most vulnerable at risk .
“ Argentina is closer to Italy and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , doctors , and medical supplies than it is to its neighboring countries , ” says María Esperanza Casullo , a political scientist and the author of Por Qué Funciona El Populismo ?
( “ Why Does Populism Work ? )
“ With that said , state resources are scarce , or scarcer than would be necessary , and the government won ’ t be able to extend the quarantine too long because the economy would not sustain it , especially the percentage of the Argentinian population that works outside of the market @ @ @ @ @ @ @ product has fallen for four consecutive years , so it ’ s going to be difficult.
” Fernández has investigated relaxing quarantine restrictions in order to stimulate the economy , but the challenges will be immense .
While the government maintains that its testing of Covid-19 is proportionate to the country ’ s low rate of infection ( 2,142 official cases as of April 12 ) , it had administered just 19,758 tests—437 per million habitants—two weeks before quarantine was tentatively set to end April 26 .
As the country attempts to ramp @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kits after years of funding cuts to the Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud “ Dr .
Carlos Malbrán ” ( the Malbrán Institute ) , and amid supply chain disruptions that have hampered much of Latin America , it may be all but impossible to control the virus ’ s spread in the more impoverished suburbs of Buenos Aires , where population density is high , access to quality health care is limited , and few enjoy the luxury to self-isolate .
At the same time , a 2019 poll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that nearly half of the country ’ s labor force ( 49.3 percent ) works off the books , with 81.7 percent of that segment in low-quality jobs .
“ The response has ultimately been reflective of the strengths and weaknesses of the Argentinian state , ” says Leiras .
“ The Argentinian state is strong in dialogue and politics but bad in terms of infrastructure , in its ability to go to places and do things , to reach people with health services [ for example ] .
In that respect , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very short tentacles.
” Yet , despite its deficiencies , Argentina has thus far managed to avoid the kinds of catastrophes emerging in countries like Ecuador , where bodies have piled up in the streets of Guayaquil , and Brazil , whose president now faces impeachment calls for his homicidal denialism .
More recently , Fernández has encouraged the congress to pass a tax on the country ’ s biggest fortunes—a response to his political opposition ’ s calls for government officials to reduce their salaries by 30 percent .
The tax , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who were granted immunity by the prior administration for hiding their wealth overseas , signals the president ’ s desire to fundamentally reorder Argentinian society as much as it aims to ameliorate the worst economic effects of the crisis .
Fernandez grasps what many of his counterparts on the world stage have not : that our fates are intrinsically bound together , and that the historical epoch we ’ ve been thrust into demands a new social contract .
“ For many years , Argentinians have been led to believe that politicians and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their problems , ” the president mused in late March .
“ The real problem is those who believe that there are too many people , that this [ isn ’ t ] a country where we all have a place… .
After the pandemic , everything will be different .
We ’ ll live in another world .
I believe that ours is a time of reflection , in which we can recover something that postmodernity has robbed of us.
” “ Postmodernity has led us to believe that individualism was the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” he continued .
“ [ We ’ ve seen ] a microscopic bug lay waste to vast fortunes and destroy accumulated wealth .
Microscopic .
This same bug can kill [ the rich ] as easily as it can kill any one of us .
What was the purpose then of accumulating so much ?
”

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The cheers in Buenos Aires began at 9 pm toward the middle of March, around the time the novel coronavirus brought much of the world to an abrupt and unsettling halt. Like the residents of New York, Madrid, and countless other cities sheltering in place, quarantined “porteños” have appeared at their windows and balconies nightly to applaud those on the front lines of the pandemic.
By month’s end, however, a separate sound had begun echoing half an hour later across the wealthier Buenos Aires neighborhoods of Recoleta and Palermo. If not louder than its predecessor, the tone was far more caustic, with participants whistling, blowing plastic horns, and banging pots and pans. Its ostensible aim was to pressure state functionaries to accept a pay cut, but as is so often the case with Argentina’s “cacerolazos,” this protest was distinctly anti-political in nature.
