{"id":3469,"date":"2020-04-05T16:21:03","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T16:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.seiu105.org\/?p=3469"},"modified":"2020-04-05T16:55:18","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T16:55:18","slug":"rons-rundown-everythings-collapsing-because-everything-was-already-broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seiu105.org\/es\/political\/rons-rundown-everythings-collapsing-because-everything-was-already-broken\/","title":{"rendered":"Ron’s Rundown: Everything\u2019s Collapsing Because Everything Was Already Broken"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ron Ruggiero, President, SEIU Local 105<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are experiencing a total system collapse in America right now.<\/strong> We are only a few weeks into the Coronavirus pandemic, and the economy, our healthcare system, and our national business and political leadership are collapsing before our very eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could this happen so quickly? As progressives have been warning for decades: these systems were already broken. <\/strong>Now, with the spotlight of the coronavirus shining brightly upon them, we can all see just how broken everything is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Let\u2019s start with the economy. <\/strong>We told America that a low-wage economy with a disappearing middle-class and extreme inequality was a very bad idea. Now, our broken economy is actually\u00a0helping<\/em>\u00a0the coronavirus spread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One-quarter of American workers lack access to any paid sick time at all.<\/a><\/strong> In the critical service sector,\u00a0one-half<\/em>\u00a0doesn\u2019t have it.<\/strong> This forces a sick worker to make the horrible decision of staying home and protecting others from illness or go to work so they can pay their rent. This terrible \u201cchoice\u201d has always existed, but during a pandemic, it becomes a public health catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same applies to wages. The proliferation of low-wage work and the assault on the middle class has left most Americans with little or no safety net. Almost 40% of Americans cannot handle a $400 emergency. <\/strong><\/a>Where I live in Colorado, the median wage is the same as it was in 1985 when adjusted for inflation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cmiddle-class squeeze\u201d of stagnant wages and skyrocketing cost of housing, healthcare, and childcare has left most working Americans living paycheck to paycheck. This means most of us cannot handle the economic shock caused by the coronavirus. The economic catastrophe is hitting all at once on a population that has no cushion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s turn to healthcare.<\/strong> Almost one-half of Americans are either uninsured or underinsured.<\/strong><\/a> One-half. In a normal year, a recent study found that 68,000 of our fellow Americans die because of this.<\/a><\/strong> In a pandemic, having one-half of your co-workers, friends, and neighbors unable to afford medical care is a disaster-in-the-making. This is all despite the fact that we spend about\u00a0double<\/em>\u00a0per capita on healthcare than all those other countries that provide universal healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our high cost of healthcare also didn\u2019t buy us much preparedness for this pandemic. Only a few weeks into this crisis, and nurses and other healthcare workers are\u00a0already\u00a0<\/em>wearing garbage bags as improvised Personal Protective Equipment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here in Colorado, we know a home care provider who is using\u00a0paper towels<\/em>\u00a0to make a mask. <\/strong>Let that sink in. Barely into this pandemic, and we are risking the health, and lives, of front-line healthcare workers because they don\u2019t have enough N95 masks, face shields, and the other PPE equipment they need and deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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