The Role of Capitalism as it Pertains to the Pandemic

            The Covid-19 Pandemic is a health crisis that has put the global economic, social, and political systems on the verge of collapse. Its sudden onset, rapid transmission, and potential to cause mortality magnified by the current lack of a working vaccine. The Pandemic has global ramifications in the social, political, environmental, and economic dimensions. The unemployment rates have risen to unprecedented levels. Businesses have closed with unlikely ever to recover. While public and private debts have escalated as borrowings increase to sustain the economies in recession. The current review explains the role of capitalism before and during the Covid-19 Pandemic. It further looks at likely scenarios as countries seek to emerge post-pandemic.

Role Played Before the Pandemic

            Capitalism is a political and economic system where most of the capital and control of trade and industry falls in private players' hands rather than the state. Indeed, capitalism played a role in making the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic as restrictions were minimal early on to avoid hurting the economies (Pennington and Stanford 165). The lessons learned have made governments less worried about reviving the economy and more about taming the Pandemic. Unions, charities, and community groups have had to play a more significant role in ensuring human health is the priority and alleviating the suffering through simple acts as providing a meal to those in self-isolation.

            After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the states increased calls to de-regulate the economies. However, what resulted was increased austerity and intensification of institutionalized financing (Primrose 18). The Pandemic is unlikely to shift away from neoliberalism, whose characteristics include lowering trade barriers, capital markets deregulation, and eliminating price controls. The reforms implemented by the Western governments since the outbreak of the Pandemic cannot address the impacts of more than four decades of embedded capitalism.

            The detrimental form of capitalism that led to the GFC in 2008 resulted in many countries struggling with austerity and increasing economic inequalities. The outbreak of the Pandemic saw many states unable to deal with the outbreak as it exposed their socio-cultural weaknesses. The rapid spread exposed the healthcare economizing characteristics inherent in many countries today. Because of the social austerity characteristics of escalating public and private debts, the healthcare systems exhibited diminished capacity (Rosenwarne 32). The healthcare systems struggled to deal with the spiraling numbers of hospitalizations and mortality characteristic of an epidemiological outbreak such as Covid-19.

            From its onset, the Pandemic threatened to overwhelm healthcare systems' capacity as they struggled to provide the in-patient care urgently needed (Council of the EU). The overloaded care systems could not cope with the surging numbers resulting in unnecessary and preventable deaths. The lack of preparedness is attributable to national policy failures over a long period (Lyon-Callo 54). Healthcare and response systems' need to improve on profitability has impacted the service delivery and capacity levels. A good example is the austerity measures implemented in Italy and Spain over the last decade. The European Union has been urging the countries to cut back on public spending and privatize most of its institutions. On the other hand, cost-cutting measures by care systems in the United States over many decades have seen many become profit-seeking entities rather than providing holistic care.

            Other countries are faring any better, with cutbacks being the following scenario. Even countries such as Canada that should not suffer from the problem because of its single-payer healthcare system have been subject to cost-cutting measures since the 1990s. According to the OECD's statistics, 1,000 citizens have only 2.5 hospital beds from a high of 7 to share (Heenan and Sturman 199). The countries with the least amount of hospital beds shared among its citizens exhibit worse scenarios of preventing unnecessary deaths from the Pandemic. Countries such as Germany that have resisted pressure to downsize their healthcare systems have seen fewer deaths than Spain and Italy.

            However, healthcare shortfalls alone cannot take all the blame for the global crisis brought about by the spreading of the Pandemic. Before the problem became a pandemic and more information about it was known, seniors and people of advanced age were established to be affected disproportionately. Nevertheless, most public policies have long segmented the population as “unproductive” to society (Jones 99). Most of the care systems seeking to maximize profitability have targeted long-term care for seniors for cuts. The accommodation systems for the population have become social amenities subject to privatization and aggressive cost controls. The outcome has increased outbreaks in the privatized institutions increasing mortality rates among seniors. Over half of the deaths have occurred in long-term care homes, with most of them being commercial entities. Cost controls mean most healthcare workers in the facilities are lowly paid and do not have access to the necessary protective equipment. The healthcare and personal care providers have been unable to contain the virus, with most becoming agents of spreading the illness.

            The Pandemic has affected individual races, poor and working classes adversely (Leigh 58). The disproportionate impact further shows the outcomes of the capitalistic public policies. The groups do have the luxury of minimizing interactions or social distancing effectively. They exhibit elevated risks due to their inability to discontinue low paid work. Most have underlying medical issues that make them susceptible to contracting and succumbing to the illness. The statistics indicate that Pandemic affects races and classes disproportionately. The inequality is rampant in urban areas where there is downward pressure on incomes. The areas are characterized by crippled social support leaving the population at elevated risk. The responses to eliminating the inequalities in the societies cannot be tackled amidst a health emergency. The Pandemic has exposed the inequalities and other social problems inherent in our capitalistic societies, which must be addressed going forward.

