Andrej Markovčič is a graduate student in economics at John Jay College, City University of New York.
Pundits have lauded the Biden administration for replacing the free-market consensus with supply-side liberalism. But it is geopolitical tensions with China and labor’s weakness that have made elites feel comfortable with a milquetoast industrial policy.
We cannot let capitalists absolve themselves of blame for the COVID-19 crisis. Their choices have turned an emergency into a disaster.
Some of the first US cases of coronavirus came from Washington nursing homes. We spoke to a nursing home worker and in-home care worker in the state about what it’s like providing care in the midst of a pandemic, and the brutal low-wage working conditions, worker shortages, and lack of decent health care that can only worsen the crisis.
Workers at Swedish–Providence Health in the state of Washington went on strike this week after nearly a year worth of negotiations over understaffing went nowhere. Management retaliated by locking out the workers.
Attempts to fix America’s health care crisis that aren’t universal, simple, and don’t eliminate private insurance are doomed to fail. We need a Medicare for All plan that covers everyone, period.