In December of 2019, the Peronist-progressive coalition party Frente de Todos (Everyone’s Front) swept into power after four years of neoliberal mismanagement. Now that it had begun enacting a social democratic agenda, against the backdrop of an unprecedented public health crisis, the forces of reaction were making their voices heard. Indeed, their demonstration began shortly after Minister of Labor Claudio Moroni ordered the country’s largest steel manufacturer, Techint, to pause the firing of 1,450 temporary workers. “Muchachos, les tocó la hora de ganar menos,” President Alberto Fernández told the country’s business leaders at the time. “Boys, it’s time for you to earn less.” (Fernández has since issued an emergency decree banning worker layoffs for a period of two months.)
Herein lies the challenge not just for Argentina but also for countless other liberal democracies across the West. While the outlines of our global crisis are only beginning to emerge, it is clear that Covid-19 demands that these nations reimagine the role of the state after decades of free market hegemony. New possibilities have presented themselves that seemed unimaginable as recently as February. Even the editorial board of the Financial Times recently conceded that more radical reforms like a wealth tax and a universal basic income will have to be put on the table. Fernández, whose conservative predecessor, Mauricio Macri, reduced the minister of health to a non-cabinet position, understands this intuitively, implementing a pandemic response that, if not offering an exemplar for the Americas, stands in stark contrast to the region’s more overtly authoritarian regimes. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Related Article Secret US Intelligence Files Provide History’s Verdict on Argentina’s Dirty War Peter Kornbluh
“I was concerned that the Argentine state apparatus wouldn’t be up to the task, but the response [has been] good,” says Marcelo Leiras, a political scientist and adviser to Argentina’s minister of the interior, Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro. “The minister of health [Ginés González García], at the beginning, thought that this epidemic would not strongly affect Argentina. For good reasons, I think. We didn’t know how contagious this thing was. The president was wise enough to widen his circle of advisers and heed the most prudent, conservative advice. He was [also] bold in choosing a strong quarantine policy, which in economic terms was incredibly risky.”
“We have to keep in mind how inarticulate the international response has been to the [coronavirus],” he adds. “It’s reflective of the political disarray of the West in domestic and international terms. I think the president sensed that and reacted very quickly and consistently.”
Whereas US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have abdicated responsibility for their nations’ pandemic responses, with each openly flouting epidemiologists and sniping at the governors of their respective states and provinces, Fernández declared a nationwide shelter-in-place order on March 19. It was enacted the following day. By then, Argentina had only 128 official cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. As with the Argentinian president’s prior decisions to close the country’s borders and place visitors from global hot spots in a two-week quarantine, the aim was simple: to flatten the curve before a swell in cases could overwhelm the country’s latticework of trade union clinics, public hospitals, and private health care providers. It is far too early to call the measures a success, but early returns suggest that they are working. Infections have come in well below initial projections, and as of April 12, Argentina’s death rate stood at two per 1 million habitants. Chile’s, by contrast, was four, and Brazil’s was five. The United States’ was 62. Current Issue View our current issue
“Argentina has acted very quickly in comparison with other countries,” says Rodrigo Quiroga, a bioinformatician at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council. “[That includes] the rapid closure of the border, the mandatory isolation of those who came from countries with high rates of infections, and the closing of schools. These measures, along with the quarantine, have reduced the number of cases in this first stage of the pandemic.”
Fernández’s economic actions have been no less audacious, especially considering that his administration inherited a $311 billion debt, including a record $57 billion loan in 2018 from the International Monetary Fund—the institution that imposed punishing austerity measures after the country’s crash in 2002. Argentina has invested as much as 2 percent of its gross domestic product in an economic and social relief package—among the best within the G20—while an executive order issued last month has ensured that no essential services be cut for retirees, social welfare recipients, and households earning less than a combined 33,750 pesos (about $520) due to a lack of payment. These services include electricity, gas, water, mobile, and fixed landlines, as well as Internet and cable television. The Fernández administration has also suspended evictions and frozen all rent hikes through September, in addition to absolving “monotributistas,” the country’s bottom tax bracket, of penalties for failing to make their March tax payments.
More significantly, the president has created via executive order a 10,000-peso (about $150) ingreso familiar de emergencia (emergency family income) for domestic workers and other low-income earners, giving first priority to those who qualify for asignación universal por hijo (universal child allowance) and asignación para embarazadas (allowance for pregnant women). Nearly 8 million Argentines will receive subsidies beginning April 21. The administration has further made every employer, regardless of trade and size, eligible to register for the Programa de Asistencia de Emergencia al Trabajao y la Producción (Emergency Assistance Program for Work and Production), postponing or reducing the tax commitments of small businesses by up to 95 percent and paying out between 50 and 100 percent of a monthly minimum wage salary for each of their employees. Meanwhile, the federal government has compelled banks to extend hundreds of millions of dollars in loans at a reduced interest rate in an effort to keep the economy afloat.
