Two Myths

The Covid- 19 pandemic exposes the vulnerability of living in our country. This natural disaster is without boundaries, it does not discriminate between religious, political, prejudicial or folk science beliefs and moreover highlights man’s fear of helplessness, insecurity and inability to control his environment. Specifically, this essay addresses our economic and health care weaknesses brought by Covid -19.

Roughly 80% of our workforce live paycheck to paycheck. With the elimination of many jobs; the economic shutdown; and the risk of contracting the virus add to our misery.  Also, the economic disparity of wealth in our country more than likely will increase and we may be headed for a depression.

After World War II, we had robust union participation and membership, worker friendly corporations, a significant middle class, and a tiny socio-economic wealth gap.  University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman, in the 1970s, pushed for neoliberalism policies. He believed that neoliberalism policies would protect us from another depression. Reducing government’s significance and privatizing ownership of capital were fundamental. Because of this policy, we now have significantly less union membership, capital centered corporations, a dwindling middle class and the largest wealth gap ever.

The $2 trillion stimulus legislation was for the corporations. There was talk about providing aid to small business, independent contractors, and to low-wage employees. Let’ take a look at minimum wage.  First, a few facts: 1.Paul Krugman in 2013 advocated raising the minimum wage for these reasons: A. The minimum wage was below its 1960’s purchasing power despite a near doubling of productivity B. The great preponderance of evidence indicated there is no negative impact on employment for moderate increases and C. A high level of public support specifically by Democrats and Republican women. 2. As of October, 2016, there have been 29 states with the minimum wage higher than the federal minimum. 3. Beginning in January, 2019, Washington DC had the highest minimum wages in the country at $14 per hour. 3. In California, minimum wage increased to $13 for businesses with 26 employees or more; $12 for businesses with 25 employees or fewer effective January 1, 2020. 4. At last count, 27 California cities had a minimum wage higher than the state minimum as of January 1, 2020.

One folk science belief used by Republican lawmakers, to justify their disdain, is the idea that workers are lazy and that if you pay them stimulus money, they won’t ever return to work because they are takers. We also know per past research that 44% of 50 manufacturing executives believed that money alone was the answer for increasing workers productivity. In another survey, with a 1021 sample of employees of manufacturing companies, 65% of them stated that incentive pay increases output while only 22% stated that hourly pay makes for higher production. Of this group, 65% of them said that they preferred hourly pay and only 29% of them favored incentive pay. The author of this study believed that incentive pay as far as raising output does not in itself solve the problem of workers cooperation, meaningful employment, and increased worker wellbeing.

 One major point to consider centers with how to deal with boredom, alienation and job dissatisfaction. A second point to consider is the degree of physical and psychological illness associated with employment in an unsatisfactory working environment. Specifically, we know that high blood pressure, ulcers, insomnia, nervous tension, and fatigue are physical symptoms of health characteristics while absenteeism, satiation, dissatisfaction, apathy, boredom, sense of futility, drug and alcohol use, job turnover, repression of anger and being dependent and being scared are psychological factors. Alan Greenspan, former Chair of the Federal Reserve, stated that keeping workers insecure was necessary for capitalism to thrive.

 We also know that money, prestige and power are main incentives for a large part of the working population. How can working for wage slavery be realistically associated with a significant desire to work? Economist Greg Mankiw stated that 79% of economists agreed in his survey that a minimum wage increases unemployment among young and unskilled workers. Even with minimum wage, how many Republican government folks are motivated to work in the fields and pick the crops? They must be lazy.

