{"id":6236,"date":"2020-03-19T01:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dontow.com\/?p=6236"},"modified":"2020-03-24T12:16:06","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T16:16:06","slug":"pandemic-economy-and-political-implications-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/2020\/03\/pandemic-economy-and-political-implications-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Pandemic, Economy, and Political Implications: Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This is Part II of the article &#8220;Pandemic, Economy, and Political Implications.&#8221;  The whole article has four sections.  Part II contains Sections III and IV.  Part I is posted in the &#8220;Political\/Social Commentary&#8221; page of this same release (March 2020) of this website, and contains Sections I and II. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n<strong>Section III:&nbsp; What Are the Implications?&nbsp; <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 2014 edition of the document \u201cCrisis Emergency Risk \nCommunication\u201d published by the CDC that first came out under George W. \nBush\u2019s presidency (2001-2008), the subheading is \u201cBe First.&nbsp; Be Right.&nbsp; \nBe Credible.\u201d [7]&nbsp; On page 2 of that document, besides those three \nprinciples, it added three more, and states \u201cThroughout this book, six \nprinciples of effective crisis and risk communiction are emphasized:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Be First:&nbsp; Crises are time-sensitive<\/li><li>Be Right:&nbsp; Accuracy establishes credibility<\/li><li>Be Credible:&nbsp; Honesty and truthfulness should not be compromised<\/li><li>Express Empathy:&nbsp; Crises create harm, and the suffering should be acknowledged<\/li><li>Promote Action:&nbsp; Giving people meaningful things to do calms \nanxiety, helps restore order, and promotes a restored sense of control<\/li><li>Show Respect:&nbsp; Respectful communications promotes cooperation and rapport<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, President Trump during the coronavirus crisis has not \nexhibited any of these six principles.&nbsp; As a matter of fact, he has \nexhibited the opposite of these six principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Wasted valuable time<\/li><li>Wrong so many times<\/li><li>No justification for his actions and words<\/li><li>Ignores people\u2019s suffering<\/li><li>Lack of useful actions<\/li><li>Shows disdain for others<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This has been clearly shown and documented in Section II (Part I) of our article.&nbsp; As a matter of fact, the previous section has clearly shown that President Trump has completely mismanaged the whole coronavirus crisis; he has repeatedly lied and dispatched completely false information or at best half truths; he does not understand the problem, and doesn&#8217;t allow the appropriate knowledgeable people to run with managing the crisis. He has completely underestimated the problem, and wasted several weeks of valuable time to attack the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Actually this kind of behavior is typical of President Trump during his whole  presidency on almost everything he has done.&nbsp; He has always lied,  provided no legitimate reasons for his deeds and words, he has always  attacked and made fun of other people, showing no compassion or  understanding of other people\u2019s circumstances, and he often does not take actions to try to solve problems in a timely manner, if at all.&nbsp;  Yet, it seems that he remains popular to his loyalists and a portion of  the American public.&nbsp; It doesn\u2019t seem that in the past he has lost a lot of his popularity.&nbsp; Is it different now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, it is different with the coronavirus emergency.&nbsp; In the past,  his deeds and words did not affect the people loyal to him, at least not in the near term.&nbsp; Life can go on as usual.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, in the current coronavirus crisis, everyone\u2019s health and life could be affected.&nbsp; In other words, our own existence could be  terminated.&nbsp; Furthermore when the whole society is basically shutting  down, you may no longer be able to work, go to school, have any  recreations, visit your friends and relatives, including not even being  allowed to go outside of your own home.&nbsp; You may end up with no job, no income, your savings and all your assets may evaporate with the crashing  stock market and the shutting down of all industries.&nbsp; In addition, the  government is so heavy in debts due to massive relief programs and great reductions in income from taxes, putting all future generations at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyone, including the Trump loyalists, can see the adverse impacts on  themselves.\u00a0 Even the wealthy people, including the top 1-2 % rich  people can see their wealth diminishing rapidly and their whole  lifestyles for themselves and their children disappearing before their  eyes.\u00a0 Perhaps sooner or later, even the Republican political leaders at  the federal,\/state\/local levels may decide that blindly following Trump  may not be good for their own political careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think we are beginning to see that now.&nbsp; You can sense that from  the people around you. including Republicans.&nbsp; You can sense that some  cracks may be emerging from the Republicans around you, and even among  the Republican political leaders.&nbsp; Right now, the polls show that Democrats are much more concerned about the coronavirus crisis.&nbsp;  However, since in all likelihood, the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. and  most other parts of the world is going to get worse before getting  better.&nbsp; Sooner or later when the crisis impacts their and their family  members\u2019 health, livelihood, and their pocketbook, they will be very  much concerned about the coronavirus crisis, and will understand that blindly following Trump is not going to lead them to see light at the  end of the tunnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think this change in mood and assessment of President Trump is already reflected in the recent Democratic primary election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Look at how rapidly the large number of Democratic presidential  candidates quickly coalesce behind former VP Biden.&nbsp; It is primarily  that they see that the country has an urgent need to get rid of  President Trump, and they don\u2019t want to delay the choice of a Democratic  presidential candidate until perhaps a divisive Democratic Party Convention in July and want to have a head start for the campaign.<\/li><li>Similarly, look at the overwhelming votes for Biden within a matter  of a few days to 2-3 weeks when his campaign was close to ending.&nbsp; Again  people realize that the most urgent task facing the U.S. is to find a  candidate that has the best chance to beat Trump in November.&nbsp; Getting  rid of Trump has become the most urgent objective for many people.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, this was for the Democratic Party.&nbsp; We won\u2019t know until  the election in November.