Role Played During the Pandemic

            The reaction of Western countries towards Covid-19 has not been sufficient. They have mainly turned to techno-managerial policies to mitigate the effects. They have ignored the social antagonisms brought about by social struggles and ideological differences in capitalistic economic policies (Barker 28). The response has focused on techno-managerial planning, expert administration, and consensual governance.

            They soothe the contentious public issues resulting from institutionalized foundations of capitalism and neoliberalism. They ignore the problems as not falling in the domain of political consideration (Tham 79). The responses to the Pandemic by many governments indicate the logic of framing the outbreak as a matter relating to national security rather than a global health crisis. They have equated the global crisis to other outbreaks such as Ebola and Swine Flu. They view the Pandemic as threatening the existence of political, economic order. The logic is that the Pandemic is an unforeseen problem that could not have been predicted. Therefore, to secure the political-economic order, it must be contained by all means possible through emergency measures.

            The framing of the responses has been mostly in metaphorical war terms to contain the crisis. The new cultural politics of capitalism utilizes imaginary apocalyptic threats as a central theme. The positions paint the Pandemic as an existential threat that the current systems can manage. The framing as a securitized threat allows the political leaders to neglect the political economy and focus on immediate imperatives to contain the outbreak. The result is managing the symptoms rather than solving structural underpinnings.

            The view reduces the Pandemic to an unforeseeable one-time event disrupting an otherwise healthy, rational economic system. It ignores pre-pandemic research showing how social strife and unequal health applications resulting from capitalism exacerbate the problem. The political class creates an imaginary enemy to maintain the fear, uncertainty, and danger among the masses while reassuring them that the socio-economic elites and techno-scientists possess the necessary mechanisms to tackle the crisis (Ranald 112). The aim is to maintain the status quo. Through the solution, political transformations become unnecessary.

            The crisis brings into focus the social regeneration required to ensure capitalism's survival (Berry 44). Implementing social distancing effectively requires suspending social interaction integral to employment and consumption. Yet, the responses have not been up to par exemplified in economies such as those in the U.K. and U.S. The focus is on reviving the economy while risking the extensive loss of lives. The example is valuing capitalism over human life by shoring up economic processes until the containment of the outbreak.

            The response by experts has mostly focused on modifying individual behavior. They have focused on nudging people to adopt responsible heal behavior. The aim is to avoid regulation by utilizing behavioral economics to steer people towards rational tendencies. The experts' notion that quarantining people early on could have led to discipline issues when it finally reached peak levels. The governments adopted awareness campaigns such as television advertisements to encourage good personal hygiene, wearing masks, and observe social distancing. The responses are similar to those adopted in other pandemics such as Ebola and HIV/AIDS.

            Focusing on individual modification ignores public issues such as reforming the economic reality that the health care systems are weak. The result is governments ignoring the extensive social reforms that go beyond self-quarantining. The initial responses by the World Health Organization and the government to contain the outbreak should have been implementing large-scale testing, training more healthcare personnel, and building more health institutions. The reality is that capitalism and neoliberalism are central to the politics of rendering public health.

What is Likely to Emerge Post-Pandemic?

            The economic recovery is likely to be slow as many countries fall into recession. The labor unions are likely to play a more significant role as disputes over a return to work formula increase, and business owners negotiate wage freezes (Quiggin 41). There is a need for flexibility and simplification of processes in the economy to allow for successful rebuilding. The simplification of the enterprise bargaining system is likely to result in more benefits for the workers.         

            The likely scenario post-pandemic is implementing tax cuts, pursuing deregulation aggressively, and initiating industrial relations reforms. The government's view is similar to that of employers. The governments are likely to pursue the path though it has failed to yield the past's expected results. Stimulating demand and overall productivity were reforms that were needed even before the crisis (Centeno 45). Therefore, the reforms that are likely to yield expected results correct the effects of the adverse distribution worsened by the crisis, such as wage inequalities and securing the positions of casual and gig workers.

            The nature of work will likely see significant changes. Employees have had to undergo retraining, such as specialized doctors re-purposing to work in the Emergency Room. A significant number of employees globally are currently working from home, a trend that is likely to continue post-pandemic. Working remotely is likely to improve productivity by allowing regaining costs and time by reducing commuting to work (Heenan and Sturman 194). The trend is also likely to reduce congestions on the transport systems. However, the trend is also likely to have adverse effects such as the workers' exploitation because of the lack of clear demarcation between leisure and work.

Conclusion

            Underemployment and unemployment are likely to persist for some time, even post-pandemic. The unions are likely to be weaker as they have had to accept significant regulatory changes. Although some work changes are positive, many challenges will need navigating in the medium and long-term for employers, workers, and government. Capitalism's reliance on lowly-paid and marginalized groups have prevalent during this period. The norms and patterns are likely to persist when the wartime spirit of coming together fades. The attempt to alter industrial relations and deep wage cuts to fuel the capitalistic enterprises is likely to lead to social strive. The Pandemic has brought in new norms, some likely to stay while others like addressing inequalities due to capitalism will lead to increased calls for reforms.   

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

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