I write this reluctantly, with a heavy heart.
A tidal wave of death and destruction is approaching. It will arrive in the United States somewhere between 60 and 270 days from this March, or between June and October. It will persist many months after its arrival.
It will be followed by a flood of unemployment, business failure, misery, poverty and despair that will last for many years. Americans have no experience of this level of misery. We can see it in the refugee camps in Syria.
The danger is that a populist 'strong' man may arise by promising that he can fix everything; since he arises by blaming 'others' for our misery, he may lead the country into a world war.
The more insidious danger is that Americans will accept a fatal reduction of their political rights to secure a phantom 'security'. The security of the United States has always been guaranteed by our freedoms and rights enshrined in the Constitution. We are less secure when any freedom is diminished, especially freedom of the press.
The tidal wave will create very large numbers of deaths - we can expect many weeks of more than 500 United States deaths per day from the virus. The medical system will be unable to cope with the numbers and will cease functioning.
Many of the deaths were preventable but are now assured because trump has failed to take any actions beyond those which may benefit his political future. History will judge him as criminally negligent and thus responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of Americans.
The flood of recession and depression will persist for decades. It is likely that any relief proffered will benefit only the rich among us; this will have the effect of destroying any middle class for good and ensuring a two tier society.
Hear Ralph Stanley sing about Death here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q-QH1XiCQw
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