Corona Daily 482: We Are All In This Together

We are all in this together, said Donald Trump. We are all in this together, said Boris Johnson. Different world leaders said this to their populations in their respective languages. Why have we never heard this phrase from them in the past?

When the wealth, even inherited wealth, of many went up by 28% because of the stock market boom in 2019, why did nobody say we are all in this together?

Just before the Corona crisis, Oxfam issued its annual report which now shows 2153 billionaires with more wealth than 4.6 billion people. 22 richest men have more wealth than all the women in Africa. And women’s unpaid care work is valued at 10.8 trillion USD. Valued but not paid. These reports with startling facts are issued every year. None of the billionaires has ever said: ‘we are all in this together.’

The poorest of the world, (even America has at least 40 million people below the poverty line), have negative wealth. They have debts, not savings. They work for a meal tomorrow or for a meal today. The only reason they are not called slaves is because they live in constitutional democracies.

How can a homeless ‘work from home’? How can fifty labourers sharing a slum-room keep social distance? How can people wash hands with soap for twenty seconds, when it’s a struggle to get a bucket of water?

Now they are locked down, their jobs taken away, wages taken away, but not their debts, and not their hunger. When from the podium somebody says: We are all in this together, it is understood we are not. Those speakers want to prevent food riots and political revolutions in which they or their political careers may get killed, that’s all. They wish to comfort those who may eventually cause either.

Why should such slogans appear only in times of crisis? Why can’t we all be together in times of prosperity? Why not make provisions to prevent food riots and revolutions?

One good thing that will come out of this pandemic is to compel nations to implement the concept of the ‘Universal Basic Income’. More about that tomorrow.

Ravi