With the coronavirus resulting in people being requested or even ordered to stay at home, only some of them will be able to continue working. All the others, especially those who have hourly wages, are faced with an immediate loss of income with many dire consequences. This is a worldwide problem but workers in the US, alone among developed countries, face an additional problem and that is the loss of health insurance. That means that if they do contract the disease, they will be faced with medical bills at the very time they do not have income.
I heard on the radio today that the 80 members of the chorus (comprising 20 each of the basic four singing categories of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses) of the New York Metropolitan Opera, the people I have been seeing every night in the crowd scenes in the operas, were abruptly told during a rehearsal on March 12th to go home. Their union only managed to get management to agree that they would be paid until the end of the month but did manage to ensure that their health insurance would continue after that. But many laid off workers, especially those in non-union jobs, will no longer have health insurance, assuming that they had it to begin with.
The arts are not excluded from a grand “fuck you” from those holding the purse strings.
One of the worst things about living in an oligarchy is that the most vulnerable among us are usually the first to be sacrificed to Mammon…ironically by the so-called Christians.
In Australia, the minister “in charge” decreed that all places of public gathering must be shut down at noon on Monday, then acted surprised when the social security site crashed and lines formed around the block from all ss offices. One million people instantly unemployed and no procedure to look after them. Whoops.
@ 3 Lofty
…then acted surprised when the social security site crashed
Would this be the same minister “in charge” who led the fight against the wildfires from his command bunker in Hawaii?
And I thought Tony Abbot sounded bad.
@ jrkrideau, they’re all universally bad, no need to even remember their names just who they represent.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-24/centrelink-minister-stuart-robert-not-anticipate-coronavirus/12080612
@ 5 Lofty
Well it was not Morrison but Robert does show the some high level of competence.
There must be some kind of talent agency, Crazed Far--Right Ministers, that is staffing a lot of governments around the world.