The United States is a country to be pitied
By Eugene Robinson
Washington Post Columnist
May 14, 2020 at 2:37 p.m. PDT
Only a handful of nations on Earth have arguably done a worse job of handling the coronavirus pandemic than the United States. What has happened to us? How did we become so dysfunctional? When did we become so incompetent?
The shocking and deadly failures by President Trump and his administration have been well documented — we didn’t isolate, we didn’t test, we didn’t contact trace, we waited too long to lock down. But Trump’s gross unfitness is only part of the problem. The phrase “American exceptionalism” has always meant different things to different people — that this nation should be admired, or perhaps that it should be feared. Not until now, at least in my lifetime, has it suggested that the United States should be pitied.
Thanks to Trump, we have no coherent national plan to survive the pandemic. But also thanks to the federal government — and I include Congress as well as the president — we lack the kind of sturdy economic safety net that protects unemployed workers and shut-down business owners in some of the hardest-hit European countries — nations that once looked up to the United States as a model. In the Netherlands, for example, the government is granting employers up to 90 percent of their payroll costs so they can keep paying their workers rather than resort to furloughs or layoffs. That kind of continuity ought to speed recovery when reopening becomes safe.
Here, nearly 40 million workers have filed for unemployment.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-united-states-is-a-country-to-be-pitied/2020/05/14/d2d98e9c-961e-11ea-91d7-cf4423d47683_story.html
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Life sure changed on a dime.
Mahalo for Eugene Robinson, SunSeeker.
Virus that was Ignored by the treasonous assface in charge.
What can I say?.. Hang in there Democracy Lovers!
Rhiannon So looked to see if his column on this had been posted - he really is one of our best! 
U.S. Is Lacking A Coherent Plan On Virus, Says Eugene Robinson - Morning Joe - MSNBC
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017582596
When Eugene Robinson speaks (or writes), I've learned to pay close attention! 
