Welcome to COVID MAP – The Coronavirus Economic and Political Manifesto
During this tragic time, we must keep a careful watch over politicians and powerful people alike around the world. As many leaders have shown, they will use this worldwide crisis to advance their own agenda, whether it be for personal profits or in an attempt to grab power. Our job as citizens of the world is to hold them accountable.
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WE, THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD, MAKE THE FOLLOWING DEMANDS OF ALL POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, and RELIGIOUS LEADERS:
1. Complete transparency in all investment/divestment decisions. Politicians using inside information to make investment decisions is immoral and illegal. In places where it is not illegal, it is still immoral. At a time when leaders should be prioritizing the health and safety of constituents, investing and divesting are conflicts of interest. Governments must investigate ALL officials and enact a simply policy: if they have profited from this pandemic, they go to prison.
2. Impose a rent and mortgage moratorium effective immediately. Like food and water, housing is a basic need. To take it away from people during a global pandemic is immoral and illegal. In places where it is not illegal, it is still immoral. Real estate investors who continue to charge rent or even raise the price of rent, claiming it is their only source of income, fail to understand the core tenet of the act of investment – risk. A worldwide disaster preventing people from being able to pay rent is a risk they should have factored in when making the investment. And NO, “making repairs to the property” is not an expense. It is part of the investment they continue to make in their property, just like any other property owner.
3. Absorb all costs individuals may accrue as a result of contracting COVID-19. Like food and water, medical care is a basic need. To take it away from people or prevent poor people from accessing it is immoral and illegal. In places where it is not illegal, it is still immoral. Although the virus is a force of nature, governments that responded in a timely and efficient manner were successfully able to curb its spread. Citizens living under incompetent and corrupt governments will contract COVID-19 as a direct effect of the government’s incompetency and corruption. No person should be held financially accountable for personal medical bills resulting from COVID-19, and treatment for the disease must not be withheld from those who can’t afford to pay. It is the governments’ fault for allowing the virus to infect its people, and thus it is the governments’ liability to foot the bill.
4. Provide all Employees a sustainable alternative to going to work. Forcing immunocompromised and elderly people to either work or suffer bankruptcy is immoral and illegal. In places where it is not illegal, it is still immoral. The fact that many Employees are not even given access to personal protective equipment shows that large corporations consider their Employees to be a disposable resource. EMPLOYEES ARE NOT DISPOSABLE AND HAVE A RIGHT TO LIVE. Employees around the world that are either immunocompromised or live with someone who has a greater risk of dying from COVID-19 must be given an alternative to going to work. Paid sick leave and unemployment benefits must be the worldwide standard, especially for ‘essential’ workers.
5. Postpone all elections that require in-person voting, or establish another method of voting. Holding in-person elections during a highly contagious pandemic is an act of voter suppression and is thus illegal and immoral. In places where it is not illegal, it is still immoral. It is impossible for citizens to participate in an in-person election while also maintaining the strict social distancing guidelines their government requires. Are governments asking citizens to break these social distancing rules, or are they suppressing voter turnout? If it is the former, they are expressing extreme hypocrisy. If it is the latter, they are undermining the core tenets that allow democracy to succeed.
6. Bail out citizens before bailing out corporations. Providing cash bail outs to corporations before helping citizens in need is immoral and illegal. In places where it is not illegal, it is still immoral. Instead of adequately preparing for a downturn in revenue, a risk inherently associated with conducting business, many corporations conducted share buybacks to artificially increase the value of their stock. As a result, these corporations are not in the financial position to survive as little as one month without revenue. When investors purchase stock they are rewarded with capital gains in return for the risk of losing their investment. If corporations must be bailed out by taxpayers, then the taxpayers must be given the reward – not the investors. Otherwise, gains are privatized and losses are socialized. This is a rather convoluted aspect of the crony “capitalism” professed by many powerful nations. True capitalism allows for the failure of corporations, because that is how innovation occurs. By bailing out taxpayers rather than corporations, many of which don’t even pay taxes in the first place, governments can ensure the livelihood of their citizens while also spurring the economy through consumption. TRICKLE DOWN DOESN’T WORK.
7. Support students with their finances and mental health. Forcing students off campus and shifting learning online without tuition refunds or rent subsidies is illegal and immoral. In places where it is not illegal, it is still immoral. Students have gone into large amounts of debt paying tuition for an in-person education. If universities cannot adhere to the original terms of the tuition contract, they must refund tuition. In addition, students who pay for rent separately from their university should be provided with subsidies, assuming a rent moratorium isn’t enacted. The USA’s government aid bill does not include college- aged students, many of whom have been left out to dry by their governments and universities. Further, universities must acknowledge the mental health implications of this pandemic and provide adequate resources. I WILL NOT REMAIN SILENT AS MY CLASSMATES SUFFER DEPRESSION AND BANKRUPTCY.
WE the people should inherit the post Covid-19 world not the wealthy elites.
