HISTORY IS HAPPENING: PART II
(A continuation of the Previous Blog Entry)
In the history of human development, economic inequality — the outrageous gap between the “haves and the have nots” — is shortened through one of four events. They are:
- War
- Pandemic
- Revolution
- State Failure
This is the message at the heart of THE GREAT LEVERER written by Stanford historian Walter Scheidel and published in 2017. He gives these examples.
The Black Plague resulted in labor shortages which forced raised wages and ultimately undermined the entire feudal system.
The U.S. Civil War abolished slavery (free labor) and gave rise to the 1862 Homestead Act. This legislation awarded 160 acres of publicly held land to any U.S. citizen or freed slave, age 21 or older. Ultimately 270 million acres were claimed and settled, giving rise toward U.S. middle class development.
World War I changed the role of women in world economies and paved the way for emancipation.
World War II elevated the role of labor unions in the U. S. and facilitated the creation of postwar welfare states in Europe and the National Health Services in Britain.
In an opinion piece written for The New Yorker, John Cassidy suggests that the current covid-19 pandemic will have consequences equally far reaching. Our government has just passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus package — about 10% of American GDP and similar to one passed following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Good idea? Poor use of funds? Too much given to one group and not enough to another? These things can be discussed but there is one certain fact: it was accomplished with head spinning speed during a time when party politics all but deadlocks passage of anything.
What’s to come next? Some form of medicare for all! Health services are already feeling the quakes of change. As medical delivery systems are drowning in efforts to keep up with virus demands, ordinary general health issues are being diagnosed via telemedicine. Where do doctor fees (and overhead) and insurance costs fit into that scenario? Generations of debate about a U.S. national health system almost certainly will come to a head with this outbreak.
I may not live long enough to tract all the changes — and some surprising ones! — resulting from “The Virus That Made the World Stop”…but changes there will be!
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