Although Argentina has declined to nationalize its private hospitals as Spain has done, it has secured their cooperation during the crisis so that its health care system doesn’t face a shortage of hospital beds. Fernández has likewise activated the armed services to build a number of triage centers in the event of a surge in cases. Taken together, these actions amount to a mass mobilization of the Argentinian state.
This is not to suggest that the country’s pandemic response has been entirely free of setbacks. Earlier this month, Fernández came under fire when thousands of retirees were forced to wait in lines for as long as 12 hours—and in some cases overnight—to collect their payments. The president moved immediately to coordinate the opening of bank branches on weekends, blaming the secretary general of the Banking Association, Sergio Palazzo, and the executive director of the National Social Security Administration, Alejandro Vanoli, for placing the country’s most vulnerable at risk.
“Argentina is closer to Italy and Spain in its number of hospital beds, doctors, and medical supplies than it is to its neighboring countries,” says María Esperanza Casullo, a political scientist and the author of Por Qué Funciona El Populismo? (Why Does Populism Work?) “With that said, state resources are scarce, or scarcer than would be necessary, and the government won’t be able to extend the quarantine too long because the economy would not sustain it, especially the percentage of the Argentinian population that works outside of the market. The country’s gross domestic product has fallen for four consecutive years, so it’s going to be difficult.”
Fernández has investigated relaxing quarantine restrictions in order to stimulate the economy, but the challenges will be immense. While the government maintains that its testing of Covid-19 is proportionate to the country’s low rate of infection (2,142 official cases as of April 12), it had administered just 19,758 tests—437 per million habitants—two weeks before quarantine was tentatively set to end on April 26. As the country attempts to ramp up the numbers of ventilators and test kits after years of funding cuts to the National Administration of Laboratories and Health Institutes “Dr. Carlos Malbrán,” or the Malbrán Institute, and amid supply chain disruptions that have hampered much of Latin America, it may be all but impossible to control the virus’s spread in the more impoverished suburbs of Buenos Aires, where population density is high, access to quality health care is limited, and few enjoy the luxury to self-isolate. At the same time, a 2019 poll from Argentina’s Catholic University finds that nearly half of the country’s labor force (49.3 percent) works off the books, with 81.7 percent of that segment in low-quality jobs.
“The response has ultimately been reflective of the strengths and weaknesses of the Argentinian state,” says Leiras. “The Argentinian state is strong in dialogue and politics but bad in terms of infrastructure, in its ability to go to places and do things, to reach people with health services [for example]. In that respect, it’s like an octopus with very short tentacles.”
Yet, despite its deficiencies, Argentina has thus far managed to avoid the kinds of catastrophes emerging in countries like Ecuador, where bodies have piled up in the streets of Guayaquil, and Brazil, whose president now faces impeachment calls for his homicidal denialism. More recently, Fernández has encouraged the congress to pass a tax on the country’s biggest fortunes—a response to his political opposition’s calls for government officials to reduce their salaries by 30 percent. The tax, which targets, among others, those who were granted immunity by the prior administration for hiding their wealth overseas, signals the president’s desire to fundamentally reorder Argentinian society as much as it aims to ameliorate the worst economic effects of the crisis. Fernández grasps what many of his counterparts on the world stage have not: that our fates are intrinsically bound together, and that the historical epoch we’ve been thrust into demands a new social contract.
“For many years, Argentinians have been led to believe that politicians and union leaders were the source of all their problems,” the president mused in late March. “The real problem is those who believe that there are too many people, that this [isn’t] a country where we all have a place…. After the pandemic, everything will be different. We’ll live in another world. I believe that ours is a time of reflection, in which we can recover something that postmodernity has robbed of us.”
“Postmodernity has led us to believe that individualism was the secret and that success meant earning money,” he continued. “[We’ve seen] a microscopic bug lay waste to vast fortunes and destroy accumulated wealth. Microscopic. This same bug can kill [the rich] as easily as it can kill any one of us. What was the purpose then of accumulating so much?”
This piece has been updated to reflect when Argentina’s shelter-in-place order was enacted.