Incentivizing Death
By: Tyson Victor Weems
Tags: Donald Trump, Mitch Mcconnell, Politics, Coronavirus, Republican Party

Incentivizing Death

How the modern GOP was designed to fail us

Jared Kushner, his father-in-law, and state TV pundits are declaring the COVID-19 response a success. In real life, we face a possible depression and 170,000+ deaths from it this year. The Administration’s management has been disastrous. But it makes sense from a cynically cutthroat perspective. Below is a list of party priorities and policies that hurt all but a few of us, likely by design.

This guy wants to see death certificates

FIRST RULE: REPRESENT YOUR FUNDERS

Put yourself in Mitch McConnell’s shell. He and other Republican politicians must protect the interests of their biggest donors by maximizing corporate profits. That means cutting taxes for the top 1% and corporations plus protecting loopholes and use of offshore tax havens. And while certain Democratic politicians deserve to be held accountable for similarly selling out, here we’ll prioritize our most corrupt “leaders.” Other GOP methods with immediate relevance:

Paying workers as little as possible and minimizing regulations on worker safety. Most Americans prefer working for a livable wage without being put in immediate danger. For now Mitch McConnell refuses to pass another relief package. His demand: protection for companies against lawsuits from employees forced to return to work in unsafe conditions. Notably only 31% of Americans making under $10.80 per hour have paid sick leave.

Rubber stamping outsourcing of manufacturing to countries where workers make even less. This allows cutting corners on environmental and human rights. It has also created PPE scarcity and test material supply chain issues. After four months most states still haven’t been able to procure enough tests to meet basic benchmarks for reopening responsibly.

Shrinking unprofitable parts of government. Pandemic preparedness like testing and contact tracing abilities seems important. Congressional Republicans and neoliberals have repeatedly cut CDC funding, and the federal pandemic response team was disbanded in 2018. We also like having a Postal Service. The POTUS is currently withholding disaster aid from it. These are parts of government Grover Norquist has long sought to cut in order to be able to “drown it in the bathtub.”

Using public-funded industry bail-outs in bad times (a.k.a. socializing costs). The airline industry received $50 billion in the CARES Act. We similarly bailed out big financial institutions like Bank of America in 2009 with a Democratic administration.

Privatizing healthcare, infrastructure, war, education, etc. In social democracies like Denmark, taxpayers fund the healthcare system and in return get guaranteed care. In a pandemic universal access to quality care makes us all safer. In the U.S. millions of laid-off workers and others currently lack it, since our system is mostly private and linked to employment. In addition, the Trump Administration has joined Republican-led states in a suit that has reached the Supreme Court to “invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act.” If successful and absent miraculously better alternative legislation, that would further reduce coverage.