Thread by @BenjaminNorton

This point cannot be stressed enough: The coronavirus epidemic must be the final end to neoliberalism.

This post-Cold War era of insane hyper-capitalism that we call neoliberalism has totally whittled down the state to the bone, exposing the world to a global health catastrophe.

For decades, the majority of countries have followed this capitalist religion known as neoliberalism, preaching the secret to a "good" economy is freeing the market, privatization, deregulation, etc.

It devastated global health infrastructure, setting the stage for this pandemic

The USA shows the most insanely dystopian outcome of this neoliberal capitalist dogma:

After privatizing everything, cutting state institutions and social spending for decades, the US is holding coronavirus testing stations in fucking WALMART PARKING LOTS
businessinsider.com/walmart-parkin…

You can't think up a better symbol for the dystopian capitalist hellscape we live in than the USA holding testing stations for a deadly global pandemic in Walmart parking lots

If Hollywood did this in a science fiction movie, people would complain it's too on the nose

As the coronavirus pandemic spirals out of control, killing thousands, the response of the US federal government is more "public-private partnerships" — a neoliberal scheme to enrich capitalists with tax dollars.

This is the suicidal end of neoliberalism
fox28spokane.com/trump-announce…

The neoliberal EU (which demanded that member states cut medical spending and privatize health services 63 times in 7 years) totally abandoned Italy, as thousands die from Covid-19

So Italy turned to China, Cuba, and Venezuela, who are actually helping it
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/17/ita…

The countries taking the lead on the global stage to help others contain the coronavirus—Cuba and China—show definitively that neoliberalism is a death spiral that must be replaced by state-oriented, planned economies built around people, not just profit
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/17/ita…

The only way out of this and future health crises (without mass death—which capitalists are fine with, history shows, as long as it's the poor dying) is *aggressive state intervention*

Anyone saying there's a capitalist solution is just not serious—or trying to make a quick buck

Chinese state media: "Collectivism plays indispensable role in China's COVID-19 fight"

China mobilized what it called a "people's war" against the pandemic

This is how China contained it so successfully, as neoliberal capitalist countries are struggling
xinhuanet.com/english/2020-0…