&nbsp; My guess is that this attitude will be pervasive across the whole country, and Trump will be defeated in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We end this section with some suggestions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>If we cannot scale up quickly to the amount of testing that we need,  then the federal government should seriously look into whether we can  buy the testing kits from S. Korea or other countries around the world.&nbsp;  Even if we can produce enough test kits, if our test cost is high  (e.g., several hundred dollars), we may still want to buy some test kits  from S. Korea or another country if their cost is substantially lower.<\/li><li>Our political leaders must be accountable for all their decisions  and actions.&nbsp; We should be willing to listen to others.&nbsp; If we make  mistakes, admit them and make corrections.<\/li><li>Make sure that any information we provide to the public is  accurate.&nbsp; President Trump must not be allowed to spread lies or half  truths.<\/li><li>Since projections are already indicating that we will run out of  hospital beds, start planning and implementation of the mobilization of  the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build field hospitals in multiple  localities or equivalent ways they can help out.<\/li><li>The coronavirus is a worldwide problem.&nbsp; Be willing to cooperate  with other countries and learn from each other, and avoid the attitude  that we are holier than thou.&nbsp; We should stop the use of double  standards or racist comments.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>IV:&nbsp; Comments on the Need to Eliminate Discriminatory Double Standards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, the new coronavirus was first found in Wuhan, China in late \n2019.&nbsp; It then spread rapidly to other parts of China and then to the \nrest of the world.&nbsp; But it was not a virus that China purposedly spread \nto other parts of the world.&nbsp; China is as much a victim as other \ncountries of the world.&nbsp; As a matter of fact, China so far has suffered \nthe most infections and deaths than any other country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though China should have better handled the initial warning of a  new epidemic, China did quickly share its information with the world,  including Chinese scientists posting on 1\/11\/2020 the genome of the  mysterious new virus.&nbsp; That information quickly led to the WHO and other  countries to develop a template for preparing tests.&nbsp; Such testing kits  resulted in quickly testing and controlling the spread of the virus in  countries like S. Korea, Germany, and Singapore.&nbsp; That is why the WHO  has repeatedly praised China on its actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of repeatedly focusing on a mishap during the initial moments  of a new and confusing mysterious development, the world should also remember how quickly China share the information on the genome of the new virus determined by Chinese scientists that led to the quick development of widely available test kits.  We should focus on how we can work together to attack this new global problem.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While facing this massive challenge of a new and rapidly spreading  deadly disease, the Chinese government adopted draconian measures to  isolate Wuhan.&nbsp; Instead of trying to understand why the Chinese  government adopted such measures, many people outside of China quickly criticized China to adopt such undemocratic steps limiting people\u2019s <em>livelihoods<\/em> and personal liberties.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A good example of discriminatory double standards is how the <em>New York Times<\/em> depicts the lockdown around Wuhan in a 3\/8\/2020, 10:30 AM article and a  similar lockdown around northern Italy in another 3\/8\/2020, 10:50 AM  article (20 minutes later).&nbsp; In the former, it describes the measure \u201cat  great cost to people\u2019s livelihoods and personal liberties,\u201d while in  the latter, it describes the measure as \u201can effort to contain Europe\u2019s worst coronavirus outbreak.\u201d [8]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An example of a choice of racist words is the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u2018s February 3, 2020 editorial article titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/content\/1182473.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia<\/a>.\u201d&nbsp; The <em>WSJ<\/em> still has not apologized for such use of racist words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another example of racist words is President Trump referring to the coronavirus as the \u201c<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/asian-america\/trump-tweets-about-coronavirus-using-term-chinese-virus-n1161161\" target=\"_blank\">Chinese Virus<\/a>\u201d made in a speech on March 16, 2020.  Even though in the past, some illnesses were named after certain locality or origin, times have changed and now we should be more careful with such designations.  For example, before 1978 hurricanes were named only with women&#8217;s names.  That has changed.  You would expect that the president of the U.S. would be more sensitive so his comments would not lead to more unwarranted racist attacks on Chinese Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With such usage of racist remarks and double standards by the <em>NYT<\/em>,\n the WSJ, and President Trump, is it then surprising to see so many \nrandom attacks on Chinese Americans on the streets of the U.S.?&nbsp; This is\n another lesson we should learn from the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[7] \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/emergency.cdc.gov\/cerc\/ppt\/cerc_2014edition_Copy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Crisis Emergency Risk Communication<\/a>\u201d\n 2014 Edition, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of \nHealth and Human Services.&nbsp; The first edition was published under \nPresident George W. Bush\u2019s administration (2001-2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[8] Click &#8220;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/NYT-20200308010-30.png\" target=\"_blank\">The description in Chinese including pictures of the two articles<\/a>&#8221; for a description of the two articles in Chinese, and click &#8220;t<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/content\/1182473.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">he description in English without pictures of the two articles<\/a>&#8221; for a description in English of the two articles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is Part II of the article &#8220;Pandemic, Economy, and Political Implications.&#8221; The whole article has four sections. Part II contains Sections III and IV. Part I is posted in the &#8220;Political\/Social Commentary&#8221; page of this same release (March 2020) of this website, and contains Sections I and II.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6236"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6276,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6236\/revisions\/6276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}