PART 1 –Breaking up with TINA

COVID and the future of neoliberal inevitability

By Michael Meurer

Accountants hover over the earth like helicopters,
Dropping small bones engraved with Hegel’s name.
– Robert Bly, An American Dream

THE DISCOVERY OF COVID-19 outbreaks in multiple nations across the world was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020, with the US declaring a national emergency on March 13. 

With the exception of China and several other Asian nations, which began lockdowns in late January, quarantine and social distancing mandates began shortly after these declarations, an average 82 days ago in 78 countries across the world. 

CDC public domain map of countries reporting COVID-19 cases, June 16, 2020

Before the onset of COVID lockdowns, twin political and economic crises were threatening to destabilize the international economic and social order that has dominated the world for nearly four decades. By the end of 2019, all the warning lights on the global economic and political dashboards were blinking red, with policymakers scrambling to find ways to effectively respond on a scale equal to what appeared to be a looming meltdown.

Encoded in the G-7 structure of developed nations, the globalized post-Cold War model that was unraveling in real time had been predicated on rampant financial speculation out of all proportion to actual productivity on one hand, and enormous social inequities, permanent war and environmental degradation on the other hand, provoking ever increasing political instability.

In spite of the well documented severity of across the board pre-COVID political and economic crises, there has been only superficial coverage of a $20 to $40 trillion (minimum initial estimate) global financial and political restructuring that is taking place in response. This is the case largely because the ongoing financial and social engineering is flying under the wholesome banner of emergency stimulus aimed at helping a frightened populace who are under de facto house arrest during a worldwide pandemic.

I call the emerging financial program COVIDNOMICS.