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Around the World Comment on U.S. Situation
Hundreds of thousands of homeless people in California and New York have started a movement to occupy vacant properties, specially those owned by city, state and federal governments. The Governor of California has announced that vacant rooms in hotels will be provided to the homeless. Several governors have declared a moratorium on rent and mortgage payments for the next three months (without saying where the money will come from to make these payments in three months). Millions of people who are out of income all of the sudden are calling for the cancellation of rent and mortgage payments. More than 6.6 million people have filed for unemployment claims. In the last two weeks close to 10 million people have lost their jobs. This pandemic has brought out in full relief that having the profit motive at the base of all production in this economic system has become destructive of humanity. In spite of great advancements in science and technology, test kits for coronavirus, which essentially is a long Q-tip with chemicals as a doctor described it, is not available in the "greatest country in the world." Just-in-time production and outsourcing is blamed whereas companies do not carry inventories of such essential products that may be needed in a pandemic because it is not profitable and there is no social policy which they have to abide by.
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If Hurricane
Katrina showed the U.S. to be a failed state, the
COVID-19 pandemic confirms this many times over.
Internal U.S. government documents also confirm
this. They are revealing that the health experts
in the U.S. had warned the administration about
the impending pandemic gripping the U.S. and the
world. But the administration slept on it because
of its unpreparedness and callous attitude and
dismantling of public health infrastructure by the
ruling elite. Instead of taking action, Trump and
his cronies kept spreading disinformation,
deception and fraud and worried about devising new
schemes to keep paying the rich. For example,
using the pandemic, the Environmental Protection
Agency has thrown away all regulations and given
free rein to the biggest polluters such as fossil
fuel companies, car companies, the chemical
industry, pharmaceutical companies and
others. 
Cambridge Hospital
in Massachusetts and other hospitals across the
country are asking for donations of masks,
protective gowns etc. from the public.
Construction workers, mechanics, carpenters,
welders are donating masks and other gear. Some
hospitals are threatening to fire staff who talk
about the lack of personal protective equipment
for health workers. The anarchy of production is
such because there is no social planning of
essential goods and services, which can be seen in
the scramble for resources, bringing disasters. If
there was democracy which puts people in first
place at work and the motive of production was
looking after the needs of the people, then there
would be forward planning and immediate
mobilization of the calibre which takes care of
the people's health.