More about laziness. Simply put, laziness as a motivational opinion not to work is actually folk science. Folk science means there’s no hard data to support the belief or opinion. Four of my male friends are in their 60s. Three of these males are currently working and making wages that far exceed minimum dollars with significant benefits. Aside from being in their 60s, all three of my friends actually count the number of days to their retirement. Their desire for retirement has nothing to do with laziness but with their desire to escape their employment slavery.  A fourth friend retired a number of years ago. He liked the work but did not like the various supervisors that were simply barriers that interfered with his working. He also was not lazy and looked forward to his release from his sentence. I concluded, from this limited sample, that money alone was not the most important motivation for them to continue working beyond retirement. They all worked to financially support their unions. Perhaps, to call another person lazy is simply a distortion, a bias and a projection. It’s true that wages are necessary to function in this consumption driven capitalistic economy and as a result, keep us enslaved. Advertising, consumption and capitalism are united in this regard.

 Capitalism is dependent on the consumption of goods, services etc. The idea is to buy, buy and buy. Advertising, which is psychological conditioning, does not provide rational information about the products but instead creates emotional desire and wants. Emotional wants become a strong motivating factor for the purchase of a necessary or unnecessary product. Advertising slogans like the importance of home ownership; buying your dream home; man with the biggest toys wins; and keeping up with the Joneses , reinforce capitalistic consumption. The winner in the slogans are clear. Since when does debt bring happiness? Since when is happiness dependent on consumption of newer and better commodities?  Bankruptcies are not the answer. It’s obvious that advertising messaging does not give hard factual data about the value but instead provides folk science opinions related to emotional, irrational desires and wants. Advertising started in the1920s, and continues to work. What is the cost for a 30 second commercial on any Super Bowl? These corporations are not stupid but smart.

More than likely we are headed for a Depression, further economic divide, greater worker insecurity, and more frustration with repressed and non-repressed anger. At the moment, it doesn’t appear that the economic policies of Neo liberalism will be the barrier to combat a depression. The virus exposed its economic weakness. Are we really the wealthiest country? Or, do we have many or most of the wealthiest individuals in the world?

Our private for profit health care system has also been challenged by this nasty pandemic. Our unprepared hospital system and drug oligarchy is set up for profit with just the right number of beds; just the right number of ventilators; just the right number of PPE equipment; just the right number of profitable meds and just the right number of personnel to handle regular run-of-the-mill healthcare. For example, a US company that manufactured high-quality-low-cost ventilators decided that even turning them into high cost-low-quality ventilators was not profitable enough. With the pandemic, doctors are now in the position and decide who to kill based on their limited resources. Drug companies don’t initiate research. Let’s face it, much of the products they sell don’t cure but just treat or mask symptoms with unsafe side effects. Sometimes the side effects are more deadly than the existing disease. Because of our Neo liberalism policies, we are dependent on other countries for the manufacture of necessary drugs, vitamins, and important medical supplies.

Our health care and government system cannot even and does not want to provide accurate and reliable data as to the number of Covid -19 cases. Nor do we have enough accurate, quality and safe testing for diagnosis as well as personnel to track {contact tracing} to identify the depth and widespread degree of this pandemic. Where does it say in the Constitution that employers are responsible for healthcare? When the Affordable Care Act was initiated, how many employers cut the hours of their workers so they didn’t have to pay healthcare benefits? How many in our society believe that health care is a human right and in the Constitution?

On the other hand, the private for profit health care complex does all that it can to keep its power. It may say that everyone loves their health care. Instead it’s more accurate to say that people like their medical providers. The system says that government healthcare is not efficient but they don’t define it. What about their creative ability to deny service? They wanted to deny because of preexisting issues. They make money when they do not have to provide service. Back in the 1990s, I was providing psychotherapy service. When the referrals stopped and I asked why. I was told that they found somebody else with a lesser license that they could pay less. One would think that if healthcare systems in countries like Canada, Great Britain, Finland, Germany etc. were inefficient, that there would be out cry and change would follow. None follows our model. That certainly challenged the credibility that our high-cost, inefficient and health care system is the best. We are best at discriminating and providing profit for the few.

It’s also clear by now, that the inefficiency of the Trump administration is in full force. Trump continues to falsify about the threat of the virus: does not mobilize national resources; deceives about testing availability; pushes off responsibility to the states; lies about the statistics and withholds financial monies to the states.